Holidays and Boatbuilding

Well, it's been a while since my last entry.   The holidays and moving kids (and all their stuff) to college has consumed a lot of time in the past month.  Boatbuilding continued, albeit more sporadic, but blogging just didn't take priority. 

I've made some progress since last blog and had to repair a few mistakes.  Still a long ways to go.

Here is my first dumb mistake.  Yes, that's the tip of the keelson lying askew. After thinking I was being so careful every time I moved around that exposed tip and instead I broke off the tip. I was moving the whole keel and kaboodle, one morning, into the driveway to make room for scarfing those long pieces.  During the move it hit the front of my car ( I was intently focused on the stern so it would clear obstacles), I heard a crack and knew exactly what I did.  Bonehead!!

As a resolution, and when the sobbing ceased, I had to manufacture a new tip.  So I scarfed the remaining end of the keelson and fashioned a new tip.  It was a bit tricky clamping it up (since it is not laying on the ground) but it cured and held tight.  After unclamping I noticed the tip bends slightly port so I don't yet know if this will significantly affect the bow alignment.  I may have to refabricate a new one yet.

Next chore was to join the pieces soon to become the hull bottom and sides.  My scarfing is getting better with practice.  Below are 4 panels I did simultaneously.  Multiple panels actually make the job easier and more accurate.  I used a traditonal block plane for most of the wood removal, followed by a palm block plane to do some finishing and then a quick once over with the sander.

Below they are ready for gluing.  The tape was an idea I stole to help with cleanup afterwards.  It helped some.

This is after gluing.  After peeling off the tape most of the goop shown along the joint goes with it.  It saved some sanding as a result.  Frankly, I've found that a heat gun and a putty knife worked very nicely. The epoxy just blows away as you heat and peel it and minimal sanding is required.



With the tape off



Laid out the hull and cut 2 pieces at once (carefully) to assure symmetry.

The circular saw did a nice job following the gentle curves of the hull

After cutting close to the lines I finished the edges with the block plane and some orbital sanding and got them to almost perfect.  I'm being so careful with the cutting as I envision a boat that won't steer left or can fit more people on the port side than starboard.  So I really am taking my time (very out of character for me but one reason I chose to take on this project). 

Next I'll show construction of the cradle and hull assembly.