Rainbow Bridge - initial layout

Not the path to Midgaurd, but a pretty cool project from pintrest.

I got a deal on some nice ash 1/2 " ply at Woodcraft. A paint an made a good template to start the rounded ended with.

I used a few nails and tried a couple battens but needed to adjust to get a curve I was happy with. After tracing it, I eyeball measured about 4" in and reset my nails and batten to get the insid curve. Boat building skills starting to pay off!

Next to cut out the shape from both pieces of ply.

Birdsmouth pola - boom practice

I picked up a Birdsmouth bit from Lee Valley a while back and finally made time to use it tonight. In the book Gary Dierking shows the diameter for the pola to be 2 1/2". So I went to Duckworks and pulled an old article with a calculator to find the size of my staves. Just shy of an inch. Ripped some select pine and a cedar board, then set up the router with my new bit and went to town. Loving my Ultimate tool stand, one day I'll redo the router table and make a nice fence bit this is working great for now! Next time I can get out to the garage I'll cut it to size (9') and get ready to glue it up.

The bit was soooooo much easier than trying to do 45degree cuts on the table saw. Well worth it for future masts and paddles.

CLCboats.com Demo day on Merrit Island

I have been a huge fan of Chesapeake Light Craft for most of this century. Pretty neat that of the 2 demo days they have in Florida, one happened to be down the road from me. Their super gracious and knowledgeable staff were awesome to talk with. I also met some neat local paddlers and boat builders I look forward to hanging out with again, which is nice as we are relatively new to the area.

We made a bit of a day of it with a picnic and friends hanging out in Kelly Park. I'm pretty sure I tried every boat (at least the ones I could fit in). I came away a big fan of the Passagemaker dinghy, which would be a fun boat to have around to fish and tote people out to the nearby spoil island.

Some brought their own boats, which were just stunning. Particularly a bamboo decked kayak and a Peeler skiff. The Peeler is another one that would be neat to build and run around the river in.

Sea trials -couldn't resist

I couldn't resist trying the new safety ama and motor mount bracket. So Mojo and I took a little trip.