Day 261.

Before work can start on the main deck, a couple more details need to be added.

The covering board is a strip that runs along the edge of the deck, along the top of the waterway. This strip is 1/8″ wide and 1/16″ thick. Since the bow of the ship has a pretty tight curve, it will need to be made in two pieces. A long strip can be used for most of the length, and a shorter custom cut piece will need to be made for the tight curve.

Two long strips were cut from boxwood. These will form the long strips that run the length of the hull.

Both strips were sanded to create a rounded edge.

The pieces were then soaked in water to soften them up, then clamped onto the ship and allowed to dry. This will roughly shape them to match the curve of the ship.

Once they have dried, they are removed from the ship, and they maintain their shape.

For the tight curve at the bow it would be difficult to bend the boxwood strips for a good fit. Instead, pieces will be cut from boxwood so that they have the right shape without any bending.

To get the curve, a piece of paper was used to create the curve. The paper was trimmed until it matched the curve of the bow.

The paper template was then used to mark a boxwood sheet with the right shape. The boxwood was then cut with a scroll saw to form the curve.

After the bow piece was sanded to give it the right width and a rounded edge, it was lined up with the longer piece and a scarf joint was marked on both pieces.

Once cut, the two pieces will form a nice joint where the meet.

The pieces were then glued in place.

The completed covering board creates kind of a ‘rail’ along the top of the waterway.