Boat Builder Central - Builder Forums

I don't know why, but I love the patterns one gets when shaping ply wood. The alternating grains are gorgeous. Have you considered adding some type of protecting layer on the edge that will first hit bottom? Similar to what they put on the edges of paddles?

https://www.shawandtenney.com/product-c ... ional-oars

I tried to find Rockgard protection and just get stuff for keeping rocks from damaging your vehicle or boat while on the road.

That's a good idea!

Unfortunately the last time I saw protection on the end of an oar was during crew in the '60's. They were tipped with copper sheet, IIRC. I'll sniff around and see if the state of the art might have changed since then.

I'm adding a splash coaming to the Moonfish. The coaming will sit on the deck between the daggerboard and the mast, deflecting some of the water coming over the bow. In one form or another it's been a feature of Sunfish since day one.

I had to make a taper jig and a canted mitre jig to cut the two wings of the coaming. Here's the mitre jig in action:



And the completed coaming:



The coaming is 3 inches high in the center, tapering to 1.5 inches at the outer ends. The angle between the wings is 120º and they cant forward 15º.

You can see the holes for mounting screws near the ends of the wings. I aspire to forge a bronze bracket that will hold the center. We'll see...

Walnut?

Sapele.

It's a reasonably close color match to the dark strips of Western Red Cedar in the hull and sides. But building something you're going to kick and step on out of brittle cedar didn't seem very smart.

It was seeing boats like the one you are building that sparked my interest in sailing when I was a kid (about 7). At the time there was zero ability for me to be anywhere near a dinghy of any size so I read and read and read. Now that I'm old I find that I don't care about the beauty aspect as much for my own boats. Seeing what you are building... it reminds me of a time when my life was simple and I didn't understand "the world". Sailing was a dream that I was able to sprinkle with pirates and swords and all the lies of literature. I love sailing for different reasons now but the fantasy of a 10yr old boy sitting on the bank of a lake watching the "rich kids" needed to be aired out.

Thank you for that kick in the pants. That is one beautiful craft you are building.

Thank you.

I'm building her for that kid, of whom we have bunches in our extended family. They have access to starter rowboats and outboards, but no sail. Sure, I'll sail her too, but that's just goofing around.

At this point all the woodwork on the Moonfish is done with the exception of the mast and (maybe) to booms. I'm going to take a break from the woodworking side of my brain for a while and get the metalworking side of my shop out of mothballs. As you've probably guessed by now, I don't always do things the easy way. This craft needs several metal fittings and I know just the amateur boatbuilder to make them ...

I've decided my MF14 should have bronze fittings to go with the olde timey look of the boat. Of course almost all the small boat parts these days are stainless or chrome plated. I did find a bronze deck cleat so I'll be making the rest of the parts.

Padeyes first. The MF14 has a bridle across the deck near the back. The bridle provides an attach point for the main sheet that's up and over the tiller. You can see one in action on the back of this Sunfish:



The ends of the bridle attach to the deck with a pair of fittings called padeyes. I'm going to forge them out of 1/4-inch bronze rod. First thing to do is set up a crude smithy in the driveway:



There's a propane burner hiding in the shadows that heats the bronze to a dull red - what one needs to bend and hammer it.

Here are the padeye prototypes and forged "blanks". The blanks are much longer than the finished product because you need handles to hold it (with tongs!) while you hammer it into shape.



Before and after machining:



(The fuzz was some spray-on adhesive I used to hold the paper patterns in place.)

Finished padeyes, polished up: