While I wasn't able to work on the boat as much as I had hoped, I did get a great deal done this month, and I am very close to the final steps.
First, I had to work on the coaming some more. In the end, I had to make four of them to get one done more or less properly
Turns out that laminating (at least for me) required the development of some skills which I did not have. But I am better now. Here is what the final version looks like.
It is made of red cedar, and has four laminates of about 4cm and the lip has another 4 laminates of about 8mm. There were some gaps that I filled with a water proof epoxy, and then I covered the whole thing in about 6 coats of tung oil.
My only small concern is that it does flex a fair amount when you press on it. I hope it won't crack as I get in and out of the boat. Well, I'll know soon!
With the coaming built, and all the wood oiled (tung again), it was time to start skinning, the part I was most fearful about.
First I laid out the cloth and gave it a rough trim.
Then I used a running stitch to join the seam together. You can see how loose the fabric is before it is ironed. The hot knife I bought certainly helped big time in the trimming. It would have been much less fun with a pair of shears.
After the running stitch, I used a whip stitch to finish off the seam.
The stern and bow required special handling. The bow came out okay, but I can see that I will have to figure out a better way to sew the stern on the next boat.
Probably the most challenging part of the sewing was the coaming. Trying to get everything properly lined up proved more difficult then I had imagined. I learned a great deal for the next sewing, one of thing being never to fold the cloth to try and get rid of slack.
The sewing meant that the cloth was too loose to tighten up as much as I would have liked during ironing, but I can live with it for this boat. The next will be much better.
Though the ironing did help. Here are two pics, before and after ironing. It did reduce the size of the folding quite a bit:
Anyway, finally got to the ironing, and here is how it looks this morning.
So that's it for now. In a couple of weeks, when I get back, it will be time to paint it, do some rigging, and see if it floats!
First, I had to work on the coaming some more. In the end, I had to make four of them to get one done more or less properly
Turns out that laminating (at least for me) required the development of some skills which I did not have. But I am better now. Here is what the final version looks like.
It is made of red cedar, and has four laminates of about 4cm and the lip has another 4 laminates of about 8mm. There were some gaps that I filled with a water proof epoxy, and then I covered the whole thing in about 6 coats of tung oil.
My only small concern is that it does flex a fair amount when you press on it. I hope it won't crack as I get in and out of the boat. Well, I'll know soon!
With the coaming built, and all the wood oiled (tung again), it was time to start skinning, the part I was most fearful about.
First I laid out the cloth and gave it a rough trim.
Then I used a running stitch to join the seam together. You can see how loose the fabric is before it is ironed. The hot knife I bought certainly helped big time in the trimming. It would have been much less fun with a pair of shears.
After the running stitch, I used a whip stitch to finish off the seam.
The stern and bow required special handling. The bow came out okay, but I can see that I will have to figure out a better way to sew the stern on the next boat.
Probably the most challenging part of the sewing was the coaming. Trying to get everything properly lined up proved more difficult then I had imagined. I learned a great deal for the next sewing, one of thing being never to fold the cloth to try and get rid of slack.
The sewing meant that the cloth was too loose to tighten up as much as I would have liked during ironing, but I can live with it for this boat. The next will be much better.
Though the ironing did help. Here are two pics, before and after ironing. It did reduce the size of the folding quite a bit:
Anyway, finally got to the ironing, and here is how it looks this morning.
So that's it for now. In a couple of weeks, when I get back, it will be time to paint it, do some rigging, and see if it floats!
Looking forward to the boat launching. Can I bring the ceremonial bottle of champagne?
ReplyDeletem.