Preparing my own workshop

Initially I thought I'd like to build one of these -  a Herreshoff Watch Hill 15', which I naively assumed was just a small 15 footer...since my garage was 18 by 18 I thought it would fit nicely!  This insight might afford those of you (if anyone ever reads this) that I am a complete newbie to the world of wooden boats and boat building.  I digress - but I came to sailing relatively recently - sailing family cruisers, and began to recognise the beauty of wooden boats and thought - yep I'd like one of those!

So first I reckoned I needed to clear out my garage - by building a new shed to accommodate my motor bikes and mechanical tools etc..  That simple week-end job took about 6 weeks, but finally I got my workshop cleared and a work area of sorts outside on a newly paved area in the form of a "car port" attached to my garage.  

The video is yet again another insight into my naive optimism of building my boat in this tight space.  

Roll on 3 months when my supply of timber arrived and I could hardly get into the garage - and that was before I have set up my strongback and molds!  Oh well, naivety has proved to be a positive attribute in my build so far - had I really understood the nature of the challenges, I probably wouldn't have even begun...that said it has been a really fascinating and enjoyable learning curve.

 

Workshop with John Brooks

Landing in Boston Logan airport on a cold wet wintry afternoon with a 9 hour drive ahead, I began wondering (yet again) what have I let myself in for?  Armed with GPS navigation  ("Never Lost" as my American friends call it) I drove straight into evening rush hour traffic in Boston city before I finally found the right highway for Maine.  

I arrived in Brooklyn which seemed at first to be just a cross roads with a store, church and inn: my destination.  

Although there appeared to be no one around, I followed my ears downstairs to the enticingly named Dublin bar and found the entire staff and local fisherman having a rights "knees up".  

The following day, I drove around the locality and immediately noticed the laid back atmosphere of the community - everyone saluting you as they leisurely drove by - it could have well been back in Ireland 20 years ago...very charming.

As I had a day in hand before the workshop commenced, I decided to find the bay after which John Brooks named this boat - Somes Sound.  I'm sure there are countless more beautiful photographs taken of Somes Sound, but this is mine:-

The workshop commenced early next morning, where I met Bob, Bruce and JohnC - all four of us were about to embark on building the SS, although JohnC had already made a head start.  JohnB gave us an overview of what he intended covering over the 2 days.  

This was my first time in a boat shop - so it was a real Alladin's Cave - so many interesting looking nameless thingymejigs!

We studied the plans and John gave us demonstrations on building the jig, cutting gains, and a variety of techniques which we would need during the build.  John was in the process of finishing a SS12.5, and so we were treated to a par excellence display of finish work and varnishing.

However, because the boat was at an advanced stage of completion, I did not really get to see how the build looked like during its early stages.  I was still reeling under the confusion of a new language - stems; deadwood; keelson; gains; dory gains.....so it was a drinking from a fire hose event for me!  

I was introduced to the wonders of a Frearson screw...couldn't wait to get my own stock!

Back to John's beautiful finish work - the color was a gorgeous off white, with a steely satin hue.   I really love this finish:-

John explained that the coaming would probably prove to be the most difficult part of the build (10 months later having stumbled on most every stage, I am not looking forward to the coaming!)

Ruth (John's partner and co-author of How to build Glued Lapstrake Wooden Boats) came to the rescue with an excellent lunch when we took time to get acquainted with each other.  Ruth & John's children joined in and we were all made feel very welcome.  

Back to work:  John brought us through the build of the seats; lockers and sole - beautiful workmanship which did little to boost my confidence, such was the excellent standard of his work!  Oh well, now I knew to what levels I had to aspire!

About this blog

I decided to start this blog to share my journey on building my first boat.  I wanted to build a wooden boat to get acquainted with how wooden boats are built, as I have a (waning!) ambition of buying a wooden cruiser to replace my lovely Jeaneau...

It is a John Brook's design, called Somes Sound 12.5 - based on a Herreshoff design, in glued lapstrake construction.  Apparently, it's a bit more advanced than usual for a raw beginner, so that's my excuse for slow progress and bountiful questions.

When I first received the plans around October 2011, I wondered what I had let myself in for.  Very little of it made any sense to me (still lots of it doesn't!) and so I took off to one of John Brook's weekend workshop in Brooklyn Maine.  Living in Ireland that was quite a trip but I can safely say without it, I wouldn't have been able to even get started.

I am currently starting to plank the boat, so the initial stage of this blog will be retrospective.   I have been taking photos and also some short video clips, which were taken more as a means of communicating with John Brooks and my fellow class mates at the workshop.

I do not have any real carpentry experience other than I am an enthusiastic DIY'er and so I had to build out my workshop - or rather build a new shed to house all my clutter and motorbikes (another passion of mine) and gather a selection of new tools: bandsaw, table saw, thicknesser among others.

Do not rely on my approach for building your Somes Sound - but hopefully you will maybe avoid some of the pitfalls I made along the way.  Whatever, enjoy the journey...I am!