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8/17/06

I hope to document the construction of the small canal boat Escargot in this space. So far the plans have been purchased and ˝ gallon of epoxy adhesive has been ordered. This design appears to be a perfect fit for the bayous and rivers here in coastal Mississippi and Alabama.

8/19/06

Bought ľ" plywood and some 2"X4" lumber to build the frame assembly table. While getting ready to set up the table I decided the barn needed reorganization first. After 4 hours of cleaning and moving things around I still have more to do before building the 8’ X 8’ table that will be taking up space for several weeks. This table is essentially free because after building the boat frames I will reuse the material to build shelves in the garage that my wife wants.

I am fortunate to have a nice enclosed building area with a flat concrete floor. This building is a 30’x 50’ barn I had built to house my travel trailer and tractor. A 12’x 16’ workshop area has been walled off and insulated. A small air conditioner keeps this area cool during the hot months. Half of the roof blew away during Katrina but the insurance company paid for most of a new roof.

8/26/06

Escargot construction is completed in 33 steps.

Step 1. Build an 8’x 8’ table for frame layout and assembly. I finished the table and gave it a coat of light paint to make seeing the layout lines easier. This photo is the table framing. Sorry this is blurry, cool camera and hot, humid barn.

8/27/06

Step 2. Draw lines on the table to facilitate accurate frame assembly. The long board seen on the table is the compass I made from a 1"x 2" to draw the cabin top arc which has a 9’ 3" radius.

This photo is of the completed table with layout lines drawn.

Step 3. Create a ˝ template for the roof beams. This can be seen on the left side of the table picture above.

9/12/06

Step 4. Construct the roof beams.

This step is completed, but I’m going to redo it. I bought a heavy-duty jigsaw to cut the beams, but the blade will not stay vertical throughout the curved cut. I figured out a way to make the top of the beams flat by running them through the table saw with the blade set almost against the fence, but the inside of the beams are still not flat. I purchased a 14" bandsaw that should solve the problem.

Transom (frame #1) ready to glue. I have used a 2 X 12 where the motor will mount instead of the 2 X 4 called out in the plans. All frames are completed now. Time for a drink and cigar.