Sentisah's Novelty Boats!

 I spent all day replacing 6 and 7 inch screws with 2 inch screws on all 4 jaw rails. I ran into a friend of the family who has a lot of experience in boat building. When he was in high school, he and some other students help build a 52.5-foot boat called the VERTELL W. Here's a picture of her from a old local newspaper article. Mr. L. gave me some technical advice about the things that are needed in improving the boat's integrity. Mr. L. was a great help. I'm really thrilled that he offered to assist me with the project.I think runing into Mr. L. was a real 'God" send.

 I've been making square pegs made from pieces of fronds. At first I was using regular wood, but it dawned on me that I had plenty of pieces of fronds lying around, and eventually realized that they are way easier to work with. The first peg I made fit perfectly into the groove I made at the end of a frond. I inserted the other end of the peg into another frond, that also had a groove at the end of it. Once I inserted the peg, both fronds were attached together to my surprised and delight.  In the process of experimenting with the technique, I did discover a few things that enabled me to get better at making the grooves and pegs. I found that cutting the pegs a certain length and width, allowed them to neatly connect two fronds together. I went through a lot of trial and errors as I was  learning how to join the pieces of fronds as close to the way the Ancient Egyptians used to  build their boats. Building the hull this way, eliminates the need to use glue, na...

 I haven't been working on the Auset Fronds lately. I actually forgot how beautiful she was It's really amazing that I actually constructed her. She's a very strong craft,, and will be even more stronger once she is completed. There are a few things that I still need to do to the hull and the railings. I'm also adding a sun canopy as well as some esthetics to her, when she's close to complete. The boat is too heavy for me to lift now and I'm going to have to get a small trailer for her. I'm also working on constructing the boat Skullah. I'm constructing the keel at the moment. I ran out of glue and screws. I didn't want to sit around waiting until I'm able to buy them, so I made two more mats out of some newly acquired frond leaves. These mats look 100% better than the first two I made. In total I actually made  6 mats in all. The first two mats came out okay, but they got ruined because I left them in the elements. Now I'm keeping the mats...

 I have  a ways to go, but I'm making a lot of progress. I'm still waiting on the rest of the donated fronds to dry out. Once they are dry, I can then add them to both ends of the boat.. I'm also working on the boat called Skullah. I  ran out of  wood glue, trying to complete the keel. (Spine, ribs and wings) I'm experimenting with other parts of the palm tree while building the prototypes. I started thinking about how long it's taking me to build the Auset Fronds. I came to the realization that you can't rush doing things because that means that you're not paying attention to important details. So I thought if it's going to take another year, then another year it will be.

I did a lot of work today on the boat Skullah. I had to reattach parts that came loose by nailing more fronds that are hard wood. I added some glue, but I really don't think the bond will be all that tight. The shape of the fronds leaves a lot of gaps between the fronds they are on top of. The hope is that the newly add fronds will stick to the fronds underneath them. I wanted to nail the fronds that I added for more strength, but I ran out of nails and screws. I found a few stray nails and screws still in some fronds that I took apart from another project. I don't have enough screws or nails to continue working on both Skullah and the Auset Fronds. I'm going to buy  more nails and screws soon.

I sawed this block of wood into two triangles. I have 3 more rectangle blocks that I need to cut. Right now I wish I had a small electric wood saw because what may take me an hour if I cut nonstop, would only take about 10 minutes or less with a wood saw. I actually thought that cutting the wood with a hand saw was actually good exercise for me because I'm supposed to strengthening my neck muscles, by doing  certain exercise that was prescribed for me.Working on the boats has been a form of physical therapy for me. In the beginning after my neck surgery, I couldn't  do anything physical. As time went on I saw what my limits were, and now I'm feeling about 90% back to what I used to be before my car accident. Even though it set my project  back a bit, I'm still making a lot of progress. I'm building a kind of cradle for the second boat called Skulla. It's already resting on two short steel legs, outside of the fence in an area that I cleared of bushes. I d...

 I have the donated fronds laying up against the fence, so they can totally dry out. I had to figure out how I was going to attached these fronds to the Jaw Rails. I noticed that the Jaw Rails have angular shaped ends on them, that will allow me to attach other fronds to the Jaw Rails on both ends. There are different varieties of fronds, which requires them to be used differently in construction. That's why it is essential that the steps taken in building the Auset Fronds be documented, so that the same techniques can be used in future projects.