Floor Timbers and Epoxy Coating and Primer

We have turned the hull over and started cleaning up the inside of the plank laps. This is very tedious work and takes a bit of effort (time). It pays to make a good effort to clean up the epoxy during the planking process before it kicks, but there are lots of spots where it is hard to access while the hull is on the molds and there are forty clamps in the way.

Once the hull is cleaned up, we template the floor timbers. On this boat all of the solid wood will be teak. Here the floor timbers have been sawn out and awaiting fitting and installation.

Below we have fit and installed the floor timbers and also the cleats for the thwarts (seats).

On this boat we are building inwales with spacer blocks. This allows water to drain out when the boat is tipped, is stronger, allows things to be tied to the boat easily and also looks good. Below we are cutting the spacer blocks to length on the drill press. This gives them concave ends which look nice and are easier to sand when varnishing.

We need to complete this boat quickly, and when we have filleted all of the floors, cleats, thwarts, keelson and knees it is an all hands call to sand the interior for an epoxy sealer and varnish.

A view of the hull with primer on it.

This photo shows the interior of the boat with the epoxy sealer. It looks very much like a pretty boat now. You can see the thwarts, the thwart knees, the breasthook, the transom knees, and the braces and beam that will support the sternsheets.

Another view from ahead.

Planking, Keel, Skeg, Outer Stem, and Gunwales

We have planked the hull with 1/4" okoume plywood. First we make patterns of doorskin and then transfer the plank shape to the okoume that has been scarphed into pieces long enough for the planks. Unfortunately the photos of the planking process mostly went to never never land. Here is a shot of the 2nd strake being marked on the pattern stock. We patterned one side and then cut out planks for both sides from the same pattern.
Here is the final upper plank being clamped on.

Once the planking was completed we installed the outer stem, keel and skeg. Here you can see the outer stem clamped in place while the epoxy sets.

Below the skeg is visible and we have glued on the gunwales. We coved the gunwales by running them past the table saw blade at an angle. It took several passes but ended up giving us a nice concavity into which we will later attach a piece of 1 1/2" manila line for a rub rail.

Here is a larger scale view of the other side. Now we will sand the outside and add small epoxy fillets to the plank laps. This adds a little strength and makes painting a little easier.

Iain Oughtred's Guillemot Getting Started

We have been commissioned to build a tender for the Alden schooner Summerwind nearing the end of a major rebuild in Riviera Beach . The rebuild is being done primarily by Moores Marine at the yard of Rybovich and Son. It is really a beautiful boat and it's a pleasure to be a part of this project. Summerwind was built in 1929. She is now owned by Don Williamson and skippered by Captain Carl Joyner. The owner wanted a traditional flavored tender to stow in bunks on the foredeck. It needed to be just under 12" and capable of carrying 5 adults in protected waters. These requirements meant that a full bodied rather burdensome hull would be needed. So I looked through a lot of my books and at a lot of plans on line. Finally I found Iain Oughtred's Guillemot design. I think this design fills the requirements almost perfectly. So I presented this to Captain Joyner. He liked it and showed Mr. Williamson who also liked it, and we struck a deal. The boat will be built of 1/4" okoume plywood and solid teak lumber with a painted exterior and an interior finished with Deks Olje #1. The boat will not be set up for sailing but for a small outboard motor and a couple of Culler style oars.

The first step is constructing a building frame or strongback. Care must be taken to ensure that it is straight, square and level. Then mold stations are transferred from full size paper patterns to 3/4" plywood. The molds are then set up at the locations on the building frame and every thing is again checked for straight and square. In the photo below you can see the molds set up with a string line run through holes in each one to align the centerlines.

Below we are resawing teak strips to laminate the inner and outer stems. This bandsaw is a 42" Tannewitz built in 1963. We acquired it at an auction last year and have rebuilt it. The blade travels at 8800 feet per minute and with a 7 1/2 HP motor cuts through large teak boards effortlessly. We installed new bearings and tires and trued the tires and rebalanced the wheels and the result is a truly magnificent machine. They don't make saws like this in China.

We screwed blocks down in the shape of the inner stem and then laminated both the inner and outer stem at the same time with some plastic between them to prevent epoxy gluing them together.

After the epoxy cured we removed the clamps and shaped the inner stem to the correct size.

Here we have let the keelson into the molds and clamped the inner stem to it and the strongback. The molds have been checked for fairness and beveled as needed and have had battens screwed to them to keep them properly aligned.

Below we have glued up some teak boards into a piece large enough for the transom. To increase the glue joint size we have splined the the seams.