Framing

 

The White Oak lumber used in the ribs came from Rattlesnake Mountain. My father had a client who paid off an old bill in oak trees. I had one hell of an adventure collecting it. Earnie owned most of a mountian top in Pennsylvania. He had a log cabin perched on the peak.

My Buddy, John, me, Wanda, and Earnie on the porch of the cabin. And the front legs of Ugly Dog, world's best dog.

Earnie was a wonderful character. He had a jewel of a friend, Wanda, visiting at the cabin. They were always was surrounded by friends and visitors. For a memorable few days, my old buddy, John and I had the good fortune to be amongst them.

Earnie had the deer, who the lived on the mountian, trained to come right up to the cabin. They fed on corn from his wire mesh feeders.

The deer stood on their rear legs to rotate the feeder barrels, and a few corn kernels fell to the ground.

Earnie'd come downstairs at the break of dawn, to gaze at the deer through the morning mist. He'd lay on the log cabin floor by the back door and spot the deer through the telescopic sight on his 30-06. If he ever fired that rifle, he'd have his dinner in a heartbeat. But he just watched.

Earnie and his buddies loved to shoot pistols. I'd never shot a big pistol before. When in Rome shoot like the Romans do. While there, I shot a 22, a 38, a 357, a 9mm auto, a 45, and a 44 magnum.
Earnie and his buddies helped me cut down 16 White Oak trees. I had them milled into 2 1/2" thick boards. My cousin loaned me his 20' Mack truck. That old truck carried big steel pipe for the jet fuel lines at Kennedy and Laguardia Airports. It had traveled half a million miles and had probably never been out of the New York metroplitan area. I overloaded 6 tons of those oak boards, plus a small sailboat and three wooden canoes onto that crotchedy, smokey old truck and dodged the truck scales all the way to my new home in Virginia.
2 1/2" White Oak fitch boards (with bark still on)

 

These boards are heavy. This batch weighs about 155 lbs each.

Each frame is cut to a different angle. The angles of each frame continually vary from the bottom to the top of the frame. Each frame must be cut to this changing angle. The frames are pushed through the bandsaw with enough force to cut the wood but not enough to break the thin blade.

Fairing the frames. The shapes are designed on paper. Transfered to a full scale drawing. Laid out onto the white oak timbers. Cut on the bandsaw. The changing bevel, both inside and out, are cut on the bandsaw. There is a lot of final fitting.

 

It doesn't have to be perfect. It only has to be able to withstand the pressure of a 16 ton boat in a roll over, and it has to be watertight.
Frames define the shape of a hull. I was influenced in this design by the heavy displacement cargo and expedition vessels throughout the world. Her hull shape is similar in many respects to the old North Sea boats, Scottish coal carriers. Greek cargo carriers, Portuguese Caravellas, like the Nina and the Pinta., and Chinese junks. Heavy displacement sailboat designs share many common elements. But the Dancing Bear shape is unique, this individual shape has never been seen before. As the rib shapes emerge to the rip of the bandsaw, there is a "wow" moment of awe and inspiration. Followed by a "clamp it, drill some holes, and bolt the crap out of her" moment.

Tom in the frames.

The bones of the Dancing Bear. You feel like Jonah sitting inside the belly of the Whale.

 

Bulkheads of cedar are installed at the front and back of the main cabin. They separate the hull into three watertight compartments. The forward sleeping cabin; the central main saloon; and the engine room aft.

The shape starts to unfold. The frames are sawn white oak. It took three pieces to scarf each frame. You can see the scarf by my shoulder. I cut down 16 white oak trees for the framing.
Stern coming together. The two layers of planking can be seen. Each is 3/4" thick African mahogany fastened with bronze screws.