First Cut

About noon today I finally won out over my post-trip inertia and began cutting the first actual piece of the boat, the inner bowpost. Of course it is one of the trickiest pieces as well, having converging curves and intersecting curved bevels. All told, I think I did pretty well. I'll save the back curved scrap as a pattern for the bow cap later on.

I'm carefully attaching the pieces to the mold in such a way that, with luck, I can still unattach it once the boat is screwed and riveted together. The curved, beveled cutoffs add temporary flare to the project.

Later this afternoon Dan came by and we planed out some 3/4" cedar for the transom. Then I cut out the transom and its oak inner braces. With luck that will go on tomorrow as well and we'll begin cutting the chines. They are thick oak and we may have to steam them to get them to bend around the boat.

Lastly I took inventory of my silicone-bronze screws and copper rivets left over from previous lapstrake builds. I've got enough for the next few steps of the project, but its time to order about $500 worth of hardware. Damn, that stuff is pricey.