Wednesday, July 21, 2010

That's what she said...



So it's day three of the great Motor Whaleboat chase. She's still in Guam, though moved from the open lot to a warehouse. The dumpster waiting to take her away in pieces remains only a few yards away. No new developments despite plenty of hard work.

BT

Work continues on the 25-foot Launch. This week we've started laminating frames, soaking them and bending them over the forms, a few good whacks with a rubber mallet (nicknamed "the Commander") to drive it into place tight against the keel, then clamping it down along the whole length. There are a lot of random shouts of "yeah, baby" in the evolution.

The whole process has been designed to mimick the sawn frames of the original boats, with a significant weight savings (the Launch will be trailered, after all) and increased strength where possible. The futtocks are being laminated from fir strips, slathered in epoxy and laid up on the molds. There is no spring back because of the large number of lifts in each frame, but there is a lot of thickened epoxy to wipe up afterward.

BT

No weekly meeting tonight as the shop is rigged for frame installation. After all this time, its finally earning its nickname "Framing Bay". Next week we will get back to the regular weekly meetings and activities.

BT

There is a new Event Schedule posted on Facebook. The website will be updated soon (I'm told). For August, the sailors and marines are split, with our end of summer party in September out at Hyco Lake. All of these events are trying to shoot for one day participation - we'll save those where we ask for your whole weekend for the BIG events. Point is, your voices have been heard so keep speaking up!

NNNN

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