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PATRICK'S WOODENBOAT SCHOOL BLOG - DAY 7

Well, my learning journey at The WoodenBoat School has come to an end.  Saturday morning we had a ½ day schedule. The only thing we could really do was to fiberglass the inside of the boat and say goodbye.

The RAPTOR staples and finish nails were well received as they performed as advertised! They held the cedar strips in place to allow the wood joints to cure and the F/15 finish nails joined the ends together even though they were under extreme stress from the curvature of the hull design. No problem! We eliminated the need to remove any of the staples or nails as the staples were sanded off and the nails remained as a part of the structure.

After spending 7 days with 7 wood boat building enthusiasts I am slightly wiser, a bit in awe of their talents and I have a greater appreciation and respect for a wonderful passion. It is truly an art and a religion.

To my blog readers, thank you for allowing me to share this amazing experience with you.

Patrick


Some additional photos...

PATRICK'S WOODENBOAT SCHOOL BLOG - Day 6

It’s Friday, Day 6 of my experience here at The WoodenBoat School. We have fiber glassed the shell of the hull and are excited to pop it off the strongback and then start working on the inside of the boat. I can already predict a lot of sanding. We did much the same as yesterday; faired the hull, filled holes and voids, sanded with 80-grit sandpaper, fit the fiberglass cloth and did a final fill on the fiberglass.

There were several learning experiences regarding fairing which many perfectionists would appreciate (me being one of them!). It’s not perfect until it's perfect. 38 strips of cedar need to feel as one by line of sight, touch and experience. You know when you know it’s right. I cannot explain it any other way. After we all agreed that we will be here all summer if we did not stop, we all agreed that enough was enough and the hull was smooth enough to be done.  We dry-fitted the inside with fiberglass and did the final fill and sanding. We will glass the inside tomorrow morning and close up our week by noon.  There will be a few more hours (about 50 man hours) to finish a boat of this size.  I’ll finish up tomorrow with the closing details.

It has been a wonderful experience. We held the traditional Friday night Lobster Boil at the boathouse for the students and staff. We had approximately 80 friends show up that were not friends on Sunday night. It’s a special place with wonderful people.

PATRICK'S WOODENBOAT SCHOOL BLOG - Day 5

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.

PATRICK'S WOODENBOAT SCHOOL BLOG - DAY 5

ONE OF THE REASONS WHY RAPTOR NAILS & STAPLES ARE SOOOOO GREAT FOR BOAT BUILDING....

You can't do this with metal. 

Check out the video. Today we sanded the hull with 80-grit sandpaper on an orbital sander.

You can see that the S/05 RAPTOR staples smooth away like butter.

PATRICK'S WOODENBOAT SCHOOL BLOG - DAY 4

Our morning row was cancelled due to poor weather. Rain and 60 degrees. Oh well! Back to work.

Today was all about strip planking. 36 strips of ¾” cedar 21 feet long. We used approximately 1,300 S/05-25 staples and 250 F/15-100 finish nails in addition to ½ gallon of Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue for every joint. We joined the scarf’s with West Systems G/5 Five Minute Adhesive. The adhesive is so strong we used it to fill some small voids and worked it into some weak areas, too. We finished the build late this afternoon and look forward to sanding, fairing, and sealing the hull tomorrow. This will be a great example of how we can sand off the S/05 staples with 80-grit sandpaper and an orbital sander. I’ll post a video tomorrow night.

The boat is taking shape.

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