I'm building a more-or-less scratch Bounty launch. I'm bending the futtocks over the forms (shown in the photo), then attaching a floor member to them to achieve the required scarf length. As can be seen, between the stem and midships, the floors are abaft the scarfs, while from midships to aft, the floors are forward. My reading and research prompted me to place them this way (i.e., The Structures of English Wooden Ships: William Sutherland's Ship, Circa 1710, The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du Nord, III, No.1 (January 1993), 1-43. p.12.) and in other places that I just can't remember. My understanding is that ship's boats were built by full-fledged shipwrights, or by men who were trained up in that craft, so that the same construction details and methods were used in both ships and boats. Now, however, I'm in doubt about this. Contemporary models of ship's boats don't always show this arrangement. Most old models show only the futtocks coming up from beneath the bottom; I think the floors were left out because they were not easily seen. Does anyone have any information about this? At this point in the model build, I can easily change the orientation of the floors, but I'm approaching the point where I'll have to decide.
Thanks all.