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And thus the work proceeds;
the two tackles hoisting and lowering simultaneously;
both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing,
the blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing,
the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally,
by way of assuaging the general friction. —Herman Melville

Ahoy,

We began work on our bulwarks early this morning. So far, we only have the general layout. Proportional shaping, of course, will come later. Our foredeck will include monkey boards along with a hawse.

"What about a kevel?" you ask. If you're like I am, you're probably wondering what a kevel might be. We will have a kevel, if possible, and that alone should add to the nautical ambiance. Kevel and hawse, though, really need to have their own posting. For now, let's just talk about the bulkwark, shall we?




We clamped our planks to the hull, stood back and looked things over a bit. Yes, we plan to have a toe rail as well. In the meantime, however, we need to mount the planks to the hull and then cut everything to shape.


What's this? If you look closely, you might have a glimpse of what later will become true nautical monkey boards. That's clear enough, but in this photo, there seems to be a silhouette? Yes, right there, near the front of the cabin on starboard. Can you make it out?



The monkey boards, of course, will not have daylight. These particular planks were placed there just for effect, just to give us an idea of how everything might look. That mysterious figure in the foreground is unmistakable. Could it be the famous and fearless?



The figure is none other than the famous sea dog, Sheba Girl, standing tall with her shoulders held high (well, high for her since she is only 8 inches at the shoulder.) Sheba weighs only a little over 4 pounds soaking wet. Sheba seems to approve the notion of a bulwark.

After all, if you're ever sent to the foredeck in a storm to pull in a jib-sail, you would appreciate having a nice bulwark, too. Can a true blue sea dog manage a jib? Sheba Girl assured me that she is up to the task!

I'm a bit new here but I don't recognize the boat. Is that modified Vacationer? It's a great looking stern.

Ahoy David,

Welcome aboard, and thanks for the nice comments.

The boat you see is a highly modified Vacationer, intended to look like a Friendship Sloop. Chris Gerkins helped me a lot and so did Mr. Vern during the early stages of construction. Later, Paul Riccelli gave some invaluable advice. In fact, the keel is Paul's. Barry Pyeatt, Ken Connors, Craig Gleason, and Robert Cox all offered good suggestions as we built our boat. I'm sure there were others as well, especially Kenny Mann, Scott Stowe, Danny Hamilton, Steve Avans, Steve Avans, Jr., Willy Schlein, Bill Olney, and Alan Mann. Phil Woolbright— how can forget Phil Woolbright? Phil's the one who helped us flip the boat; he even brought some old tires for cushions!

One of the nice things about the BYYB board is that you meet some nice people along the way. Boat building just seems to bring out the best in people. Folks have been willing to help us with just about every question and every step of construction. The mistakes, of course, are all my own doing.

Like Chris Gerkin, I suppose, much of what we have built has been from our own imagination and a few photos I have seen of Friendship Sloops. We made our boat considerably larger than the Vacationer. We just hope she floats.

Ahoy,

We began work on port today. Here's a photo or two of where we are, and the direction we would like to go—



The planking looks rough, and it is rough. At the moment, we're simply trying to fit joints and place everything. Later, we will scribe the top rail and then, scribe and shape the bottom rail.

The planking at the stem appears to be distorted. Our cuts here have been much more exact. We'll need to shape everything to these initial cuts.

Here's a photo of starboard near the stern. We want our planking and bulwark to curve upward. Later, we will laminate for thickness and then add a toprail. We want the rail to look solid and hefty. The toprail will need to be edged with a bullnose and have an overhang.



I was surprised that the bulwark tended to taper rather than remain a consistent height. Later, I read that was quite nautical and normal for bulwarks. At midship our bulwark is rather shallow; initially, we raised our planking, but somehow the boat did not look right.

Once everything is shaped, we'll place and glue our bulwarks to the hull. We're making progress. The boat is looking more like a boat.

Ahoy,

We're working on the bulwarks, a task likened by one shipwright to that of trying to stuff a live boa constrictor into a sack. It took him all week to do that, by that he meant the shaping and securing of the bulwark. I rather think the snake was just a metaphor.

We cut out stock to 1/2 thickness, attached our planks to the hull, and then sighted down the sheer. When finished, we want a nice smooth curve, one without sharp breaks. Here is what we saw—





The C-clamp amidships needs to be adjusted. The curve there looks a little too pronounced. The rest of the sheer looks sheer pretty, or so we think. We began our attaching bulwark segments with clamps and glue.





Ken Connors was right. You never can have too many clamps. In fact, I recall even showing the photo of his boat to Miss Pat and telling her how I needed more clamps. "I can clamp down on that purchase right now," she said. I took her comment as unpersuasive on my part. So, I had to be content to use what clamps I have.

Now, of course, none of this true. It is true that Ken Connors has the record for having the most clamps on a boat at any given instance, but my comments about Miss Pat's comments were just made up. You have to admit, though, it made a nice little story.

At any rate, we made our adjustments amidships, and then stood back to take another look. Maybe this time, the nice sweep will be more evident.





By the way, here's the promised photo of the port bulwark. We've yet to laminate in situ, but at least, you can have an idea on how everything seems to be turning out. We'll add the monkey rail a little later.





I knew it. I just knew it. There in the lower right hand corner of the photo is a mysterious shadow, a silhouette of the fearless and famous sea dog, Sheba Girl. Just hope we passed inspection.

Several times the bulwark nearly stuffed me into a sack. A bulwark must be hefty, you know. A bulwark must be solid and strong. Whether ours will meet those nautical and rakish criteria, I cannot say. I can say that our bulwark will be over 1" thick with curves and all. Once everything is glued, we will reinforce our bulwark with true nautical stanchions and cap rail.

Ahoy,

Here are a few more photos and meager comments describing our efforts at bulwarks. We removed the clamps early this morning. The bulwark looks promising. There is still a lot of work to do, but the rough outline is there. What is not there is the obnoxious Samson post. You might say his photo was unavailable.



Let's take a look at port. Here the curve of the hull can be seen. Please understand that everything is only approximate for now. You are right; it's only a bulwark in the rough. The curve in the foreground needs some special attention. Maybe you can now see why some shipwrights compared the bulwark to forcing a boa constrictor into a sack.



On starboard we're a little closer to putting that boa constrictor into the sack, but here, too, there is a lot of work to do. Even so, we are pleased with the look and with our meager efforts.

Oh, you may have noticed the water. Irrigation came in sometime early this morning. The water adds a nice touch to the ambiance. We waded in the water in our tennis shoes as we made another glue up.




What's this? I believe I see a shadow amidships. Could it be? Yes, there is a shadow there, and something is moving. Maybe it's a sentry.



Of course, it was none other than the famous and fearless sea dog, Sheba Girl. Sheba is still a little nervous around the cockpit area, but she seems to feel much more secure amidships. Apparently, the presence of the bulwark gives her confidence.



Sheba seems anxious and eager to set sail. Hopefully, we will soon be able to do just that.