Melonseed - Paint and Varnish Complete!

[drift montana]

Building a boat is a long process, no matter how you go about it. Hours of cutting, shaping, sanding, fastening, cursing..... But when you peel off the last masking tape it is all worth it. Here's some shots from yesterday. Just a few odds and ends like finalizing the rigging, fastening the rudder, floorboards, and fitting her to the trailer!

Cheers!

-Tony

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/tonythatcher/IMG_3203.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/tonythatcher/IMG_3187.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/tonythatcher/IMG_3198.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/tonythatcher/IMG_3203.jpg

[Captain Blight]

OOOOOH LA LA!

Well done, sir. Well done.

[JimD]

Nice work, Tony. Now get her out of that little shed so we can really see what she looks like.

[Thorne]

More!

[BrianM]

That's the good stuff Tony. Well built and nice color scheme.

Love to see it on the water on plane!

[drift montana]

Patience, Thorne. More will follow. I am just itching to blow off work for the next few days and finish her up. But the owners, my parents, will be arriving in about 2 weeks, so I am holding off on the maiden voyage for them to participate. I'll get her out of the shop in the next few days so I can work on the rigging. I still need to run the lines and finalize the sprit and boom sprit. The boom sprit still needs to be cut down, but I'll do that once I play around with the tensioning, angles, etc. Here's a shot of the rough rig.

-T

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/tonythatcher/IMG_3041.jpg

[Ed Armstrong]

Beauuutiful! I love that Melonseed shape!!

[Don Scott]

It's all looking grand Tony and now you have all that enjoyment to come, just around the corner...the fruits of all your labour. This thread also gives me a sharp kick in the pants to move along with my Melonseed build which has been dragging it's heels a bit lately.

Have fun !

[LarryR]

Lovely boat!

But, I'm just learning sail rigs, and I'm easily confused. . .

Does that sail rig have two sprits, or will the lower spar be a boom?
What would two sprits do to the rig?

Larry

[Steve Lansdowne]

The lower bar is a sprit boom.

[Tar Devil]

Then what's that other thing aiming at Tony's crotch?

[drift montana]

Yup, two sprits, the actual sprit holding the peak (and incidentally pointing at my crotch), and a sprit boom. The plans called for a boom at the foot. Roger Crawford, maker of many (500+?) glass melonseeds uses a sprit boom. I like the look of it better, and it seems to be a more flexible rig. Also, this sail is low enough that having a boom at the foot would just lead to more head banging, imoho.

Off to the shop!.....

-T

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I've got a Crawford rig on my 13-ft Lapstrake Melon Seed. It sails fine. The principal benefits of the sprit boom are simplicity, and the self-vanging characteristics of the sail (everything below the sprit boom behaves like a vang) for keeping kthe sail fairly flat in a jibe.

Nice job, Drift Montana!

Moby Nick

[Steve Lansdowne]

I'm really afraid that your parents will be reluctant to use that boat for fear of damaging the fine finish and thus upsetting you. To preserve family harmony, just ship it down here to me COD and I'll give it some use!!!!

[drift montana]

Steve, you'll have to work that out with my folks. Sometimes I wonder why I fret over the varnish and paint. As soon as it leaves the shop, it will never look that good again. Oh well. It makes for nice photos. Last touches of varnish go on the tiller and oar locks tonight. Then on the trailer and off to the canvas shop tomorrow to get measured for a cover. Then... Then..... but the list is getting smaller....

-T

[esingleman]

Top notch job. I really like the varnished transom, nice wood selection.

[SaltyD from BC]

Ya, beautifully done dm. Waiting patiently for the launch photos .. :). What kind of wood(s) are we looking at?

[drift montana]

Salty-
Thanks! The hull is stripped in western red cedar. Framing is ash. Deck knees are fir. Deck is 1/4 inch okume ply. Transom and all trim is mahagony. Stem is laminated ash. I think that's it. Still to come are fir floorboards and a narrow white oak rub strip.

-Tony