Friday, November 23, 2018

Fairing progress on the starboard chine

I'm happy to report that my annual boycott of "Black Friday" has once again been a success. Instead, I spent some time working on the boat, (you guessed it), fairing the starboard chine.

Let's take a look:

First of all here's our graphic for reference...


Now, working our way from front to back, here is the current state of the chine-to-stem connection.


Chine joint at Frame #5-1/2. 


Forward scarf joint. This is on the outer layer of the laminated chine, between Frame #5-1/2 and Frame #4. 


Here's a view of the chine between Frame #4 (foreground) and Frame #5-1/2 (background). 


Chine joint at Frame #4. 


 Chine joint at Frame #4, after a little more fairing. 


Middle scarf joint. This is on the first layer of the laminated chine, between Frame #4 and Frame #2. 


Chine joint at Frame #2. 


Rear butt joint. This is on the outer layer of the laminated chine, just aft of Frame #2. 


Chine joint at Transom. 


While not exactly "long boards," I have been using these drywall sanding blocks. They're just short of 9" long, and I've been using them with sanding belts that I cut in half. They work great, and with 36 grit sandpaper, they remove a lot of wood in a hurry. 


Sunday, November 11, 2018

Armistice Day.

Today is Veterans Day — or, as it was known before 1954 in the U.S., Armistice Day.

100 years ago today marked the end of the "War to End All Wars." 

If only that had been true.

Of course, there was a second world war only a generation later. That was my grandfather's generation; the generation that lived through the Great Depression and then endured the horrors of World War Two. 

After the war came a period of prosperity in the U.S. It was the golden era of Chris Craft's beautiful wooden boats — a childhood icon of summertime for a whole new generation growing up on the water.

Not all veterans who returned from World War Two came home to jobs and prosperity.

Some came home to the grinding poverty of the Appalachian foothills in the Jim Crow south. They started families, tried to put the war behind them, and continued their struggle to survive.

For my grandfather, those beautiful golden-era Chris Craft boats were nothing but a daydream parked on a showroom floor. 



My mom has told me about going to the boat dealer with him when she was very young. But while my grandfather was assuredly salivating over those mirror-polished mahogany boats, for my mom, these trips were memorable for another reason. It wasn't the boats. It wasn't even getting to go to town.

It was getting to ride in a car.

Not their car, mind you. It belonged to someone else, because they were too poor to own one.

That puts a little perspective on just how much of a daydream it was to imagine zooming around on the lake in one of those Chris Craft boats.

I love those classic wooden boats, and I am thoroughly enjoying the process of building one that was designed in 1954 (by another veteran, I might add). 1954 would have been around the same time as my grandfather was eyeballing boats in a showroom. It was the year that the U.S. Congress changed the name of the national holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

I've been told that my grandfather at one time wanted to build a boat of his own. I'm not sure why he didn't. The man loved woodworking. But, for whatever reason, he never built one.

In that way, I feel a little bit like I'm getting to live out his daydream on his behalf — a little for him, a little for me perhaps.

It's an opportunity I'm immensely and humbly grateful for. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Starboard chine laminated

The title kinda says it all. So, on to the pictures:

The second layer of the starboard chine was done in 3 sections. Let's call them "aft, mid, and fwd." Here, the aft section is clamped into position as the epoxy cures. 





I have temporarily removed some of the clamps holding the mid section, in order to keep from gluing it down prematurely.


Aft section expoxied into place, clamps removed.


Aft section overhanging the transom. (This end piece is actually a very small shim.)


Aft piece trimmed at the transom.


This photo shows both the mid piece (right) and fwd piece (left) clamped into position. The scarf joint that will join the two is located between Frame #4 and Frame #5-1/2.


My intention was to scarf-join the pieces in-place, (rather than join them first & then attach them.)


This photo shows the mid section, clamped into place where it will overlap the scarf joint of the first chine layer.



This photo shows the mid section clamped into place while the epoxy cures.



As before, I removed some of the clamps holding down the fwd piece to keep from accidentally gluing it down.


Butt joint between the mid section (left) and aft section (right), after a little preliminary fairing.


Mid section attached, with most of the clamps removed.


This photo shows the fwd section, clamped into position while the epoxy cures.



Mid section, where it passes through Frame # 5-1/2.



Scarf joint between the fwd section (left) and mid section (right).



Here's the scarf joint after a little preliminary fairing & sanding.




The laminated chine, where it passes through Frame #4. I used a small piece of scrap as a shim to fill a small gap between the chine and the frame notch.


And, finally — the full length of the laminated chine.