VCB Boatbuilding – March Update

By Sally on March 28, 2022

By

Lorne Swarthout

The boatbuilders have been busy this month, and we will be back at it on Wednesday
and Sunday. Here is an update on our two big projects.

We have finished painting the inside of Quixotic with its distinctive gray/green and
cream colors. The new oak thole pads have three coats of varnish. There will, as
always, be some touch up and also floor boards to paint.
We flipped it over to paint the bottom. Not so fast! The keel has taken a beating in places, so we decided to clean it up and give it a layer of fiberglass. Sally is demonstrating how to use a smoothing plane.

The Quixotic’s bow has really taken a beating and so we cut away a piece and added a
white oak filler. I think a brass stem band will also be a good idea.
We did a final fit of the last two planks for the peapod, cut bevels and gains, mixed
four batches of “peanut butter,” and glued them in place. Hamid was happy to be
working with wood again.
Then, in celebration of what boatbuilders call the “whiskey plank,” we hoisted a glass. In
our case it was a dixie cup with a thimble-full of domestic beer. But the occasion was a
happy one and included both old-timers and first-timers. Now it is on to the outer stems
and keel, and then we can pop it off the form.

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