Oarlock and Sail Wooden Boat Club

We’ve chosen a launch date for our Iain Oughtred Gannet build! We’re planning to put SULA in the water on June 29th around 1pm. You’re welcome to come celebrate the occasion and get a first-hand look at her!!

We’ve been working hard on the final details, and are well along in the paint and varnish work. We got the removable seats refined and assembled, and try them out in the boat at every opportunity!!

Floorboard cleats and oarlock pads were shaped and fitted, and are now in place under the floorboards.

Spars and oars have a number of coats of varnish, and looking awesome.

Colour samples were tested in sunlight:

… and applied. Started with the hull interior, and then on to the seats and the hull exterior.

The transformation has been amazing, as we went from the plywood we’d been used to for the past year and a half, to the final colours!

It’s always nice to take advantage of the low tides to beach our boats and give them a scrub.

And of course, all that work brings the sweet rewards of getting out sailing in our wonderful little fleet, along with members in their own boats!

Hope to see you at the dock for Sula’s special day!

Coaming
Centreboard trunk
Floorboards
Seats
Spars
Hardware

After gluing up the rest of the deck, we trimmed the edge and installed the coaming, which we had previously laminated. The coaming got cleaned up and faired, further defining the shape of the cockpit. We also installed the rub rails on the outside of the hull.

Once we had the outline of the cockpit refined, we finished up work on the centreboard trunk, and got it and the thwart installed.

One of those happy surprises came up when someone noticed that the oars would fit in those nice holes in the deck knees that were intended for tying or clipping things to – the handle of the oar fit nicely, giving us the perfect place to store the oars while sailing!

The floorboards were made in two parts, fitting on each side of the centreboard trunk, and are removable. It’ll be a tight fit getting them out past the seats, but there should be enough wiggle room. The rudderhead and tiller were created, and were the first things that got new varnish – thanks Arnt!!

Some hardware has been gathered, including some blocks, cleats, and gooseneck, or fabricated, such as the stem-head, chainplates, and the pintles and gudgeons.

The seats have been a big and satisfying bit of work – they’re all roughed out now, ready for smoothing and assembly. They are looking awesome in the boat!

We’ve had some great sailing this spring, and getting more members out enjoying the boats – so good to see! We hope to get our boats more busy than they’ve been lately. Over on Vancouver Island, Ingrid took possession of a No-Man’s-Land, and relaunched her after some work. Looks like a gorgeous boat, and should bring her a lot of adventure!!