JAWS

Today was Easter Sunday, so I spent most of my time cooking and groaning about how much food I'd eaten.  The rest of the day was a bit frustrating.  I had time to devote to the boat, but none of the next steps were ready to go.  So I used the extra time to clean the covered & screened back porch, which was desperately overdue.  Not only have I begun to stack boatbuilding tools and materials in there, but it's also a dusty, disorganized mess due to its winter role as a dumping ground for muddy shoes, kid debris, etc.  Since I am trying to use the space for my build - without preventing the rest of the family from enjoying it when I'm not working - I really had to clear out the junk and give it a good sweeping.  Well, that's done now.  While it doesn't exactly qualify as boatbuilding, it certainly was a necessary step in the process.

Mast jaw with joining cut

I also managed to find something useful to do in the evening, which has to do with the title of this blog entry.  I have a couple crotches cut to use as boom jaws.  Tonight, I trimmed one of them down to nearly the recommended diameter.  That was a lot of work, and I have about a half-gallon of wood chips to show for it, even though I was only going from 2.25 to 1.75 inches diameter.  Once that was done, I cut a stepped diagonal shape into it as detailed in the plans.  That process was sketchy.  The plans show the cut and the method of joining the jaw to the crabclaw spar, but they don't detail the length of the cut, or the angle, or any other guiding info about this particular bit of joinery.  Apparently, one is supposed to eyeball it. 

Eyeballing joinery is not my strong suit.  But I eventually decided to go for it; by starting on the crotch, I'm not risking much, as I've got at least one spare already cut.  In the end, it turned out reasonably well, though it didn't exactly follow the lines I'd shakily drawn in to guide me.  But the diagonal cut surface is nice and flat, and it is believable that I could do it again on the end of my spar if I needed to.  We'll see if my optimism is justified.

Once I have two pieces that fit nicely together, the plans indicate that they should be pinned and lashed together.  This seems awfully shaky to me.... I wonder if there's supposed to be epoxy involved, or not?  It's not mentioned anywhere, but the shape of the joint suggests it.

Another (rare) example of ambiguity in the plans is that there are a couple small timber bottom frames specified, but they're not listed in the timber shopping list.  It's no big deal, as they are to be cut from 40x20mm timber, and I have plenty of scrap 1x4" pine left from a home improvement project.  I checked with my calipers, and the nominal 1" thickness is about 19mm, which I think is close enough.

Since I haven't spoken much about the plans yet, I'll try to collect my thoughts on that matter over the next few days.  And I should have my lumber ripped to the plan dimensions on Wednesday night, which means I can start lofting by the end of the week, and begin cutting the plywood soon thereafter.