Wooden it be nice....

Wooden it be nice to work on my boat.

I got all dressed down in my old clothes and overalls, unwrapped the boat.

I took out a few saws and markers to have a go at some of the remaining sheer strake notches.

Then I noticed a small spot on my glasses. The another. Then I felt one on my nose.
I could suddenly hear the pitter patter of tiny rain drops on the Poly Tarp.

Just like that, overcast became raining, and I had to cover over the boat and gear down.

Building a boat outdoors is a nice idea. But Rain is a dismal reality.

Oh well there's always next week.

Work has deadlines, My Maths degree has deadlines, The boat will just get done.

At least the hired help still shows up on time....

PMF 180 Rocks

In spite of dire weather forecasts, I got to spend an afternoon on the boat this weekend.

I added the twist to the second sheer strake. More cord, more truckers hitches and more clamps.

Then I started cutting the notches for the first sheer strake.

I really didn't fancy trying to chisel upwards, so I got out a blue marker pen, marked off the run of the sheer strake at each frame and then got out a mirror and the PMF 180.

It Rocks. It's not a precision instrument. This is not the thing to used for visible dovetails. But to cut a notch for sheer strake that will be epoxied and screwed into place, happy days.

You can set the blade at any angle to make it easier to get at things. It's noisy though, even through ear muffs.

I got all bar one frames sorted on the first side. Next weekend should see both sheer strakes ready to be glued and screwed into place.

Decking screws to draw it all tight and to be replaced by bronze later.

Sheer Madness

I decided to go with simple L shaped brackets to help me get the sheer strakes into place. Two minutes with a hand saw and some scrap ply and I had 10 L shaped pieces.
Once they were clamped in place, it gave the sheers something to rest on while I clamped it all up. You can see these more clearly in the second picture.

Now that they are steamed into place, and with the help of towels, boiling water, clamps and a truckers hitch, I am twisting them  a little to follow the line of the frames. To avoid the clamps damaging the sheer strakes, I clamped a cutoff either side and then twisted. With the leverage of the long bar clamps, and the 3:1 advantage of the truckers hitch (poor mans pulley) you do have to go slowly and carefully to avoid that snapping sound. I hate that snapping sound.

It's really starting to look like a boat now. I can see the shape of it.

I need to bevel each of the notches and then glue and screw. I have a Bosch PMF 180 (Fein multimaster clone) and it happily cuts oak. I suspect this will be easier than trying to lie under the frame and hit a chisel upwards.