First Try is Planked

[Bob Quick]

Well, for better or worse First Try is planked. For those of you who don't know, it is a Penobscot 14 and my first try at boat building.

Pictures of course.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid131/pdc32f0e60a9d99a87e2f3259412ab120/f7a7c006.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid131/p74d4a4cf78cf7088fa0c7d3a24b3835a/f7a7c00e.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid131/p1a0190ebe0f201bf39662d7df1fb0389/f7a7c018.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid131/p4967f3504e3405fd96341f1e54ebd19f/f7a7c027.jpg

Lots of filling, fairing and sanding before turning. The family says we have to have a turning party. They want to know if there are any special traditions that go along with turning.

I suppose that I ought to sweep the floor sometime as well.

Bob Quick

[mmd]

Way to go, Bob! Ya done good, lad.

Special roll-over ceremonies? Drink beer, barbeque burgers, and invite lots of friends. (Turn boat over before second round of beer.)

Sweep floor?! Yeah. Right. Isn't that to be saved up to be a "punishment chore" for your kids (or grandkids)? :D

[L.W. Baxter]

Right on, Bob!

As far as the floor goes...a nice, thick layer of sawdust and detritus makes a concrete floor easier on the feet and back, and cushions the blow for the occasional tool that rolls off the boat/workbench. Like that big ol' bench plane, maybe? ;)

And I don't know about your Rip and Snort, but my kids always fight over the privilege of who gets to sweep up. Its all in how you sell it, eh?

--Lee

[ken mcclure]

Nice!

Nah, don't sweep. Pick up the big pieces and leave the sawdust. It's better than a carpet!

[LightningJack]

Nice job on the boat. Plank on frame seems pretty ambitious for a first time, I'll probably wimp out and go ply for my first build (if...uh...I mean WHEN I finish my repair project).

As for the sawdust, am I the only paranoiac who sees sawdust as a fire hazard? I bust out the shopvack whenever a little sawdust coats the floor. I picked up that fear when I read about the fire at Gannon & Benjamin, in Michael Ruhlman's <U>Wooden Boats</u>. Also, I make most of my sawdust in a wooden shed, with a wooden floor, right next to an old wooden house.
-J

[Garrett Lowell]

She looks good, Bob! Can't wait to see the photos of the turnover.

[NormMessinger]

"First Try" eh. I suppose "First Success" is a bit long for a boat name. She sure looks nice from where I sit.

[JimD]

Tell the kids if they do a good job sweeping up they can have a beer, too. :D Great looking boat, Bob.

[brad9798]

Looks GREAT!!!!

Keep us posted!!

[Dennis Rioux]

Bob,

It looks very nice, indeed. I have about 3 hours into assembling the jig and frames for my Penobscot 14 project, so I am at the extreme other end of things. Did you by chance keep track of the time you have invested to this point? Just curious. What wood did you choose for the stem, keel, and stringers? Great work.

Dennis

Edit: Found your post from May about wood choice.

[ 07-29-2004, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: Dennis Rioux ]

[Wayne Jeffers]

Lovely! You must be a fast learner. ;) Keep up the good work!

Wayne

[gary porter]

Great looking boat, I love those lines in the last shot.
Gary... ;)

[Bob Quick]

Thanks to all. This is a real fun project.

Braam; I know how the father and childhood thing goes. Sadly, I have not a single positive memory of my father.
Which is why I swore early as a father that my children and grandchildren would remember me differently.
None of my kids have had a broom in thier hand for a first tool. I wanted them to find the joy first, they will have plenty of time for the mundane.
It took me alot of years to figure out that you can have fun at this instead of being yelled at or smacked.
All 5 of my kids enjoy the shop, some more than others. My daugher met her husband when we where blacksmithing together.
My grandsons both love the shop. The 6 year old has hammers, saws and his own plane ( a little 202).
He is really into clamps and glue right now.
The 3 year old has discovered the scew gun and drywall screws.
I would rather sweep up myself then make them and spoil the smiles.
Thier mother wonders just how much sawdust can they get on thier bodies anyway.

Dennis: I figure I have about 120 to 130 hours (maybe more, I don't keep real good track) in at this point. Don't know if that is good or not.
I actually started cutting wood in late March but have fallen behind schedule.
I try to do something every day even if it is only a lick with the plane. Work travel and family stuff cut into it of course.
Lots of thoughts to pass on. I'll email if you like.
Or maybe start a thread.

Bob

[Steve McMahon]

Fantastic! smile.gif
You have inspired me to check out that design a little more.

[Dennis Rioux]

Bob,

Don't hold back on those thoughts smile.gif -- if you have the time to post them I am sure there are others in addition to me who would be interested. I could only hope to get my hull planked in such a short time. But I did finish the jig tonight. Onto the frames -- whee!

Dennis

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Well Bob has tricked all of you, but not me. The only excuse for such a beauty of a hull is that it is the "First Try" on a Penobscot 14. ;)

Clearly he has made boats before - how else to explain the hull? Well done Bob, you should be pleased with your efforts. Man... she's going to be a sharp boat. Arch is a real help too.

[Bob Quick]

Honest guys, the biggest thing I have made before First Try is a bedroom set for my daughter's wedding. I do have alot of wood working experince but most of it is small stuff. Like black powder rifles and musical insturments. I did do a coffin once. The rifles and insturments are good training for the eye, I'll admit.

OK, thoughts on what I have done so far.
1) It is real easy to over bend or twist things. I wasn't strong enough to get the stinger where I thought they should be. So I rigged a spanish windlass and did it.
Trouble was it put to much stress on the bends particularly where they went over the bulkheads. One screw hole and POW, they went off like a pistol shot.
So cut extras and take it easy.
2) On the subject of screws, I found that if I hand tightend the screws for the stingers I didn't break them. The screw gun had to much torque and would crack the stringers.
3) I found that the 1 1/4 for the stringer to stem connection where to short. The stringers pulled them right out so I went to 1 1/2.
4) I used much more epoxy and filler than I thought I would, I write the epoxy off to mixing to much when I started. I'm using System 3
(they are about a quarter mile down the street from work) and 3 squirts from the pump was enought to do each half plank. I still had plenty of squeeze out of the joints.
The cross sections that I can see do not appear to be starved. I used ALOT more filler then Arch says. Either I don't understand or the estimate is low. I wound up buying 2 more quarts.
5) Arch seems to imply that the rough planks are rectangular. They are NOT. More like smile. If you cut rectangle with the width being 2 inchs greater than the widest spot on the plank, you will run out either on the ends or in the middle. Wasted a half sheet of plywood figuring that out. I wound up making a template for the lower curve (closest to the keel) tracing and cutting that, then using a square to trace the proper width dimention on the opposite edge.
6) Speaking of plywood, I wound up buying 6 sheets of okomue 1088 from Edensaw. Of the 6 sheets, 2 had major flaws. A void in one that ran the width of the sheet
and a missing center lamination covering a little better than a square foot on the other. To Edensaw's credit, they took care of it for me and was nice about doing it. I do recommend them but look out for flaws.
7) I glued the garboards to the temporary frames because the squeeze out over ran and I didn't catch it until it set. After that I masked the frames and such with packing tape.
8) Been warm out here in Seattle area, 80s and 90s. Having only fast (#1) hardner the working time was unacceptable at those temperatures. So I took to doing the glue up about 4 AM when it was the coolest. I also used an ice bath for the mix. I was ok but you have to move right along. I found that I could mix, spread, and screw both halves of the plank in about an hour. Cleanup took about another half an hour.
9) If you don't have a sharp well setup plane, get one. If you have one but don't know how to set it up, see the varoius threads here. Particularly the one from Bob Smalser.
If you are still uncomfortable with setting up, UPS me the plane and I will set it up for you. I have several and they are one of the joys of woodworking. My biggest is a Stanley #7 and my smallest is a violin makers plane. I use a #4 or #5 and a little 202 mostly. Get a good rabbeting plane for the gains.
10) Fitting planks to the gains where a problem for me until I just did what Arch says. Leave a little extra on the stem end of the plank and plane to fit the gain.
11) Setup times and stick to them. I found that early in the morning gave me about 2 hours before having to go to work. I know that 4 AM sounds wierd to people but it has alot of advantages. Think about it, in 5 days that's 10 hours. When was the last time you had that much time in a week undistrubed? And it is about 2 planks a week. A mere 5 weeks from being planked. Give up useless things in life like television. I stopped 15 years or so ago and found the time to do a number of things I said I always wanted to. Including building a boat.

I'm sure there is more but my brain is shutting down.

Really, I have never built a boat before. And if you think mine looks nice find the thread from Al Meyer. Hope mine looks that nice.

Bob

[Ed Neal]

Great looking job. I like your comment on how to find time for boatbuilding. Looking back on my building project, almost all of my time was in 1.5 to 2.0 hour chunks. Also, slow and steady,doing a little something everyday (even if it's only to go look at the hull for a few minutes) really keeps the momentum going. And project momentum is a very real phenomenon. Stalling out and restarting is difficult.

The hull-turning ceremony can be an opportunity for you to say a few words to the crew just before turning her over. Stop and express why you are building a boat, what's your underlying motivation and what makes you happy in the building process. To them, this project is not about the boat, it is about YOU building a boat. And they'd love to get a glimpse of the spirit that motivates your efforts.

[abe]

The Penobscot does not look like a first try to me. Well done Bob

abe

[almeyer]

Bob,
The planking job looks great. Ditto what everyone else has said about the turnover party, beer and barbeque should be considered mandatory (after the work is done). Been out of town for the last three weeks, so haven't got much done on my sail rig. But since I've got the oars made, the decision after work is "do I work on the rig" or "should I take it out for a row?" Sometimes it's tough to decide. Keep at it, it's looking fine so far and it'll be a sweet boat when you're done.
Al

[rstclair]

Bob,
Looks really Great! Well Done! Have you decided how you are going to do the transom?
Bob