January 20-21
The issue with taking something out is that we have to replace it. The easy part was taking the planks out now the real stress test begins. When Ted and I put ourselves in these situations we show our true colours. Ted's mind is the optimist's mind. Everything is going to work out in the fullness of time. My mind, the pessimist, sets out to tell me every possible detail that could go wrong and I make plans for everything to go wrong and eventually come up with a plan to fix it, or break down and sit for hours staring at the boat. I like to think that the two of us make up the perfect realist and thats why we are able to complete the task at hand. Ted and I are also much different in the way we set out to work. Ted thinks about it and makes lists and I need action. Ted's aim is perfection and my goal is completion!
The plan for the weekend was to start to fit the new plank, but before we could do that Ted needed to find the perfect plank! On Saturday morning (okay maybe it was closer to noon) we spent some time digging through the boards at our local specialty wood supplier. We were armed with a piece of sand paper looking for quarter-sawn mahogany. We got some strange looks as we were sanding of the paint on the end of the planks, but it was worth it in the end!
I think we spent about 20 minutes at the boat on Saturday. We spent what was left of the afternoon at my father's work shop agonizing over cutting the first plank.
The one problem with having different minds is that it can take forever to talk the other into going along with one's scheme. We are normally saying the same thing but the other is so caught up with trying to prove their own point that it can be challenging to get anything done!
Ted, being the lawyer, thinks he can talk me into his idea, but I was a high school debater! That is not a nice smile on my face. That is the smile of I will win this one!
As you can see from the photo we were not lying about the rot! We didn't realize just how bad it was until we took it out. Where it tapers to a point is the worst of it. We actually didn't think it was rotten at the tip. It was hard to get at from the inside so we didn't know how bad it was. We had just agreed to take it all the way out and thankfully it was a good call.
We only cut out one of the new planks on Saturday and it wasn't either of us that did it. I am not normally one to shy away from using a power tool but I was a chicken that day! My father went through the process of cutting it out, but I guess he saw the terror on my face and took pity and cut the plank out for us. That was enough excitement for the two of us. Sometimes it is good that we don't spend all our time at the boat. I should also point out that we just got a kitten! Aptly named Slocum, she is our excuse to have short days of boat work.
She requires all our attention when we are home
Day Two
To make up for our laziness on Saturday we were determined to make visible progress on Sunday. The second plank that we took out was very damaged where the plank began to taper and we knew that we would be fools to try and use it as a template. As Ted was doing something else I made a spiling template. It doesn't look like much, but it is like a treasure map and gives us a detailed reproduction of the plank.
I then checked my template and cut out a dummy plank
This was the something else that Ted was doing. He was planning down the board in various places so that it would fit perfectly.
Slowly slowly... Careful careful!
Almost
By the end of the day we managed to get it to fit properly. We still need to round the inside and plane the caulking bevel. But it is nearly ready.
This is the photo I sent my mother
And this is what she sent back
Support can come in many different forms!
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