Beer Transom

September 24, 2014  Hours spent building to date: 143

There’s an old boat builders tradition that a bottle of whiskey is passed around when the last plank of a conventionally built boat (the “whiskey plank”) is driven home.

Being an old boatbuilder myself, I think something similar is needed for sawn frame/egg crate builders when the last piece of framing, the transom, is finished.  So I opened a Thimble Islands American Ale, official brew of the Tardis Project.  Did not pass it around, since I work alone.

Still lots of measuring and shop re-arrangement to be done before setting all the plywood frames and bulkheads upright to finally have a structure that looks vaguely like a boat.   But it still feels like a major demarcation line has been crossed.

Transom

The offcuts pile should finally stop growing

But wait, there’s more!  While I still have a large open place in the shop that’s not filled with the Arc, I measured and sawed up the engine stringers, heavy fore-and-aft members that really stiffen up the structure and act as a base for the flooring.  They are 15 feet long, so it was one of those simple-looking jobs that took half a day.

Engine Stringers