The beginning of the beginning!

Using a plumb bob, we found the center line on the floor to double check where our stem support brackets were landing.  They were perfectly in line with the rest of our set up!  We used the caulking gun to glue the stand to the floor to support the stems.

We put the glued up garboard planks on to the setup to see how they fit, they look great!

Finally! We are epoxying the hog to the stems and frames. 

We clamped it up and double checked to make sure it was centered on our marks. Then we cleaned up the excess epoxy.

Finalizing our setup

We screwed the molds to the strong back, while making sure they were perpendicular.

The piece we used for the keelson was 1/4" too thin, so we added wood to make it the 1 1/2" that is required in the plans.  We marked the pieces of the keelson to make sure they were centered. Then we glued it together using epoxy.  We then clamped it to our bench so it holds in place and dries flat.

                                             

Another hard working week!

 "I broke all my nails but one."  -D'Lachanique

Gluing and clamping the last two frames together.

Cleaning up the frames, we used a round over router bit to make the edges that will be seen in our boat smooth.

Using the orbital sander to clean up epoxy on the frames.

Clamping the frame down to the moulds. Everything lines up!

Planning ahead, we used packing tape to tape off the ends of each mould so when we plank the boat the epoxy will not stick to the moulds.

All stations are up!

The set up of all the moulds went quickly.

We cut out the stem support brackets and added them to the set up.  

All the moulds are clamped on until we get them parallel and square. We built stands to hold our stem guides at the right height at both the bow and stern.  Once we get  the stem guides centered on our set up and squared to the moulds, we'll glue them to the floor too.   

Putting the gussets back in after they were modified to fit the set up. 

The shop has great natural light...

 While the new gussets were added to stiffen the frame; we epoxied the first 2 frames together and clamped them carefully.  Once we got them perfectly lined up, we let them sit over night until the epoxy cures.

First Stations!

The first stations are up and approximately in place.  You can see some of the MDF gussets that were added to stiffen the strongback.

We needed to take off the gussets because they were in the way of  Station 1.  We removed them and made them smaller by putting them back on the CNC machine. 

We had to make sure the cross spalls were flush with the bottom of the molds.  We used a drill to screw the 2 pieces together.  We attached the cross spalls to strengthen the molds and it provides a surface to attach the molds to the building frame.  We cut the cross spalls to length with a Japanese Saw.

 Set up the mold on the buikling frame at the correct location using the interlocking battens provided in the kit. 

We used clamps to keep the molds in place.

      

Starting on the moulds

The students cut through all the tabs with the jigsaw.

  We used a block plane and a sanding block to clean up the edges where the tabs were.

Continued cutting out frames and reinforcing the building frame...  

And started fastening the cross spalls on!

Kit Arrives!

  

Teamwork unloading the truck.

We stacked the sheets of plywood on a four wheel dolly based on which parts we would need first. 

We labelled all the parts before we cut them apart.  

Building Frame

This is a student run blog documenting the building of a St. Ayles Skiff.  The students are part of the Bayfront Alternative Education Program in Erie, Pennsylvania. Students are building the boat during their Maritime class and will be blogging about the boat progress during their Language Arts class.  The BMC St. Ayles Skiff Project is part of WoodenBoat Magazines Boatbuilding and Rowing Challenge, BARC.

BMC received a grant from Erie Community Foundation to purchase 2 St. Ayles Skiff kits.  This is the beginning of a community rowing program in Erie, and the first St. Ayles Skiff on the Great Lakes.

The kits are from Hewes and Co. in Blue Hill, Maine.  While waiting for the kit to arrive we started on the Building Frame.  We used dimensional lumber (2x4s) to build the frame and ran them through the thickness planer on edge to take the radius off of the corners.  This made it easy to level each corner of the frame and check the strongback for squareness by carefully measuring the diagonals across the top.  Even though we have a laser level, we prefer using  a water level, because they are more accurate.  Plus, it's a good science lesson for the kids!  

  We weighted it down to keep the strongback from moving while the glue was drying.

There are heating pipes in the concrete floor in the BMC shop so bolting the frame to the floor was not an option. We used Liquid Nails to glue the legs down so the frame would not move during our building process.  Once the legs were adhered, we made a mark on a steel column near the building frame and used the water level to make sure the rails were at precisely the same height. The floor is not perfectly level in the shop, so we did not measure anything off of it. Once we were satisfied with the height, we screwed the frame together with drywall screws and reinforced each leg with another 2x4 that fit under the rails and crosspieces of the frame.

The students designed gussets on BMC's CNC machine to reinforce the corners of the frame to keep it square.  

We installed the gussets and bolted brackets on. This frame may be overbuilt, but we want to make sure it will last through at least 2 skiffs.