Did I say boat building over Easter?

It's a good thing that Easter lasts four days, because Saturday and Sunday morning will be taken up with my longest bike ride yet - 101km, from Roleystone, in the hills just out of Perth, to Beverley, in the Avon Catchment area of our wheatbelt.

Beverley hosts a lawn tennis tournament every year, and has done so for over 75 years. We normally camp out with the Fremantle Lawn Tennis Club, but this year, none of the kids are playing, and my tennis isn't worth the embarrasment, so I thought I'd ride to Beverley on my pushy. A bit like swimming to Rotto, in its honour, because "it is there" and I owe it so many good times over the years.

Here's a map of the route. Hope it's not too hot on the day, and the traffic is alert and awake to a lone cyclist on the relatively narrow road.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=104627326706914628306.000480cc917175b4acfe6&ll=-32.117475,116.508636&spn=0.683913,1.299133&z=10

Alive, but slow and starting to kick

Have sent  my needs for some Western Red Cedar to Allwood Timber Supplies, and hopefully I'll have some in time for Easter to resume this build. It's been very hot in WA, too hot for the shed and too hot for using Epoxy, at least, that's my excuse. We'll get there eventually.

False start to ripping timber

Just got back from "Your Wood Works", and the chap there was so helpful - in fact, so helpful, he sent me packing, to do more homework on the cuts of timber I'd need. When faced with clear, simple questions like "how long is each piece, I went to water, unable to prove to myself where in the plan it was mentioned.
I have to learn how to make the smooth side, cut to width, then saw to length etc, and try to do this in the  most cost effective way when the timber is so expensive. So, back to the books, make a cutting list, and get more timber too so that I can get the most from the hourly rate at the tool shed.

Method 2 for not making progress: Rottnest Island

Spent a week at Rottnest Island, off the coast of Perth, WA. This is a beautiful place, and still not destroyed by over development. The famous pub "Quokka Arms" is a bit more like "McDonalds with Beer" these days, and there are security guards (groan), but the view is still there and the beer's cold.

Time to get ripping

I have this amazingly light but very expensive lump of Western Red Cedar that needs to be ripped into pieces to be used to make the foils. Waiting for "Your Woodwork" to reopen after Christmas.
Have finished cutting out the panels, and they are all planed down to the lines. Scary things ahead:
- first use of epoxy resin
- scarfing joints to create the chine logs

I've seen some nice techniques for scarfing joints, but the jigs they create look more complex than the scarf joint, and I don't have a router anyway, so perhaps I should do them by hand?

Almost finished cutting out panels

For some reason, I don't have enough wood on one panel to cut out the front seat, so that and back seat are all that remains to cut out and plane to the lines. Hope there's enough space on the last panel, otherwise it's off to the timber yard.

Got my new sander from eBay - an AEG unit, cost me $110 inc postage of $17. Already used it on the ends instead of planing across the grain.

Bottom panel marked out and ready to cut

Phew! 'twas hot today, but in between the cricket (West Indies have 51 runs to win, Aussies have one wicket to take tomorrow), I managed to loft the bottom panel. Just a short note about concentration on this type of task: would you believe I nearly started to cut the panel out, along the lines plotted, without taking heed of the big bold print "Cut 20 mm outside the lines!!!!"? When you mark out the nice, sleek lines of this boat, you just want to cut it to get it done!

Another week has passed, and tomorrow is again life saving training for Jack, so perhaps another beach photo tomorrow. In the meantime, almost as sexy, is the marked up bottom panel. Wife is asking "seems a bit narrow - will we all fit in that thing?"