Monday, September 7, 2009

Transom

The transom is ready for gluing. I spent mucho time preparing the top frame last night, I cut it wide with the jigsaw and then sanded it down to match the ply, so this took quite a while. I was being cautious. Everything fits nice and tight and perfect. I am pleased with the result of taking my time with this important element.


AND THEN

I screwed up. I was cutting out the hole for the tiller. I carefully plotted everything out, carefully cut everything out, sanded smooth and inspected for variations. Along the top cut, I noticed I had ever-so-gently strayed "north" and my top cut was not as true as my bottom cut. "NO PROBLEMO" I muttered, whilst grabbing the jigsaw firing it up. "I'll just trim it straight out easy peasey! The fact that maybe the power tool wasn't the best idea didn't cross my mind and I proceeded to venture boldly north now, as opposed to gently stray. goddammit. Now the radius of the corner doesn't match the width of the hole, the top cut is wobbly and not even parallel anymore, and I'm super scared to keep cutting to get it straight, because even with a jig clamped down for the jigsaw, I wasn't getting a straight cut. So I'm leaving my wobbly, diagonal, cut as a two part lesson: a: SLOW DOWN. b: It's OK to screw up. I'm owning up to it, and I'm walking away from my almost-but-not-quite perfect transom.



Tomorrow, I will do the first gluing, and stay tuned for some exciting new boat developments!

4 comments:

  1. Looks good. Put the transom on the boat, put the rudder on the transom, rig the main sheet yoke and you'll be the only one to even notice that the cutout isn't "perfect."

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  2. hey i was looking at this boat you got for sale here, and i was wondering, what's the deal with the crooked hole thingy?

    ya know, i am a little disappointed in this build. Mil Spec TFP is not what I had in mind. I kinda thought you'd get the plans, wad them up and wipe your ass with 'em. This would've resulted in a neato picasso build, which would've been stealthy (reflecting radar at odd angles).

    Instead, i'm seeing a glorified rowboat. My advice: Slap on some stays. Put in a longer boom and mast and sail. Steal a fiberglass centerboard and rudder. Toss on a spinaker.

    Then you can truly say you've made your OWN boat, and not copied one.


    Probably didn't want to hear this, but hey welcome to the internet!

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  3. I have learned that if you are going to make a mistake with hand tools, it will likely be a slow, meticulous mistake, whereas with power tools, you can ruin your project in seconds flat.

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