Month: December 2022

Well, that’s been a very snowy December!! Duane and Michel have shared videos of their walks on the dock:

We had a great turnout for our Christmas party on the 17th – plenty of food and a good time, gathered ’round the boat moulds!

Before the festivities took over, we got some work done on the stem, doing a dry run of clamping the lamination strips to the form. Since then, a few of our members got together at Arnt’s shop to do the glue-up, as it needed more space and heat than we have available at the shop.

Tomorrow we’ll work on cleaning up the glue, and preparing to mount the stem on the strongback, and potentially cutting the transom.

Hope you have a happy New Year!

I forgot to mention one little thing in that last post – we’ve reconsidered the material choice for the boat, and have decided to build the hull in glued lapstrake plywood.

What brought that about was a discussion of flotation, and wanting to get it figured out right from the beginning. We talked about using foam or air-bags for flotation in a conventional clinker hull, but the conversation kept coming back to maintenance and ventilation. In the end, a suggestion was made to do it in glued lapstrake plywood, with built-in water-tight compartments. That should give us a lightweight self-recoverable boat.

After all, the plans we’re working from are designed for that method, and it will let us gain experience in another type of construction!

We had a busy few weeks building the molds and stem, leading up to very productive day on Saturday, getting all the molds set up on the strongback!

Over the last few weeks, we cut the patterns, and built the 8 molds for the Gannet. There were a few challenges to overcome, but in the end, the molds seem to be quite fair – laying a batten over the molds reveals some minor adjustments needed, but not bad.

The stem was also worked on during that time, and we’ve got the outer stem rough-cut using Black Locust. Next Saturday we plan to laminate the inner stem using Douglas Fir.

We’ve got a small model built, to get an idea of the shape, and to help describe the process to visitors. It’s also useful in planning the proposed half-decking, and seeing what that will do to the cockpit – we’ve realized that it would become more cramped than we’d like, so we’ll be reducing the amount of decking while maintaining appropriate flotation chambers.

The lights are up and the Grinch is on the dock, ready for the Christmas season – and we’ll be having our party on the dock this coming Saturday December 17th after our work session – do come down and raise a glass to a good year! Please bring some food to share, and a beverage of your choice. Contact Georgina for info or to let her know what you’re bringing. Hope to see you there!