DanB

Gluing Bottom Planks to Transoms This was more complicated than it looked in the instructions. I glued the bow without much trouble and let it dry. I spent a long time trying to fit the planks to the stern transom. I installed some wood scraps to keep the transom holder steady, but the transom was still wobbly an it sits a bit off the building board. (looks that way in some of the pictures in the instructions also). The planks tended to twist toward the midline. I broke the transom holder as I was trying to get it all to lined up and get the transom square with the board. Took a deep breath, and glued the holder back together. Bushed water on the planks and used rubber bands to get the planks to be a bit less twisted using just the transom to get the hieght and spacing correct as the they dried out for a a while. The planks fit better in the slots in the transom after they dried out. It still took a major rubber band party to get the stern transom level and in alignment with the molds, including rubber bands around the transom holder to keep it seated in the board and a bunch around the transom. Once it was finally square, I lifted each plank enough to slip the glue under it with a paint brush.

Today I sanded the bevels on the bottom planks, then soaked them and bent them, using the molds on the building board.The instructions say to let them dry overnight. I will behave my self and resist the temptation to wait a few hours and move on. It's cool and raining here today, and drying out may take a bit longer. I practiced cutting the rabbets needed for some of the other planks on a piece of scrap with a chisel blade . I need more practice! .

Thanks, Gary. I think I Exported the others out of the Photos App before I tried to upload them, but may not have done that with the last one. I will check next time. Dan

This will be my second model. I built the Lowell Grand Banks Dory First. I have not built any models in many years and wanted to start with something simple. The instructions for the Dory were great. i hope it goes as well for the Pram. Every thing was present on an inventory of the Kit. It was a bit difficult sanding the bevels on the different edges (faces? or some other term I don't know) of the bow transom. The pictures in the manual show the transom being sanded with a big fat sanding stick. That did not work so well as each edge is pretty small. I made some thin ones-- and that worked much better. The scribed lines are thin and the edges are pretty small. I found it much easier to see what I was doing with some head mounted magnifiers that were left over from soldering surface mount electronic components in the past. These things are are my new best friends! Building the board for the molds was straight forward. The tabs on them need a bit of sanding to be fully seated int the slots. I tried to use steam to bend the keel plank but it did not seem to work. I am not sure how long you hold the plank over the steam to get it to bend. The manual says its possible to use a thermostatically controlled soldering iron. I have one of those but was not sure how hot it should be and I was afraid to use it. I finally used the same technique that worked well on the Dory and just soaked it in hot water for 5 minutes and used rubber bands to gently bend the plank to the molds. I am going to let it dry out and rest overnight. Apologies for my photography, and any mistakes uploading the images, This is my first time trying this and I'm not sure I am doing it correctly 8E9C8AD3-DE18-42BA-89F6-7E73D215357D.heic

Thanks for all of the welcome messages! I understand that there is still a lot of California north of the Bay area,. I've been up to visit a few times and its really beautiful. Still, having grown up in Southern California, it's definitely different up here. I do cheer for the Giants and also the San Jose Sharks. Dan

Hi, My name is Dan. Greetings from Northern California. I built a lot of models when I was younger including an RC glider an RC Boat, and HO trains but I have not built anything for years. I retired about 6 months ago, but have remained pretty busy with a job I do as a volunteer and a labor of love. I cleaned and decluttered my garage with my new-found time and energy. I almost got rid of my old workbench but could not bring myself to part with it. I cleaned it up and found a space for it. I then had the urge to build some more models! I have tired some ships in the past, that did not go so well, so I decided to start with the Lowell Dory kit in the Model Shipways shipwright series. I have really enjoyed building it and the instructions that come with the kit are great. I found this site as I was nearing the end of the build. I am just starting the second model in the series, the Norwegian sailing Pram and have been very grateful for all of the pictures detailed information and suggestions in the build logs on the site. Dan