Shutter plank This Friday!
The shutter plank will be going on this coming Friday, May 10th at 2 pm. There will be a party to celebrate, so if you’re in the area, come on down and join us!
Everyone is completely focused on the hull now. The final planks are getting fastened in place such as this one near the starboard aft quarter that Jamie is working on.
Walt, John & I have been focused on closing up the lower section of the transom. Walt and Roger have worked out the curved bevel where the transom planks will miter into the planks coming in from the hull. Here, Walt us using a curved acrylic batten to fair in the line.
He used a grinder to shape the tough oak end grain to a curving bevel.
The transom planks will butt up to this bevel. It’s a wild shape.
This is graduate level boat building. The lines not only have to be fair but they have to accommodate planks of different thicknesses coming together in a way that seems as seamless as if it were carved from a single block.
Oh yes, and they have to mate with other planks to form a watertight seam.
Some of the planks that some up to the transom didn’t fit perfectly flat against the supporting knees and frames at their ends, so Walt made up a few shims to fit in the open spaces. Rather than measure, go down to the shop, cut the piece, and bring it back to the boat, he brought some stock up to the transom and cut everything with a hand axe and plane.
In the right hands, an axe is a precision woodworking tool. Here’s just one example of folks in Zanzibar building entire boats with axes and hand drills.
The wedges are the lighter wood above the plank ends.
This area of the boat so curvaceous that just about everyone who comes up here comments on how wonderfully sexy it looks. It’s hard to capture in photos, but here are 2 attempts.
The starboard aft quarter is now faired and ready for caulking.
Roger started the fairing of the port quarter using an adze to quickly take down the high points.
The wood had previously been oiled to slow down moisture transfer (and thus shrinkage). This imparts a golden color to the wood. The wood is light where Rodger has worked. You’d be surprised as just how smooth he can get the hull with this simple tool.
The final fairing for this section was done using power and hand planes.
Just about everyone who comes up here instinctively run their hands along the hull. The word we use for it is “bodacious.”
John has been fairing the area just below this section lately.
Just before fairing, he and Shelly made sure that all of the hanging spikes were set just below the surface of the wood.
The last thing you want is to be happily fairing along and whang into a bronze spike with a power tool.
After all that power planing, he and Shelly went over the area with some heavy duty sanders to make it all extra spiffy.
It’s dirty work. At the end of the day, a little mutual air-hose grooming is in order.
