Going 3-dimensional

First set done, second set of planks on deck...

Finally the hull is beginning to take shape. How gratifying after hours of applying epoxy and sanding, front, back, once, twice, touch up for good measure...

Let's say that I was ready for some 3-dimensional progress. So here is how things look now.

I was surprised at the sounds the hull made as I stitched on the planks. The promising crackle of the copper wires and wood. You could literally hear progress being made.

Even after the hull strakes are all stitched in place, the boat is still as flexible as a tree sapling. I had been surprised how much time was required to prepare the upper three sets of strakes. So, I expected the copper wire business to be much more time consuming than it actually was... or else, time flew by more quickly as progress could be observed... and - without having to wear a respirator.

Prickly Planks

But then came trouble.. with a capital "T" the stands for Transoms. Oh boy, the front and end pieces of the boat had to literally be wrestled into alignment with the strakes,.. and there POP goes another copper wire. I became a virtual copper wire snapper. The sight was not exactly pretty but eventually I got a sufficiently tight fit to make the next step reasonable.




Note to self - No loosey-goosey - next time watch out for a snugger fit of the planks. That would have made things a bit easier.

By comparison to the wire job, the preliminary gluing of the transom, called "tack welding", was a piece of cake.

For now there is a definite wood warp in the hull. This is better than a time warp which - as my wife can readily attest - can also happen to the unsuspecting builder of boats... getting caught up in the moment of undivided attention to interesting details.

Finally it is starting to look like a boat - or an over-sized walnut shell

So here is hoping that the warp in the hull will eventually straighten itself as the "furniture" gets installed and that in the meantime, future boat-building time warps may be ephemeral and go undetected by those who depend on us being available in the present.