Building the Expedition Wherry, Part III - NOT SO FAST!

The buckets and bricks are off!

But, hmmm.  Those planks don't look very good.

It's hard to see in this photo, but notice how the plank on the right doesn't arc correctly.  There's not a consistent curve to it.

The one in the middle doesn't have a consistent curve either.

That's not right!

But how could I have screwed that up?  I remembered being careful to make sure the puzzle joints lined up correctly.

Oh no.



It reminds me of one of the few jokes I can remember.  My boss and friend of many years ago, John A., told it to me.  It was actually during my evaluation conference when he was explaining to me that I was a bit too direct with people who worked for me.  Or, to put it another way he said it, "Bill, you're just like a turd in a punchbowl."  John was a great guy and I learned a lot from him.

In Sergeant Johnson's office one day, the Corporal says, "Sergeant Johnson, we just got a fax.  Private Smith's mother just died." Sergeant Johnson replies, "Tell the men to fall in."  "FALL IN" yells the Corporal.  The men come running and stand at ramrod attention.  Sergeant Johnson comes out of the office and yells,  "OK men, all those soldiers with living mothers take one step forward!!   PRIVATE SMITH, NOT SO FAST!!!"

Now back to the boat.  I goofed around with different configurations but I couldn't put my mind around the screwed up planks.  ML helped by saying maybe another of the planks was wrong.  I sent CLC a photo of the planks and they promptly replied with a diagram of the planks with some measurements.

AHA!  I had used a section of plank 2 that should have been on plank 3.  Plus, the middle section on plank 3 was backwards.  Yes, it's an embarrassing moment.

Fortunately, things in boatbuilding, like most construction, can be fixed.  It just takes time and/or money.  Sometimes lots of either or both.  After puzzling in my mind, I decided just to cut the joints as carefully as I could with a jigsaw, and reglue with some thickened epoxy.

Here is a "normal" glued puzzle joint.

Here is one after I jigsawed the above and joined the correct plank sections.  There's a lot of leeway in that joint prior to the glue.

Another thing I've learned over the years is that I need to be careful not to let one mistake lead to more misery.  I was as careful as possible to make sure the new planks were the correct length and had consistent arcs and lines.  If I didn't get them right, I knew that I would be fighting that difference for the rest of the boat.

Now they look right and measure right.  Luckily, I have a long enough concrete surface that I could mark on the concrete and then glue the planks using the marks.

It took another couple days, but I think I have everything ready and as designed.

The last step before putting it all together is to glue the sheer strips on the top of the upper side planks.  In this photo, the 3/4" by 1" sheer strip is glued and clamped.

I was careful to make sure the sheer strips were "mirror" images - in other words glued on to the correct side of the left and right planks.  I didn't want to embarrass myself again.

OK, everything is ready to put together and make a boat!