Home : The New Summer Haze : Construction Completed
The Art of Arthur Watts
The Story of Summer Haze & The Building of Silver Thread
October of 2004 |
A planking clamp. |
Alice and Anne Sloan clamping a plank in place. |
Another view of the clamps in use.
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Planing a plank down to the spiled lines. |
Preparing to hang the plank. |
Before continuing with the planking I made up the centerboard case. Since I had plenty of planking off-cuts I made each side out of two layers of 7/16 in. stock, glued together, then planed it to 3/ 4 in. The keel is only 3-1/2 in. wide and the slot 3/ 4 in. so there is little room for the centerboard logs. The whole assembly is well bedded and fastened with 3-in. stainless steel deck screws. I prefer the square drive variety (known as Robertson drive in Canada) as the screwdriver can't slip.
This is a large centerboard, over 5 feet in length, and the great weight of a steel plate could be hazardous to young fingers. I thought of making an oak centerboard, suitably weighted, but finally settled for 3/8 in. marine-grade aluminium. That, as they say in Nova Scotia, 'will last me out'.
Spiling the next plank... |
...laying it out... |
...and preparing to hang it. |
Since this boat has no stem rabbet, the planks are left long and only later sawn to the curve of the stem. The hardest part was fitting the plank to the reverse curves of the wine glass transom. I suspect that the builders of the original boat started with a thicker plank then carved and shaped it to the required curve. Anyway, I was gratified by the result. It not only looks right but has an elegance that local Nova Scotian boats lack, because the garboards are butted up against the keel and fastened to a keel batten or hog.
 Detail showing reverse curve
in second plank.
With both sheer strakes in place I found no need to adjust the top edge, the sheerline. This was either a fortunate fluke or confirmed that the molds and strongback set-up did closely follow the shape of the original Summer Haze. |
This boat has an oak stem which is fitted after planking is complete. |
A local sawyer, Jim Sunderland, cut the timbers (frames) out of a red oak log that had been felled the winter before. Six months later the wood was barely air dry but I thought it best to soak the rough-cut timbers in cold sea water for a few days before putting steam to them. When the day came I hauled them out, let the surfaces dry and then ran them through a thickness planer. After that I slathered them with linseed oil and put them in the steam box.
Everything went well until we got to the last three timbers at the stern. It was impossible to make them go around the reverse curve and fasten them while still hot enough to bend. After breaking a few we gave up for the day. I then did what I should have done in the beginning and made three simple forms or jigs, one for each pair of timbers. We bent the hot timbers into the forms and let them set overnight. Then we could then spring them into the boat, drill for the nails and do the riveting. I had no oak for the stem with suitably curved grain so was at first inclined to make a lamination from thin strips of oak. That meant making a special form and then planing the glued up mess--an awkward, tiresome job by hand. Since the stem is well supported by the apron and deadwood behind, I ended up sawing it out of 2-in. thick oak.
The inwales on the original Summer Haze were not bent into place (as is usual in small craft) but sawn out of solid oak. This made a very robust boat, well suited to the stone quays in Padstow harbour and coming alongside vessels in a seaway. I scarfed each gunwale in two places so I could get away with using 6-inch wide oak. This is not only more economical but avoids weakness caused by short grain. Another typical detail is the second guard rail along the lower edge of the sheer strake. I've seen lug and mizzens with a rope fender attached to the sheer strake which makes sense with the stone quays of a busy harbour.
Silver Thread planked and framed. Sawn inwale fitted on port side. |
The upper and lower gunwale on the sheer strake. |