Cherokee Blog
Let’s get steaming!
With the ribbands fastened to the molds, we’re now ready to bend in the frames.
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Getting to the ribbands
There’s a few more things to complete before it’s time to attach the ribbands.
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More subtle progress
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
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
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...
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
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
A quick entry tonight, more tomorrow.
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A boat building glossary
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
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?
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
The keel sections are getting their final work done in preparation for joining them together.
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Working through the Folk Festival
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
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!
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
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
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
We use parts from a boat similar to Cherokee to guide our construction decisions.
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OK, it Looks like lofting, but ...
While we work on generating the rabbet line, there's construction drawings to be done.
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So long lofting
And Hello Parts!
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Drawings lead to patterns lead to jigs lead to parts
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
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
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
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
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
With the grid drawn on the loft floors, we'll be ready to start lofting tomorrow.
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Views of the workspace
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
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
If you can't come down to the museum, you can follow our progress here.
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