Thread: New Boat started...

Hi Warren,

I've done a few Gartside boats myself (one under constructin in the workshop as we speak) - good designer and gorgeous boats. You could try posting your photos on a hosting site like Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket and bring the image code back into your message here.

Hold onto that celery, we are about to lose acess to all of it............

regards,

AD

AD,

as well as the Huon and celery top I have for this hull, I have another two hulls worth of Celery top in my backyard. It is green and so, will not be useful for another 16 months or so. 11 planks in all ranging from 15' to 17', 6-10'" wide and 2" thick. All but two lengths are completely clear...
I may also have another ten Huon planks on the way shortly - all around 17' long with a natural sweep. Bob Crane has finally been able to get access to all of the stock he lost when the roads to his sheds were closed. Bloody expensive though - around $24.00 a superfoot.
It is about time they protected Celery Top, I was amazed that green timber was still available - thought it was already protected....

cheers

Warren

you know that thing where you trim one side of your moustache and then have to trim the other side cause it is a little too short and then you go back and take a little more of the first side etc....
Welcome to the final fitting of stem to keel on Skylark... I reckon the whole boat is now 1" shorter than it should be. There has to come a moment when I decide that it is not going to get any better and just glue and clench the bloody thing in place

Just did what I decided was my last trial fit. Perfect! can't see daylight between any of the seams and, I even ran a peice of string between the stern Knee and stem, dropped a plumbob and sprit level down to the keel halfway along and we are within one mm off dead centre. F@@K I am good!! (apart from the fact that it is now 13' 11' rather than 14' - does this mean it isn't a "Skylark" anymore) I could glue a one inch strip to the front of the stem but, that would be cheating....

Warren

(Boatright...)

Originally Posted by WRB

. . . I could glue a one inch strip to the front of the stem but, that would be cheating . . .

It's never cheating under epoxy filler and paint, it's fine art.

Spose you'll have to give an inch of discount now. Dunno if I'd be admitting to boo boos if you wanna sell it

The 10' version sells for around 16k in Tassie and this one (14') was going to sell for around 25K - math is not one of my better subjects so, please feel free to let me know what it should cost now....
Oh, and the keel to stem fit opened up again. Had it perfect but then the weather changed - thankfully I have several tubes of 5200 on hand and plenty of 1/4" copper rod. I could spend the rest of the year on this or just fit the bloody thing and get to work on the centre board case (much easier....).

A master boatbuilder from Tassie once told me that the reason most boat sheds had wood fired heaters was to put all of the boo boos to good use and he had made a few hulls worth of use of it himself.

One day when I am not feeling old and grumpy, I will set up a photo bucket account and start posting pictures of the (amazingly slow) progress. I have chronic ruematoid arthritis and so, of course boat building makes perfect sense as a way to make a living...

cheers

Warren

3 copper rods, 1 bronze screw, some epoxy glue and the stem is now permanatly attached to the keel. Centreboard case is next and then I can finally get the huon out and start planking.....

Many years ago I built an open 17Ft inboard motor boat , the Stem was built from solid Oregon 13' x 3' .

When I attached the stem to the keel , I used 3' bronze screws to hold everything in place until the epoxy cured, but the main fastenings , were 1' dowel , which in which i put a saw cut 1inch down the length, at both ends ,Into the cuts I put a wedge these were then driven into predrilled holes in the stem & keel, .

Once the epoxy glue had cured the ends were trimmed and the screws removed and the holes filled,.

once it had all cured , it never moved, mind the Oregon was well dried before I started and I built under cover.

Jeff

Yeah,
Next time I do this i will use wedges at the but ends. That would really help with the fit...
I spent ages getting the fit perfect and lost an inch in length in the process.
I have three copper rods clencehed over washers in the stem and countersunk in the keel covered with plugs and the one screw is used at the very end of the stem where it fits over the hog timber.
I think that, with modern epoxy glues, copper and bronze fastenings (and stopwaters for that matter) are mostly redundant but, I put them in anyway because the designer specifies them....

Warren

Picked up 3 beautifully clear lengths of cellery Top at the woodworking show in melbourne - I now have my ribs