Boat construction is considered by many to be the ultimate test of carpentry skills. Also a test of patience as many hours of work sometimes spanning years are required to construct a seaworthy craft.
Boat construction is considered by many to be the ultimate test of carpentry skills. Also a test of patience as many hours of work sometimes spanning years are required to construct a seaworthy craft.
Well almost done. Need to finish the ends around the stem pieces. Have an idea what to do there but we'll save that for later.
Got an early start today because I was anxious to see how those last 3 strips on each side would turn out. And I just wanted to see the hull completed. The first 2 of the strips went in like I've been doing but without a cove I had to trim a little differently. And since they were kinda short it was a challenge to get them snapped into place. Thought Beth was getting a shot of that but the batteries ran out in the camera. Not that exciting although the tip of one piece broke off. Was able to get it put in place though so no worries.
Fitting the very last strip wasn't as bad as I expected. Was able to mark the piece from the bottom so had a line to work with. Started by sawing off some excess on the ends and then using the belt sander to rough in the curve. Then it was time to work the piece from one end to the other lightly touching the edge on the belt sander until it fit darn near perfectly in the remaining space. That's it, the hull is stripped! Twenty one rows of strips to complete the hull from sheerline to keel.
Seemed like time to get the boat out in the daylight for some pictures so we did that in between little showers. Not totally happy with the way the photos turned out with our crappy old camera but it's what we got. The white balance is just about shot so bright areas become washed out as you can see on some of these frames. Also tried to get the lake in the background of a couple of the photos. You know the boat is just as anxious as I am to be floating out there.
The pictures of the boat standing up with me beside give you a better idea just how long a 17' boat is!
With that part complete it's on to the deck. Need to make some supports out of some foam to support the boat on the sawhorses now. I'll attempt to form those to the hull shape so I have a stable work surface. Then make the final decision on what wood to use for the first several strips and get those cut. Probably won't be laying any more strips yet today but I'm hoping to start on the deck tomorrow.
