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JeffH
12-05-2002, 10:38 PM
Hi All,

Due to a rather gratifying response to my last attempt to post pictures, I here offer some more of my rather unprofessional attemp to photograph a large boat in a small space. This is where we are now:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid41/pefe754ee0a1a0a822d721fd68385c76c/fcf731b1.jpg

We have nine strakes now all the way around, this after one month of planking with three people. The color change is a change of wood. The darker stuff is angelique, a VERY hard hardwood. Bloody miserable to work with (smells like a manure pile when cut and dulls tools faster than you can sharpen them) but some gawdawful strong. And heavy. The upper stuff is wana, which resembles mahogany except that it has more of an orange color and a waxy feel. My back can tell you it's much lighter than angelique.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid41/pa2a4b2e609f0cbc37d447241d714284c/fcf731ad.jpg

Inside the boat, the bilge stringers are in but not fastened. The stringers are scarfed out of 2 pieces of angelique, but the forward piece on each side is 30' long, 6" wide, 2" thick and clear and straight-grained the whole length. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid41/pf8173f22f9f50d210fe9dced45f1b38c/fcf731b7.jpg

And there's the transom frame. It's curved, eliptical, and laminated out of what appears to be mahogany, but don't hold me to that, since I haven't actually asked. It will eventually be faced with teak.

I'll hold the pictures there, since I have a feeling the files are a bit big. I didn't get a chance to edit them, since it's late and I'm headed to bed. I'll post more later, if there's an interest.

To answer some of the questions about the builder, "Twig" Bower is the Wooden Boat Company and the builder and the owner. It could, I suppose, technically be called a backyard project, since his shop is in fact in his back yard, but it's a 30' X 54' shop and a bit beyond the normal scale of such projects. He has been building this boat for the past five years, mostly by himself, along with operating the charter boat Shantih II with is wife out of Rockport, ME. The Heron, the project pictured above, will replace the Shantih. The Heron was originally named Elissa after his daughter, but the arrival of daughter Rachel midway through construction complicated matters somewhat.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

Jeff

ishmael
12-05-2002, 10:52 PM
Magnificent! The shot of the framing and the stringer is really cool. And that does look like mahogany laminated for the transom...uhm, frame. Don't look like it'll break. :D

Rockport eh? Any possibility of a visit someday? I know another fellow forumite, Joe Dupere just down the road that may be interested too. Might even talk us into to toting and lifting for a bit, if any needs doing.

Anyhoo, you are incredibly fortunate to be working on such a special project. Great work.

Jack

JimD
12-05-2002, 11:00 PM
Truely inspiring! Thanks for the pics
jimd

Bernadette
12-06-2002, 01:06 AM
JeffH, nice boat and we went back and read your last post too. Can you get a photo of the hull planking from the stern? Some nice work going into the boat that's for sure!!!

JimJ
12-06-2002, 06:19 AM
Magnificent! Truly inspiring.

Bernadette & David how is your project coming on?

nedL
12-06-2002, 06:36 AM
Great pictures of what is becoming a beautiful boat! Thanks for them & keep them coming. smile.gif

Concordia..41
12-06-2002, 07:27 AM
Great shots of the boat and looks like excellent work! Wish we had spent more time in Maine last summer while at the boat show and met more people. I’m sure there are a lot more boats being built in the area. Keep the pics coming.

Dave

Conard
12-06-2002, 08:42 AM
Awesome! I like your comment that you'll post more photos if there's an interest. Yes, yes, yes, there's an interest!

Jeff Evans
12-06-2002, 05:58 PM
Absolutely beautiful! More pictures please!!!

Wild Dingo
12-06-2002, 07:25 PM
INTEREST????????? INTEREST???? ARE YOU NUTS!!!!

Strewth of course theres interest... in spades!!

Beautiful work lovely timber and dont you dare just leave it at that!.... more!!!! :cool:

Take it easy
Shane

Ive been wondering when Bernadette and David will be updating us to JimJ... they must be gettin close!

Peter Malcolm Jardine
12-06-2002, 07:41 PM
Wow :eek: smile.gif

Gary Bergman
12-06-2002, 07:43 PM
what he said..... :cool:

Mr. Know It All
12-06-2002, 08:10 PM
OK.....Put me down for interested too. :cool:
Kevin in Ohio

JeffH
12-06-2002, 10:06 PM
Only too happy to oblige:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid41/pf23c234457c9f6da657622d2121824b5/fcf643ae.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid41/pe416f9879dbbfcb645cf554352cac13f/fcf643ad.jpg

By far my favorite view of the boat is from the quarters. The juncture of the stern post to the counter with the tapering caulk seam lines makes this crazy conjunction of lines and curves and angles that is hard to describe. Also hard to photograph, since I can't get far enough away from the boat to get it all in. What I need is a fisheye lense, but that creates its own distortion issues. Bit of a toss-up between art and technical accuracy, I suppose....

Jeff

Scott Rosen
12-07-2002, 05:20 AM
Great. Please post more pictures.

Paul Scheuer
12-07-2002, 07:43 AM
Jeff: You're going to need a bigger camara. ;)
I do like the close ups. Keep them comming.

Redonebyme
12-07-2002, 08:15 AM
great pics.... thats going to be a beautiful boat.!!!keep um'comin'

blaydone
12-07-2002, 11:37 AM
Your pictures are textbook. Keep'em coming!

Bernadette
12-10-2002, 03:50 AM
JeffH
Thanks for the stern shots.
The boat is very nice for sure! Will you (can you) build a web page for posting the boat progress? I think it is so much easier and it's always good to go back to for a historical view on the building.
JimJ et al. please see update on the progress of our yaccht building in other post to forum.
Bernadette.

Wilson Fitt
12-11-2002, 08:29 PM
I echo all of the above. It's wonderful to see a big project come together like this. Makes me wish I was back in the boatshop instead of pushing paper for a living...

I'd be interested in how the frames were made up and faired without station moulds and ribbands to hold the whole thing together, and how the shape is maintained as the planking proceeds and the compression loads start to build. Will you plank straight from the garboard to the sheer strake or move up and work back down to a shutter plank? At what stage will the shelf and clamp be installed? So many questions...I may have to take a drive to Maine to annoy you with them in person.

Keep us posted.

LarryJacobson
12-12-2002, 06:18 AM
JeffH,

Your photos prove the point that wooden boats are just as magnificent during construction as they are when finished.

Inspiring!

Thanks

Larry