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Decking

Molds ready for decking

 

(to start of project)

At this point, the interiors are ready for finishing and framing. Since I’ve built the deck camber and crown into the molds, though, I want to use those as forms for stripping the decks. The partially finished decks will then come off while the interior work is completed. Most normal people would build all the framing and then strip the decks down directly on top. There’s a small problem with that, though:

Boat designers and naval architects take exquisite care in modeling, measuring and plotting out the hulls of boats. The rest? Not so much. Continue reading “Decking”

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Cypress Strips & Visitors

Emily helps make sawdust

 

(to start of project)

The girls are home from college for the summer, so when it came time to rip the Cypress into all those little strips I got some help. Saturday we did the ripping. I didn’t think I could rip to consistent widths, so ripped them all to 3/8”, leaving room to plane them down to an even 1/4”. Turns out my fence jig worked well enough I probably could have done without the planing, but a pass through the planer on each side cleaned them all up nicely. It will save on sanding later I suppose. Continue reading “Cypress Strips & Visitors”

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Cypress

Seth’s House

 

 

(to start of project)

Seth is building a house. Himself.

It’s a massive place back in the woods, three stories high with 12 foot ceilings and a stone fireplace and chimney that rises two stories in a central open living space. It’s all beautifully timber framed and pegged throughout. He got one of those portable sawmills and cut the trees for the timbers right off the land. Continue reading “Cypress”

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Cortez

Coquina Beach

 

(to start of project)

Seems like ages since I’ve done any more on the boats. Life kind of took over for a while. Last week at least I got to take time off to do a little boat research and recognizance – er, reconnaissance – which is sort of like working on the boats, plus some sailing (Bonus!). Continue reading “Cortez”

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Flipped & Scraped

North hull ready for framing

 

(to start of project)

Flipped both hulls this weekend, and added braces to the strongbacks to hold everything steady for framing and decking. Scraping glue drips off the insides went pretty quick, as there was minimal glue squeeze out, and what was there just popped right off. I’m changing the order of things a bit, so won’t do the final sanding and glassing of the interiors for a while yet. Continue reading “Flipped & Scraped”

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Mountain Orchards

Apple Orchard in Bloom, Blue Ridge

We drive through the little valley below Jefferson’s Monticello every day. Up above Monticello, along the ridge of Carter’s Mountain, is an orchard and vineyard with wide views of the Piedmont to the East and the Blue Ridge to the West. We’ve been going there since the kids were small, picking warm peaches in summer, pumpkins for Halloween, then apples and cider right up to first snows. In Spring, cycles of bloom sweep over the ridge like vast, slow moving clouds, starting first with the cherries. Continue reading “Mountain Orchards”

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Glassing

Draping 6oz Fiberglass Cloth

 

(to start of project)

A Metamorphisis

The process of glassing a hull is like riding a roller coaster – there’s a long, slow buildup, but once you start there’s no turning back, no matter what, until it’s all over. If you make a mistake, too bad, cuz anything you can’t fix quickly you pretty much can’t fix. You just have to suck it up and keep going. Continue reading “Glassing”