Boom

Now that the mast is all clamped up we thought it was time to put our ideas as to how we were going to shape this sixty foot box of wood in to something elegant in to action; the boom.  Glued up last year and still in its rectangular hulk; a little less than a third of the length of the mast but sporting the same radius we hope to achieve on the mast it seemed a suitable candidate

 This clever little guide follows the length of the boom allowing the typically butterfingered clown operating it to make a succesion of cuts in to the boom. After passing along the boom and back on the other side, the router is moved along in the jig and dropped down a little and the process is repeated.

 The result a series of facets along the length of the boom providing an excellent guide for the next step.

Ruth descended the steps to find me, plane in hand with a smile on my face, whistling a tune; so pleased was I.  This is fortunate as I've a lot of this to do once the epoxy is solid on the mast and the thunder clouds no longer burden the forecast.

 

Having spent two thoughly pleasurable days honing not only our planes blade, but also my ability to use it; I thought I would really try my luck and fit the gooseneck.

 

 

 Ruth has also been enjoying herself too.  She has been adding the finishing touches to the cockpit. In reality that means sanding black caulk until new teak decks with sharp lines of parallel caulking are revealed; easy for the most part but the devil is in the detail.  Once that was completed she had the enviable task of oiling it.  Unfortunatly with both the boom and mast not yet in their rightful home, we can't scale the rigging to give you a birds eye view.

 

On a less interesting note we fitted the keel cooler for our fridge and a ground plate today.  The ground plate is for ssb radio transmission and came with the boat, though upon reading up, we have realised that having such a keel cooler negated the need for a ground plate.  However as we don't have a ssb radio as of yet, fitting the ground plate served the valuable job of covering over four bolt sized holes. Which in a way is purpose enough.