Boat hugger.

Hooray! All the planks are on. By this stage I have a good working relationship with my plane. It is great being able to see this little boat taking shape. At this point in the Bumble building project I shared my workshop with the previously mentioned shipwright (more about him later). It's an industrial unit with other light industrial businesses in the block, you know, steel machinists, carpenters and at least three surfboard manufacturers - it is Australia! Basically, I am the only woman around and so this small tool wielding female is a bit of an oddity. My mother brought me up well!

Getting there...

It's all his fault.

OH NO! I've just realised I am creating a 'how to build a small sailing dinghy step by step' guide. Um...oh well...can't stop now!

The edges of the first planks need to be planed at the correct angle to take the next planks. The boat is built up symmetrically. Can't really picture a wonky boat sailing too well. Here I am tidying up a plank before it goes on.

The planks are glued with epoxy and all the oozes of glue are cleaned up very well with a rag with meth...meth...um...meth...o.

Language translation required. "Metho" - its taken me ages to be able to say it but once I got it in my brain I am unable to revert back to my roots and say "methylated spirit". I am having a culture crisis. My UK roots are fighting with my adopted Aussie identity. 'Methylated Spirit' just seems so long and unnecessary but I can hear my sister laughing at me if I say 'metho'. Bloody Aussie shipwright, he's a bad influence.

Plane sailing.

It now becomes clear why I needed to suffer all that head scratching and brain ache in the lofting stage. On go the first planks! Of course, because I did do the maths, they can be cut out and bent around the moulds falling exactly along the neatly planed edge of the bottom sheet of the boat....or that is the idea anyway. Actually mine weren't too bad, considering I hadn't quite got the hang of a plane. Not a tool that is called for much with precious metalwork!

Tricks of the trade.

The bottom of the boat gets cut out and laid on the top of the Stegosaurus (note said creature in pictures). It gets fastened and glued down to the bow and transom (the ends) which are also cut out and form the ends of the moulds. The moulds are the vertical sheets spaced along the whole thing. In the bottom of these two pictures I am planing an angle so that the first planks can go on without big gaps.

Now, at this point I need to explain something about myself....I am a jeweller, for those of you who don't know, and in jewellery you do not leave gaps in surfaces to be joined, it's not a choice, it just doesn't work. In boat building you technically should make things fit properly but there is this stuff called epoxy. It's the glue you use to join everything. It's basically horrible, sticky, bit poisonous stuff but it is also GREAT at filling gaps! So, my helpful shipwright has been heard to say more than once "you don't need to be a jeweller about this, you can use epoxy". All very well though, his joins always meet perfectly.

The Stegosaurus

Finally, the bit I do understand...tools! The lofted lines are transferred onto a bit of 'soon to be boat' and cut out. Oh, actually, before this you need to build yourself a Stegosaurus. One option for building a boat is to start upside down. A structure - the Stegosaurus - needs to be built to hold the boat. It is a strong central spine with legs. On this you need to attach your moulds. They are spaced shapes of wood that follow the inner profiles of your boat. They allow you to lay the planks in the right place. Standing away from your creation once it is ready to support your boat you realise you have built a Stegosaurus.

Then...you can start cutting the base of your boat. Bumble has a flat bottom with three planks on each side. It is a very simple clinker hull.

Maths

I know, I know, after all those years of boring maths lessons when I complained that 'I would never use it in the real world', I found myself with a sore brain. Being a pretty creative being and able to visualise in 3D easily I discovered that that is not good enough when it comes to boat building. No, in boat building you have to sort of twist it all on it's head and have something that doesn't actually exist yet in your head in 3D. Then you have to translate that into 2D. That, my friends, is where the maths comes in.
Fortunately for me I had set about building a very simple boat and had my own personal shipwright to pester.
My boat, already named 'Bumble', was to be an 8ft long, very cute little sailing dinghy. Unique in it's design. All wood and a perfect size for a little fella like me to handle.
Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, the maths...It's called 'lofting'. You lay a large bit of paper or sheet of plywood down, and draw all the different angles and lines you are going to need to build your boat. Lines do not necessarily follow the curve you think they will, for example, a plank that in 3D curves nicely in a straight line around your boat, in 2D could actually be a wavy S shape. Like I said - maths - Pah!
So, there I was with a sore brain and although I couldn't do it again without help, I managed to loft my little boat.

Once upon a time there was a girl, her cat, a man and his dog. They all lived in a very special and magical home, a sailing boat called Gymea.
They had many adventures in their wonderful home.
The stories of this floating family will be revealed as we go along with my blog.
Suffice to say now, that for them, the time on Gymea has come to an end and there is a new horizon to head towards.
The girl is temporarily on dry land and is very much feeling the need for a dose of lapping water and wind in her hair. So...here begins the story of 'Bumble'......