The Personal Web Pages of Chris X. Edwards Building Stuff/Tools: Little Boats

	The model sail boat that Chris built. It's about 1 meter long and 2 meters from keel to the top of the mast.
	The sail boat in action in Eden Park's mirror lake.
	Chris and a good shot of the boat.
	Chris planes one of the edges of one of the hull panels so that it will match nicely once assembled. Note the seam that joins the bow and aft pieces together to form one plank. That was one of the most annoying part of the whole job.
	Here Chris is drilling a hole to add another wire as he wires up the plank. Notice the zillions of wires already tied that holds the boat together at this piont.
	Chris very hard at work sanding the hull before glassing it. This was very tedious and strenuous - a bad combo.
	Chris double checks the recipe before making a mess with the outer hull fiberglass operation. Notice how the fiberglass is white and opaque before the epoxy is added. That is a very facinating thing to watch it become invisible. Also note the deck panels and their re-enforcement.
	At this point, the deck is wired together and taped in place so that its shape will be correct for glueing, which is what Chris is doing here. Notice the drips everywhere - Chris gets to sand all that later!
	After the deck panels are glued to themselves, here's how it looks. Once this sets, the deck is removed and the wires are removed and the deck (no shaped) is finished some more and re-enforced.
	Chris stands by after gluing the deck to the hull. This involves a syringe on the end of a 5 foot long stick. That went a lot better than it could have.
	An interior view that almost shows the main deck/hull seam. At this point, the hull is pretty much done as well as the inside of the deck.
	Here was a rather nasty problem. When the deck was first put on to check its fit, it needed to be squished into place with the masking tape. Chris forgot about that fact and he poured the bow block (to attach a rope to) in the bow without squishing it into the right shape. Now with the deck on, it can't be squished into the right shape. Grrr. Well that just means lots of sanding.
	And here Chris is doing that "lot's of sanding". But he's learned the secret - use very brutal sandpaper. None of this "fine" crap.
	Glassing the deck. Dennis lends a hand to scrape excess epoxy off of the fiberglass weave.
	It's starting to look good! It's also starting to wear on Chris as the coaming is glued to the deck. And yes, you really do need that many clamps, if not more.
	The boat behaves well when hung like this for the re-enforcement of the hull/deck seam. A thick layer of fiberglass tape was put down here and it wanted gravity to work for it, hence the position.
	Chris and Dennis learn about roof racks and stuff like that. We're ready. Hey where's the #'s? You're going jail, mister!!!!
	Dennis and his dad unloading their boats. Dennis dad's are very nice, but, uh.hem..plastic (gulp).
	Dennis and his dad preparing the boats for debarking.
	This picture of Chris paddling the boat is blurry becuase Dennis wasn't close enough when he took it. But you get the idea. It floats, etc.
	Another blurry shot of Chris paddling the kayak-as-art.
	I'm sure Chris rows much better than he paddles. More of Chris and the boat in action.
	Now it's Dennis turn to have the "Big Woody". This is probably the best photo of it so far.

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Chris X. Edwards ~ November 1998