Current Projects

Thursday. Today I put in 3 hours sanding off the high spots prepping the hull for receiving the West 410 fairing compound. Then I applied the fairing compound. Tomorrow I will fair it smooth to receive paint. I then rolled on epoxy to the sheer plank and transoms that will be varnished bright.

Wednesday. Today I put in 6 good hours. I got the floor hull planks glued and screwed into place. I cut and fit the skeg. Then I removed the skeg and fiberglassed the hull to the top of the chine strake. Finally, I epoxy fit the skeg into place.

Tuesday. Today I put in 5 hours cutting the sheer planks flush with the transom. Then, I cut and fit the 21) 1×4 bottom hull planks. Tomorrow I’ll glue them down and then start the process of fiberglassing the hull up to the top of the chine strake.

Saturday. Today I spent 2.5 hours fitting the sheer planks to the transoms then cut, clapped and fit the gunwale guards to the sheer. Next week I will cut the planks flush with the transoms and begin planing and cutting the planks for the bottom of the hull.  

Friday. Today I put in 3.5 hours scribing and planing the chine planks. Then mixed epoxy with wood flour and filled holes. The last hour I laid out and cut the sheer planks. We will wait for the the filler to dry, then tomorrow I’ll fit the sheer planks.

Thursday. Today I spent the morning spinning a couple of rolling pins! One out of Puget Island Ash and the other out of a seasoned branch of vine maple. For two hours this afternoon I fit the chine planks to the transoms. I cut them flush with the transoms by using a boat carpenter’s pull saw. As you can see…

Wednesday morning at 8am I started the project of installing the wood stove in the shop under or on the ground level of the vacation rental. I completed the installation and painted the 50 year old Jotul wood stove at noon. Then I had a little lunch. After lunch I laid out the first plank on the wheelbarrow boat….

Saturday. This morning I spent 3 hours planing four 1″x8″x10′ boards to 9/16″ thickness. Then I had to laminate some 9/16″X1″ strips to widen the boards in the appropriate places, so when I lay out the planks the wood will be there. This save me from planing a 1″x10″ board and waiting a bunch of material.

Today I laid out the bow transom then cut out both bow and stern transoms and mounted them to the mold. I then took a batten to determine the plank angles that meet each corner of the transoms. I cut those angles with a pull saw and then added clamps with matching angles and mounted them to the transoms….

Today I started Harry Bryan’s famous Ladybug Boat. This will be number 5 of these boats that I’ve built. This boat is being built for Wally Wright, a local guy here in Cathlamet, Wa. Wally talked me in to donating my time and materials so he could give it to one of his favorite non-profits….