Rabbets, Rabbets everywhere.

Bruce works on To'n Fro's keel rabbet.

It's springtime in the shop and everywhere you look it's rabbets, rabbets, rabbets.


Bruce finished up the rabbet on To 'n Fro's keel and got right to work on the garboard plank.


The rabbets on the whitehall keels are just about ready for planks themselves. The students from CHAD have been working hard to get the boats ready and hope to be planking next week. You can check out their progress on our sister blog. 

The rabbet is ready for the garboard plank.

Whitehall rabbet

 

Cannons of 1812

Gallery under construction.

Visitors to Independence Seaport Museum will notice some of our gallery spaces are under construction. We are preparing for our next exhibit opening 'Home of the Brave, The War of 1812' on March 15, 2012.

Replica cannon beside replica whaleboat.

For the next couple of weeks all other projects will be on hold and red oak dust will be flying as the Workshop on the Water builds two gun carriages for the replica 18-pounders that will be on display.

Carriage wheels

 

It's a change of pace for us. Around here we usually take large boards of wood and make them small. This time we're taking large pieces of wood and making them much larger.

 

Plans for gun carriage.

Boat Building 101

Rick and Carol Collier practice their lofting technique.

 

Aaron Hamilton and Gary Anderberg work on getting that batten just right.

Steve Moore and Andrew Bartosh work on laying out the sheer. 

Instructor Bruce Mackenzie shows Emilio Gravangno, James King and Win Akeley how to get a perfect stem. 

 

Our annual Boatbuilding 101 class filled up this year with a group of eager learners. First step in the 4 day class is learning proper lofting techniques.

Richardson Keel

The floors and frame repairs are done, the keel section is out and the stem is braced. Now it is time to work the magic with battens and bandsaw and fit the new keel section followed by the stem knee. Once those are all carved and secured in place the starboard planking is sprung away from the framing to allow access to the stem. The problems there are pretty obvious, black rotten oak soon to be new.  This is a classic sequence of events in any rebuild. Things are done in an order that maintains the integrity of the structure while making room for each successive repair.

Comet Deck on!

 

 

 

Dave and Finn worked hard on Saturday to put the Comet deck on. Next will be coating the deck with epoxy before we turn her over and finish any hull repairs that need to be done. Her hull is in pretty good condition so it should go quickly.

A Richardson in for Repairs.

Keel and stem knee on the floor after frames and floors are done.

A 1920's powerboat used to transport people and luggage around a New York Lake, the To & Fro has seen long freshwater service and is a little overdue for work to her backbone floors and the lower portion of her framing particularly in the forward end.

Pre-bent floors in place.

Pre-bending floors for the aft portion of the boat

Sawn floors and new lower frames.

Replacing steel nails with bronze screws.

Engine beds, note the shiny new bronze screw heads

Stem bracing.

With the floors and frames done the keel repairs done, work on the keel gets started.

Finished keel scarph. 

Sailmakers Bench

Sailmakers bench recreated from a museum artifact for an upcoming exhibit. Nice work CHARLES!