Late December progress
By Tom Daniels on 1/5/2009 1:52 AM
Quite a bit has been done over the past few weeks...
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Cherokee crew
By Tom Daniels on 12/24/2008 5:58 PM
Here's a little holiday photo for the season
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He ain't heavy...
By Tom Daniels on 12/16/2008 1:00 AM
He's my ballast.
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Cherokee denies all charges...
By Tom Daniels on 12/9/2008 11:19 PM
... claims she was set up and framed by boat builders. Film at 11.
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Voila!
By Tom Daniels on 12/4/2008 1:05 AM
Ok, we've got ourselves a planked hull!
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Ready for the shutter!
By Tom Daniels on 12/1/2008 10:44 PM
Tomorrow's the big day... I shutter to think... ow. We're ready to install the last plank at last.
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No Dumb Questions
By Tom Daniels on 11/26/2008 7:12 PM
Meaning: there are no dumb questions. NOT Meaning: No Dumb Questions Allowed. Particularly Meaning: Ask away!
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Wild bung, you make my heart young!
By Tom Daniels on 11/23/2008 11:49 PM
Ouch. Sorry about that. It's the cold. Here's where all those bungs come from.
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Shutter Plank Party Dec 2nd!
By Tom Daniels on 11/23/2008 11:28 PM
We'll be putting the final plank, the Shutter Plank (aka the Whiskey Plank) on the boat at 4pm, Tuesday Dec 2nd. Come join us for cider and a little nip to celebrate closing up the hull!
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A little detective work
By Tom Daniels on 11/18/2008 1:44 AM
One of the fun things about poking around in a shop is trying to figure out what's been going on. Here's some help for you next time you hang out where folks have been using planes.
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Some more planking and fairing
By Tom Daniels on 11/17/2008 11:05 PM
I was away during the past week, but here's where we were before I left.
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A little lesson in rolling bevels
By Tom Daniels on 11/3/2008 12:55 AM
The rolling bevel can frighten new builders, but take heart! You can do it!
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Just the progress, ma'm.
By Tom Daniels on 11/3/2008 12:52 AM
Here's a few photos of our recent progress.
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The museum will be closing for the winter on November 2nd!
By Tom Daniels on 10/28/2008 10:27 PM
Just a reminder, if you want to see Cherokee being built in person, you've just got a few more days!
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Hot hot hot!
By Tom Daniels on 10/28/2008 9:59 PM
The last 3' or so of planking has to take a sharp twist as it comes to the transom, so we use steam to help it make the transition.
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Spile and The Whole World Spiles With You…
By Tom Daniels on 10/16/2008 10:26 PM
Now that the frames are installed, it’s time to get planking.
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Let’s get steaming!
By Tom Daniels on 10/5/2008 11:12 PM
With the ribbands fastened to the molds, we’re now ready to bend in the frames.
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Getting to the ribbands
By Tom Daniels on 9/29/2008 11:04 PM
There’s a few more things to complete before it’s time to attach the ribbands.
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More subtle progress
By Tom Daniels on 9/21/2008 2:58 PM
Some more of the things you might not notice unless you knew where to look...
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The progress that's not immediately apparent
By Tom Daniels on 9/16/2008 9:15 PM
Once the molds are up, we've been able to do our final fairing and adjusting of floors and the rabbet.
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The big question
By Tom Daniels on 9/13/2008 7:12 PM
This question may not be immediately apparent to folks who haven't visited the museum yet, but if you come by, it's sure to cross your mind.
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A nail by any other name...
By Tom Daniels on 9/7/2008 9:04 PM
We don't call these giant rods that hold things in place, "nails," even though that's pretty much what they are.
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The boat begins to take shape
By Tom Daniels on 8/30/2008 5:30 PM
The keel is laid and the molds are beginning to define the shape of the boat.
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Woah, that's a long boat
By Tom Daniels on 8/28/2008 11:24 PM
A quick entry tonight, more tomorrow.
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A boat building glossary
By Tom Daniels on 8/27/2008 12:39 AM
Here's a little glossary of boatbuilding terms that you're likely to run across when dealing with boats and boat builders.
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Lookin' like a keel
By Tom Daniels on 8/26/2008 10:43 PM
The keel is set in place and it now looks like a boat is actually being built in the shop!
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Where DO all those parts go?
By Tom Daniels on 8/17/2008 11:48 PM
We'll try to make some sense of where all these parts you've been seeing go in an actual boat...
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Working on the rabbets
By Tom Daniels on 8/11/2008 9:42 PM
The keel sections are getting their final work done in preparation for joining them together.
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Working through the Folk Festival
By Tom Daniels on 8/5/2008 10:44 PM
Just because we're surrounded by thousands of Jimmy Buffet fans doesn't mean we stop work!
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More parts around the backbone
By Tom Daniels on 7/29/2008 8:31 PM
The molds are mostly done, and the floors are coming along as the backbone gets close to assembly
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Molds, frames, backbone, oh my!
By Tom Daniels on 7/21/2008 8:24 PM
As the molds and laminated frames come together, we're getting the first real taste of the shape of the boat.
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Working on the backbone
By Tom Daniels on 7/16/2008 9:51 PM
Work has been progressing on all elements of Cherokee's backbone over the past week.
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Glue ups and piles of lines
By Tom Daniels on 7/8/2008 7:38 PM
Frame and sternpost laminations have been started, and lofting the wily rabbet continues.
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Using the old parts to make the new parts
By Tom Daniels on 7/5/2008 3:39 PM
We use parts from a boat similar to Cherokee to guide our construction decisions.
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OK, it Looks like lofting, but ...
By Tom Daniels on 7/1/2008 7:47 AM
While we work on generating the rabbet line, there's construction drawings to be done.
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So long lofting
By Tom Daniels on 6/29/2008 8:18 PM
And Hello Parts!
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Drawings lead to patterns lead to jigs lead to parts
By Tom Daniels on 6/25/2008 2:07 PM
The route from line drawings on the lofting floor to actual parts is not always a simple one.
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Working the Lines
By Tom Daniels on 6/18/2008 11:37 PM
If you've never drawn a boat full sized before, you may find yourself saying, "What's the big deal? Just draw what the designer said to draw."
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The boat arrives on a truck
By Tom Daniels on 6/11/2008 9:31 PM
Well, ok, the wood has arrived. I'm here to say, it's a very heavy boat.
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Laying down the profile & long lines
By Tom Daniels on 6/10/2008 9:43 PM
With the body plan done, the next step is to draw the outline of the boat on the long lofting floor.
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Working on the body plan
By Tom Daniels on 6/9/2008 11:44 AM
We've begun working out the lines of the body plan, the view that slices the boat like a loaf of bread.
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Ready for lofting
By Tom Daniels on 6/5/2008 9:52 PM
With the grid drawn on the loft floors, we'll be ready to start lofting tomorrow.
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Views of the workspace
By Tom Daniels on 6/3/2008 7:02 AM
If you can't make it to the museum, here are a few panoramic photos of the workspace and environs to give you a feel for where we are.
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Setting up for lofting
By Tom Daniels on 6/2/2008 6:52 PM
The construction of Cherokee begins with drawing the shape of the boat out full sized, a process known as lofting.
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Welcome to the Cherokee Blog
By Tom Daniels on 5/28/2008 2:16 PM
If you can't come down to the museum, you can follow our progress here.
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