usedtosail

Thanks Popeye. I didn't think of that. Luckily most of the bulwark is not curved. I did soak the couple near the end and clamped them to get them to bend slightly. I gave the deck planks a coat of wipe on poly too. After I cut a few of them, I sanded them and stuck them to some folder material with double sided tape, then gave them a coat of diluted gesso as a primer. The tape keeps them in the right order as I paint them.

I added the deck planks between the hatch coamings and sanded them for staining. I also started fitting the bulwark supports, but I will paint these white before installing them. I may also soak them and clamp them to the sides before painting them as there is a slight curve on the insides of the bulwarks. I stained the new deck planks and the coamings, then gave all the deck planks another coat of stain. While that was drying I made the four mooring bollards. The instructions said to make them from 5mm plywood but I knew they wouldn't look good, so I thinned down a 1/4" square piece of basswood down to 5mm. I first filed a V groove into the wood using a square file on a 45 degree angle. I then used the disk sander to sand in the 45 degree angles to the groove, then sanded the top to height. I finally cut them off the strip with the table saw. I haven't cleaned these up yet but I was happy how they came out.

While painting the rudder I started making what the instructions call bulwark supports, which are the strips along the insides of the bulwarks. These have a taper at the top so instead of using strip wood and cutting the taper into each one, I planed down some sheet wood to the angle and cut them out on the table saw. Here is the set up I used to slice them off. The plexiglas guide came from the NRG Journal a few issues back. It worked great cutting 3mm strips from the 2mm sheet. I need over 40 of these so cut about 60. This turned out to be a practice exercise because I didn't pay attention to how the grain ran on the sheet and all the strips have the grain running across them, but worse is the sides are all end grain. I have another sheet sanded down with the taper across the end grain so that when I cut them out again the grain will run the same as if I cut them from strip wood. Another learning experience! I have also started making the hatch coamings for the two storage hatches. I started using the supplied laser cut parts, but I really did not like the end grain of the end pieces showing along the sides, as the side piece were too small to fit all the way along the hatch. So I cut new longer side pieces from some mahogany sheet I had, then cut the end pieces to fit between them, as shown on the right hatch. You can see the ugly end grain in the hatch on the left. I am going to stain not paint these coamings so this will make them look much better. Once these hatch coamings are done I have to add more deck planks between them. At that point I will probably give the deck and hatch coamings a coat of Wipe On Poly.

Just beautiful Phil. Nice job.

Working on mounting the rudder today. I nailed the gudgeons to the hull using the blackened nails. I first drilled a hole then pushed and glued the nails into the holes. Next I marked the locations of the gudgeons on the rudder then nailed the pintles to the rudder. The top pintles needed to be trimmed to length so I still need to drill another hole in them and add another nail. The instructions said to use a small nail as a pin but they were way too small, so I cut two lengths of brass rod and glued them inside the pintles. I need to do some clean up of the paint and mask the rudder to paint the bottom black to match the black on the hull.

I painted the tops and sides of the rails the same green as the trim pieces and touched up the white paint on the inside and outside of the hull. I have painted the rudder white and will add the black when I know where it will be mounted, so it will match the black on the hull. I made the tiller from a 1/4" square piece of basswood. The plans included a top and side views of the tiller so I copied them to the right scale then glued the side view to the wood. I cut the shape roughly on the scroll saw, then glued the top view on and cut it out. This was very roughly shaped and I used files and sand paper to get the final shape. I then used the mill to cut the slot in the top which I squared up with a square file. I filed the top of the rudder to fit the hole, then gave the tiller two coats of primer. I will finish it with white paint. I will be mounting the rudder next.

No, it was on Long Island in NY. They built gyros for all kinds of ships and aircraft.

My dad helped build those Sperry gyroscopes.

After a week of relatives visiting, I finally got some time in the shop the last couple of days. I finished thinning down the rails and primed them with diluted gesso. I am going to paint the top and sides of the rails green but I will leave the bottoms white. I fit the gudgeons to the stern post and the pintles to the rudder, then blackened them along with some nails. The upper gudgeons and pintles will be painted white, but I blackened them because I find the paint sticks better and they have the same texture and the lower ones. I also started priming the rudder.

Congrats to your daughter. I am glad you liked our part of the world. Lake Winnepasauki is nice but Newfound Lake is our piece of heaven.

Beautiful job, Frank.

I am building the Panart Santa Lucia Sicilian Cargo Boat. I am currently working on the rails and will then move onto the rudder and deck furniture.

I have cut out and attached the two rails from basswood sheet. I was able to make these in one piece and managed not to break them as I shaped them. I started by cutting out the pieces oversize then sanded the inside curve to fit. I used a compass to mark the outside curve using the inside edge as a guide. I then cut this out a little oversize and sanded the outside edge to the line. I then glued them onto the hull using medium CA, and will do a final sanding once they are dried. The port side especially needs to be thinned a little more. I will then prime and paint them the same green as the trim pieces.

So here is how the trim pieces came out. I touched up the green paint on the ends and I still have a little touch up of the white paint near them at the ends. I have the templates made for the rails so now I need to cut them out of 1/16" basswood sheet.

Thanks Fernando and Popeye. After gluing the other side lower trim piece on, I added the two upper trims pieces. These I was able to clamp as I glued them so they were a bit easier to add. I sanded the ends of the trim pieces to be flush with the stem and stern post, so I have a little touch up to do on the green paint. Then I will make and add the rails along the tops of the bulwarks.