Since “rib-day” even more has happened:
John finished up the transom and quarter logs! The yard carpenter scarfed a new section in the starboard bilge stringer and then David and he re-installed both bilge stringers. David spent a week faring (or is it “fairing”?) the frames above the waterline in preparation for the new planks. John scarfed in new sections of the clamp from about frame 7 forward to the stem. He also installed a new shelf on both sides of the aft section of the boat. Originally there was no shelf on each side of the cockpit since it went from covering board to covering board (huge!). We will bring the deck back along each side of the cockpit making a smaller cockpit to hold much less water and thus, a shelf is desired. I’m sure there’s other stuff, but you get the picture…many things going on for Mahdee.
Half of our planking stock order came in from Port Townsend, Washington last week. Wow that was a lot of wood. The boatyard is small and we have stacks literally everywhere. I hope we go through it fast! The shipment was 6000 lbs of wood. Oak for the butt blocks, douglas fir for repairs to the old planking and African Mahogany for the new planking. Last Thursday, we also got our shipment of tamarack knees all the way from Nova Scotia! John installed them late last week and early this week. Then, Wednesday was a “big” day for Mahdee–the first plank went into her! Short one on the starboard side below the waterline. We are repairing/replacing planks below the waterline. Mostly plank ends at the bow and stern. We’ve learned a new term from the yard shipwright “hide-a-butt”…this is a scarf that we can use to repair plank ends at the butt joint. More on that later.
Today, David worked on faring the frame heels mostly aft of frame 35 or so. John and the yard carpenter worked on planking near the stem. As the day ended, we were happy to be moving on to this new phase of work for Mahdee. Hopefully next week will be even more productive.
Sorry to have been so busy and not posting. The pics are available for upload and hopefully I’ll find time for that this weekend. I’ve got a couple hundred pics to go through and post on the website part of this blog!
Later,
Brenda
