Stern post

So theres nothing to be done at the boat until the new floors arrive which will
hopefully be late next week so in the mean time I've made the stern knee and
have done as much as I can with the sternpost without being further along with
the boat.

365 days

The annual Baltimore wooden boat festival is on this weekend and
has become somewhat of a benchmark for boats to have left the yard
and made there way down the river to Baltimore.
Theres a nice mix of traditional boats on show including West Cork mackerel
yawls, Roaring water bay Lobster boats (towel sail yawls) Bantry bay long
boats Galway Hookers, curraghs etc etc,
I wonder if we can add a Falmouth quay punt to the line up for next year.

Check it out at  www.baltimorewoodenboatfestival.com

My current plan

I went to another forge on Tuesday and the new floors are now reordered.
They are going to punch the holes and get the galvanising done for us so
as soon as they are ready, they are in fact ready to go straight to the boat.
I was thinking about how much easier it is to shape the frames without the
keel on the boat as I can just let them pass down as I shape them, so I think
I'll  keep the keel at home until the sawn frames are all done.
Once I get the new floors, two of them can go straight in and four more
frames can come out. The remaining frames, apart from 2 of them have
very little curve so hopefully won't take too long.
In the mean time I need to source a crook for the stern knee and get the
galvanised bar to make the long deadwood bolts.

More frames

Fitted four more frames today, Left one doubler out as I wasn't happy
with it so I cut a new one when I got home.
I ran short of paint the last day so I'll get some more and finish those
sections and give the frames a second coat the next day I'm down there.

That puts an end to framing until we get the new floors.
I might cut out the transom soon and the remains of the stern post to
make way for the new stern post, my main concern is the wind coming
up the river and blowing right through the boat, drying it from the inside
out but I guess a piece of ply would sort that problem.

A clue as to whats happening inside

I regretted not taking a picture before refastening these to show how much of a step there was in the planking.

The end of the old keel with the sternpost tenon and dowel removed

Cross section of the old keel, I was surprised at the cut of timber used. Same cut as the first keel timber we bought which was no use.

No floors

After two months without hearing anything from the blacksmiths about the
new floors, three unreturned phone calls and it turning out that the blacksmith
wouldn't be back from holidays for another two weeks we have collected
our deposit and templates and must now find another forge to make them.
Its going to slow things down a bit because there is no way we can remove
anymore frames without replacing some floors and the keel, which is now
ready needs to be bolted to them.
Another piece we desperately need is a stern knee so we can cut the
deadwood bolts and get them treaded. If I had those I could in fact bolt
the stern knee, the deadwood, keel and false keel together before it even
goes to the boat.
Heavy though.

One new keel

The new keel is pretty much ready, there will of course be final
adjustments when its on the boat, or the boat is on it perhaps.
I still need to mortice for the sternpost and paint it up, I've just
covered it in Protim at the moment, as it was at hand. Apparently
a coat of antifreeze will stop it drying out too quickly ( who am I
to argue). I also put in another bunch of plugs today.

Cutting the rebate

I ended up routing out the rebate and cleaning it up using a smoothing
plane and rebate plane for the bottom edge. One side to go.

Getting back to Teal

The last couple of weeks have felt like bit of a lull when it comes
to Teal, mainly due to the lack of time spent at the boat itself,  but
last minute problems with my other boat which is actually going
in the water, building the trailer, collecting the keel and getting
started shaping it and doing other jobs to pay bills has just taken
time.
Ken is finally free to go with me tomorrow to knock out the fastenings
that are keeping me from getting the next few frames fitted and I also
need to follow up on the new floors which are going to be badly
needed very shortly.
Over the bank holiday weekend I managed to get an irritating piece
of sap wood removed from the edge of the keel and replaced with
good oak and have got the two keels set up ready to mark out the
rebates.

Shaping the keel

I just spent the last few hours hacking away at the keel, Its now ready
for the rabbet and notching for the frames. Its a bloody heavy piece
of timber to have to move about and turn over.