Tuesday, August 16

Big day. The sheer plank was cleaned up and hung. This is a major day in boat building, since the sheer plank is the last one in our method of construction.  The last plank hung, whichever one it is,  known as the whiskey plank. There was a big two minute ceremony toasting completion of the planking, our good looks, and extraordinary intelligence. Geoff supplied Waterford paper cups and a touch of rum for the toast. He then promptly hid the bottle.  The ceremonial cups photo is here.

Next, Geoff demonstrated the scribing process. A line was scribed 7/8” from the top of the pattern blank; this represented a reference line and the minimum thickness of the skeg. Working at the aft end, he started with the a piece of luan approximately the size (in profile) of the milled lumber that would would eventually become the skeg. After placing it in its correct longitudinal position, he then added a leveling block. Once the pattern blank was level, he went over the scribing process which requires a compass. The point and pencil start at the aft end of the CB slot and are held perpendicular to the hull; as the compass is moved forward with the point tracing the hull, the compass is kept perpendicular to the imagined hull tangent at all points. This means that a natural rotation of the compass occurs.  This photos of this process can be viewed by clicking here.

We then split into teams.  While one group worked on the stern pieces, another group of us set about the final fitting and mounting of the outer bow stem. This has to be smoothly integrated into the forward keel. After some jockeying of the stem, we agreed on its correct position and marked reference marks on it and the hull. It was remove and the excess length was cut away at the band saw. The stem also had to be beveled; the instrument of choice was the jack plane. After beveling, the stem was clamped back on the boat and the angle that needed to be cut to intersect with the forward keelson (which had not yet been fastened down) was determined. The aft end of the forward stem was cut first, and the complementary angle was then cut on the bow end of the smaller forward keel. Its length had been trimmed so it did not extend past the CB slot.  Click here for photos of the fitting/shaping process.

End of the Day Progress

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