This Is Where I Draw The Line(s)

After the keel, I lofted and cut out the hull bottom.

Hull Bottom Cutouts

Looks kind of small doesn't it? It gets bigger as the boat gets taller.

The way I loft the hull bottom is to draw a line down the center of the plywood. Then I mark perpendicular station lines every 10 1/2". I mark two points on each station line by measuring out a certain distance on each side of the center line. Then I put a nail at each point far enough in to just hold the nail in the wood. I use a batten that I ripped from 1 X 6 stock earlier and push it against the nails. Since I'm doing this by myself and I have to push hard to make some of the curves, I use clamps at every nail to hold the batten against them. Then I draw a line against the batten between each nail and when I remove the batten and nails it leaves the shape of the hull drawn on the plywood. I just cut along each line. The boat flairs out from the hull bottom 23 degrees on each side so I make the cuts with my saw set at a 23 degree angle. It's real easy to make a mistake by measuring the wrong distance or angling the cut the wrong way. I measure everything about four or five times and then I check all the measurements again. I stand there with the saw in my hand just looking at the wood for a couple of minutes before I start cutting. I didn't take any pictures of this process because I really had to concentrate on what I was doing and I happen to be chewing gum at the time. Here is a picture that is a little closer and if you look hard you can see the lines I drew on the wood.

Hull Bottom Lofting Lines

Now I need to attach the two pieces together and the battens to the edges. I start the screws into the wood the same way I did on the keel every three inches and a set distance in from the sides.

Hull Bottom Screws

I use a 1 X 4 to join the two pieces together and start the batten at the bow screwing and gluing as I go. Here is the finished product

Hull Bottom Glued and Screwed

Hull Bottom

It's actually upside down in these pictures because I screw the screws in from what will be the outside of the hull. This will be the only thing between me and the water. I sure hope I used enough glue!


Next I start on the top deck. I use the same process, drawing a reference line and station lines, measuring out the correct distance and angling all the outside cuts. It's a little different because I measure the two points out on the same side of the reference line. There are a total of five pieces for the deck. Here are pictures of each piece and how they fit together.

Deck Cutouts

That gets you all caught up to where I am today. I've been doing most all of the work on the weekends and I'm pretty happy with my progress over the last month. Each day I plan out what I want to get done but it usually takes much longer than I ever imagined to make each part. The routine is that I usually read through the plans a few times, watch the chapter of the video that has the part I'm building once or twice, then read along as I'm watching the video. I go outside and get everything ready and get started. I make about twenty trips to the shed to get the tools I need. I check my measurements and recheck them. Then I fix the ones I got wrong and check them a couple of more times. Maybe I go back inside to watch the video again. While I'm there I might as well make a sandwich and sit down to see what game is on tv while I eat. Then I get involved in the game and just have to watch until it's decided. Go back outside and figure out where I left off. Then go back inside to watch the video again because I forgot what I saw before eating lunch. Once I get all the pieces marked off and cut I'm ready to call it a day but I have to make another 20 trips to the shed to put the tools back up. What I think will be a two hour job ends up taking all day. But I'm having fun.


One day I decided that I wanted to sit in the rocker on the front porch and whittle so I got my knife out and went to town on that 2 X 4 that I'm using for my tiller handle.

Tiller

I still have a little more work to do on it but it fits my hand well.