Rain Cover
By Helen Opie #904 "Molly Kool" (1es 1eo 1ea 31ar)Here is a photo of her covered against rain. An oar makes a sort of ridgepole down the centre to try to keep water from pushing the tarp into the cockpit. At the bottom I have attached a couple of photos of Cape Islanders so you can see there is some resemblance...maybe with a slight stretching of the imagination!
My wonderful bad news-good news today is that although our tropical weather has finally ended (it is after half past October, after all), I shall be able to continue working on Molly Kool, if only to get her hull completed and everything well protected with gesso primer and (I hope!) 2 coats of paint before making her a tarp shelter. Or perhaps I will think of someone with a barn who'd let me stand her on her transome in a corner. 4 ft wide and about 36" deep, and height enough to swing her up on end. More ideas will come as needed.
Anyhow, I took my tiny (4-ft square undecked bed) trailer to Roy Bowes the man who does the trailer inspecting and fixing at Bowes Brothers garage, to have him use a drill press to drill straight holes through rough 2x8s to raise the trailer and bolt them to the side rails so my boat can extend out over the wheels. While bringing him the longer bolts he needed, I told him I was looking for someone with a heated garage who'd let me work in it for about 2 days, preferably paying for the use with a painting or some calendars (I make weekly planning calendars). He asked me when, and I said any time after the 27th. He asked if it mattered what days; would a weekend or weekdays be required. I said that that was at the convenience of the space-owner - and he offered me the use of a bay in their garage for a weekend!!! I am thrilled! I can keep on working in spite of cold weather! I am thinking that the cuddy roof plan I have would allow me to bend the roof to the "rafters" and glue-nail this panel in place here at home. I may have to assemble it outdoors, but can bring it inside down near the wood stove to cure in warmth. Then I attach the top board/log to the top edges of the cuddy and screw-glue in place at the garage, or even before I go there. Take it there to cure in their warmth and then prime & paint.
What I am not sure of is the shape & size of reinforcements for the leeboard (will put in two reinforcements, but make only one leeboard, a sort of belt-&-suspenders mindset. Should it reach from top to bottom chine logs? How wide? What material? I have some thin (5/8 inch) hemlock boards, or nominal half inch plywood, or plain old 1x_. For the rudder, I'm assuming I reinforce the full width at top & bottom if I use that holey metal (which seems like a good idea, but might not be), or wide & full height if just the vertical backing for the rudder itself. I'd also want to put reinforcements of the stern for one or two oarlocks or notched piece of wood to set the oar in for sculling, what seems the most efficient way to propel her under a bridge, or up a very narrow creek, with the mast laying down along one side deck or the other.