Glueing on the inwales takes a lot of clamps.  I am doing the simplest type of gunwales rather than the open kind.

I started thinking about a name for the boat soon after starting the project and wrote about it in an earlier post.  The names I was remembering then, names of 18th C. British warships such as Resolute, Ardent or Revenge, are too heavy and would sink a little boat. I then looked on the internet where you can find many joke boat names and I didn’t like any of them.

Annie might be a good name.  It is short and sweet.  It doesn’t have any strong associations, just a little connection to Scotland – “Annie Laurie” and a little connection to America – “_____ Get Your Gun”.

Chetna and Anna helped find an appropriate style for the letters and we have been experimenting with the laser cutter at work to burn the name onto a teak name plate.  It is not all final yet, but we are getting there.

Boat turned right way up.

Attaching one of the rubbing strakes with clamps at the scarf joint.

One of the links at the right side of my page leads to Joan Sol’s blog “El mar és el camí” (the sea is the path).  Joan writes in the Catalan language.  If you click on the automatic translator, it produces a garbled translation that is just enough that the ideas come through.   I found his blog very interesting reading, especially a section on “The Manifesto of Slow Sailing”.  Joan invites readers to contribute comments on the manifesto and so I include it below, re-writing the garbled translation in slightly better English and, I hope, correctly interpreting the ideas.

“Quiet Sailing”

As I explained in a previous post, the idea of slow sailing is inspired by the philosophy called the slow movement, which aims to live life more slowly, savor the peace, and enjoy every moment . From this, the idea came to me for the “Manifesto of Slow Sailing,” that aims to be a proposal to enjoy the sea and navigation with peace of mind. At first, the manifesto consisted of ten points. But then, in your comments, some of you said you were supporters of racing, arguing that races are a good way of learning sailing, and I included a new point in this regard. Therefore, it has become a decalogue of eleven points!

Manifesto of Quiet Sailing (2.0)

1.  What is important is not the boat, but your relationship with her and the sea. Never mind the length, or cost of equipment of your boat. Whether it is a rowing boat or a yacht, what matters is not to consider her a possession, but a travel companion for you that will provide pleasure, unforgettable experiences, and knowledge of the sea, and especially of yourself.

2.  Spend time aboard your boat, even if it is moored in port. Convert it into a part of your living space. Work on it, do some work there, so that some part of the ship is your work, and that some part of your work is linked to the ship. This will strengthen the bonds between you and your boat.

3.  Leave behind the feeling of speediness at the pier when sailing. Depart without a return time, as if you are leaving to make a long journey. Lose the clock and let yourself be guided by the sun. If you remove speed and time from the equation, there is only space: the sea.

4.  Depart for sailing aimlessly, without a point of arrival. Simply browse, let yourself be carried away by wind and sea. Do not think of mileage that you did not need to cover. Not going anywhere. Just browse and enjoy the moment.

5.  Unplug electronics and sail as had always done. Learn not to rely on instruments. How long does it take to take a sextant reading or position of a star? Place the cursor on a course  and draw on a paper chart. Forget the wind speed meter: feel the wind on your face or neck. Learn the art of sailing which is what really defines sailors.

6.  Disconnect the mobile radio and music equipment. Cut the ties for a while. Silence! Hear the sound of sea waves over the bow, the heartbeat of the candle, the breath of wind.

7.  Do not get fixed to the tiller or wheel. Cede the helm to the crew. How long ago was it that we are not on deck or in her bow with your feet hanging? If you are running before the wind, tie the rudder, balancing the boat with the sails and let it carry. Trust in your boat and crew.

8.  Write a logbook. Describe in detail the trips you make and record the sensations you experience. Save the emotions of each and you can relive them long after. Share these experiences and emotions with others through a blog like this about  how you feel better.

9. Take part in races, if you like, but not thinking about the prize, but instead because you learn to better understand the sea, your boat and yourself. There is no prize more stimulating than learning.

10.  Do not abandon your ship, she never would abandon you.

11. Look at the sea for a while each day, soak in the energy now and take it wherever you go.

~

I used to do a lot of dinghy racing when I was a teenager, but now the mellow philosophy described in the Manifesto appeals to me more.

The keel pieces went on quite easily. In the process,  I learned an important lesson in boatbuilding: – you can’t uncut a piece of wood.  What happened was that I thought I had the length right and cut it only to find that it was about 1/8″ too short.  Normally, you would put it aside and start again, but this was an expensive piece of oak that had a lot of work put into shaping it.  Luckily, the epoxy filler is very forgiving and lets you get away with inadequate joinery skills.  We are spoiled when we work a lot on computers with the ability to click on “undo” and revert to before the mistake with only the loss of some time.

Still trying to fit on all the pieces around the keel, the skeg and stem.  It may not have been the best decision to use white oak for these.  It should be very durable, but working it with hand tools is difficult and it goes almost beyond my strength to plane a lot off, it is like planing a piece of iron.  I feel that if the wood were a little softer, I would spend more time getting the shape just perfect, but with the oak, unless you have a lot of diamond tipped tools, it is tempting to give up earlier and say it is good enough.

Jay and I got the last plank on – the whiskey plank.  We also filled the gaps at the laps of the planks with a fillet of epoxy and worked on shaping the pieces of the keel around the centerboard slot.

Essais du côtre Aurique SEABIRD plan de William FIFE de 1889 construit à BENODET par le Chantier Naval STAGNOL.
Interview de Hubert STAGNOL
Film produit et réalisé par FAC TELEVISION:
http://www.sailingnews.tv/

“There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats“    Ratty – The Wind in the Willows

Nearly there!  Only one more plank to go and then we will lift her up and free her from the molds that have held everything  in the right shape, straight, true and level.  The hull now has its own existence.  Today, I crawled up underneath the hull to unscrew some screws.  It was exciting to experience what it is like to be inside the boat, even though it was upside down and a limited view I felt I was inside the boat for the first time.  There is a subtle point reached, it is the same when a building is being constructed, when it changes from a construction,  from putting some pieces of wood together in a planned way, to a space you can experience, you can occupy.

It is encouraging to reach a turning point and you can’t help thinking ahead to what will be done in the second half of the construction, such as what color to paint her, a name for her,  how to get sails made and what wood to use for the thwarts and floor boards.  The hull will be painted inside and out because  my carpentry skills are not good enough for the planks to be varnished; I had to lean heavily on the help of epoxy glue to make the scarph joints in the planks.  The color for the outside will be either blue or green, not white, not black or any kind of brown or red.  I am thinking of either royal blue or  pea green -  like the Owl and the Pussy-cat’s beautiful pea-green boat.  I plan to paint the inside an off white color.  The hull shape is reminiscent of a seed and I am thinking of the white color of the inside of an apple seed.

The trouble with writing a blog is that you record the project in real time.  If three years from now I am still trying to fit out the inside, I will read this entry with embarrassment, thinking optimistically that we could be ready by next spring.  So far it has gone together fairly smoothly, thanks to the kit of molds and planks from Jordan Boats.  From now forward we will be working only from the plans without any precut pieces.

We are approaching a milestone.  The “Whiskey Plank” is the last plank to complete a ship’s hull and traditionally an occasion for a celebration.  It will not be whiskey in our case because I do not drink, but a celebration is in order for this turning point.  We will soon be turning her over to work on the inside.

Naturally you start thinking ahead to the next steps and to when she will be finished and you can go out on the water, perhaps by next spring.  The weather has cooled down and going out sailing, or rowing, or even just  floating, seems appealing.  It is possible to envision it now.