Duncan reports that the build, after <COUGH> years, is finally complete.  Wonderful news.All is now complete, apart from a name and a registering plaque plate to get fixed on one of the frames.

In a lovely bit of continuity of local history, the intent was to try to match the colour of the topmost plank roughly with the same colour as the old Denholm’s fish selling company lorries that were such a key aspect of Assynt’s local economy.

Some more views of the completed skiff:-

Well done Duncan.  And well done to all the volunteers.  More news about the end of the build will follow soon.

Duncan has sent a number of photos of the last stages of the build.  He has selected a lovely bit of naturally-curved timber for the tiller:-

and when varnished up and fitted, it looks the part:-

Meanwhile the stemhead and stern have been shaped

The portable footrest blocks being made and fully finished:-

Duncan then worked at the oar fitting along the gunwale. For skiffs, these are not simple rowlocks, but an old technique for securing the oars is used.  A “routh” is the term for the shaped, re-inforced hole into which the “kabe” is placed, the kabe being a peg against which the power of the oar stroke presses.  The oar is held in place with a rope called a humlieband.  Here is the entire assembly.

A final bit of painting now needs to be done, and the club needs to source some sets of oars.

Well done, Duncan!

Thanks to Janice and Laura for painting the interior with two coats of paint.  Another two coats are needed as well as a lot of varnish on the brightwork.  Meanwhile, Duncan has been hard at work.  The breast hooks have been fitted, fore and aft. As always, click on an image for a larger version.

The gunwales are now finished, but Duncan reports that he needs to check on angles and exact positioning of the rowlocks before completing these.

Seating, flooring and some of the flooring beams are being completed.

The flooring has also been worked on.  Everything still has to be sanded and painted.

It’s definitely getting to the point where it looks more like a boat. Surely we can start looking forward to launch day…?

Some completed skiff projects may not be surprised to hear that our build has lasted much longer than originally envisaged, mostly because of lack of volunteer time.  In our case, we outstayed our welcome at the original build shed, which had to be used for other purposes.  The skiff has now been moved to a shed behind the old Mission building, where further completion work has taken place.

Duncan sent these pictures, mostly relating to fitting the gunwales. The first set shows the gunwale fitting and the number of clamps needed to hold the wood together.  This needs to be strong as it transmits all the power from the rowers, once the rowlocks are fixed.

Some detail of the completed gunwales. Note these are the inner gunwales of the kit

Janice MacKay has this photo gallery of the skiff kit arriving, courtesy of Sam Hunter Transport, and it going in to shed.

At last, the skiff starts to look close to the finished product. The day of turning the hull arrived.

Duncan’s photos of this stage of the build.  First, the hull was sealed:-

Followed by two coats of undercoat:-

And finally, two coats of gloss, resulting in a beautiful finish

Finally, before turning the hull, the stailnless steel keel strap was fitted

The rudder is made by laminating up suitably shaped sections of plywood.

These are then glued together

Resulting in a suitable rudder shape. The last image shows the pintles attached

The hull needs to be sanded to prepare it for finishing

Again, here are Duncan’s photo archive for this part of the build.

Here, the joints are ground, four at a time, by staggering the planks.

More detail of creating the scarf joints. Click on each image for a larger version:-

The planks then need to be lined up before being glued together to make the required length, using string against location pins.

Then the planks are glued and firmly clamped:-

The epoxy resin with filler mix is covered in polythene before clamping:-