Fitting out the Hull

No, the sanding hasn’t finished, but!

The fit out of the hull is progressing well and the floor boards are being cut to fit in nicely. Yes, four sets of them and a coxswains seat as well. They all take time and despite the fact that the principals Bob and Ken are pitching in with extra hours, the slog just continues. Ken in fact has been shaping and routing the gunnels in his “spare“ time and hasn’t been seen on the water for at least three Saturdays.

These boats are being prepared in the traditional manner and the use of metal is counted against as they have to meet certain strictures before being allowed to compete in the racing for the skiffs. So we cant have row locks.. we have to use kabes/tholes which are essentially a pin set into the gunnels of the boat and the oar is mounted onto the thole with a swivel to allow free movement of the oar.

The tholes were prepared off site by one of our members and fitted surprisingly well. Sure a bit of sanding and rasping was necessary, but they looked great. At the same time, he’s taken on the routh, which is a plate that sits on top of the gunnels to protect the timber from wear by the oars and raise the pivoting point of the oar to get the best effort from the person pulling on the blade.

The shaping of the floorboards is another story. They will eventually hold the foot rests as well and they will need to be adjustable to accommodate the long and the short of us. Meanwhile offsite, the oars are being prepared and while the preliminary guess is for just four oars per boat, prior experience suggests that a couple of spares will be handy. Many thanks to Bruce Uren who provided the photos for us.

The onslaught of summer is coming and we have already had a taste of what’s to come. We had a couple of days when the temperature jumped into the 30’s and the bosuns shed certainly warms up. It’s possible that we may swing into an early morning phase to avoid the heat of the day though it’s just a case of day by day at the moment. The thought of hitting the skiffs interior with Everdure has been put aside until the fit out is complete and we may have to be mindful of using glues and paints in high temperatures.

Our visitors continue and while we have always got the time for them, don’t be surprised if you are offered a sanding block and the opportunity to talk at the same time.

Rick Steuart