Mahogany Skiff

The story of building a 15'6" Jericho Bay Lobster Skiff.

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Step Scarf Detail
The stem is matched to the angle of the step scarf, and when faired, will make a seamless transition from keel to bow.
Scarf Connection
Adding the Bling
I temporarily center and attach a 1/2" strip of stainless steel quarter oval to the bow.
Overhead
Screwed Oval
The half oval trim is wrapped in protective blue tape to keep it from getting scratched during the stem shaping process
Bow Curve
#8 Stainless Screws
The strip is attached with #8 Stainless Steel oval head screws, in predrilled holes
Screw
Center Bow View
The stem will be tapered and shaped to create a seemless line from the angle of the hull to the edge of the stainless steel strip.
Stainless oval
Backlit Lines
The backlit view accentuates the lines of the bow and keel, and shows the transition from each
Step Scarf Detail-Refined
The top of the outer stem is brought into line with the top of the bow. From here the transition will be further refined, shaped and sanded before protective primer and paint are applied
Step Scarf Detail
Starboard View-Outer Stem Installed
Oval Stem Starboard
Port Side View
Port
Shaping the Stem
The outer stem starts to take shape under the influence of a variety of tools, both powered and man-powered.
Hearty Spokeshave
The spokeshave is excellent at taking off controllable amounts of wood from the complex shape of the outer stem.
Bringing it on Down
The Stem is shaped to reflect the angle of the incoming bow and the stainless steel strip on the leading edge.
Shaping detail
Angles and more Angles
Very Angular
Full view-mid shaping
Final Shape
The stem is angled to provide a sharp line at the leading edge but gradually fattens as it approaches the wider keel
Bow Stem
Parks Can't Wait to Sand
Armed with a powerful 6" Festool RO sander, Parks gets to work sanding the transom
Parks sanding
Rough Sanding
The epoxy coating is roughly faired with 80 grit sandpaper to remove any runs, sags or defects in the top layer of the epoxy coating.
half sanded
Contemplative Parks
Parks ponders the nature of the universe (and the tremendous amount of finish sanding to come.)
Initial sanding
Bow keel
Bow detail
Rough Sanded
Sanded overhead
Stem Keel transition
Step scarf detail
Bow complete
After the bow is fully shaped, the stainless steel strip is removed in anticipation of varnish
Bow
Plug it
All holes from the stem attachment process are plugged
Lasers Rock!
We use a laser level to draw the waterline of the boat. The area above the line will be varnished and the area below will receive paint
Laser Waterline
Laser level
The laser is "mounted" on a tripod using good ol' blue tape
Mark the line
The waterline is marked with blue painters tape applied to the laser line
Starboard waterline
Starboard Waterline
Parks sits admiring the level Lines
Level Lines
Port Side Line
With tape applied, it's time to varnish the hull
Waterline
Varnish Begins
The area above the waterline gets many, many coats of varnish. Here is the 1st one.
Varnish
Siggy and Parks
Parks: dog's best friend.
Best Friends
Varnish
Varnish
Pull the Tape
I remove the blue tape before the varnish sets. I will continue to use the varnish line as a rough guide for subsequent coats.
Varnish tape
Parks Tries His Hand at Varnishing
Wax on, Wax off, Daniel-san.
Varnish
Transom
The varnish brings out the stripy grain of the sapele transom
Transom!
Fillet the Keel
A fillet /ˈfɪlᵻt/ is a rounding of an interior or exterior corner of a part design. So says Wikipedia, so it must be right.
Tape the Fillet Boundaries
Blue painters tape is used to limit the fillet to the angle created where the keel meets the bottom of the hull.
Remove the Tape
To keep the tape from sticking to the epoxy fillet, I remove it promptly after application
Fillet Recipe
To create my fillet compound I used West Systems Epoxy mixed with a gracious sufficiency of Microlight filleting filler. The resulting mixture has the consistency of drywall spackle.
Looks Like Peanut Butter
Tastes like Epoxy stiffened with Microlight filleting compound
Tape and Mask in Prep of Paint
After recreating our waterline using the Laserbeam of Accuracy (and Justice), Parks applies a masking layer to protect the varnished section from primer and paint spills
The Masked Avenger
Taped prep
Another Masked view
Why not?
Side prep

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