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 | This picture was taken approximately 30 hours into the build. I didn't decide to
document my build until this point, so I don't have pics of me milling the strips.
So just to back track for a second, I started with rough cut 4/4" poplar that I purchased from a local lumber yard. I planed all of the planks down to 3/4" then ran them through my table saw to cut 1/4" thick strips. This was a very dusty process, but in the end it does save some serious cash. For reference, if I bought milled, beaded and coved 1/4" x 3/4" cedar strips, it would have cost me well over $1000 for this project. The rough poplar cost me $100. After the strips were cut, I used a set of 1/4" bead and cove router bits to bead one 1/4" edge of each strip and cove the opposing one. The result was a set of "tounge and grove" style poplar strips of wood. I also stripped some walnut that I had left over from another project. Walnut is really heavy, so I decided to use it as an accent through the boat. Back to this pic. I very precisely laid the 1st strip along the sheer line, bead side down. If you lay the cove side down, you risk damaging the fragile edges during construction of the rest of the boat. It is critical to lay the sheer strips as accurately as possible following the sheer line that gets printed on the forms. This will define how the rest of the strips look through the whole boat. This pic show the sheer strip plus one more course. |
 | I used 1 1/2" brad nails to tack the strips to the forms. The sheer
strips had no other strips to hold onto, so they wanted to spring back at the bow and stern. I
drilled a 1/8" hole at each end and used a 2" drywall screw to hold them in place.
Here you can see 4 poplar strips and 2 walnut accent strips roughly at the proposed water line (also printed on the forms) and a trusty clamp holding them together while the dry. Note the duct tape between every form. It works wonders to hold the strips from seperating, but trust me, you'll need lots. |
 | 2 poplar strips that I didn't bead or cove were planed on one side to align flush all the
way down the bottom of the boat. The outside (facing the other strips) was left square to allow the remaining
strips to fit flush into place.
You can also see that I had to piece some strips together to make them long enough. I just cut each strip at a 45 degree angle and lapped them together. |
 | Here's a better view of the keel and the beginning of what everyone calls "fill strips" or "filling in
the football" becase of the remaining shape. Also note the brad nails *everywhere*!
The small gap left between the keel strips and the bow and stern will be covered by the bow and stern strips that you'll see in later steps. |
 | I got bored with planing down the fill strips to all of the crazy sweeping angles by this point, so I decided to plane the bow to a nice, flowing arc. |
 | When I planed down the rough poplar, I found that I had 2 different shades of wood. I saved the darker
for the final fill on the hull. It adds a nice contrast and looks kinda neat too. And don't worry, all of those
nasty saw burn marks will sand out shortly.
The fill is done and I'm ready for the bow and stern strips. |
 | I did a little clean up here and planed down some hugh spots on the hull. This picture is of the stern. |
 | Back to the bow. I glued a strip of walnut onto the freshly planed egde. After this strip was dry, I added a second. I used every clamp I own, a jig I made and about 38 pounds of duct tape to make this fit a flush as possible. The exact same process was repeated on the stern. |
 | The 2 strips were then roughly planed down to the contour of the hull and then I did the finish shaping with some 80 grit sand paper on my random orbital sander. I wet it out with a little water just to get a quick look at how the finished product will contrast. I like it. :) |
 | Planed, sanded, and faired, the hull is DONE! Notice that the burn marks are all gone. I built a set of slings from some old carpet I had in the attic to hold the boat while I strip the deck....which is next. |
