Another Week

It was on 23rd June that I set up the keel of the faering and today the gunwales were riveted home, completing the shell. That leaves all the fiddly, time-consuming bits now, as well as the mast, yard and oars. Oh, and also the steerboard which I have mocked up for size.

The sheerline has been modified slightly, lowered amidships to make a more pleasing, less chunky profile, to my eyes (and Mattis') at least. It's in keeping with this faering's extra length, vs the Woodfish plans on which it is based. It's a nice balance building to plans, but allowing yourself the freedom to depart them when you feel like it. Otherwise it's just painting by numbers - or building in plywood (but let's not go there).

I did use some of the stuff to make templates, and the mocked up steerboard. Apart from that it's just superb old larch from Perthshire, 150 years old and without a single knot in 32 boards. Well, there's one, and that's it. And boards that averaged 20 inches wide and 18ft long. When will we see the like?

So, here's some photos and I'll do my best to explain anything to those who are curious. Problems? Just the usual ones: trying to make fag-paper fits between frames and strakes that have changing angles and bevels. Nice when it works straight away, without endless fiddling and paring.

That's it for the weekend (a long one).

Meanwhile Mattis has been busy in his meticulous way, fitting the garboards to the Sula.

Although we achieve more or less the same results, our methods are often different. He put the garboards on with the keel set up and braced, whereas I do it upside down on the bench. He used a router to cut the slot, whereas I used a skill saw.

He is a little more obsessive about keeping to the plans; I like to let things take their course (that's my excuse at least). I curse when I split a plank; he swears when his rivet line is a few mm out (although I think I've got him using imperial measures for some things).I think we make a good team. Whatever, it's a pleasure to work alongside such a craftsman. Pity he's off to Norway at the end of the build...

Week Four

Too knackered to post more than a few photos of the faering at the end of a busy week both in and out of the shed. But strake three's aft sections are now up and riveted in place, and the frames have been fitted, the aft one dry - that's a job for tomorrow.

No margin of error in the hood ends. I wonder if the time-served old Norwegian faering builders had sleepless nights? Certainly not, as I once saw a grainy b/w video of a bunch of them putting an oselver faering up in what looked like ten minutes, and they certainly did not look in the least stressed; rather they looked bemused that anyone should want to capture on film what they had been doing routinely for years.

If anyone can track that video down, let me know. My copy was lent to me by Iain Oughtred, the designer of this faering. Must ask to borrow it again, if no one knows where it came from. YouTube?

So, here are the latest photos.

Meanwhile Mattis is making great progress on the Shetland Yole Sula. Maybe get him to post something about the joys of yole-building. Very few if any bad words emanating from his side of the shed, so must be having fun...

Faering Week Three

Slowly but surely, the faering is taking shape. The lovely thing about a faering (or one of the lovely things) is that with three strakes you're a third planked after fitting the garboards, and after strake two goes on you can kid yourself that it's only a matter of days.

On the downside, those three-section garboards take nearly as long as two ordinary strakes, maybe three as there is absolutely no hiding place when it comes to getting them to fit the keel and stems perfectly. With no false stem the fit has to be spot on, which is why those scarphs are so vital - the other reason being that they allow much more efficient use of timber. See how that section above came neatly out of the flared end of a board?

With the garboards now fixed, the fore and aft sections of the second strakes were cut from patterns I made when I built the first Woodfish in 2006 and although they are not accurate enough to trust alone - besides this faering is 16ft as opposed to 15ft 4in - they do serve as a pretty close approximation of the plank shape. There is a lot left to eye despite Iain's detailed plans. For example, I have given the stem more of an up turn as the owner wants to mount a dragon's head, which means a bold, forward stare; not one looking downwards. I think I'll modify the sheer too, which means altering the top strake a bit. Sorry Iain; that's what comes when you work with solid timber.

The frames are in too, which helps define the shape and was the reason why moulds three and five were not necessary. The frames go into the garboards, and from then on they dictate the shape at those stations. The cross pieces are also fitted, notched over the frames and held temporarily at the centreline by a lashing.

It took me a day to fit and nail that lot up and tomorrow I plan to fit the forward sections. Slowly, slowly does it as a millimetre out at the stems and it shows. NB the after sections are fitted first or the scarphs would point the wrong way.

I have also decided not to use any mastic in the lands, which calls for close fits all round and as I am using copper nails not screws, there's only one chance to get them into the hood ends. All for the sake of authenticity. The owner also wants me to use gun blue on the copper to make it blacken like iron. Jury's out on that one, but early experiments are hopeful.

All the while I am aware that this is not the traditional way to build a faering but then, as I have said before, I'm not Norwegian with a lifetime's experience behind me, in which case I would be half finished by now (three weeks for goodness sake) my only tools being an axe, some sticks from the ceiling and a pile of pine.

Now one thing I can say is, to hell with knotty pine, my larch is the finest I have seen since I began building boats. Just one know in the whole boat so far. Where from? I'm keeping it a secret...

Faering Progress

The backbone and garboards of the faering are now nearing completion. The garboards are in three pieces which makes it slightly easier to get them to fit closely along the keel, but also involves six separate operations. So it's probably slower, but surer. And more timber efficient, certainly.

Crucially it has meant I could use some pieces of larch that normally would have languished in the shed; notably two arrow-shaped sections from a board that perfectly matched he scimitar-like fore and aft sections of the garboards.

Thus wastage to date (and it would be a crime to waste a square inch of the superb larch I have seasoning) has been minimal. Whilst it wold have been nice to build in the traditional way with time-worn sticks from the roof to spread the strakes; alas, I have not the experience and rely thus on Iain Oughtred's detailed plans, from which I have made six moulds and three templates for the strakes (three a side).

Three garboard sections per side, scarphed using the curious but logical stepped scarph,  means steaming two fore and two aft sections into the stems, With no rabbet, just a bevel on the planks, there is little room for error. Simple, yes, but you have to take your hat off to the old viking builders. I bet their joints were fag-paper thin (if tobacco had been available).

Again, I marvel at the efficient use of timber; the entire side of a faering could be got from a single wide plank, presumably of oak riven, not sawn. As for steaming the tricky fore and aft sections, I have seen an old b/w film where the men of Os clamp them into wooden moulds, which are infused with steam - I use a plastic bag to get them to twist up into the stems.

Next stage (the photo below was taken during the build of the first Woodfish) is to make and fit the frames to the garboards which will set the shape.

One thing I had been asked to do, for authenticity, was use iron rails. This I had to refuse, so as a compromise I have been painting each of the exposed nails and roves with gun blue, a selenium dioxide (I am told) solution used to blue the steel of shotguns. It seems to work and the copper looks a bit like black iron.

He also wants a steerboard, which should be fun...