Well, it was bound to happen, I am completely out of wood. What you see here is what's left.
I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I did start the day off with some wood, so let's go back to that.
Started the day by framing up the rest of the railings on the main deck as well as installed that front somewhat horizontal mast thingy.
Then Mathieu came out and although the brig isn't built yet, we had to put the first inmate in anyways, but unfortunately this poor soul is already past his expiration date.
Oh, and we had to install some of the props we found at the yard sale.
Those pullies will eventually be part of that back mast (crane) that he can pull supplies on to the ship with, but for today he just HAD to have them hooked up somewhere on the ship.
So once I was done framing railings (and out of 2X4s), I started to finish up with the pine boards.
And when I finally got to the back side of the ship, that's where I ran out of pine.
Well almost, I did have a few 2ft pieces left to make the front hatch.
And to give you an idea of the size of this ship, here is a view from the bridge.
Out of pine, out of 2x4s, only substantial piece of lumber I had left was the top part of the main mast.
And it was high time I installed it. This was the second piece of rough 4x4 I had gotten so I got the electric hand planer out again. Ran 2 passes on each side, then a pass on each corner. Then the plan was to use a skillsaw (circular saw) to widdle down the 76 inches I needed to slide into the channel I had cut into the 6x6 main mast. I was afraid that using that saw wouldn't be precise enough and I would end up with a crooked mast so I opted to take my time and shave down the 4x4 a but more with the planer. I shaved about an 8th of an inch on each side for the length of the insert (76") and this gave me a width of 3 and a half inches. Then I knew my channel was 2 inches deep, so at this point I used the circular saw to basically remove a 2X4 from the bottom of this mast. The thing fit like a frickin glove!
The thing is only fastened with about a dozen screws right now, but my neigbour has started making some metal components for me, two of which are 2 inch metal bands to secure the insert into the 6x6.
You know, when I started on the mast tonight I almost cut 2ft off of it because I thought it would be too high. I decided to just install it and if it ended up being too tall I'd just cut the tip off of it later. Really glad I didn't cut it because I think it looks just right.
And I was telling the wife tonight, I don't think I have ever built anything that is so level, so straight. Here is a view from the front. The masts line up so perfectly that the flag which is now hanging off the rear mast looks like it's off the main. In fact, I can't even see the rear mast on this pic.
So still not done, but getting there. At some point in the very near future, now that this thing has settled on the base I laid out, I'm going to pour concret around two 4x4s in the ground and they'll be tied to the frame of the ship on the back side. I know this thing is huge and probably won't budge, but I always over-build. We get strong winds here and I'd like a bit of peace of mind knowing that this thing had some pilons 5ft in the ground.
Next weekend I plan on working on some smaller stuff, like portholes and maybe some rigging on the masts. Would like to get another door done too.
Till then, thanks for dropping by.
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