Bryan Woods

First off, I’d like to retract “the stapling the work to the bench”. It was a desperate attempt with ugly results. I had some other kind of wood. I can’t remember the name, I had never heard of it:-) Anyway it was 1 x 2 mm, instead of 1 x 1 mm. I bent them first then using pins glued them together. I sanded them down to about 1.2mm. It was difficult to keep the 1 x 1 flat after being bend, to glue them together. So I’d do that again if needs be. Here’s some shots of the top rail. I work on the strips on the side. Maybe one day I can try and learn the names of the parts I’m building:-) Just to change I looked in to the hinges for the rudder. They are .1mm brass. One finger spasm would turn them into a brass nugget. I decided then I will glue them together. Then glue them on the rudder. Then glue the wood on rudder to the hull. Maybe it will stay on at least till it makes it to Auburn Alabama. The doors and windows were a nice challenge. I did them only a few minutes at a time over several weeks. Here’s where I’m at now. Thinking I’ll finish the rudder and see if I can get the cast metal stern piece to stick to the wood.

Work on the flagstone walk has slowly made progress. I set my inexpensive mixer up and modified a broken wheelbarrow, so it would set under the mixer and not require my wife to hold the handles up on it while I dumped it. Then I just drug it over a few feet to the molds. They turned out pretty good. I’ve gotten better at not getting it too wet or too dry. In the sunlight they still look like concrete. Nature will stain them like it does everything else around the yard. But the moonlight really shows the texture. I’ve been at it for 14 days of mixing an eighty pound bag per day. That fills all six stones and a bit left over. I use it just to patch pour a round stone that I’m sure I can find a place that could use one:-) At first the stones were challenging to fit together. They just came in a box with zero paper work or diagram. So here’s where I started. To push them up closer to the deck I used a straight edge to see where that middle stone needed removed. On my next pour I pushed wood strips in the cement where I needed it cut. I think I may have 12 more days to mix. What I’m dreading is, having to remove them all, to semi level the ground. I didn’t do it to start with because I really had no idea where it was going to lead. After about 5 days worth I could visualize the pattern. I may need to move it north or south a little bit to work around those trees where it will stop.

For the last few weeks,( except for 4 days and nights that I stayed with my brother to help him build a tree house for his grandson) I worked on the veneer topside. The top rail is made up of three 1 x 1 strips bent and glued together. They didn’t retain their shape after glueing them together, so I tried bending them glued. This worked on one side but the other seemed to fight me. So I just stapled it down to my work bench overnight. Next up, I need to make all the little things that glue to the deck, doors, windows.

I finished the second planking. I pretty much just decided which plank to do next and what shape it needed to be. Thinking to whole time there’s a better way of doing it:-) But it all turned out. I’ve also removed the bulk head ends above the deck. I’ll be ready to start the deck planking as soon as I decide what wood to use on what area.

Your pram looks great! Matt.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks Eric, It’s my first veneer. Hopefully I can match the starboard side. I chose to start with the bottom mahogany strip so it will at least match:-) Below, which I’ll probably do later. I tapered the 4mm plank to 2mm and ended it at about 8cm. We’ll see if that works.

By grace I finished the port side planking. This little boat had me thinking I was planking a ball:-)

Everything started so good:-) Then the reality of my lack of knowledge set in. I think I’ve worked myself into a tight squeeze:-) Right now my only plan is to go thin at the bow. That’s probably going to end up as a weird shape in the middle. And I hope the edges aren’t up so far they can’t be sanded down. But until a better plan, or any plan comes to mind, I’m going to keep cutting and gluing.

Gretel is back on the bench. I’ve gain no more knowledge on planking , so I’m determined to learn by error. I’ve set down several times at it. Sometimes a plank gets glued and sometimes I walk away. Here’s where I’m at. Comments are welcome:-) I do measure, but I don’t know why, I just guess at the taper size. I’m only doing the port side now, just in case. Maybe one side will look ok.

Well, kinda sad to see this one end. But there will always be another. I would rate this kit high for nice materials. There were some challenges, mainly figuring out how some stuff needs to be done. Here’s the finished pics. Thanks for all the comments, likes and views:-)

Thank you Mike for your thoughtful words. I don’t know about the money, I try not deal with that:-) but the motivation will have Nave Egizia finished this week and I’ve already got started back on the Gretel, that I put on the shelf a while ago.

The Mossy Shipyard got another upgrade today. I installed an internet bridge. One was installed on the corner of the house and the other on a tree beside the garage. I went through the garage and put a tension line across to the shipyard. I knew I put that outlet up there for a reason:-) The next thing that I know we’ll do is a flagstone walk. I brought these molds back a while ago. I can see a lot of time involved just trying to put the puzzle together:-)

Trying to tie up a few loose ends before the deck gets crowded, I spent time on the boulders holding down the mast. I put a rope from the deck to keep them together. Then there’s part #71 top right on the plan. I don’t know what this is doing, but I cut it down and wedged it as a stop for the other two. The kit came with a piece on wood for the base but that’s all. I laid out all the left over wood and decided what would be the best to use. I ended up using dowels trying to make them look like palm logs. Pretty simple but it worked. Not for sure about a name plate at this time. The top yard was different because it was flat on the bottom and tapered on the top. The ends were made from 3 parts glued together then shaped and glued to the yard. After this it got wrapped with rope that I dyed a darker brown. For the sail I used artist tea paper I got in a roll. The last I had was on a board and the folds showed. I traced the sail and the seams on one side and painted the other with acrylic paint. Then cut it out. On the unpainted side I glued 1mm strips on the seams and 3mm on the sides. After they dried, I glued them on the painted side, using the others as a guide. On either side I glued a 1 mm bolt rope the same way I did the strips. After holes were drilled. I lashed the sail on both yards.

I would have guessed you’ve been doing this for decades. Great job!