Since fitting the centre board, I have dry fitted and fastened with bronze screws the keel filler and outer stem.  Also managed to glue up the dead woods  - made out of Doug Fir.

The outer stem needed modification.  I had made it some time ago in conjunction with the inner stem - both laminated over molds.  However, in an effort to afford some wiggle room, I did not shave down the inner stem to its final proportion, such that when I attached the planks, the bow is slightly wider than specified, resulting in the outer stem being too narrow.  So I simply laminated another wider strip to the inside of the inner stem.  Blessed with a very understanding wife, it sits here in next to the dining table out of the cold nights in the shed!  Once set, the inner stem lined up better with the prow and now is dry fitted to the boat.

Next onto the keel filler.  This was a part which I had made by re-sawing a 1" sapele board and laminating it onto the curve of the keelson.  I needed to cut out a slot to accomadate the centre board.  It now sits also on the boat, fastened with bronze screws.

I made a template of the deadwood from the full size plan and spilled it to the keel where it meets with the keel filler.   The plans call for 6 pieces of 7" and 6" wide 8/4 boards planed down to 1 3/4".   However one of the specified lengths is 26" which according to my template is around 2" short to fit the plan, so I will have to add in a small piece when the main boards are glued up.  It is currently sitting under an electric blanket in the shed, as the nights are becoming very cold.  I did get approval to glue it up inside the warmth of the house, but glad I didn't as it is quite a messy job!


Next day I was able to rough cut out the deadwood to shape on the band saw.

Using a flush trim router bit to take the pattern from inside the centre board trunk.  A very satisfying process which produces a seamless joint.

I spent a fruitless few hours trying to get my chainsaw fired up today.  Apparently the chainsaw is the tool of choice for cutting lead - and I need to trim off 1" off the top of my keel which I over-poured.  The saw is suffering from fuel starvation - there is a tiny air vent in the petrol tank which is blocked and I had to dismantle virtually the whole saw to get at it.  By the time I got to reassemble the temperature had dropped so much that the tiny tubes running to and from the carb became so stiff, I couldn't reassemble ! so have to leave until a warmer day and my patience is in better shape before final reassembly - probably should find some new tubing and proper clips...but it's so tiny possibly only 3mm internal that I'll have a job sourcing.  Ah yes the joys of boat building!

I really want to clean up the keel before finalizing the shape of the deadwoods and keel filler, so one way or another I need to get my saw working!

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The time finally came to cut a hole in the bottom of my boat!  A big long slot in the keelson was required to accomadate the centre board.  Brian came along to assist, which was quite fortunate as it would be quite tiresome hopping from the topside of the boat to inside the hull to position and clamp the trunk in place.

We made a template out of hardboard from the top of the trunk and laid this onto the outer side of the keelson, and drew out where the holes were needed for the trunk posts.  Armed with a 35mm hole saw, I cut 3 holes in the keelson and joined the middle and end hole with a jig saw, for the  slot.  This allowed us to use pipe clamps to hold the trunk in place.  Then we secured the trunk with #14 -3" screws and took away the clamps so that I could run a flush trim router to square off the centre board slot in the keelson, taking a line from the inside of the trunk slot.  This worked really well and ensured a gap free perfectly alignment between the trunk and the keelson.  Some final spiling of the trunk logs was required and subsequent finer shaving off the top of the trunk.  This resulted in a gap free fit and dead square alignment.

Seating the large 3" silicon bronze screws was a bit more troublesome - as they had Frearson (Reed & Prince) heads and the largest bit I had, a #2, did not have sufficient purchase in the screw head, such that I had to cut straight slots in two of the screws to drive them home.  It is surprising how large a pilot hole is required to get these big screws home into hardwood.  Even with the three pipe clamps in place, the screws created further squeeze out of epoxy which was satisfying - evidence that they were doing their job.


Once the epoxy had set, I removed the clamps this morning and re-checked alignment - measuring top of the trunk from each sheer plank to confirm symmetry.  It was rock solid and within 1 mm from sheer to sheer - all told a satisfactory result for the first time wooden boat builder!

So next stage was to cut out the centre board slot in the keel and glue and screw this down on top of the keelson with 48 x 1 1/4" SB screws.  Similarly, I cleaned out the slot in the keel with the flush trim router which ensured that all 3 slots (trunk, keelson and keel) were in perfect alignment.

As these nights are getting cold - forecast -3 deg celcius tonight, I have an electric blanket covering the keel and two small radiators running underneath the hull - should keep her nice and warm for the night.

Tomorrow - hope to start cutting out deadwood for the keel and attaching the outer stem and forefoot keel filler/  There are quite a number of different components making up the "keel" of this boat which initially was a world of confusion, but the fog is clearing and I now see the end in sight to having a finished underwater profile.  Exciting!!

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Panorama photo taken by Jane on her iPhone

Finally completed the planking today..Hurray!!  Ably assisted by Siobhan, Brian and Jane.  

Yours truly lining up the last plank onto the hull.

Since I want to keep my options open to varnish the sheer strake, I used multiple clamps to hold the sheer strake on rather than the screw and batton clamp method used to date.  This was made more manageable because the sheer strake is relatively narrow and so the clamps can reach around the full width of the plank.  

We also glued the centre board trunk together and began planing the garboards to accept the outer keel layer and outer stem.

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Progress slowed somewhat due to family considerations around Christmas and New Year.  However, I finally got around to cutting the sheer strakes for my Somes Sound.  I had to break into a new sheet of plywood, as the remaining scarfed planking stock was too narrow to fit my final sheer planks.  So I had to scarf some new stock and cut the strakes from this.

I fitted the strake on the starboard side today which seem to fit very accurately.  John Brooks states in his book, Glues Lapstrake Wooden Boats, that by the time you get to the final strake you will be an expert at planking- can't say I am an expert, but for sure the final planks go one more confidently that the garboards!

It's a traditionally styled boat, and as far as I understand it is tradition to celebrate the final plank with a whiskey!  So the bottle is ready, but until we get the final strake onto the boat, it will remain unopened...
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I also started building my centre board trunk.  It's quite an enjoyable break from the routine of planking, which is quite repetitive.  The plans include full sized drawings of the trunk, so it was reasonably straightforward to create a template in 1/4" ply and use this to create the trunk sides using a flush trim router.  I say "reasonably" because it did take a while to comprehend the new terminology - trunk posts, trunk logs, trunk log cleats, etc..etc.!

Similarly I used the finished trunk sized as a template to finish the trunk posts and ensure that the trunk ends align perfectly.

I'm hoping to get the trunk completed this week-end and get the final strake fitted.

Rough cut centre board post awaiting final  flush trimming

For those of you who are similarly about to embark on building your first wooden boat, I can vouch for the advice which I received that as you move through the project, some of the mist clears and things become more comprehensible as you progress.  I'm hoping that this optimism on my part is not misplaced!

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Dawn rose...well 10:00am and rushed out to Bren's farm to check how the keel had fared overnight   We loaded it onto a trailor - took it to a weighbridge which suggested that it weighted 360kg - about 95kg more than specified.  But it was still in the mold and the weighbridge was only calibrated to weigh in increments of 20kg.

So we took it back to my house and unwrapped it from its mold.  The mold had charred somewhat, especially the centre board slot, but nonetheless it retained its shape extremely well.  The 150 plus dry wall screws did their job and no lead leaked from any part of the mold - so that was quite satisfying.

Brendan managed to source a professional scales from a friendly neighbour who runs a weighing and calibration business - thanks Kevin - and we weighed it out of the mold - 326kg in total.  So by deduction it seems my bathroom scales were reasonably accurate.  When we measured the keel against the FSP drawings, it seems we did add the extras lead unnecessarily  so now I have the challenge of cutting off a slice off the top of the keel...shouldn't be too difficult!

Bottom line - the keel looks to be fine with a few pock marks on top where the molten lead continued to bubble, but this will probably be removed when I slice off the top of the keel.


The lesson learned were
1) refine the tap so that the lead is directed down into the mold - the pressure at the tap is quite high, presumably due to the weight of molten lead and tended to splash around, so we had to reduce to the flow to a slower rate.

2) Mark the level on the mold to where the lead needs to be poured - we poured extra since the mold didn't look full enough and I couldn't be sure if some lead had just escaped or leaked underneath.  3) The lead looked to be somewhat discoloured - as if heated higher than necessary - not sure if that made any significant difference, but may have reduced the bubbling and gurgling of the lead when it was in the mold and possible lead to increased charring of the mold.

The mold could have possible managed one more pour, but since the first was deemed a success  I consigned the mold to the role of fire kindling.

Finally, I now have the task to cut the top inch or so off the keel,  please feel free to comment on  the best tools for the job.

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The forecast this morning was for clear skies and no rain - seemed like the ideal opportunity to pour our keel.  My friend Brendan is a farmer with lots of open yard spaces so we set up camp on his farm next to an old shed.  Bren's son Jordan did some final welding to secure the crucible and ensure the smelter was stable.

 Meanwhile Brendan was spreading pellets on his land:-

So time to finalise the smelter.  So far we had taken an oxy acetylene bottle and remodeled it into a crucible   This was encased by a steel drum with a smart side opening door for feeding fuel and a monstrous chimney, which was supposed to create a venturi effect and reduce the smoke in our vicinity.... and voila!

The smelter was a great success - the crucible became red hot burning only scrap wood from old freight pallets.  The chimney also worked a treat - although the wooden post we used to prop it up burned through - even though it was about 3 ft away from the top of the burner.  Also the aluminium pop rivets we used to hold the hinges on the door, melted away, so we had to replace with self tapping screws - suggests we were getting a decent fire going!


I weighed out 270kg of lead ingots which I had already smelted (see earlier post) and once the crucible was hot enough (reading >500 deg celcius on temperature gun) stacked them into the crucible.  Less than 20 minutes later I heard a rumble from within the crucible and upon inspection, it appeared that they had melted.

Time for final preparations to the mold, ensuring it was level and scorch the inside with a gas torch.   When it was time to pour, I was too busy to take some photos but I had a video camera running in the background.    The tap we made was fairly leak-proof, only a tiny dribble of lead leaked.  However it did not pour very accurately so we had to makeshift some barriers to direct the lead flow into the mold.  Surprisingly the 270kg of lead (weighed on a bathroom scales) did not completely fill the mold so we melted a further approx 50kg of lead and topped up the mold.  I am not sure if the final amount was necessary, as closer inspection of the lead keel mold plans suggests it does not need to be filled to the brim.  I was pleased that the mold held up, without being encased in sand and there were no leaks.  However, lots of bubbling ensued, maybe the wood in the mold was not bone dry, even though I had it stored in my garage since I made it last month.

Tomorrow, we intend taking the keel to be weighed on a calibrated scales to see if we have poured too much lead or was I using an incorrectly calibrated bathroom scales.

It was dark when we were completing the final pour - so you like I will have to wait until tomorrow before seeing the finished result!

Meanwhile, here are some updates on the planking - managed to get another pair hung:-

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Still continuing with planking operations.  Progress has been slow, not least because my two helpers insist I play ball with them in the garden rather than helping me in the workshop..




I have been comparing results from spiling with  an articulating template and those from using the 2 batten and trellis method.  I made a test plank using the spiling method and overlaid these against the profile resulting from the trellis and batten method.

Here you can see the battens underneath the test plank, which shows a slight difference in dimensions, although not so much to really show whether one is unworkable.

I also started using my staple gun with small 15mm pins which hold the battens onto the boat and molds without piercing the planks.

Using hardboard as the trellis between the battens, I attached these with a hot glue gun, but this results in a slow clean up afterwards, so I will next try relying solely on the staple gun.

One aspect of using the trellis method is to ensure that the battens are quite supple and not too strong or springy as otherwise they tend to revert to their shape and reduce the arc required in the plank.  I have the process reasonably refined, as follows:-

1) Pin batten onto previous plank aligning it to the pencil line drawn on the plank at the top of the bevel.
2) Pin second batten onto the molds aligned on the marks for the lower edge of the plank.
3) Attach trellis between the batten, much like rungs of a ladder (using hot glue or staple gun)
4) Remove trellis from boat and set onto planking ply
5) Pin trellis battens onto planking ply
6) Remove trellis from battens, which act as guides for the next two steps
7) Cut planking play using circular skill saw with John Brooks jig
8) Finish edges with router armed with flush trim router, as per John Brooks directions in GLWB

One of my new home made tools has been invaluable in attempting to refine my dory gains at the transom.  Gluing 80 grit paper on a thin batten, allows me to run this between the plank lands at the dory gain and mate them together.

I say attempting because it is still not a very positive process but rather test and see, test and see...and repeat, until you get fed up and resort to thickened epoxy...I'm thinking of developing this approach my gluing some 120 grit paper on the blade of my Bosch multi tool.  While on the subject of multi tools, I was quite skeptical of these but on reading another Somes Sound blog by Dave in SFO, I picked up he had found these very useful, so I did some research and decided on the Bosch GOP SCE 300 Professional as a good compromise between quality and cost.  So far I have found it to be far more versatile than expected and I have found quite a number of uses for it.

Here's another product which I have been using to good effect recently - it's a 10 second glue which I have found invaluable for making quick jigs and gluing up templates and patterns in hardboard.  The bottle seem to be like a superglue formula while the aerosol is the catalyst.  You apply glue on one side and spray the aerosol on the other, press together for 10 seconds and you have a very strong joint.

I'm on my last three plank pairs, so hope to get the planking finished within the next 5 or so days and then plan to pour my lead keel.  Stay tuned!

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