Cooperating weather makes this building deal much more enjoyable. In Central VA we had temps in the low 70s, sun, and breezy conditions. So, as much as I dislike the sanding process, I was able to  move on with a few tasks. The biggest was knocking down the gunwale with the belt sander, 36 grit, and the router. The results are smooth and satisfactory. The breast hooks are close to their final shape too.

A second bout of sanding went after the floor boards with the ROS and 120 grit. Several boards were cracked at the ends from too vigorous screw action. To fix this I saturated the end grain and flooded the countersunk holes. Hopefully that will hold.

End epoxy repairs.

Since the plans for the open boat do not show any of the side bench web supports I reduced the 4 shown on each side to 2. Support is gained from resting on blocks at the end bulkheads, the plywood webs, and hanging from the thwart. For that I bevelled a piece of teak and through bolted it between seat and thwart. The result is quite rugged and stiff. You can get just a peek of it in the next pic.

Teak bench spacer under thwart.

While the epoxy was flowing I blocked up the main boom and blanks for a pair of oars. Aside from the epoxy dry time, I think I had maybe 2.5 hrs in getting from board to rounded spar. The real trick to this is of course an electric plane and going from 4 sided all the way down to 32 sided before breaking out the dreaded sand paper. Actually, a cut 80 grit sanding belt with wood blocks nailed to the ends for grips allowed for gentle removal and rounding. A shoe shining technique worked great. That and my employ of a doubled up loop of rope as a breaking stirrup to hold the work in place. You can make this as easy or hard a workout as desired. My previous sanding drum could remove too much material before you knew it. More control is in the shining.

Manning benches with boom in carpeted chocks.

Shoe shining with the stirrup.

I chickened out of the spoon bladed oars and decided to go conventional. Here are the blocks and the different sided ends of the pair.

Oar blanks.

4 sided.

8 sided.

16 sided.

32 sided. Ready for “shoe shine”.  I broke my last jig saw blade and used the hand saw to trim the oar blades.

Handle ends.

Rough blade outline.

Oar in stored position after some shaping.

Shawn & Tenney has a good formula for oar length based on boats size. The Sooty would need 10′-3″  sticks (with a 2″ overlap) based on this. However, The fore and aft bulkheads are just shy of 10′ separation. Given that and my suspicion the added length will be a disadvantage in a troubled sea, I settled on 9′-8 1/4″ blades. These fit nicely in the boat and without the other two seat web supports, almost tuck up under the side benches. I like this. If necessary I can lash them to the webs. The blade nestles in the curve of the hull. I may glue a check forward to receive the handle end or vice versa.

Support web fillet.

Thwart support.

The list is shrinking, but I haven’t had much desire to document it all. I do feel the finish line is around the bend.

Key remaining items to make are:

1. centerboard
2. main boom
3. side seats
4. decks
5. oars

curved deck edge.

Added ash trim like small shear rubbing strip.

4 dogged hatch and mast partners.

After a failed attempt to bow a 1/4″ strip of douglas fir to follow the deck curve (it kept cracking and I didn’t want to steam or soak), 3/8″ plywood did nicely. The lower ash trim compliments the small rubbing strip on the shear plank.

Added sloped cap above pivot.

Centercase capped in 2 layers of 1/4″ cherry.

The final inhales are now installed. I wish my ability to do this now had been present to start with. Technique makes all the world of difference. She’s really a beauty. And she is looking ever more the boat.

First 1/2 day of  Spring and the weather was perfect for a sail. 70 degrees, sunny, and winds around 12 kts. I did roll the boat out and gave her some sticks. Who knows how often I’ve stared at the sail plan and my small model of the Sooty. I don’t know why I’ve doubted my build’s accuracy, but the mast steps and partner locations were darn near dead on. Good.

Edges sanded.

Outside ring epoxied.

Onward and upward-

• The deck framing is done minus the edge support lip.

foredeck and hatch framing.

Framing is epoxied and dowelled.

• I’m installing fore and aft hatches designed around a dairy crate’s dimensions. A 5 gallon bucket also slips through.

Bowed batten for frame arched edges.

Ganged framing for belt sanding.

Frames were cut with jig saw.

Hatch lip framing and hatch frame in cherry.

Cherry strips added to frame for hatch.

End strips are wedged with impromptu shims.

• Thwart knees at 3/4″ have been fitted in oak, but they appear thin and I think I’ll swap them for 1″ spruce to match breast hooks.

Holt melt and ply knee template.

Cut ply template.

Oak knee. Seems thin visually.

• Breasthooks are in spruce and near final shape.

Test fitting and screwed temporarily in place.

Benched for cutting and shaping.

Back in place after belt and ROS sanding.

By cutting the breast hook halves from the same board and adjacent to each other, a nice grain pattern is mirrored. I was overzealous in planing the joint and needed to slip some cherry shims there. It actually adds to the appearance I think.

Overall from aft starboard quarter.

The side bench supports are also in. I had neither 1/2″ ply nor 1x boards wide enough here. I glued two 1/4″ plus together.

I’m uncertain what I’ve here to inform or enlighten, but progress is progress in this case. The spokeshave has seen a lot of action. While the floors seemed to have a sweet flow from one to the next, once the floor boards were tested for fit, the floors needed some fine tuning.

First the boards for the floor (douglas fir) were arranged to take advantage of the grain character from board to board.

Floor boards arranged.

The floors needed repeated “scraping” to ease the twisting of the floor boards.

Floors.

All but the 2 center boards are screwed to floors. Screwing the floorboards in adds greater stiffness to the hull. For the center boards I added 3 “fingers” to the underside and a keyed thumb cleat made of oak so that easy access can be had to the center of the bilge.

Fingers.

Keyed plinth for thumb cleat.

Radiused plinth with shoulders.

Supports screwed in place.

Overall of floors and support.

Been on a roll of late. Decisions have been easy. Not so much deliberating. Just execution … and concentrated time.

I’m now the king of the hot melt gun. The crude tool allows for quick bulkhead spilling and many floor templates. After cutting the moulds to slip past the partial inhales, I used scrap wood strips to locate the hull laps and faces. Tracing to the plywood from there was a piece of cake.

Station 6.

Glued scraps.

New bulkhead in place.

Station 2.

Points for tracing to ply.

From there I moved to the mast steps. Carving a few pieces of oak for the mizzen fried me. Alas, I came up with a better idea. The step is still supported by the keel, but I added a short floor to accept the lateral load. This all allows for any water dripping down the mast to pass into the bilge from the bottom of the step. Arrangement is quite stout.

Mast step and hot melt template.

Bolted floor ready for epoxy.

Floors with wide weeps.

I shortened the weeps from what was shown in the plans. They are still 1 1/2″x 3/8″ and provide longer attachment to the hull.

Elliptical hatch in forward bulkhead.

Centercase is epoxied and clamped into place.

Main mast step and 1/2″ copper drain tube.

A coating of epoxy was put on the interior of the centercase, drywall screws used to aid clamping, and the whole deal screwed to the keel. A cross support monitors the athwart ship level and helped keep the center case square while drying.

Oak thwart cutting.

A band saw is now high on my list for next tool purchase. After my last jig saw blade snapped, I was left with a workout for the old wing. By hand makes a better square cut, but boy did it take time.

Assorted templates for all the floors.

Gluing up of thwart cleats.

Cleat close up.

View from the “forepeak”.

All steps and floors are in. Both bulkheads secured with fat fillets (tongue depressor) on the inside and smaller outside (Popsicle stick).

This part of the construction has been the most challenging. Many weeks ago I shaped the rudder foil (fine sanding and glassing still remain to be done). Weeks before that the rudder cheeks were cut from cherry and set aside. Now it must all come together … and work!

A model was made in SketchUp:

router/fence set up.

Stop block to left.

Finished routed fit.

Single cheek and gudgeons.

Before cheeks and inner spacer (1″ douglas fir) were glued, brass sheaves for control lines were located, and pilot holes for these lines were bored. One hole went astray and required plugging.

Rudder head clamp up. Rod positioned for square alignment.

For the tiller arm  a 5 degree “advance” was given to the arm instead of making it perpendicular to the rudder. Made of white oak, it is some hard stuff to cut, rasp, plane and file. This was really my first use of the spokeshave which proved a fun tool for sculpting the underside of the arm.

Rudder mortise and arm tenon.

Arm fitted after much filing.

A mortise in the tiller arm accommodates a wedge of cherry. This is an amazingly tight combination. The wedge has a hole for securing with line and I exaggerated the head for easier removal.

Wedge and sheave holes.

Tiller arm sweep.

One of the wonderful aspects of this build has been the ability to individualize it as one’s own. Sculpting these pieces has been especially rewarding. A challenge accepted with some clean up still needed.

Well, I’d like to think all the sanding has paid off. After applying 2 coats of primer and sanding after each coat, I’m all sanded out for awhile. I had intended to use the foam roller and brush tipping method, but the white “hot dog” rollers kept falling apart after half the boat was coated and left foam trash in the primer which required extra sanding.

Bow and 2 coats of primer.

Primed stern.

So, after almost 3 hours of the first top coat, she is starting to appear the lady.

Bow with 1 coat.

Stern and 1 coat. Originally I intended to bright finish the stems,  but I sensed it would appear too fussy and elected to paint them instead. I lost control of one of the gains at the top of the broad plank at the stern, but all others look fine. This gain is likely at the waterline and will escape notice. Collecting the rudder hardware took 3 separate orders from Hamilton Marine, WoodenBoat, and Duck Trap. Nobody had a pair of anything. The rudder gudgeons are actually Wilcox-Crittenden parts. That company’s hardware business is long gone. Classic Marine did have all the pieces, but at perhaps at 2.5 times the cost. I may elect to cut the pintels off and use a rod a la Jim Luton’s method. The unpolished transom gudgeons are from Duck Trap. I’m planning on turning her over this weekend and add another finish coat at the end of the job. On to more construction in the meantime.

Boat work has been sporadic. Things are getting done, but when so much of it has been fairing and sanding … what is there to report? Nonetheless, here are some items for the record.

• I bought this little paint scraper that is fantastic in combination with careful use of the heat gun.

1.5″ wide scraper. Good addition.

• I fabricated the jaws for the mizzen boom from cherry scraps. I decided to angle them to better receive the mast. Ganging them together allowed for easy belt sanding. Glued, screwed and plugged here:

Jaws ganged for sanding.

Starboard jaw attached.

• I’ve a couple old Herreshoff open base cleats that I’ll likely use bow and stern, but there are a few jam and thumb cleats needed for the 2 booms. I found a photo online that I adapted for this application. All done with drill press, jig saw, belt sander, file and sanding block. A final hand sanding will precede shellac and varnish.

Jam cleats.

Thumb cleats.

• Lastly, I got a coat of epoxy on. Mike at RAKA suggested heating up the boat and then cooling it down as epoxy is brushed on. He said the wood pores would open and soak up the goo. This I did with about a 10% thinning with denatured alcohol. A few areas got a bit thick and exhibit some sagging which will require more sanding. The random orbital sander should make it quick work. I may be able  to then prime for paint. We’ll see.

Stern.

Dark laps are where the “purple” fairing compound is.