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Spirit Of Independence from bones to boat.
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| Framing up. |
The frames are being set up on the construction bed. Great accuracy is required here. For if the frames are set poorly the
whole project will be a mess. About 1/3 of the frames have been set, and more can be seen to the right waiting to be set.
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| Melvin, left, and J. C. are welding the bottom plating |
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| Rudder installation. |
In the second photo we are just getting limbered up on the steel work. All of the frames are set. The longitudinals are
installed, and the skin is beginning to go on. The skin is 3/16 thick and was purchased in 20 ft long sheets. We could cover
up a lot of boat each time one of these sheets were installed. We warped one sheet around the fantail, then it would take
only three sheets to go down a side. Schedule 80 seamless pipe was used for the sheer. Most of the welding was done with
a spool gun. And I personally burned up about $1,500.00 worth of overalls, shirts and gloves. But then no one said boat
building was cheap.
Contrary to what one might think, installing the rudder while the boat is upside down is by far easier than installing it
when the boat is right side up. The rudder is simply hoisted into place and there you have it. Of course we are not wanting
to count the 5,000 trips up and down the ladder to get things that were forgotten or dropped. One thing one must take in
to account when estimating the time it will take to build is that one will spend about as much time getting in the boat or
on the boat to work on it as will be spent working on the boat. But this is good because you will know you already have the
skills necessary to do half the job. If you can not do well at getting on and off the boat then you don't want to start
a project like this.
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| Turned hull right side up. |
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| Pilot house coming aboard. |
Ah, the "boat turning" day. There comes a time that you are sick and tired of doing everything upside down and
backward. And the very thing that will just set you up is the "boat turning" day. Yes it is like rearranging the
furniture in your house. It will give you a whole new and fresh perspective on life. There is only one small draw back.
Up to this point when one made a mess it just fell on the ground. Now the mess will stay with you... and with you... until
you clean it up. Thus another fourth of the time it takes to build a boat will be spent cleaning up messes. And let me tell
you cleaning up a mess in a boat is like no other mess cleaning in the world. But again that is good because you do not need
great skill for mess cleaning. Now where this is all leading is that if you want to build a boat go for it because you already
have the necessary skills for at least three fourths of the job. And what little skills that are needed for the other one
fourth of the job is easily acquired.
Our boat turning day came off without a hitch. We started off by hiring a big crane and a cheering section of about twenty
invited guests. To that was added about fifty or sixty sidewalk superintendents. And together we got the job done. I would
like to be able to tell some exciting story about the whole event. But to make it interesting we would need a disaster.
But no disaster so no story.
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