They say many hands make light work. We’ve had a LOT of hands taking part in our Gannet build in the last few months, and it’s been a delight! We’ve had a lot of interested visitors who have taken part in the build to some degree, and some have stayed to join the club.
We had roughed out the black locust stem a while ago, and now that we finished the planking, we did the final fitting and shaping before gluing it in place. The top of the stem will be cut to shape after we flip the hull. Several inspectors carefully observed the cutting of the bevel. Thankfully they approved the work, and carried on with the shaping.
The cutting of the centerboard slot was a bit of a milestone – we built a nice (presumably) watertight hull, then cut a hole in it. We hope the multiple measurements were accurate enough, and when we build the centerboard trunk, the water will stay out, and the boat will float! The hole in the hull got cut using a platform/template for the circular saw, and it worked out very well – it was nice and stable.
The keel was cut and shaped in one full-length piece, using gorgeous old fir from a reclaimed church pew (as was the keelson). We cut the slot slightly undersized, and will trim it to proper size later, once we’ve got the centerboard trunk installed. Gluing it to the hull included screws and sticks jammed between the ceiling and keel (there’s a name for them, but it escapes me…).
After the glue dried, the keel was trimmed and faired at the stem and transom. The centerboard slot gave a nice light to the interior of the hull, helping Pam do some cleanup inside!
The mast has been glued up and shaped up to the octagonal shape – the last shaping to 16 and 32 sides, and then sanding is still to come. We’ve got some beautiful sitka spruce, and planing that is a dream! The boom is also glued up, and is awaiting its turn on the planing bench.
Our tent got some cleaning done, and preparation for some reinforcing – the strong winds are taking their toll on the material.
Pam spent some time under the boat marking the station locations for reference once we flip the boat, and while she was under there, she did some cleanup, getting rid of a lot of the dust and offcuts that had accumulated.
And, sustaining us through all this productive labour of love, there’s a steady stream of treats, including these beautiful cupcakes on Canada Day (with a Canada Goose in the background).
One of our wonderful visitors was Julia, who had come to the dock inspired to do some plein-air painting and sketching, and caught Walter at the piano. She also did a beautiful painting of North Star of Herschel Island – the painting is now hanging in North Star’s salon.
Congratulations to Vojtech (at right) and his team on finishing the Race to Alaska! They finished an impressive 5th place, and are now recovering, and working on a new name for next year. We look forward to hearing all about it when Vojtech returns to the shop!
Our Gannet hull is nearly ready to flip over, and start work on the interior – just some sealing and filleting to do on the exterior. Hope you can come take a look in person!
Oarlock & Sail Wooden Boat Club 