Blonde bevels bow of boat

Sunday, 18 June 2006
In addition to the two laminated pieces, I also wanted to cut out the plywood pieces for the bow and stern transoms. First, I had to transfer the patterns. For this I used white sailcloth because (a) you can see through it like tracing paper, and (b) it does not stretch, tear, crack, or splinter; it is dimensionally stable. So I finished all that, unloaded the securely strapped plywood from the top of the car, drew the patterns onto the wood, and chop-chop-chopped.

So far so good. The next step was to bevel the edges of the transoms, a process I had no idea how to accomplish. I gathered every tool I could think of: power planer, hand plane, rasp, chisel, sandpaper. In my boatbuilding book, the section on beveling says, “Bevel edges of transoms.” The power planer scared me, the hand plane frustrated me, the rasp didn’t do what I wanted, the chisel was the wrong tool, the sandpaper was ineffective. So I pulled out the one tool that always works for me: tears. “I want to do this but I don’t know how,” I sobbed to Cary. He softened and agreed to show me how to do it, and by that I mean he did it for me.

I may not win the Feminist of the Year award, but I will build this boat, with a little help from my friends.

Friday, July 7, 2006
My mind, if not my body, has been on vacation for a couple of weeks and could not concentrate long enough to blog. Meanwhile, I have worked a little on my boat:

1. I finished beveling the transoms. After Cary beveled the stern transom, he left me to my own devices for the bow transom. My first pass looked good, but when I laid the pattern on top, it became obvious that a second pass was in order. Anyway, I am now a skilled beveler and ready to assemble the building jig.

2. I cut the laminated pieces for the forekeel and center frame. Those turned out fine except they will need quite a bit of wood putty to fill the spaces left by my lousy laminating job. That reminds me: I must contact WoodenBoat about using plywood instead going to all that trouble of laminating.