Good evening fellow wooden boat enthusiasts!
We started out the day with a 1 hour row in the Eggemoggin Reach with our course instructor Clint Chase and 5 classmates. I had the pleasure to row a 14' Whitehall which is similar to the 21' St. Lawerence skiff that we are building in class.
While some of us were on the water, the others were sanding the composite staples off of the planking with an orbitable sander. We posted a video earlier in the day. It was great to hear the comments from the guys as to how easy and simple it was. The benefits far outweighed the alternative of using steel staples; hours of staple removal with a staple remover. I cannot imagine removing 1,300 staples by hand. It took us 10 minutes with the sander. And we didn't have to fill any holes!
Today was all about fairing the hull. It requires patience, a good feel, a great eye and a lot of sandpaper. We planed the uneven surfaces, used flexible sanding battens, handmade foam shaped form blocks to shape the curves. It took us about 3 hours to sand the hull to a point were we all were happy. After a quick lunch, we filled voids and holes with wood filler and we continued to trim the palnking and round the edges. After some final details and a thorough clean up of sawdust, shavings and materials we finally fit the hull with e-glass fiberglass fabric for the fiberglassing.
Tomorrow, I think we get to take the hull off of the strongback and the molds.
I'd like to see some close up of the finished staple holes after the glass work is done. Maybe compare it with a boat with staple holes and with stapleless construction. You know us crazy boat builders - it's our passion and religion. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for the request. I do not have any photos however: I can tell you that there are no holes since the staple legs remain in the substrate. Think of it as already sealed!
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