All the pieces that make up the hull, except the deck, have been cut, checked, fitted and given a coat of epoxy. The sole, bilge chines and upper chines, the stem, main and mizzen mast steps, the sternpost, the centreboard and case, bulkheads 1,2 and 3, the intermediate frames and transom. Only one piece refuses to conform, and that’s frame 7. Frame 7 is narrower than its station on the sole, if I built the boat with this frame it would have a waspish waist. Not a positive aesthetic in a boat. I can’t find the source of the error though there undoubtedly is one. However, the source of the mistake is secondary to its solution. And to find the solution I need a clear, uninterrupted week ahead of me. Time to dry run as many times as necessary to get the lacking measurements for the frame and build a new one taking the hull shape as the template. So I’ve dismantled my Trow and stashed its long panels, wrapped in plastic, in a friend’s house, the bench has been tidied away in another and the frames and bulkheads neatly stacked out of sight.
I’ll be away working for a week and when I return this boat gets built.
Eyes on oar blades are a common feature on traditional, lateen rigged, Mediterranean fishing boats, so the Trow’s pampered oars have received two pairs to ward off prying neighbours, the Guardia Civil and other monsters of the deep.
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