progress pics

Moving right along now. Deck installed, cockpit rails installed tonight (clamped up in pics), centerboard shaped and glassed. Going to try and get everything finished this week to sail this summer, and then build nicer pieces over the fall/winter (wooden mast, solid wood centerboard, etc).

deck will get primed tonight (weather permitting), and will also hopefully be making/fitting chainplates, shaping the rudder, tiller, etc.

 meanwhile, left unsupervised, the dogs help themselves to the pumpkin plants 

newest rig design

Looking at 2 possible rigs.

The rig on the right is the standard National 10 class sailplan, where as the rig on the left uses the jib I already made, and cuts down the main I already made (for the original 12' design).

The sloop rig would require moving the mast step aft to the next frame, but where it hasn't been built yet, all that would require is stepping in another kingpost, and leaves the option of either rig open.

decisions, decisions...

decking

starting to install the decking now, and Waldo inspects the boat interior

updates

I've been busy the past few weeks with other things, but tried to put all free time towards finishing the boat. Got the gunwales installed, interior primed, exterior first coat, and one of the aft deck panels installed. Centerboard is in the process of being shaped, still need to cut out a rudder though.

Also dug this "Footy" class R/C yacht out of a box in the basement. Never got around to finishing it, and figured it might be fun to do so. Will probably use a piece of steel or aluminum for the keel, cast a lead bulb, etc. Will probably end up making it a smaller model of the big boat!

not sure why the picture came out upside down...?

rope stropped blocks

Along the way of building this boat, I've also been fooling around making wooden blocks. Here are a few photos of the progression, They seem to be getting better!

First try. Maple, peened copper pipe thimble, manila rope, dacron trolling line for seizing. I used a hole saw to cut circles from a black plastic cutting board, then chucked them in the drill press and shaped them with a rat-tail file. 

 First and second. Second one is mahogany, sisal rope, and sisal twine seizing (no thimble). Still not liking the squareness of the shape, or how big the body is.

 Third time's a charm? This time I used 1/2" maple, shaped the sides to a convex surface, and used a small stainless thimble I found at Lowe's (still sisal rope/twine). Shaped the sheave with a microplane rasp this time, works a lot better than the file. Finished with "Early American" stain and a coat of poly.

I wonder if I could go even smaller? 

cb trunk brackets, stringers

Last night I added blocking where the shrouds will attach along the sheer. I also made some brackets to support the centerboard trunk back at the frames, and installed them. I also ripped down some spruce into 3/4 x 3/4 stringers for either side of the cockpit. Wasn't sure it was going to take the bend, but they went in without too much fighting.

apologies for the picture quality, it was after dark

kingplank, centerboard trunk

Finally starting to get some big ticket items installed. Sunday I got the kingplank installed, and made the brackets for what will be the rails in the cockpit. Picked up some stock for the gunwales and laminated up some fir for the rudder too. I can already tell the rudder is going to be a pain to shape, since the alternating grain planes nice on one plank while tearing out on the adjacent one. Maybe I will see if I can rough it out a bit with whatever works, and then finish with the belt sander. 

Got the centerboard trunk assembled and test fit on Sunday as well, only needed a minor amount of reshaping. Monday it saw a pass through the bandsaw which yielded an almost perfect fit, and it got installed. 

Next on the list:
-Install blocking for the shroud mounts
-Brackets to the centerboard trunk from the frames - considered a thwart here, but I'll probably end up leaving the cockpit open. 

-Cap on the centerboard trunk

-Probable cutout on the top on the transom

-Install gunwales

-Install stringers for cockpit rails, figure out decking at transom (if any)