Week 6 Oar & Spar Week

This week was given over to making oars for those building rowing boats and paddles for those building canoes and larger sailing vessels. I made a paddle for getting the haven back into shore should the wind fade but if the budjet stretches I will probably add a small 2.5hp otboard. I was a bit dissapointed I could not make an oar as the example looked fantastic so I encorporated some on the oars features into my paddle by scooping out the face of the cheeks on one side with the bollow plane (made earlier in the course) making a pronounced spine running down the centre planked by sappelle inlays. The other side was finished like a conventional paddle with tappered flat cheeks. This new design was christened 'the oardle'. Wednesday saw the oardle finished by fashioning the handle in with the loom again laminating in some sappelle.

I had the choice of then starting to make a boom or mast for the haven during the remainder of the week or carrying on getting things ready for glassing the outer hull next Monday. I chose to work on the hull by getting the outer stem planed and faired in and sanding off the first skim of filler. A full day was spent cleaning off the transom. This was a difficult process as the mahogany kept splitting as I planed it. I got it looking presentable enough for this point and then gave it a first stage sanding with the power sander using 40 grit. I will come back to it again after the hull is glassed.

Friday afternoon was spent finishing the ballast keel mould by adding the centre board slot pattern but this proved difficult as the two pieces of laminated plyboard to form the 30mm width cupped slightly. When glued and screwed to the mould it kicked off slighly at the very aft end. This will have to be sorted out on Monday with a laminate and then planing straight. Hopefully it will work out.

The mast and rigging was obviously discussed this week and I have decided to fit the 'Marconi' Rig to my haven instead of the Gaff. Altough still made with Spruce I think it will be better suited to my modern build and for me it will be more simple to rig and maintain.