This weekend I rigged up all my spars in a ’rotisserie’ style setup so that I can apply a single coat to all sides of a spar at once. This should really speed up the finishing of these pieces. With these long angle irons that I’ve been using, it was easy to clamp up some […]
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Last weekend I finally got back to working on the boat. All my spars are now sanded down to 220 and almost ready for epoxy and varnish. I still need to trim the ends of the mast and bowsprit. At that point I will try to set up a rotisserie rig for application of epoxy […]
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Glued up the mast on Saturday. I had two helpers and it took us about three hours, though we were not in a rush at all. Here are some pictures of everything clamped up. Below, I’ll talk about the process. Before glue, we clamped everything up dry and studied it for a while. I was […]
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I have cut the tapers in all four mast staves. Now to cut the rabbets in the two side pieces. The manual suggests for each rabbet making two cuts with a table saw. My side pieces have a noticeable bow in the last several feet, so I worried about being able to keep a long, […]
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Completing all my spars is another thing I am doing prior to stitching up the hull. Only reason is to not have to work in a cramped area once the hull comes together. Once all the spars are varnished, I’ll hang them from the ceiling where they are out of the way. For reference…I’m working […]
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I ordered the timber kit but I still have to cut some of my own scarf joints. I’ve not done this before. I tried three different ways and the third is what I will use from here on. The scarfs I’ve done so far are for the four mast staves. Block Plane This is the […]
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Having never worked with molten lead, I wanted to do this job before pouring lead for the keel. If you follow the manual you’ll do the big keel pour before the small centerboard. The manual points out that everything doesn’t have to be necessarily done in the exact order as it reads. Working with lead […]
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I have made two modifications to the trunk, though very minor. One is a modification, the other is simply a change in sequence from the manual. Drill, Fill, Drill : When building Thister and I would drill through an epoxy-filled hole, the diameter was often not large enough for me to avoid drilling back into […]
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I am building the rudder before I begin the hull. No particular strategy here except it feels easier to do as much benchwork as I can before the boat starts taking up space. One reason I am enjoying this boat so much more than my last is that it’s taking more thought and tool work […]
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I am also going to build my spars before stitching the hull. I ran across two 20′ long pieces of 4″ angle iron and figured they would make good reference surfaces for spar work. Despite dropping one on my foot I finally got them mounted up on some sawhorses and I think they will be […]
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