Making a start fitting the engine in the picnic boat

The engine is a good fit between the two remaining thwarts with just enough room to lower the engine down lower enough to run the exhaust pipe under the aft thwart 

There is not going to be much clearance under the engine however, there is going to be reinforcement under the engine  when the inner keel is refitted and glassed over and the engine beds are glassed into the boat.

A neat and tight fit when it is fitted 

 

Getting on with small jobs while the weather and the lockdown are causing problems with major projects.

 It has been a bit of a up and down week down at the boatyard and in the workshop, the weather been unsettled, one minute it is quiet mild and the next it is freezing cold. However, that is the way the winter going in the UK, So many of the jobs I have in and around the boatyard and the workshop have been put on hold because the conditions are not stabilisable enough for long enough to ensure the final outcome will be up to spec. So in the meantime I will be doing a bit of small jobs which I have been putting to one side for just these sort of times when doing other jobs need long time to do and need more settled temperatures.

So get on with small jobs such as making paddles and oars, it is

a way of making use of ash I have in stock, I am making a new range of bespoke paddles.


I can make them with different tops and length of blades depending on customer requirements, So give Simon a call today if you are in the market for a paddle so that you are not up a creek without a paddle.


I might even do a bit of wood turning on my Lathe, making some ash belaying pins and other small items for small boats. Also do some more cleaning up the workshop and machinery maintenance both on hand tools and power tools while I have the time to do them before the end of the lockdown comes and we get busy again.

Starting to refit the original floor bearers back into the boat, however,there has to be a bit of reshaping the floors before they can get glassed into position again

The first two floor bearers back together as one unit, the only problem now is that the boat hull is back in its correct shape the floors do not fit the hull as well as them should and will need reshaping to fit back into the correct position 

The level shows that the forward floor is a small bit higher than it should be so that will be the first place to start togetthe floors fitted down to the correct height and position 

These are the floors for the aft end of the boat which will have to be cut about before they are refitted in the hull and glassed back into their correct position 

 

The picnic boat now off its trailer and positioned on the strong back ready to be worked on

The picnic boat is now on the building strong back and leveled up in both athwartships and fore and aft, so that all the measurement can be taken off for the fitting of the engine beds and the floor bearers will be true and level. 

The strong back as been used to build my Mai Star Class dinghy in the past, So while we do not have a Mai Star Class in build at present it is being used to help with this refit of the picnic boat. 

The strong back is just the right length to fit under the picnic boat so that the aft end of the keel can be cut away to fit the stern tube log and build a new section of keel around the log to support the stern tube log when it is fitted 

The aft end being supported by a tower block of sleeper block fixed together to make up the height needed 

The boat is now levelled and ready to get underway with fitting the floor bearers and engine beds

 

Making a new range of bespoke paddles

As a way of making use of ash I have in stock, I am making a new range of bespoke paddles. 

I can make them with different tops and length of blades depending on customer requirements, So give Simon a call today if you are in the market for a paddle so that you are not up a creek without a paddle.