Just as we seem to have completed our lofting drawing, Bob gives us some more to add, shifting the finishing line once again! But, it’s all good experience, and emphasises his point that from these outlines, the components can be made exactly to size for the boat building proper. And this is not just for the hull: the deck beams, the bulkheads, the positions of any engine bed, even the bunks and cupboards inside … all these can be taken from the lofting drawing.

But how can these lines be transferred onto a piece of wood? Well, there’s more than one way to skin this particular (ships) cat, but we used the good old ‘nail head’ method. Nails are laid perpendicular to the lines to be ‘lifted,’ their heads pressed into the line with a tap of a hammer. Then, a board is carefully laid on top, and pressed and hammered down. When the board is then lifted off, it has the indents of the tops of the nail heads. Beautifully simple, and a technique that goes back hundreds of years or more.

One the keel is ‘laid’, these frames are fixed on top of the keel, and everything held together, ready for the planking to begin.

We have also done another type of lifting, our first experience of lifting a boat out of the boathouse’s dock for it to go on its trailer. Great fun.