1-30.

I am supposed to be studying physics, but alas, this is way more fun than physics, so I had to do a short post tonight.  

Yesterday we did a bunch of sanding, then glued on the inner gunnels.  We ran out of clamps partway through (oops) because our smaller clamps weren't big enough to span the gap, but we survived by adding more screws.  We also put the quarter knees on.  

We tried to be very clean with the glue and wipe up all the mess because it is going to be really hard to sand beneath and in between the inner gunnel and the side of the boat.

Daddy had also cut doublers for the stern seat compartment and we glued those on.

1-29.

A shot of the boat up on the cement blocks so we could work on the centerboard - you can see it down below.  

Today we had to level up the boat to work on the kingplank.  It took lots of wood under the stern!  Finally we got it mostly level and were able to hang a string and needle though a pilot hole in the kingplank, right in the center of the circle that will be the circumference of the mast.  This is so that when the mast is up, it will be vertical, instead of standing at some weird angle.  We found the center of the circle with a compass, so it is kind of accurate - as accurate as we're able to find.  We also marked the center of the hole in the mast step, accounting for the side of the circle that has been cut off.  Then we aligned the tip of the needle with the point on the mast step by shifting the kingplank around.  Once we had it centered, we marked where the kingplank was on frame 1 (under the plank in photo) and up at the bow.

Then it was time to cut out notches in frame 1 and in the kingplank to fit it down into the bow so that the deck will go over it.  Used a combination of the jigsaw and the hacksaw (to go through nails/screws).

 We cut out the notch in the kingplank with the circular saw and jigsaw.  We had to gradually cut it out to fit it into the bow properly, cutting off a bit more wood in certain areas each time we set it in the bow.  Finally we had it sitting in the bow nicely, with a little wiggle room in frame one, which was good since we had to realign the needle with the center of the mast step.

We also got the quarter knees predrilled.  I am really good at stripping out screw heads... and I did it again on the port quarter knee.  We had to pull the quarter knee out away from the boat enough to get the hacksaw between the knee and the transom to cut the screw.  Then I pulled the tip of the screw out of the hole in the quarter knee with the vice grip and my dad pushed and hammered the other end of the screw out of the transom with the vice.  Fortunately no damage done, whew!

Then we also put the inner gunnels in and marked where the quarter knees overlap them, so that we could notch out the gunnels.  I chiseled out the inner gunnel notches, and now they're ready to be sanded to fit better with the quarter knees.

1-23.

Putting on the outer gunnels.  

Once the outer gunnels are nice and dry, we can attach the inner gunnels!  We've been having nice warm weather for epoxying, so we're doing as much as we can.  Saturday we glued together the lug - one end of it is shown below.  Daddy had already cut the wood - 4 pieces with angles so that they fit together with a hollow inside square.  He saved the pieces cut off that would fit into the middle to use as plugs for each end and for the area where the lug meets the mast.  You can see in the end here how the pieces went back inside when we glued it all together.

Today we routed the edges of the lug to make it rounded, except along the strip that will be going up and down the mast.  Then I gave it a fine sanding so it's ready for a clear coat of epoxy.

After we had the lug ready, we did a bend test on it.  This is for the sailmaker to determine a more exact fitting of the sail depending on the properties of an individual piece of equipment.  Based on the size of the sail (our plans call for a 80 sq ft area), you hang a corresponding weight from the lug, then measure at 3 points along the lug the distance from a string strung straight across down to the lug.  It is scary tying ~3 gallons of water to a piece of hollow wood (well it was tied to the area with a plug) that you just spent a lot of time creating.  You really hope it doesn't break in half!  But no worries, it is very strong!!
Next we get to build the boom!

After I left, I think my dad also put clear coats of epoxy on the lug, the centerboard seat, and the tiller extension.  We had drilled holes in the centerboard seat to plug with maple dust epoxy, that will then be drilled through again to put bolts through to attach the seat to the centerboard.  We won't actually glue the seat on so that in the future the seat can be taken off and the centerboard accessed and removed if needed.

1-15.

Lots of little things getting done.  

Glued in the centerboard seat supports (you can see here the back two didn't have a way to attach while the glue set, so Daddy made wood clamps that are just pushing the bottoms of the supports in place.

We experimented with using the router on scrap wood first, learning how to start and stop at a desired point.  It is pretty easy to use, so I went around the edges of the centerboard seat to round the top edges.  The router throws out a lot of saw dust!  And it does a really good job!

A back seat will go from the transom to this last frame that Daddy is cutting.  The last frame and the transom doubler have curved tops, and we want to make a compartment here that can hinge open and close for extra storage.  It'll be easier to construct (or even possible) with the tops of these flat.  So Daddy cut off the frame as much as possible with the power saw, and where the power saw can't reach, the Japanese hand saw can!   I think we'll have to chisel out the transom doubler, though, not even the Japanese saw is up for that task.

Plus lots of sanding, filleting, making a tiller extension of red cedar, and Daddy and Timothy raised the boat up on blocks so that the centerboard can be fiddled with - it's in place and we can raise and lower it.

1-9.

We were planning on making a trip to Panama City to look at trailers, but decided to postpone it for worse weather and use the nice warm days we're having now to do some epoxy work.  

This weekend we took off the inner and outer gunnels and the seat supports and gave them all a coating of liquid epoxy.  While the gunnels were off, we glued and screwed the spacer blocks.  Those were screwed from the outside of the boat, meaning we had to do them first before the outer gunnel went on.  The next step is to glue the outer gunnel on because it's screwed on from the inside (so the inner gunnel would be in the way), then lastly we can attach the inner gunnel.   

We also glued and screwed the seat supports (little 20x20mm) strips that run along the inside of the frames that the seats will sit on.  These aren't a perfect fit yet, so now we'll have to go back and sand them flush with the frames.  We also added some fillets (the brown epoxy below) to certain seams.  This one is inside a seat compartment - we want the edge where the stringer of wood is to be smooth when your hand is reached inside, and to help keep water from pooling behind that wood where it would be harder to get out.

A quarter knee.  My dad designed them and cut out the basic shape, then I went back yesterday and cut out the notch where it fits with the transom board and sanded them to fit inside the back corners.  Getting them to actually fit into the corners was tricky, and on this one you can see there are gaps around the notch, but that'll have to be filled with maple-dust epoxy.  The second one turned out to be a closer fit - I was more careful with the sander!  We're hoping to varnish these, along with the curly maple top transom doubler and the centerboard case seat/rowing seat.  

Daddy used a cutting wheel on the angle grinder to cut a piece of pipe for the centerboard to pivot on.  After he cut it, it was still a little too long, so he had to go back and grind it down more, and eventually it fit perfectly.  A bolt goes inside the pipe and sticks out either side of the centerboard case to hold the pipe in place and keep water from leaking inside the boat.  This also allows the centerboard to be removable for repairs, etc.

We also drilled extra big holes in the transom and filled them with epoxy for the rudder gudgeons (or pintels, one or the other).  Now we can go back and re-drill through the epoxy to actually attach them - that way there's no water to wood contact.  (Just like most of the other holes we've been drilling - see the centerboard where the pipe is going through.)

We decided on our sail color and type - it's being made by Dabbler Sails up in Virginia.  Earlier I said it was going to be Egyptian cotton, but I was wrong - it's Egyptian dacron.  The sailmaker sent us several samples and we picked the Bainbridge type (UK) because it was softer and more pliable.  The pennant is going to be a nice sea blue color.
With that in mind we have also picked out boat colors (I think)!  We talked with Brian to get artistic input, and came out with a complex paint scheme that my dad and I narrowed down to reduce colors and detailed work.  Sounds like it'll be a dark-ish beige hull with blue trim to complement the pennant color on the gunnels (and possibly below the gunnels to a little wood strip line), and creamy off-white interior and foredeck.  I would like to also paint the inside of the transom the darker hull color to off-set with the light curly maple, but we'll see what resistance my dad puts up to that.
There are also some names floating around: Au-delà (beyond), L'étoile de mer (starfish), Swan (for the curly maple from Trumpeter swan country), Cygne
Input anyone?! Suggestions?!

1-3-12.

Working on a place for the kingplank.  As mentioned earlier, there's nothing in the plans for this, so we are modifying and doing our own thing.  We had to cut out the top of the spine piece here to make room for the board to sit down under the deck.  

We'll have more precision cutting to do once the kingplank is taking shape - right now it's still just an unshaped board.  You can also see the gunnels at the bow - I think we're going to round them off to make a curve there.  

Daddy is good at cutting pretty shapes out of the curly maple (this wood is extremely hard - it tends to bend the saw blade and it takes forever to sand!).  Here he is cutting out the newly designed seat supports.  The first design we nice, but we didn't have a way to really attach them well to the centerboard case, so he went back with practicality in mind and I think came out with something that looks even nicer.  The redesigned shape is below: 

Planing the gunnels - the old fashioned way!  Daddy planed the port side and I did the starboard side.  It took some getting used to handling the planer and getting the blade at the right depth, but once I figured it out it went fairly smoothly and the gunnel turned out mostly even along the whole width.  We planed the undersides to have a nice angle from the gunnel to the side of the boat.   

There is lots of cleaning up involved - all kinds of wood chips, sawdust, wood scraps, etc...

Yes this is clearly a narrow inner gunnel.  

We will have to shave the side of the boat to match the gunnel and the side might look a little funny with a dip there, but hopefully it won't be too obvious when everything is all flush.  

We have been working on the mast step along with the kingplank.  Above is my dad's idea for the kingplank where it holds the mast.  Instead of just having a hole in the board where the mast fits through, meaning you have to pick the mast all the way up and slide it through that hole when you are going sailing, he thought of putting a block of wood that would pivot away from the mast, allowing you to put the very bottom of the mast into the mast step at an angle, walk the mast up into the kingplank, and then secure it with the swiveling block.  This is ingenious for me because, while relatively strong, I still have trouble lifting a kind of heavy 12' tall mast in the wind up several feet to get it into a small hole.

Cutting out the hole in the mast step for the bottom of the mast.  We made the mast step out of layers of curly maple and plywood, screwing one block onto the one below it until we reached the height (flush with the top edge of the spine in the bottom of the boat).  Then we drilled out the hole through the top two blocks (one at a time so the wood wouldn't get wedged in the hole saw).  We also put a drain hole into the second block.  It is just a little rectangular hole that connects to the big hole so that water will run out instead of puddling in the mast step.  Now we just have to take the pieces apart again and add epoxy to glue them back together.  We'll also fiberglass the bottom of the hole to strengthen it where the mast will be sitting.

Today I spent the afternoon cutting out and sanding spacer blocks of maple for the gunnels.  The plans have two options for the outside edges of the boat - you can make a little decking that covers the inner gunnel and runs along the sides up to the foredeck, or you can leave the inner gunnels exposed with spacers between the side of the boat and the gunnel.  I like the look this gives - it reminds me of a Voyageur's canoe.   Plus we decided it would be way easier to construct than decking.  And so far it is really simple.  All of the spacers are based off of where the oarlocks will go - 10 inches back from the rowing seat (the oarlocks will be attached to the maple spacers).  We originally tried to do some complicated math (addition mostly) to space them evenly from there, but realized it was going to look funny with the frames not being centered and such.  Instead we just figured out where the oarlock pieces would go then worked out evenly by eyeball from there, making short pieces to go on either side of each frame - so that all the spacers will look to be the same length.  I cut them all out and then sanded them on the belt sander so that each one fits in its specific spot along the sides, then labeled all of them so they don't get all mixed up before we're ready to glue them in.

You can also see two transom reinforcements - the maple board along the top of the transom and the little plywood square under the tiller hole (reinforcement where the rudder is attached).  Daddy's also been doing a lot of sanding inside the hull and he cut out the hole for the drain plug in the bottom of the transom today, also.  We've also dry fitted the gunnels and seat supports and pre-drilled them ready to epoxy on when the weather warms back up.