JM,
First let me say, beautiful shop and magnificent build!!!
The Broad Axes and Jack Planes literally brought a tear to my eye as I thought about my Grandfather shaping massive keels and frame members with nothing more than a few broad axes of different shapes and sizes. . . An art I regretfully never mastered.
Your craftsmanship has set the bar high for my build. I do like everything you did to make the build your own from a kit, especially the decks, floor boards, thwart knees and inwales. I have never built a “birds mouth” mast but I am impressed by the technique and how it turned out for you. . . I think I will stick with what I know and build solid spars. It looks from the pictures like you used a good deal of mahogany for the bright work and I was thinking of doing the same, as Teak is hard to find at a reasonable cost in my area.
Thank you very much for sharing your build with me. I hope you don’t mind if I use some of your ideas for inspiration on my build.
Respectfully,
JP
JP
Feel free to use any of my modifications. You may like to check out, the link below. It explains how to build a birds mouth spar. Building the round hollow spars is really a blast. It is a relatively easy and fun project.
Yes, I used Mahogany, I think it is much nicer to work with than teak.
You are the first person that checked out my build pictures to mention the axes.
JM
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/articles/birdsmouth/
Just my 2 cents on MAS epoxy. Over the years I have probably used every brand of epoxy and all the hardeners they can be used with. They all work as advertised and I had absolutely no problems with the MAS epoxy. The plus side of the MAS supplied with the kit is it does not blush. As a matter of fact, I have about a quart of resin and hardener left in my unheated garage, purchased in March, 2011, three years ago. I used about three pumps of each yesterday and other than a slight Amber color (amber, yellow, orange, I'm colorblind) it performed flawlessly. Also it is much cheaper to buy MAS from CLC than many other options. The most important thing in using any epoxy is mixing. It must be mixed twice as long as you think while continuously scraping the bottom and sides of the container.
Hi JP,
It appears you have received some detailed responses, so forgive me if any of this is a repeat.
What was your build time - I built mine in 100 (workings) days over the course of a year and a half (including finishing). Build documented here http://www.skerrybuild.com
Was the Hardware sufficient - Yes.
Was the MAS #3 Epoxy Kit sufficient - I needed more than what originally came with the kit. The quality was fine.
Did you need to purchase any additional Hardwood or Ply - I did supplement the hardware with a couple additional things. However, it was more a matter of choice than need. No additional Ply was needed.
What custom feature(s) did you add that get the most compliments - I added floorboards. I added them for funtionality. But, I have been told they add character to my boat.
Steven David Roberts
http://www.skerrybuild.com
Ro Mo Bo
Since no one else has asked I'll bite. What the heck do you use the Dawn detergent for?
Because Dawn contains no phosphates it is an excellent de-greaser and is cheaper than denatured alcohol for cleaning areas between epoxy coats to prevent fisheyes. . . Also when you mix a proper ratio of water, Dawn and isopropyl alcohol you have a bubble buster that when sprayed from an atomizing spray bottle will release surface tension of un-thickened epoxy and bust any bubbles formed from mixing or spreading with a brush or roller.
JP