Centreline

This weekend I cut the centreline. Like a lot of the steps in building this boat, this was a step that I kind of dreaded but it turned out to be pretty easy. That said I'm pretty tired now. It gets hot in that garage, especially with two 150W lightbulbs shining on me for several hours. This step is needed to trim off the edges of all the strips hanging over the centre. It went like this:

Mark a line about an inch off the true centreline and chisel down to it. Then mark the true centreline using two methods: transfering the centreline on each station mold to the outside of the hull using a little measuring jig and stretching a string between two nails tacked on to the no. 6 stations. Once the line was drawn on in ink I got the chisel out again and shaved the strips down to about 1/8" from the line. Using the chisel is quite satisfying and quickly results in a big pile of cedar shavings on the floor. At this stage, the book suggests using a rabbet plane to bring it down to the line, but an online check of woodcraft.com showed that one would cost me about $90, so instead I used a series of sanding blocks, 60, 120 and 200 grit, which was free. Maybe a little more work this way but it sure resulted in a perfect vertical and straight cut.

Next is another step I've been dreading: fitting in the strips on the other side to "close the football".