A picture during the day

I took Wednesday off to do some family stuff, but I still had time for a little boat work when the littlest one was asleep.

I've rough cut all the panels for the deck. They are all epoxies on one side, the other sides next on the list.

Then I start to glue & screw it down.

You can see the slats for the seats sitting in the boat.

Sorry it's a little... untidy. My workshop consists of two D&B workbenches side by side.

Today I started the deck...

I have already rough cut the 5 pieces that will make up the deck. But now the framing is completed, screwed, glued and dried.

So I've finally started work on the deck proper.

I've cut the backing blocks for the butt joints.

All the main pieces are rough cut and I've gotten one side of each soaked in epoxy. (much easier to do now rather than climbing inside later.)

I've started screwing the fore deck in place and laying out the remaining part to mark them up.

I really feels like I may have a boat soon.

D

Oak is sharp !

The deck framing is now almost complete. I've one or two dovetails to cut, and I've almost all the fairing done.

One thing that I learned is that white oak chines, when planed, can be sharp enough to remove chunks of skin. You always remember not to have a hand in front of a blade, in case the blade slips. But I forgot that a 60° oak edge is just as much a blade to the soft skin on the side of your hands.

To avoid anyone unnecessarily setting up a "Save Dave" web site, and associated charities to pay my hospital bills, I should say that my hands are still fully functioning, the missing skin didn't require any more than a plaster.

One other thing that I spotted is that before I screw in the last few pieces, It will be a lot easier to measure and mark the coamings. I can cut them to roughly fit, and mark them exactly in place. If I screw and glue the remaining pieces first, then I won't have that option.

All going well, I'll get the coamings and other details sorted this week during the evenings, and start the deck next weekend.

That bit looks big enough

So I wandered out to the boat last night after the munchkins went to bed, and I spent a while looking at the place where a cross member needed to go, and trying to figure out if I could laminate up a piece, since I didn't appear to have a piece big enough. I wanted to avoid another long trip to get one plank, when I noticed a piece that I'd tucked away under the boat a while back.....

Looks just about right, hold it in place, clamp a few bits in place, mark it up, double check everything (all under a battery powered florescent inspection lamp and a head torch) and whip out my Pull Saw. I can now cut compound bevels to a line as accurately as I can see. You got to love pull saws.

(I came across a small article in a magazine a while back about cutting a starting notch for the saw with a stanley knife. Make it 1/4" deep by paring the waste side down, and you have a perfect guide to start the cut.)

I can't fire up power tools late at night, the neighbours would (quite reasonably) be peeved, but no-one seems to mind the nutter with the hand saw and the head torch.

Anyhow, in an hour or so, I went from planing to spend an hour on Saturday cutting and laminating a piece to simply having it cut to length and fitted.

I've marked off the curve for the top of the piece too. I'll run it through the band saw later this week.
I can run the band saw after dark, it barely makes any noise as it slices through 1" of white oak... which is kind of scary in a way. At least a table saw screams a dire warning that's pretty hard to ignore. The band saw just quietly cuts through pretty much anything.