Author: The Slow Boat Builder

I haven’t posted an update for quite some time, partly because updating the blog falls somewhat behind seeing grandchildren, boat building, u3a duties and even household chores, but also because another picture of two more strip-planks is not visually stimulating. However, I have now added my first strip-plank that did not need a scarf joint… Continue reading A Milestone of Sorts

I am making steady progress. Every visit to the shed adds another two planks. The closer to the keel I get, the more twist the planks have. At the stem, planks are vertical, while at the transom planks are now horizontal. I have shown in photographs below clamps being used to get the right twist… Continue reading Taking Stock

I could have called this post “little by little, strip by strip”. As the strip planks go further up the hull with planking, they (obviously) follow the curve of of the bulkheads and my clamps no longer fit, both because of length and because of the curve. The picture below shows the last strip fitted… Continue reading Going Round the Bend

When I looked out of the shed door, Sidney was outside checking on progress. He muttered something about me being so slow. I turned around to remonstrate, but he had already gone. I am working as fast as I can Sidney! It is slow work. Adding one strip takes me about an hour and a… Continue reading Planking Progress

But, sailing season is upon us and I need my Cornish Shrimper on the water. The sails are now on and I have the tough problem of splitting my time between sailing and boat building.

Given that strip planking will go on for some time, I decided to show the process in some detail. The first picture below shows the previous strip in place ready for the next to be fixed. I am using West System epoxy and they advise a two-step bonding process. First, the surfaces to be bonded… Continue reading Fixing on a strip plank

Finally on to planking. Strip planking of course, and the clue is in the name. Each plank is 30mm wide so there will be a lot of them. The first strip, shown below is fixed a defined height from the deck shelf. This allows (according to the plans) for the whole hull to the planked… Continue reading First Planks

Despite there being quite a lot of work involved in fairing, pictures do not do a good job of showing where the effort has gone. Below you can see the keel being shaped to match the profile of the bulkheads. At the same time as fairing, I am also preparing the strip planks. I could… Continue reading Fairing Well

I had a visit from one of my crew teams today (I have two teams. The other team is younger) to check on progress. The good news is that I have had a good test of the strength of box frame joints and it stood up well. The bad news is that my crew decided… Continue reading The Crew Visits

In boat building terminology “fair” is a term used to denote the evenness or regularity of a curve or line. The egg box frame – longitudinals, bulkheads, the transom and the stem all need to be “faired” so that the strip planks can be laid to give a nice even, regular surface. I use one… Continue reading Fairing the egg box frame