The Cutter Project

Steam bending.

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:14:45 +0000

Here are some frames installed. Always good fun bending these in - luckily it went smoothly and the Yew took the curve beautifully. Starting to look like a boat!

Ribbands done and faired.

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:12:58 +0000

What a wild shape this boat has. Here the ribbands are all installed.

Ribbands and strongback.

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:11:42 +0000

Now we are ready to build the strongback upon which the boat will be constructed. Before we clutter up the shop with a boat, we need some ribbands to fair the moulds and bend the frames over. These ribbands are made of yellow cedar offcuts from our Sawyer.

Here are the moulds up with the transom installed:

The backbone is together.

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:09:08 +0000

Here is the entire show all bolted up and looking massive! Now we just have to hang it from the ceiling.

Keel, floors and transom.

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:07:49 +0000

The keel has most of it’s shape cut in and the rabbet has been let into the sides. We have also cut all the frame sockets into the keel to which the frames are served. The yellow cedar blanks on top of the keel are the floors - which will have some keelbolts passed through them and out to the lead.

Here is the transom roughed out - made of Douglas Fir.

Backbone structure

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:03:06 +0000

It is time to start putting this little ship together. Here the stern knee is attached to the stern post. We use sikaflex as a bedding material (the red you see is red lead primer) and 1/2″ silicon bronze bolts to hold it all together.

Here is the stern assembly dry fit to the keel:

Update!

Alex — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 02:47:40 +0000

Well, lots has happened. Here we are still cutting the rabbet into the keel, sternpost and stem:

We also did some steam bending tests on our pile of Pacific Yew. It worked very well and we are excited to frame the boat in this beautiful material - which also posses rot resistance as well as stunning good looks!

Sternpost, stem and keel

Alex — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:09:54 +0000

We are working hard to try and get the backbone dry fit and bolted together - here is the sternpost and stern knee being bored out to 1/2″ - a 26″ span that needs a straight hole makes for some precious moments… real precious moments.

Here is the stem being taken out:

The keel is almost shaped - just some backing out to do before we can contemplate cutting the rabbet.

Jenn is going to speak at the boatschool seminars

Alex — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:59:06 +0000

Birds birds birds!

Boat School Maritime Seminars Winter 2008/09

Lots of other good seminars to check out this winter.

Beam Saw

Alex — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:56:03 +0000

Why would a company make such a spinning wheel of death? We rented it to make some big moves on the keel.