Saturday, January 6, 2018

Starting The Deck

After building and rough-shaping the external stems, I flipped the boat over, by the usual rope-suspension method. I ran a 3/8" strip of cedar the length of the centerline. I saw that the curve from the cockpit to the foredeck was a little steeper than I thought it would be, so I decided to build up two of the forms with strips of wood:
I have done this in the past, when I saw that a strip wouldn't run fair between two forms, but this time, it was a result of the design. I keep learning more things about the design that I created when I see it actual size; for example, I could have made a more gracefully curved deck. It also looks bigger and more voluminous than I visualized. 
Another Redux! After running a few strips into the bow & stern, I realized that the pattern I was using would be difficult/look ugly, so I took them off. After getting over it, I hope that the do-over will have the same result as the last time.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Finishing The Bottom

Went about the same as usual: center strip of pine, filled in up from the sheerline, and down from the centerline. I found that I'd need somewhat longer external stems than usual, and I had to heat-twist most of strips at the ends.
For the stems, I made a bunch of 1/8" pine strips, heat bending required. I found that enough heat to bend the second strip was enough to melt epoxy and un-glue the first strip so I made a template for pre-bending the strips. We are having a cold snap, and its only 50 degrees in the basement.
It looks like a chubby little kayak.
As expected, the external stems were longer than in other builds. I built them up with four 1/8" strips of pine, but when I shaped them down to fair, I revealed something that I thought they'd cover up. Keel Easy! ;)