Helm Station

In the midst of fitting the seat backs, the steering gear was connected for good and the helm station finished. Here is a shot of the gear connected to the bulkhead steering box:

The bottom seat back strake is in place and finished with my interior finish: raw linseed oil, turpentine and pine tar.  A heavenly aroma now fills The Works. Here's another shot of the steering station and gear:

The conduit behind is for 12vdc if we ever go there ... Two other shots of the finished seat backs:

Fitting the Seat Backs

Once I had an idea what the aft seats would look like, I began to fit the seat backs. These are made out of leftover Honduran mahogany planking that was lying around. Here, the mahogany is being fit up:

One can see that the steering gear is not hooked up yet. I had disconnected it while laying the deck. The chestnut piece running between No. 4 and No. 3 stations is a front seat support.

Reclining on Chestnut

After laying the deck, there are a number of things to fit into the hull before the coaming goes on. Also, I had a seat idea that I was anxious to try. You see, it goes like this: The congregation where I served for a number of years removed two front pews for the usual reasons - space for more theatrics, weddings, worship combos, etc. I had reason to believe that the pews were American chestnut since much of the interior is finished in chestnut.

Strapped to the roof of the mini-van, they made their way to the The Works, where they were stripped of cushions and disassembled. (True story: The two front pews were used since time immemorial - well, at least since 1925 - for the assemblage of the Sunday School children; boys on the right; girls on the left. The boys' pew had a reef of used chewing gum on the underside of the bench proper. Girls, of course, would have disposed of their chewing gum in the carefully saved wrapper.) The main seats were edge-glued, contoured chestnut.

A template was fashioned and similar grain of sassafras was used to make up where the chestnut could not extend in width. I am reclining on the port side bench prior to its finishing:

On Being "Over the Top"

A year and a half on a deck?  Really?!  Yes. Let me explain, though it is indefensible ... They say a picture is worth a thousand words ...

This is the fore deck as I was fitting the king plank. (Pay no attention to the 957 bronze dong - it is merely holding the plank in place.)  All art is indefensible in a world of 24/7 news cycles, starving children and the like. But is has to be created, or else we succumb to the inhumanity of the age ... 

The picture below is the aft deck, with seams caulked.

"What if you spill 20W oil on it?" a colleague (well, Kelly) wonders.  Yes, and the Works could burn down.  Art is always vulnerable. Natural teak is pretty resilient.  This Spring I helped a couple of blokes deliver a yacht with a natural teak deck from Florida to Rhode Island.  While refueling at sea, I spilled some No. 2 on the deck.  (The scuppers were plugged up so none made it to sea - you turtle-huggers can stow your harpoons ...)  The deck was discolored for a half a day, and then returned to its natural bleached tan.  It's okay; teak has been a deck of choice for generations, and I believe it will serve Iona admirably. 

Cover Board Templates

No, I didn't go to seed ... decking just goes slow. I've also been finishing the engine in between planks. As a tease, here is a recent photo of the engine tops.

There, that got your attention. Now on to the more prosaic job of fitting cover board templates. Here's a shot of the very stern, where the aft quarter cover boards meet the stern king plank. The template material is adhesive opaque shelf paper. It's nice and stiff and I can see my marks through it. It also has handy-dandy grid lines on it. I have it tacked on to the sub-decking with brads. For finer cutting around the joggles, I use an Xacto knife. Of course the proof of the pudding will be to transmit the shape and cut to the planed, expensive teak planks. But this should minimize the error.

Here's a shot of the starboard aft quarter plank template with a little more detail. Like the decking, there is room for a seam relief between the decking and cover board. When I saw these things out, I'll have to strike the balance between not leaving too much proud to work out later and cutting it close. But then, that's finish work everywhere ...

Overnight temperatures in the shop have been 15 F (-9 C), so it's time to move the center of effort back to the shop at work and finish the boiler appurtenances there.

Wooden Boat Show Eve

Checking the oil and kicking the tires before heading to Mystic tomorrow.  Time to wander dreamily through the hand tool vendors, display boats and chandlers.  We'll miss a Saturday working on the deck, but there are priorities ... Speaking of the deck:

One side is now done and we're wrestling in the starboard side.  Cover boards are ripped and awaiting planing.  (The scrap of plywood over the starboard foredeck is to ward off a stubborn intermittent leak in the roof that manifests itself during some summer thunderstorms.)

And the Decking is "Proceeding According to Precedent ..."

... To quote Kipling.

What a winter! The Works were locked in a temperature-induced, productivity death grip.  I was able to continue slowly on the smokebox and boiler at work, but since that involves a commute, it is not near as handy.  Below is a shot of the foredeck.  The joggle fit and trim will be exciting to do.

The king plank and cover boards are on hand and await planing to the same thickness (0.312").  The question was raised, "So how far can you bend that teak sideways?"  On the stern deck, the curve is to a sixty (60") inch radius.  One piece protested while bending to the dry fit.  It shattered in my hand, not unlike glass.  We were impressed.

Another piece jumped the clamps - I'm not really sure how that happened - whirled through the air like a Venetian blind and landed butter-side up.  Phew!