Monday, August 8

The day began with the large-machine orientation, including a very large bandsaw, a Sawstop table saw, a jointer and large planer. Plenty of opportunity to do major damage.

Geoff, our instructor, then took us out to the student parking lot and gave a detailed talk on his Caledonia yawl, which he built 15 years ago. This Oughtred design is very similar to the Ness Yawl that we'll be building; it's just has a larger beam and volume. For a photos of the boat,  go to Ned Ludd.
Click on "newer" to go through sequence.

Geoff set up both masts and all of the rigging while the boat was on the trailer. One person can lift all of the spars, and they store inside of the boat. The simplicity and functionality of the rig is amazing. To heave-to you simply release the main sheet and sheet in the mizzen; the rudder takes care of itself.

We then returned to the shop and Geoff went over the plans for the Ness Yawl. An amazing amount of information is contained in them, including full-sized patterns for critical parts such as the inner and outer stems (bow and stern) as well as the molds we'll be setting up tomorrow on which the boat is actually built.

We then had a waterfront orientation, which allows us to sail or row any of the amazing collection of classic boats.

In the afternoon we were introduced to the epoxy (MAS) we'll be using. We then did our first actually building, laminating the inner and outer stems (bow) and inner stern stem. We epoxied the thin pieces of douglas fir together and then clamped them into the two jigs.  The inner and outer bow stems were constructed on the same mold; they were separated by a sheet of 4 mil poly.  Anything you don't want epoxied needs to be covered with plastic sheeting.  Photos of this process can be found at Laminating the Stems   Once on first photo, click "older" to go through sequence.  

Much of the afternoon covered mold making and setting up the building frame.  Making sure it is level and square is critical.  Legs are initially clamped until the frame is level, then screwed in place with drywall screws.  A center line is attached.  Photos of the frame building process can be found at   Building the Frame.  Once on first photo, click on "older" to go through sequence.

Tomorrow we will set up the molds and attach the stems, keel, etc.

By the way, no one is starving. The food is good and plentiful.

End of the day progress photo

All photos of the Ness Yawl 2011 class may be viewed at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21597525@N00/collections/72157627358772597/