You might reasonably think once the thing looks like a boat you are almost done. How naive! When the hull is finished and you turn it over you are anywhere between 10% and 50% through the project. I'm only putting in some seats (thwarts) so I'm about halfway there. If it was a bigger boat with a cabin I would have really only just started the hard work. Oh I also have to make a mast, a boom, a yard and a couple of oars, oh also a rudder and a centreboard. But thats it. Bugger!
This picture shows the hull the right way up with some battens across it to check the sheer (top of hull) is level before starting work on the inside.
The first piece of work is the breasthook (great word!) This reinforces the bow and, as it turns out, is an incredibly fiddly piece of work. Every angle is unusual and the whole thing takes a lot of fitting, checking, adjusting and refitting. It should be a bit rounded on top. I made it out of a piece of Australian Oak wardrobe. The timber is nice so I will probably bright finish it (clear varnish).
Next piece of reinforcement is the floors. Not what you'd think. If you want to talk about the floor of a boat you say the sole. The floors are the structures running across the bottom of the boat which stiffen the hull and on which the sole sits. Again (like most pieces of the boat) these are a complete bugger to get fitting correctly. Interestingly the hull without reinforcement was very floppy and bendable but after the floors the bottom bit of the hull became totally stiff.
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