At this stage we now have the outwales to finish off on Peterborough 11 and the Coamings have to be cut to fit but before I start this I give Peterborough 10 another coat of varnish and leave her to dry undisturbed at the far end of the workshop.
Then I return to Peterborough 11 and trim the ends of the outwales before filling the screw holes with wooden plugs and then rounding and sanding their edges.
You will remember from part 5 that I cut the decks to fit the coamings but the coamings still need to be cut out where they fit around the inwales. This is a tricky operation that relies on a bit of guesswork because you can't see if it fits until it has been cut and if you cut it too small it is too late!
I usually measure the cuts and cut them a little oversize until I am sure each one will fit.
They are then glued and screwed to the decks and for a neat finish the holes are filled with wooden plugs.
Next day I moved onto making the yolk. I found a piece of cherry and marked it out with my template.
I cut out the basic shape and then routed the edges with a round over cutter.
The depressions for the shoulders are then roughed out with a drill.
before carving out with a gouge.
and finally sanding.
The seats need pillars to hang from and these are turned on the lathe before cutting to length and then drilling a hole through them for the bolts.
Then the seat frames are cut to fit. Another trial and error operation so if you are doing this yourself and have a pair to fit I recommend you do the larger seat first so if you cut it too short you can use it for the other one!
Then before the seats and yolk can be fitted I noticed the hull needed one more rubdown with wet and dry on the inside to prepare it for varnishing so I did this and then left it to dry overnight.
and that was another two days over.
Next day I returned to Peterborough no 10 and fitted a keelson. This is a thin strip inside the hull along the keel line. Its function in this boat is purely to give the screws that will hold the brass keel strip to the outside of the hull, a bit more timber to screw into. In truth I could have gone without it and left the screw points sticking up inside as the boat is going to be hung up as a decorative item and they won't be seen but I still think that one day someone will want to paddle it so I may as well fit it properly.
A strip is cut to size and the area where it will be glued is roughened.
Then we have to do give a little thought to how we will hold it in place whilst the glue sets and this is my solution.
Once that was left to set at one end of the workshop I returned to Peterborough no 11 and put some battens in place using the holes where the seats will eventually go.
These are to allow me to varnish both inside and outside the hull in a day and after to cleaning off dust I then proceed with varnishing.
and finally the seats yolk and seat pillars are also coated.
The next few days are spent varnishing. There is an art to getting a good varnish coat and the number one thing is that the preparation takes longer than the application.I set to with de nibbing and rubbing down including the newly fitted keelson...
the yolk, seat pillars.
Peterborough 11 hull outside..
and inside
Then the dust is vacuumed off and varnish applied
and here they both are left to dry.