Bowsprits and buckets

So this next installment concerns an essential part of every gaffer - the bowsprit. This started life as a three piece laminate which was trimmed square and then lovingly fettled into a splendid bowsprit. I came over a bit artistic as the sunlight caught a fragile curl of wood shaving.

Ah lovely... anyway after much more planing, the bowsprit emerged with the help of a cunning spar gauge which helps taper the bowsprit in proportion. I am not sure how best to explain except it is geometry which is far better explained here http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skills/index.php/en/wood/using-a-spar-gauge/
It is a very simple device but a very good 'trick of the trade'. Here it is pictured below.

Any way after taking the corners off and taking the corners off and taking the corners off again, you finally end up with one you try on for size.

I think the camera angle in this one makes it look quite intimidating and obviously it will get nicely rounded over on the end.

And what have I been up to ? Well I now have a pattern for the cover and will be ordering bits for that soon but in the meantime I have knocked up a canvas bucket for the hell of it really. For those interested in the technical specification of said bucket here we go, 15oz cotton canvas, with 12mm ply base (well, what else do you do with the hatch cut out from the boat your are building. Waste not want not is what I say....) 10-12 mm cotton rope and copper tacks. Two Matthew Walker knots and a backsplice later and there you go. In terms of usefulness these days probably in the same category as the cardboard propeller but I like it and have decreed it to be the 'bucket of declaration' to encourage post race donations from fellow Gaffers !...It will get its first outing this weekend.

All things bright and beautiful.....

I have been more use of late in the boatshed as we are completing the varnishing and painting. The transom, toe rail and rubbing strake are fully varnished (Hempel 'Diamond', thinned by about 5-10%) the cabin top and cockpit sides are painted (cream in the end as I couldn't get the idea of fibreglass out of my mind when looking at expanses of white so that had to go). The hand rails, cabin sides and fiddly bits of wood trimming round he cockpit have had two coats so a bit more to go and D has sanded the hull to perfection and is masking up in readiness for us to apply a coat of primer to the hull.  He will progress with a roller while I follow with a foam brush to remove any small air bubbles from the roller. Off we go.....  Well an hour later and we are done, Hempel primer was a bit think and sticky so we had to thin it down and work quickly with roller and the foam brush - you get one chance. Anyway here she is so far.

......with a coat of primer drying on the hull and with top coat

and here is the cabin top

The learning point from all this is when you think it is all sanded smooth and you can't feel any lumps and bumps, no matter how well you think you've done.... do some more...

In between varnish drying, the boom is in preparation, the piece of Douglas fir has been planed to rough size but will need more shaping. We will be using Woodskin on the spars, which is low maintenance and recommended by friends so I should be seeing the back of the varnish brush soon however I have enjoyed the alchemy that occurs when coat after coat of crystal clear varnish brings the wood alive. Below is the boom in preparation and the end fitting that fits the boom to the mast.

And also the bowsprit which has started life as a sandwich of three laminates and is here being planed to size. I have left D in the shed with yet more tea as he fashions something  rather more lovely out this rather agricultural looking lump of wood.

I am off to play with some canvas and rope as is my way.....

...all creatures great and small...

We have been occupied with paint and varnish of late which I guess is always a promising sign when it comes to boat building. Sad to say there are more things taking an interest than is helpful, namely flies, moths and those tiny little thunderbugs that are nearly invisible until they are silhouetted against a virgin expanse of International's finest 'Mediterranean white'. I took some tea down to the boat shed this afternoon to find D 'helping' a moth avoid a sticky end as it circled in a death spiral towards the new undercoat. I am convinced that the flies preserved in amber are just the outcome of Neandethal boatbuilding.

                                                       Tea                                             

                                                Painting

We have also been thinking of fellow gaffers this week, with friends down in the South West suffering all an English  Summer can throw at them and on the East coast, the launch of Cachalot http://www.cachalot.org.uk/ after a major rebuild. We wish Steve and Beverley all the best.

What else has been going on.... ?
I have been painting and varnishing too (hatches, bunk tops, forepeak ceiling) which is all a bit of a help. The mainsail has gone off to the sailmaker's to have the number put on. She will be G134 if you hadn't already guessed from the blog name.  Also, I have been researching and sourcing the bits a pieces I need to create a cover for use in harbour mainly to keep an area where  wet waterproofs can dry without taking them down below. More of that to come....