The shutter plank party is an old tradition. When they put the final plank on the fishing boat Roann at Mystic Seaport last year, the shipwrights poured a glass of the last captain's favorite drink on the plank before installing it.
We don't know the favorite grog of Cherokee's last owner, so we're going with a decent scotch. Let's just hope he wasn't a big bloody mary drinker.
The boat shop is unheated, so the 20 degree weather has been... inspiring. It makes the active jobs very attractive. Winter is the absolute best time to fair and longboard the hull of a boat. You work hard and warm up quickly. It's also a good time to have wood bodied planes to use. Grabbing a metal plane on a cold cold day is just no fun at all.
So, here's a few scenes from the shop over the past week or so.
Robin working on the aft end of a plank before the cold front moved in.
He uses the board clamped to the plank both give him a line to cut to, and to guide his saw so that he cuts exactly perpendicular to the face of the plank.
We only have a few vises in the shop to hold planks, so we come up with a variety of ways to hold a plank steady while we work on it.
This is a nice little jig that Karl worked up. The darker stick of wood swings up to hold the plank in place, and the blocks closer to the bench can be used to wedge the plank up against the stick.
Speaking of slick little home made gizmos, here's something that we picked up from the guys at Mcclave, Philbrick & Giblin. Who knows where they picked it up... It's nothing more than 2 blocks of oak held together by bolts.
We clamp this onto a frame, and use it to wedge against when we're fastening planks onto the boat.
In this photo, the plank above the wedge is being pressed against its mate using this little wedge system. This holds the planks tightly together while we screw them to the frames. We also have nifty manufactured edge-setting clamps that we use if there is enough space in between the planks, but these are perfect for tight spaces.
We've been moving smartly along with planking. Here's the port side with 2 planks left to go:
and a few more to go on starboard.
And another plank goes onto the starboard side...
And one more goes on to port.
I'd say that's looking pretty sweet.
Here's the final plank on port being spiled out.
Here's Robin getting ready to finish the spiling.
Sorry about that Robin. Truly an unflattering photo. Maybe if you'd stop shivering for a minute...
Here's Karl working on the spiling for the next-to-last plank on starboard.
We are really enjoying the shape of the boat as the hull has been faired. It's a little hard to show with a 2-D photo, but the fullness and curves of this boat are truly lovely.
You can get a bit of a feel for it by seeing the inside of the boat.
The frames give a good sense of how quickly the shape changes as the hull comes down to the keel.
We're pleased with how nicely the planks sit against the frames, as well as how tightly they fit against each other. Seeing things come together so nicely makes all that backing out and fiddling worthwhile.
In an effort to decrease the draftiness in the shop, as well as to protect the rest of the museum from the upcoming clouds of dust when we longboard the hull, we built a barrier between the shop and the upper viewing gallery.
First we set up a network of lines, and then laid plastic tarps over the lines and railings to seal off the shop.
This has cut down on the draft from a ventilating fan in the roof considerably. Good thing, because the winds out here at Ft. Adams have been gusting up to 30 mph recently. Brrrr...
Now, Don't forget:
Whiskey Shutter Plank Party
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
4:00 pm
Put it in your calender now. You know how easy it is to forget things.
Afterwards, head over to IYRS to hear Toby Rodes' talk on the 6 Metre class at 7:30 pm at Restoration Hall. We're looking forward to seeing you here!
Next up, more bungs than you can shake a stick at.