Thinking hard, from all angles
Many things from List One have now been moved to List Two. A whole boat, in fact.
To try and have at least one boat sailable by MACF, I’m focusing on one boat now. By luck of the draw, South happened to be a one step ahead, so it’s getting all the work now, and the two boats are out of sync for the first time. By the time North gets its turn, I’ll either have everything figured out, or forgotten it. A lot got done, or at least done well enough, and it will take a couple of posts to catch up.
The decks are both sanded and prepped. Easy enough.
The big task was the cockpit coaming. All the pieces are made up of multiple compound bevels and rounded corners, plus curves of the forward and aft decks, and all have to fit together nicely. Easier said than done, especially when a mistake means more delays for another trip to the sawmill.
The coaming on South is almost finished, though, made with that Spanish Cedar mentioned earlier. Beautiful wood, and nice to work with. After testing out the ergonomics of sitting in the boat, it was obvious more angle was needed to be comfortable, so a little bevel was worked into the side coamings, which added another level of complexity.
The outer trim is added on after, and is a piece of the same wood rounded over top and bottom. The idea is to make the coaming edge comfortable to sit on when hiking out, and to form a little grabable grip edge along the bottom that will also channel the water away. The inner layer is still proud, and will be trimmed down flush and rounded over smooth top and bottom, as will the corners on the outside – anything that might catch an elbow or knee when moving about quickly.
At one end of a rough Spanish Cedar plank, there was a remnant of a crook in the tree – all highly figured swirls and knot patterns. I don’t have enough wood to waste, so I planed it down along with the rest, and that became the focus piece on the rear of the centerboard case in the cockpit. It’s a magical piece of wood, even before the varnish garnish. The color contrast with the Ash and Cypress is a bit bold for my taste, but the other woods will darken and mellow over time, and eventually they’ll all meld together.
melonseed skiff, mellonseed skiff, melon seed, mellon seed
Rear of the centerboard case… nice touch.