More Form Progress

Ready for the pine doublers on the stations, to screw the strips into. Plywood splits when screwed into, the pine gives great purchase for screwing into. 

This form is not just about the boats, its as much about building skills and confidence in the kids. Plans, tranfering lines, fairing, and getting familiar with woodworking and machine safety will come out of this. 

Form progress !

Holdiay Monday makes Sunday this weekends Saturday, so the boys hit the shop and made a good push on the new form for the 11 footer.

 LVLs make a great backbone, nice and stable. Off to the orange menace, might as well get screws while we're there.

 Stations were cut and sanded, and needed to be reduced for pine strips, metal bands and the thickness of planks and ribs. 

 Final cut and sand to shape

 Cleats spaced to take stations

 Pre drilling mahogany cleats, waste from the Dory seats and rails

Stations ready to go on

Taking apart forms after shaping. Screwing together ensures boat is symmetrical

Stations going on 

 Up to the centre, half done half to go

 

Just about there

 

Nice shape! just what we were going for

Sighting down the top

Last station before the ends and stem forms go on

Heck of a lot of work for one afternoon, many hands make light work

 

Drill press time

Final cutting and shaping. 

Next is bracing, station doublers, then rip and strip the clear pine we sourced. Fair the form, gunwale backers and steel bands and we're building.

New build - form first

We need a Chestnut Featherweight, the rarely seen 11' single seat boat made by Canada's longest running canoe manufacturer. Not to be confused with the 11' trapper model with two seats and a different, wider hull shape, the featherweight model was just the thing for small waters and getting back to hidden spots. Starting with plans for a similar boat, these will be much modified to match the dimensions of the Featherweight, and changed for cedar canvas construction. A solid form is on the way, with the first step being the setting of stations. Pine doublers will be added to the plywood stations for fastening the pine strips into, and finally steel banded.

Dick Wickett at the Chestnut factory, holding up an early featherweight

A single seat 'glass boat built to similar dimensions.  Needs rails and woodwork, but it aint cedar canvas so wont cut it. 

Another Featherweight, lifted from Pinterest

Laying out on 3/4 ply

Carbon paper for tracing out lines

Getting the teenager into the build

Forms cut out, to be sanded to new shape, then reduced for cedar canvas construction

New Bosch barrel grip, found on sale. No other jigsaw performs like these.