I was inspired by the flatiron skiffs because of their sensibilities and elegant look. Being that I am 1) cheap, 2) lazy, 3) short attention spanned, I found a set of free plans on a very easy and quick to build boat, Dave Beede's SUMMERBREEZE ( http://www.simplicityboats.com/summerbreeze.html). Should be a blast. I had some extra ply laying around from a little offhanded workboat plan that I never had time to do due to the NINA project, so I stole that and went to work. Here's a shot of the sides going together:
PL premium, exterior grade 1/4" plywood. Shooting for a whopping $100 or less investment. Your right, that photo is fairly uninteresting. Sad.
Meanwhile, on NINA:
Per plans the D form and if you so choose the B form are both scrap forms for the initial layup of the hull, so off I went. Bought some garbage ply for $16 and some of that extra I had around from the work skiff mission to get moving again. We now have all frames built, and as soon as my ply shows up I will have the stringers built and glued ASAP. Sick of waiting, ready to start laying up some hull panels and trying to figure out how to warm them up enough to get the epoxy to set.
An interesting aside, cutting the B form, I used a circular saw with a thin kerf blade set right at the thickness of the wood to cut fair curves. You really must try it, as it makes the curve very linear and fair, with little extra fiddling to make it clean. It was an interesting combination of carpentry and woodburning! Please note the mui excellente saw:
B form, decent ply, note the curve cut with the circular saw:
The monster throwaway D form:
BTW, thats the bow of my Thames Rowing Skiff, in for a little repair and a refit on the footstretchers. Yes, the scarf joints suck (first try ever!), but that breasthook is GORGEOUS!
Maybe your not-entirely-humble writer should clean his camera lens?
Comments welcome!
E
