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Boat Projects / Chuck Paine / Sail & Row Boat Projects December 20, 2015
Vintage traditional boats often had raw wood decks that had a natural no slip effect even when wet. Nowadays, we put a non-skid texture on surfaces that could be dangerous when wet. It can be molded in the surface on fiberglass boats, or added to the paint on modern wooden boats. For the Chuck Paine […]
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Boat Projects / Herreshoff 12 1/2 / Restoration / Sail & Row Boat Projects / Tools / Woodworking December 11, 2015
I’ve posted before about clamping because, in wooden boat work, you’re always trying to clamp things that aren’t straight, flat, or square. This week’s clamping challenge was a garboard plank on the 12 1/2 I’m restoring. The first plank was easy because it’s twin, on the other side, wasn’t installed yet and I could get […]
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Well, my fullness from Thanksgiving has finally subsided and I’ve had some time to work on the San Francisco Pelican a bit. I’ve fabricated the centerboard trunk and am fitting it to the keel. Since this boat is epoxy coated plywood for the most part, I made sure the inside of the trunk was […]
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Nancy Reagan was referring to saying no to drugs. I don’t have that problem. My ‘drug’ of choice comes in a long neck bottle or is distilled from corn mash. Perfectly legal. What I do have a problem saying no to, is paying work. I’m really grateful for every job that comes in my shop. However, […]
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Boat Projects / Herreshoff 12 1/2 / Restoration / Sail & Row Boat Projects November 13, 2015
I just received some new bronze hardware for the Herreshoff 12 1/2 in the shop for restoration. It comes from JM Reineck & Son foundry in Massachusetts. It pretty much resembles jewelry. We have some bronze blocks with ball bearing sheaves that aren’t pictured. The owner has them probably because he wants to touch them […]
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Boat Projects / New Boat / New Construction / Pelican / Sail & Row Boat Projects / Tools / Woodworking November 6, 2015
I think Bob Seger had something else in mind when he penned Night Moves. In my case, I just had to work a bit late and found myself in the dark with the time change and all. Makes for a nice shop picture anyway. I just started fabricating the centerboard trunk for the Pelican […]
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Boat Projects / Restoration / Sail & Row Boat Projects / Tools / Uncategorized / Woodworking October 30, 2015
I’ve been working on the restoration of this nice little Penguin class sailboat when I can. Since she’s made of stable plywood, I’m adding a layer of fiberglass and epoxy to make a nice hard candy shell on the boat. This will essentially waterproof it, give it some abrasion resistance, and maybe strengthen it up […]
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Traditional plank on frame, smooth skin, boats usually have what we call “caulked seams”. This means that where two planks meet, there is a small ‘V’ shaped groove that gets stuffed with strands of cotton to help ensure a water tight seal, a good thing to have when you’re offshore. This cotton can also strengthen […]
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Occasionally, being a boatbuilder attracts calls from some unusual customers. See, we already do kind of weird work, so if someone needs something odd done, we get the call. This job was pretty simple, so I thought. Just fiberglass some plywood concrete column forms. Trouble is, when the forms were dropped off, they were in […]
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Restoration / Steaming / Uncategorized / Woodworking October 2, 2015
I’m not going to eat steamed veggies on a Friday, no way, but how about some delicious mahogany. I first learned of steaming wood in plastic bags in a Runabout restoration book years ago. I thought that author had a lot of “out there” ideas about boat work, but this one is pretty good. If you […]