The Newsletter of the Louisville Boatbuilding Society - No.2

After two months of rather loose organization it's time to report on the progress and overall health of The Louisville Boatbuilding Society. Here's how I see it, anyway.

October 7 was our first session and I was surprised that we had a good turnout on such short notice. Our first mission was to set up our building area, a 18 x 40 foot tarp tent next to the workshop here in the backyard. Those present helped with heaving the huge tarps over the metal framework that had been previously staked out. Instantly we had a sheltered worksite. Without hesitation we set up a building frame. This is the basis of our namesake, the strongback, upon which our boats will take shape. We did not decide on a design that weekend, but did reason that a boat of 12 to 16 feet in length would be appropriate for our first project. With sledge, drill, screwdriver, and level we built the frame, quite sturdy and true, and called it a day.

The following Saturday we had an even better turnout, though folks tended to come and go throughout the day. We did decide on a design, and wasted no time getting to work. We are building a daysailer designed by Phil Bolger and featured in Dynamite Payson s Instant Boats book. It's just under 16 feet, multi-chined, with a somewhat narrow dory-ish bottom. GYPSY should be a good rower as well as a swift day sailor. She's easy to build and I expect we'll have her finished before winter. Our work for that day was to scarf join our plywood into 16 foot sheets. This went well and everyone had a hand in getting it all glued up. A good day.

Our next session found us with a rather small turnout but we did manage to continue on our boat. From our set of plans we began laying down the lines onto our plywood that determined the shapes of all our panels that make up the hull. There was a rninimum of head scratching as we deciphered the many measurements the designer had written on just about every available space. We figured it out and began connecting strings of dots with a flexible batten to form the curves that are the outlines and cut lines of the planking The planking thickness on this boat is 6 mm. Or 1\4 inch heavy. We layed out a few planks but did not lay out all.

This past Saturday, Oct. 28 I was out of town but did leave the workshop open . I don't think there was much done so we will continue again next week. I'm hoping all interested can get a chance to come out and see the progress. Phone is 456-0917 or 819-4622. E-mail is Highlandstair@aol.com

This is what has happened and it is so far a success. We all would like to see more folks involved and of course we want to build more boats. We do have room under the tent so if someone wants to suggest another boat or maybe wants to build a sistership to GYPSY we can accommodate that.

The Future of Community Boatbuilding

Boatbuilders tend to be dreamers and I'm no exception so at the risk of sounding nutty or corny here are my wishes for the future.

• There is enough participation at the moment to justify organizing ourselves more formally so we should get together and set up our group as other clubs do with structure and by-laws and such.
• Our group shares some common threads with other sailing and cruising clubs in town and I think we can dovetail successfully with them. This process is actually being considered by the Cruising Club of Louisville, the Louisville Sailing club, and River Cities Community Sailing Program
• We can involve parents and their children in family boatbuilding workshops, events and such. An event is possible next summer in conjunction with River Cities Community Sailing.
• We can build a fleet or fleets of wooden one designs that can train young sailors to be competitive on many levels.
• We can have a wooden boat show at our beautiful small boat harbor at the Waterfront.
• We can explore our local history through building replicas of such boats as those used by Lewis and Clark, not to mention other styles of watercraft that have traveled the waters of the Ohio throughout the centuries. Canoes, rafts, keelboats, pirogues, bateaux the list seems endless.

Please call to let me know any thoughts you have concerning this newsletter, and please drop in to see the progress were making.

Sincerely,
Mitch Larsen