The Guillemot is a strong, capable boat along the lines of a 19th Century ship's boat or large yacht tender. She floats on her designed waterline with three adults aboard and can take a great load of gear as well; she'll carry five people for moderate distance in suitable conditions.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

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.





















Tuesday, January 6, 2009

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.