May - June 2012

Now starts the boat’s actual building process. I have decided that I’m going to strip build this boat with cypress that will be edge glued. Many builders like to use the canoe cove and bead process but I found that it’s an extra step that really isn’t necessary. Edge gluing the strips works great as long as each strip is secured to each station mold and has additional clamps to assist as needed. The cypress strips are 5/16 inches by 1 inch wide. My lumber is in various lengths of 10 – 12 feet so I’ll need to scarf these strips. To assist in the scarfing process I built an eight to one scarf jig that fit on my mobile stationary disc sander. This worked really well and aided in the scarfing process. All of my cypress lumber was rough cut and needed to be planed prior to cutting the strips. After the planing was completed I jointed one edge of each board to acquire a true edge. Then I made a ‘run out ‘sled for my table saw and ripped the 5/16 inch strips. This can be a tedious process so to prevent any machine errors; I only cut 18 strips at a time. Of course my shop buddy Gunther, our standard poodle was on hand for moral support.

Once the strip situation was solved it was time to think about building the transom. I purchased a piece of mahogany with these dimensions; 5/4 x 7.5 x 13ft. @ a cost of $6.95 per board foot or $88.88. I then cut the board in half and edge glued the two pieces together with epoxy to form the transom. On cutting out the transom, sanding the surfaces and edges I took a suggestion from one of the other Melonseed builders and fiber glassed the inside surface of the transom for added strength. The difficult part of the transom was cutting the beveled top edge to meet that profile of station mold # 12. So I measured and then measured again and went ahead and cut the bevel. As it turned out the bevel was perfect on the sides but a bit short on the lower area of the transom, so I decided to just fill these areas with thickened epoxy as I went through the building process. The next step was to place, level and attach the transom to the boat mold. I thus made several supports to align the transom to station mold # 12 and to conform to the sheer of the boat.

Begin an old fashioned builder type I than went ahead and started building a keelson for the boat. The plans called for a ½ inch piece of plywood to be attached to both the transom and that of the stem, thus stabilizing the boat molds. Not wanting to use plywood I purchased a piece of clear white pine with the dimensions of 4/4 x 11 x 12 feet for $16. Then I made a 4/4 x 2 x 14 foot keelson to join the transom and the stem. To attach the keelson to each station mold I glued small 2 x 2 x 4 inch blocks to each station mold and attached the keelson to these blocks with ¼ inch carriage bolts. I guess some of my building friends would say that this was ‘overkill’ but I must tell you the building form was extremely ridged and completely aligned on all angles.