Gunwales

Gunwales were the project of the day. Couldn't get a hold of any stainless fasteners so for the next few months were gonna be using what i can get. I'll replace them when suitable replacements can be gotten.

Put it on, take it off, put it on, take it off, put it on, take it off. With wood under stress i find it best to fit the piece as many times as your comfortable with. It is a bit frighting having that much tension right at tooth/throat level.

I have found that a flush cut saw is an valuable piece of kit when it comes to this boat building stuff. Here she is notching a frame to accept the inside gunwale.

CRACK, shit, damn. This frame has given me noting but trouble, it is the same one that i broke when attaching the side panels. In the end i broke two like this, lots of tension here. Good thing i am versed in the ways of fixing wood.

In the end i was hoping to have both sides done today... Turns out that this is a little bigger project than i thought. The starboard side looks good and will look better with the clamps holding the glue into the broken frames off.

Another work week and i'll get the othern' on.

Paddles

Some folks stopped by the shop and wanted to see some pics of the paddles i have built, here they are. I also have another prototype in the works but i have other projects right now. So for now this is what you get.

Bent and strait shaft, so far they have all been great whitewater canoe paddles.

The Big Flip

After a evening of disappointment  (as in the red oak chine caps  were to stiff  i couldn't get the fasteners to hold) putting a couple of holes in a fine looking hull i decided to hell with the chine logs (for now).

After patching the holes and putting my tail between my legs beer was the only solution. Way to frustrated to come up with anything else .

Next morning still felt defeated. Project not where i thought it would be. I went out for a cup o' joe and thought about my situation.

I was going to paint the hull before i flipped it over. I needed help to flip it anyhow... Another coffee break, To hell with it i've moved heaver things myself,  i got this.

Some of how i did it will be a mystery for the ages, here are the highlights.

Into the sun, slowly, slowly...

Easy peasy lemon squeasy!

Finally Flo is right side up, and may long there she remain! Off to the dolly.

Back her into the garage or "car hole" and that's enough heavy lifting for one afternoon.

Embrace the Toxic.

So despite the lack of cooperation at work (no days off in a row) the project solders on. Got some serious work done today. At first i wanted to get the gunwales, chine caps,  stem caps cut, scarfed, and glued, and put the first coats of paint on the hull. Well it sort of happened that way.

First i needed some rags, good thing i have a crap load of cotton t-shirts, sorry Girt.

Wipe the whole thing down with rubbing alcohol and get her nice add clean. After a morning cleansing i set about milling all the sticks for the above mentioned parts. No pics of this, if you have seen one shot of a table saw overheating you have seen a hundred of them. I need a table saw that can handle Ash and Oak. This free-bee is kind of a piece of shit (as in complete poo). I did however get some shots of the scarfing. Once again thank you Sam for the belt sander!

So i figured that after the scarfs were cut i would put some coats of paint on Florence. So out came the respirator, epoxy paint, gloves, and the desire to play with toxins. I figured two coats and i'll scarf the other parts together. WOW, paint!

 From this...

To this...

Its moments like this that make me happy to be human, if i was a monkey the only thing i could do is make a fecal mess on a wall. 

Two coats, Flo looks great in her new dress but as for doing anything else in the shop... Imagine trying to breath in a gas can, the Squidbillies might love that but i'm done for the night. I'll leave you with this.

Damn strait.

Urban Hike

So lea and i, well i...  have been wanting to follow the creek next to our house to the next road. So i got Lea to go with me and here are the sights we got to see.

If it has water in it i have always loved it, so i love the culvert in front of the house, it was tough to keep myself from crawling through it!

Rototiller anyone? i think this guy has seen better days. It either was here before the neighborhood was built, or someone had a bad opinion about it. Either way i think its days of tilling are over. I love this stuff!

I think i would buy this tree, its a nice tree and apparently its for sale. Gables and Gates will cut you a sweet deal. There are a few human tracks down here but i bet i were the first over thirty humans in here since the roads were built.

Its to bad, its quite pretty once you get past the poison ivy, although the PI may be the reason there isn't any fresh trash or teenage leavings.

Well nature is every ware, get out and find it!

A long week and a half a tall boy.

So things have been happening. Work is changing, new boss stepping in, and a really busy month have kept me from getting a large chunk of the boat knocked out. But i have gotten some stuff done.

So who wants to play with epoxy for hours? This guy.

There is nothing quite like wrapping a boat in fiberglass cloth. It looks like a mummy, and like the Egyptian beliefs its quite trans-formative. At first it looks dingy and dull. All white with pins in it.

So now mix up the magic potion, build the tomb, wright the spells on the wall and tell Anubis Pharaoh has died and is starting his journey through the twelve gates of the night. At least for the kind of rebearth i am talking about here it doesn't involve pulling brains out of your nose with a pick or pickling organs, well maybe just one.

She looks good but Apep is close behind, damn snake stay off of my wet epoxy! Trim and repeat.

After a couple of hours and allot more work...

Far into the night, our traveler needs to bring the sun up so into the night we go, pump measure mix pour and spread, shit my wrist hurts.

Boat priests of the past keep Apep at bay dawn is near!!

Well made it to dawn Apep missed the mark and i managed to wet out more glass in one sitting than I ever have before. Now sanding, super.

**If you don't get the refrences in the above post you need to study up on your Egyptian mythology.**

Its Like flipin' Christmas!

So had a super weird day at work. To busy to worry that UPS never showed with the cloth but still had it in the back of my mind. Thought about all the work i had done this weekend to prepare for the fiberglass. Cleaned the shop to a state o' godliness, I actually like just hanging out in there.

Took all the frame work out of the hull so i wouldn't inadvertently glue it on.

And took apart some of the very large clamps i had built for installing the bottom and built a stout little dolly to flip the finished hull onto.

I even put a drop cloth under the hull in gleeful anticipation of playing with a lot of fiberglass.

Than i was so board i drew some paint schemes, more on that later. Than on returning home after one of the weirdest days i have ever had...

Pardon my language but shit yeah, it's on come Wednesday.