Monday 11 April.
The boat building fairies had been in over the weekend and glued up the scarfs on plank 4. I’m afraid that wasn’t in the plans on Thursday but the idea of having the next planks ready for Monday was too good for JP and I. In the end it was lucky we did go into the shed because we were there to smell what could have caused a fire. Paul W’s kettle had inadvertently been switched on with no water in it and had melted a hole in its base.
When we set out the planks there was another glitch in the CNC cut pin holes for lining up the planks. This time a pin hole that we needed was completely missing in the forward plank rendering it impossible to do a string line up. Again a simple fix in the CNC program I’m sure.
This morning was bright and cool as I rode in to Harry’s shed. I was soon joined by two other cyclists, Mark and newcomer Matthew. JP and Nick also joined us and we got to work on bevelling the previous plank edges and frames to receive the new plank. Nick made quick work of planing the scarfs for the next plank and JP cleaned up the previous planks’ epoxy excesses. Matthew turned out to be a dab hand with the small plane, making a great job of the plank land. The owner of this small and heavy plane which we are all wishing we owned, Roger, dropped in and gave us some help setting up my spoke shave and sharpening Nick’s plane. The other visitor of the day was Ian who was quietly impressed although I was making an horrendous racket with the electric multipurpose tool, so that’s probably why he seemed so quiet. We had a tea break with fruit cake and a bit of a chat around where to get decent woodworking tools in Albany.
After smoko we resumed finessing the planks’ fit to the boat and cut the plank lands on the fore and aft sections of the new planks. At about 12.30 we decided we weren’t going to rush into glueing it on today, so that joy will be first up tomorrow. We will hopefully get the next planks glued together too.
At the weekend I popped in on another boatbuilding project going on in a shed in Ocean Beach. Dai Thomas is restoring an old Albany racing boat called Sweetheart. Dai is no stranger to boat restoration and is doing a magnificent job restoring a boat that had been converted to a motor boat and then fallen on hard times. He hopes to launch Sweetheart before the end of the year, probably when we’ll be launching our St Ayles Skiffs.
Our webmaster, Peter Kovesi, made it safely back to Matilda Bay from his truly intrepid voyage to Cape Naturaliste in his 15ft Welsford Navigator, Whimbrell. Well done Pete!
Cheers Dave