| Some of the 'æsthetics' details. Gunwale. In smart rowing boats, a stiffener is run parallel to the top edge of the top plank, fastened thro' each timber/frame, making a stiff I beam to take the rowlock loads and absorb any bumps. This is known as an 'open gunwale'. Glued lap boats like Coquito need no timbers, so the stiffener is set off from the plank by little blocks. My eye is not gladdened by severely rectangular blocks, so I gave them a quarter spherical 'scollop' at each end with a tiny gouge. Breasthook. This piece ties the forward ends of the top planks together. Originally made in one piece from a grown oak crook, this is not possible in teak. I chose to make it in two halves, grain parallel to the gunwale, with three 'dowels' of threaded stainless steel rod set in epoxy, to lock the centre joint. Then a decorative 'keyhole' shape to the aft edge makes a fine flourish and carries the eye forward to the stem. Planking. A smart boat in the 1920s would have been planked in full length Honduras Mahogany, probably from the rainforest of Belize. Each plank would have been cut to shape from double thickness timber and then 'deep sawn' to give Glued lap boats, however, must be planked in ply or the unyielding glue joint will split the plank when the timber 'moves'. I combined the beauty of the traditional boats with the low maintenance and permanent watertightness of the modern method. Instead of 6mm ply, I used 4mm. I then laminated each pair, one either side, to a plank of mahogany. After carefully 'deep sawing' down the middle of the sandwich, I thicknessed the mahogany on each plank to 2mm, making up the designed total of 6mm. The inside of the boat shows this full length, bookmatched mahogany. Environmentalists will know that Honduras Magogany has been on the CITES list for a long time, so it cannot be logged. These boards were cut in the 1930s for a job that was never completed. The six coats of varnish show off the grain cut along the length of the board. Ply, however, is made from veneer cut 'rotarywise' round the circumference of the log, so the grain, to my eye, always shouts "plywood". The ply part of the sandwich in Coquito's planking is on the outside, painted white to reflect the heat of the Caribbean sun where she was to spend some of her life. |
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