More Planks

People often say to me.. "what are you doing in my garden ???"

No, that's not it, people often say to me, "how many planks ?" It's the standard question now about the boat. The answer is 11. We have all 6 down one side and 5 down the other, which means if you look at it from the near side, it's pretty much finished.

Can you tell what it is yet ?

As you can see, the port side is fully "planked".

The transom has certainly been a work in progress, but don't worry about the glue stains, Chris can sand those out.

The photo below really gives you a sense of her shape.

As Chris said, you have to admit, it's starting to look a little bit like a boat.

Oh, and yes, plank six, is covered in clamps. Be patient. I'll take them off, sand the ends and take some more photos.

Did we mention that we made a LOT of clamps.

Division of Labour

We have just completed plank 5 (from outer space?) on the port side, and with the starboard plank to glue and then the trivial task of fitting plank six, we seem to finally have a repeatable process that has streamlined the build.

If only we'd worked it out on plank one, we'd be floating by now.

We can now fit a plank in two sessions. Unfortunately it's a chicken and egg situation so I can't describe it from start to finish - given that the last thing we do one session one, is preparation for session one of the next plank, hang on, the last thing we do on session two..

Session one, or two -

• Scarf the planks for the next but one session
• Glue the plank from the previous session to the boat.
• Mark up the boat for the planing and chiseling for the next session.
• Glue the plank from the current session for the next session.

Session two, or one -

• Plane and chisel the boat in preparation for the next plank that we've half glued in the previous session.
• Shape the transom for the plank for the next session.
• Chisel the let in the fore and aft of the next plank.
• Glue the other third of the scarf joint on the previous plank for the next session.

Luckily, Chris and I seem to have fallen into a division of these tasks so that we can work in parallel without having to supervise or hold each others (metaphorical) hands. Although we often offer each other advice or feedback, only this Sunday, Chris told me "Mmm, that was a great cup of tea".

Given that Chris lives half an hour away, I could actually do a lot of "my" jobs in his absence. Luckily we have also worked out another process.

All the other sessions -

• I phone Chris and ask if he's coming to build.
• He replies - "I'm on crowd control" (looking after the kids).
• I say "That's ok, I'll glue that plank so it's ready for the next session"
• I walk into the garage with the best will in the world, and keep walking to the TV room above the garage and watch sport on the telly. 

Workers of the World Unite.

Coming round to build the boat tonight ?
No, got to look after the kids...
Oh, ok. I'll go and watch the telly.

Seems fair.