An Apprenticeship in Maine: Pre Launch Post

Tomorrow is the launch. Looking back it has been nearly a year since lofting. Time flies when you're having fun. But this is the pre launch post, so here is what we've been up to lately.

After finishing the outside of the boat we were able to start building up the insides, starting with the sole. Here it is all laid out and oiled up.

And here it is installed. Enough room for a dance party.

I got to make the knees. The forward and aft thwarts are well attached and notched in to prevent any rotation. The forward center thwart, however, is just hanging there. Since it is going to support a mast it needs to be beefed up quite a bit. We do this with knees. Here is the starting material. 3 months ago, these were tree roots.

The roots are of Eastern larch. In boatbuilding terms, this is hackmatack. It is prized for its strength around a curve, since we follow the grain of the knee to build the shapes that go in the boat. Here are the results. (You'll get to see them installed a few more pictures hence).

Next, the side seating, which for some bizarre reason is called the sheets. We can use the thwart riser to support them on the outside, but we need something to support them on the inside. This means one more long stick of wood.