Before we painted, I got a close up shot of that scarhped stealer plank joint I promised.
While the planking was being finished off I also started hacking away at the keel and deadwood. The deadwood (the filler between the lead keel and the hull, which will complete the shape of the boat) on this boat is quite a bit more substantial than that on the twins. I cut up 5 lengths (between 2 and 6 feet long) of 4" thick oak and glue it all together. . .
One of the first jobs when we get back from break will be to carry this hunk of wood over to the bandsaw and cut it to shape. The pattern, lifted off the full size lofting, is partially visible in the background. The staggered ends of oak in the middle of this picture will be faired off into a nice curve to match the bottom of the hull and the lead keel will be placed along the bottom of the long piece of oak in the foreground of this picture. It is all connected via 3/4" bronze rod going thru floor timbers (coming soon!) all the way thru the hull, deadwood and lead.
While I was away in NYC for Thanksgiving week, the shop flipped the boat over.
We spent the next couple weeks installing the floor timbers, which tie together the frames, the keel, and the garboard. They also provide a place for the thru keel bolts I described previously. Finally, the sole (floorboard) of the boat will lie directly on the floor timbers (unlike the twins, which had special "sole timbers" which spanned the boat).I was dreading the installation of the floor timbers since I remembered what a pain they were to riviet into the frames. The frame spacing is only 8" and you have to drill a 2 or 3" hole thru the frame and floor timber that doesn't angle down into the plank. Well a right angle drill solves the first problem (barely) but doesn't help with the second as the chuck is still too big. This $10 attachment made the job easy.
We also faired the sheer and installed the sheer clamp. The clamp is 2 pieces of douglas fir running fore and aft which stabalize the boat shape as well as provide a place for attaching deck beams.
One other thing. . . we faired the inside of the boat as well. That fancy compass plane I bought last month was just the ticket. It scrapes things up pretty good (you have to plane across the grain as the frames are in the way), but a little 30 grit sanding cleans it up nicely, and the boat ends up nice and smooth. We did sections without the plane (we only had one) and just with sandpaper, and the result was pretty bumpy.Next step . . . breasthook and deckbeams (for starboard / port stabilization). Then we'll raise up the boat, and attach the deadwood and keel.
We had graduation on December 13th, and it was sad to say goodbye to Josh and Jamie (who I built the Twin with), Kat (who is building the Mermaid with me) and of course Martin and Tyler (who I built character with).
The last few weeks were crazy busy not only with the mermaid, but also with holiday gifts! Here is a sampling.
Just kidding. . . that last one was my favorite piece from a show at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. It was a great show, lots of strange designs done very, very well.
Finally, there was a launch. The 3 newbies (Justin, Thor, and Kelly) launched the Northshore Dory they have been building this term. It came out beautiful and rows like a dream. It's for sale, by the way.
