ThirdCoast

I made a little progress today. I gave everything a nice sanding and attached the hull pieces. The one step I had trouble with though is how to attach the transom/stern cleat assembly. I couldn't quite see in the instructions where these parts are supposed to sit on the hull. Was the narrow transom bottom supposed to go flush on the back of the hull? Maybe the narrow end should sit outside? And which side of the cleat assembly should be attached to the hull? The longer side or the shorter side? Pointing to the longer side of the stern cleat. In the end, I did what I thought made the most sense but I sort of feel like if this is wrong, it will cause me headaches when I start planking next: I then went ahead and attached all of the frames and everything seemed like it was coming together fine. But again I noticed something with the transom cleat where it's not centered exactly on the hull longwise: I'm trying to decide if it's worth taking it off and realigning or if it'll work itself out (and just look a little wonky from the top looking in). This would be the time to adjust before planking. I also stained the planks as well as the outside of the stem and stern. I used a Minwax pre-stain conditioner and then Minwax Golden Oak stain (a single coat). Here are the planks before staining (but after sanding): And here they are after the conditioner and a single coat of stain. I stained the entire sheet because I was thinking to use some of the scraps here for the lobster trap down the road and thought it might be worth just doing it now: There are some interesting patterns that started to come out of the wood. The top garboard in particular had some really dark areas that I'm hoping will look decent once they're attached. I wasn't sure if that was normal though. I thought the pre-stain conditioner would help make the stain come out more even but this could just be the wood itself. I considered adding a second coat of stain but I don't want the planks to compete too much with the dark mahogany band that will eventually get added. I also did not add a protective finish yet because the only one I have is a "semi-gloss" and I'm really worried it'll be too shiny. I would rather have a matte finish so I'm holding off on that for now. So that's where I'll probably stop for the day. Next up will be hull planking! 🤞

This is my first build so I'm not sure how it will turn out but I'm excited to give it a go. I've gone with the Grand Banks Dory by BlueJacket which I've read here is a good introductory kit. I also really enjoy Windlow Homer's work so it just seemed like a great introduction. I had a little bit of confusion about what was supposed to be included in the kit because the listing suggested that there's a paint kit. I reached out to the BlueJacket team and they responded right away which was really nice. In the end I had to put in an order for the paint because it's not included. Not a big deal though. I wouldn't need the paint right away anyway and I was thinking to do something a little different with parts of the boat anyway. A few things I'd like to do differently with my model: Instead of painting the hull in Middlestone like their display (which is maybe like a tan color?), I'd like to stain the outer planks. Minwax golden oaks most likely. The interior of the boat I'd still like to paint but I think the recommended Darkghost Gray might be a little too dark or too blue for my taste. I'm still waiting for the paint to arrive so I'm not sure yet how it will look in person yet but I would like the interior to be a much lighter color; maybe even white. I've been looking at existing dory's online to get an idea of how they're normally painted as I don't want to go too far away from what would be realistic. The kit comes with a line tub to be place into the boat which is realistic and nice but I'd like building a little lobster trap for it instead. I don't think this specific dory style was used for lobster trapping but I'm sure one of her coastal cousins was so I wouldn't be too far off. The kit itself arrived a few weeks ago just before my work started to get really busy so I barely had time to have dinner and crash let alone start building. It just sat on my desk and teased me every day: From Maine to Chicago I did take some time to look over the instructions and get familiar with the process as well as look through all the pieces to make sure that I had everything. It all looked great and except for a very boneheaded mistake when I accidentally bent a cracked a small wood strip that was supposed to go around the line tub. I rationalized it by remembering that I wanted to build a lobster trap instead but it would be nice to have the line tub done as well just in case. Maybe I can glue it back together? And here I've build the five frames based on the awesome template that's included in the plan. It was really helpful to get them all lined up: I'm not sure how much leeway I have because I've literally never built anything like this before so I'm probably over-checking the alignments. There are a couple joints that weren't sitting exactly flush because I probably didn't cut them well enough or the glue slipped so I used wood filler on them just in case. I have no idea if that even matters or not but I think they will be visible at the bottom of the boat so might as well: I'll finish notching all the frames next once they're all glued together and then put them onto the framework with the hull. Hopefully I can make small progress every week and I'll do my best to keep this updated. Thanks for visiting!

Thank you, @Nirvana! That's very helpful of you. I'll be sure to look through those videos. And thank you everyone for the warm welcome!

Hi everyone, I thought I'd make an introduction since I finally decided to create an account. I've been looking through everyone's build logs and discussions with a lot of envy. I have been considering getting into builds myself but am still firmly in the research phase of my journey. As a kid I did a number of plastic car builds which were really poor in the end but I thoroughly enjoyed the meditative nature of them. Now many years later I'm looking for something to occupy me in the coming winter which we all know is going to quite solitary with covid and model ships seem like a great way to occupy my time. I'm a software developer by day so I thoroughly enjoy working out puzzles and I'd really like to find something to occupy myself at night and weekends for the coming season (and maybe beyond) that doesn't involve code. Deciding on my first build has turned out to be a challenge though. I don't want it to be too easy but I also don't want it to completely turn me off either. I have my eyes on the Bluejacket Grand Banks Dory based on what a few other people have written here but I really enjoy reading all of the build logs across all experience levels so it's been tough to decide. You have all been quite an inspiration! Thanks everyone for a great community and I look forward to contributing.