Christmas at the boat shed

Things look a little abandoned. Now that the days are getting longer I think I will try and jump start a few small projects.

A bit of progress

Not much has been getting done. I have put together the yard and boom for the mainmast.
I have been working on the main mast step and partners.
The epoxy situation has been resolved. I am using their med hardener and it seems to be working fine. Of course heat becomes an issue now that we are almost at the end of Sept.

I will try and post some pictures soon.

Epoxy set back

Seems like the epoxy they sent me had two types of hardener and no resin and I was to stupid to notice.
This is a bit of a set back. Cold weather is coming on and I was hoping to finish all the epoxy jobs before the onset of the deep freeze. If there is any consolation in this it is that I didn't try to assemble the mast using epoxy.
Gorilla glue gets a good review from me, so far. It is fairly easy to apply and sets up fast. The mast can be moved after 2-4 hours though I left the clamps on overnight.
Screw it. I am off to Skagway to work on my other boat project.

Working on masts continued

Here are the mizzen mast and main mast roughly planed to shape.

I filled some of the cracks with this new ecopoxy that I just bought. So far it hasn't set up. Granted the weather has been cold and wet. It will be a real mess if for some reason the epoxy doesn't set up.

I think I will continue to make the main yard and boom hollow and make the two spars for the mizzen mast out of solid wood.

Gluing the main mast

Today with the generous help of Glenn, we glued the main mast together. Things are a little tight in the workshop. I used gorilla glue and it seems to set up pretty fast.

Tomorrow I will plane it round and it will look a little more like a mast. Due to the imperfections of the wood I am using and the saw job that I did , it will require a little epoxy patching. Perfectionists out there would be appalled by the whole operation. I am pretty sure this mast is going to be plenty strong for the job.

There are still four more spars to build before it gets frigid around here.

There has been a little progress since my last entry. I painted the interior. I was quite happy with the the colour match the guy at builders supply land came up with.

The side benches are cut out and clamped in place. I still have to make and install the knees that will support them in the middle. I have also epoxied the mast steps in place.

During good weather I will start to work on the masts and spars and in the shitty weather I will continue with the floors and the rest of the finishing touches. The center board and rudder also need some work.

Thwarts, Mast Partners, Breast Hooks

Here the thwarts and mast partners are cut out and lying unsecured on the cleats. There were a few f__k ups but I managed to patch them up. The breast hooks are supposed to be a real test of your wood working skills. In my case they will display my epoxy patching skills.

Centerboard case and thwart cleats

Here the center board case is almost finished

Spent a lot of time trying to get the cleats lined up right.

Have also roughed out the centerboard and rudder components.

Gunwales and Epoxy

I am off to a slow start on the inside of the boat. Here the three layers of wood making up the inner gunwales are finished. I have slapped some fairing compound on the worst of the irregularities on the inside. After that I put two coats of epoxy over everything. Just in time because some of the recent heavy rains have started leaking through the roof and into the open container of my boat.

Next I will work on the breast works. ( the little piece that fits into the spot where the gunwales and stems meet. All the articles call for advanced carpentry skills at this stage. We will see.
Then the centerboard case.

Flipping the boat and a new bunch of challenges

Three of my neighbours came over and we carried the boat out of the tent and rolled it on the ground and put it back on the strongback.

I haven't got around to supporting it properly so that I can work inside. There were a few f--k ups revealed but nothing that a little loving care can't fix up or hide.

Everyone commented on how huge it seems inside. Today I will get it properly supported and put some temporary thwarts on it to line it up and support the sides. After that I will do some remedial work to the epoxy inside. There are a couple of screws that came through the stems that I have to deal with. I expect that these chores will eat up a lot of time.

finishing the outside hull

 An ordered workbench reflects an ordered mind.

 Here is the hull with two coats of epoxy on it.

 The ugly white stuff is the fairing compound cleaning up the scarf joints and screw holes. I put two layers of fairing compound on and sanded them smooth. If I was shooting for perfection I would still be messing around with fairing compound.

 Here is the hull with one coat of aklyd paint. This colour is Dory Buff. It was a popular colour in Newfoundland for finishing dorys.

 I think it will look alright after about three coats.

Next I will glue and screw a piece of slippery plastic on the bottom of the keel and then it will be time to flip the boat and tackle the wonders inside.

shaping and glueing on the outer stems

Here I have made a little progress shaping the outer stems. They are ready for gluing. After the epoxy has dried I will fit on the keel. Once again I underestimated how long this would take.

Finished the planking

Last week I got the 13th and final plank glued on.
Now I have to tackle the outer keel pieces and fix up and finish the outer hull.

Something got done during the cold snap

There has been a lot of minus 30 to 40 degree weather lately.
Managed to sew up the mizzen sail at home using my crap sewing machine. I realized to do the lug sail I would need more room and a decent sewing machine. I went to Paul's place and in two long days got the job done. Thanks Paul.
The sails are constructed from a Sailrite kit. It was very easy to work with and even an idiot like myself could figure out the comprehensive instructions.
Sorry no pics. Maybe when it warms up I will hang the Lug Sail from the roof edge and take some pictures.
Don't imagine anything much will happen in the next four months or so. Hope to get back on track in the late spring.