Final Week and "Splash"

Our final week finished up with a race to "git her done."  The program boat was skinned by mid-day on Tuesday, and got her first coat of paint.  Wednesday was a bit more relaxed, with mainly painting and cutting and dry-fitting floorboards, but Thursday saw the floorboards painted, rubrails on, a third coat of paint, and then a decorative silver stripe.  The stripe went on only minutes before day's end.  The final red stripes, as well as aluminum "bumpers" on the keel at bow and stern were done after the end of the program, but the boys participated in every other aspect of the build.  A Job Well Done, Boys!  Good Work!

At the dedication on Sunday, July 29, parents and church members had only the frame to look at--but of course that's pretty impressive all by itself.  Here it is at the side altar.

Sewing up the cloth at the stems.

Skinning the deck, the cloth secured by stainless steel staples.

In the meantime, the boys finished learning about Inuit culture, and took a stab at building Greenland kayak models from tiny balsa sticks--a challenging task!

After the third coat of Rustoleum, a inishing touch: a metallic silver stripe.

The launch in Fairhaven on Sunday, August 5.  Only Etson, Nathan, and Emilio made it.  Marilyn and her husband again generously offered their lovely waterfront property for the event.

The rides were short: the wind and waves were up, and the boys took quite a bit of water over the decks!  The boats performed well, though proper "sea trials" will wait for calmer winds and waves.

Week Three: Chuckanut 15 frame completed

A new group of boys has had a crack at boat-building, and is making good progress.  The carlins, which define the curving edge of the cockpit, have been lashed and screwed in place.  The boat came off the strongback on Thursday, with brief celebration.  The keel has been lashed.  The floorboards have been roughed-out.

On Sunday the church will celebrate our accomplishments and bless the unfinished boat.  Only another week's work will see her ready to "splash."  On the following Sunday, August 5, we will launch the new boat and take turns paddling her. 

In the meantime, the boys have been helping me to skin and paint the trial boat--a 12-foot version of the same design that they are building.  With luck, we we be able to take this boat to the water on Sunday even though the Chuckanut 15 won't be ready yet.

Ian lashes chine 1.

Oiling the frame with tung oil.

Jonathan poses for the camera.

Chuckanut 12: skinning the bottom.

Chuckanut 12: skinning the deck.

Chuckanut 12: second coat of Rustoleum.

Note: the plans for both boats come courtesy of Dave Gentry from gentrycustomboats.com.  Plans for the Chuckanut 15 were donated free of charge.  Thank you Dave!

The Kayak Comes Together

Nine days after they arrived, the boys are gone again, knowing a little more science and a little bit about Arctic peoples, and also leaving a boat about half done.  The second group comes Monday!

Teams hold some of the parts they cut.  Keel, two frames and gunwales are already on the strongback.  Pictured from left: Ethan, Sanfanity, Jeremy, Nathan, Nick, Adam, Shane and Nate, Joshua, Taylor, Etson, Emilio.

This is where the parts will end up!

Emilio cuts a stringer.

Shea and Devyn trim chine 2.

Ethan drives a screw to hold gunwale to stem.

Jeremy lashing chine 2 to frame 4.

Josh lashes chine 2 to frame 3.

After a bit of fumbling the first dsy or so, they became proficient with hand saws, jigsaws and sandpaper, and added to a growing stack of plywood boat frames and other parts.  They made and marked a strongback on which to mount the parts to keep them straight and true during assembly.  Gunwale, chine and keel stringers of douglas fir were bent around these frames, and the stems carefully aligned with a bubble level and attached--that job of aligning and attaching took several days.  Then we began the intricate process of lashing all of these joints together in much the same way the Inuit and Aleut would have done, except that we used "artificial sinew" rather than the animal tendons that were the Eskimo's chief fasteners.  Learning how to lash the joints was an education in itself, far exceeding in difficulty the other knots the boys learned.  At this point, eighteen of the boat's forty-one lashings are complete.

Emilio (above) and Etson (below) clean up.

These boat-building sessions were interspersed with other activities that included breaks for playing ball in the basement gym where we were assembling the boat.

B-ball in the gym.

Along the way, the boys learned how boats float, the concept and cause of buoyancy, and why a ship's weight is called its "displacement."  We built paper boat models and explored why some boats are more stable than others.  A few boys even tried their hands at making balsa wood models of Greenland kayaks.

Finally, we spent a good deal of time exploring the cultures of the Inuit and Aleut peoples who invented and perfected the kayak, taking advantage of the resources of the Old Colony Library Network.  We learned a little of the science behind the wild seasonal swings in daylength and temperature that characterize polar regions.  At the end of the two weeks, each boy told us the question he had explored, and taught us what he had learned.

The kayak so far: bow on, stern, bow.

Lessons learned

I'm putting a page on the side bar for any adult contemplating doing a similar program, and who wants the benefit of my experiences.

Successful Launch!

On the morning of Sunday, July 31st, the congregation of St. Andrew's was joined at worship by kids and parents from its two summer programs.  It was a perfect morning, and there were smiles all around as the kindergarten kids from Play and Learn and the older group from the boat-building Experience were introduced to the congregation that made it all possible.  Nearly all the boat-building kids were there, often with several family members.  Most participated in the worship service to one degree or another.  Each of the boat-builders told the assembly what they enjoyed  most.  We sang Inch by Inch, Row by Row," for the Play and Learn gardeners and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" for the boat-builders.  We prayed.  All the people sprinkled the boats with water as we blessed them.   Many people admired the boats, and the fact they were built by kids.  I was very proud of our team.

Then worship was over and it was time to launch the boats.  The parents learned the ground rules: they were in charge of their kids, a teacher was in charge of each boat.  No one would get into a boat without a life jacket on.  Boats were not to go out beyond waist-depth.

We all drove our cars to the home of church members Marilyn and Jay in Fairhaven--our great hosts--where the boats were launched into calm water with a light on-shore breeze--perfect for safety.  In no time at all the boat-building kids had paddled about, and some had given rides to siblings.  Even a parent or two took a turn.  As kids became more confident, more than one crew "accidentally" overturned their boat.  These boats were simply lifted up sideways to drain the water, and they were ready for more fun.

All this was good fun.  Should we do it again?  A "reunion" of the boat-builders may be in the works for later in the summer.  Reply below or send me an email if you're interested!

The boats are lined up before launch.  The near one was quickly built as a prototype, the two kids boats are next; the little plastic kayak at the back was the "rescue boat" in case anyone needed to be towed back to shore.  No one needed to.

Hmm... Maybe we should both face the same direction!  Mathew helps.

kids set off.

Some kids had more experience with paddles than others.

The fleet afloat.  Eleanor watches her charges.

People watch.

Leaders of St. Andrew's approve.  Reverend Blair, second from left, gets credit for the program.

All over but the shoutin' (and singing, and paddling!)

We did the last wood-butchering today, finishing the little decks on the second boat that will add stiffness to the boat's gunwales.  That and painting were the chief boat-building tasks, and now we have only to add a touch of color before we call them DONE.  The rest of the day (when the kids weren't playing), we learned about displacement and Archimedes law, we tried on life jackets and talked about the plusses and minuses of each, and we discussed water safety. 

To learn water safety, teams had to consider one of two stories: 1. A friend invites you canoing, and your parent says yes.  You get to the water and discover your friend did not bring life jackets.  "We don't need them," she says, "we learned to swim at the YMCA"  What are your thoughts?  2. You and your friend get into a canoe.  Your friend says, "since we have life jackets on we can paddle way out to the middle of the pond."  What are your thoughts?  

Tomorrow we will do a bit of painting and then clean up and prepare for the Sunday 9:30am church service and picnic/boat launch that will follow.

Here are a few recent happenings.

"WE KNOW the diference between type II and type III personal flotation devices!"

"This is the way we paddle our boat, paddle our boat, paddle our boat.  This is the way we paddle our our boat so early in the morning!"

"Ah, lunch time!"

"Thinking is hard work!"

(...but boy, can we come up with some goofy ideas!")

One week to launch!

In light of my recent test of the prototype boat, I now know how to finish off the kids' boats.  We will not add a keel/skid, since the boats will track fine without them, and they would increase the draft (depth) of the boats slightly.  We will not build-in permanent seats, since seating needs to be moveable to balance the boat for different combinations of people.  Without seats to stiffen the sides of the boats,  we will need to add small decks at both ends.  This will be easy to do, and will also provide places to put flotation so the boats will float fairly high even if full of water after a capsize.

Here then is a rough build schedule for this last week:  Monday we will add the decks to the first boat and finish preparing to paint.  The bottom and decks will be traced and cut out for the second boat, and put on.  Tuesday the first boat will be primed, and the second boat made ready for painting.  Wednesday the first boat will be painted, the second primed.  Thursday both boats will be painted.  Friday we will decorate the first boat, paint the second.  Along the way we will learn a bit about boat displacement, water safety and boating, and we will practice for our worship service on the 31st.  Finally, Sunday the 31st will be church at 9:30 then a picnic lunch and boat launch for the kids, their parents, and anyone they wish to invite in Fairhaven.  (I will send home details and directions to the Fairhaven launch site.)

I am proud of all the kids: they have done great work.  I hope to see you all there at church on Sunday, July 31st at 9:30am!  Bring along lunch, a blanket you can lay on the sand, sunscreen, and a shady umbrella.  Wear a bathing suit under your church clothes.

Recent work:

The bottom is on the first boat, but the edges still need a lot of elbow grease.  This will be a better boat than the prototype in the background.

Elbow grease!

Because of the sides are not vertical, the chine logs need to be chiseled flat so the bottom will fit tightly.  This is a skilled task.

Taking a turn with the chisel.  The bandana keeps the sweat out of my eyes as temperatures approach 100 degrees.

A break for a little baseball.

Cleaning up the parish hall so it's fit to be used on Sunday.

I joke that they will get a lot of use out of these new skills!

 We're ready for Sunday!