Compass Project Week 5: We meet Clint Chase and start to create beveled edges...

We were honored to have the opportunity to met Clint Chase of Clint Chase Boatbuilders, LLC located right here in Portland, Maine.  Clint is the sole US kit agent and licensed builder for Francois Vivier, the designer of the Morbic 12.  He did the computer numerical control (CNC) cuts for our boat right in his Portland workshop.  He gave the kids a great presentation on how CNC cutting works and we are looking forward to showing off our final product to him.

You really should check out his website: http://www.clintchaseboatbuilder.com/, as well as his blog at: http://clintchaseboatbuilder.blogspot.com/.  They are a great glimpse into the intricate art of boat building.  Thanks again to Clint for coming over to spend time with our group!

After Clint's presentation, it was time to get back to work.  Today's mini lesson focused on the finer details of block planing.   This unassuming tool may look like a breeze to use, but believe me, it takes some practice (and patience) to get this right!

Shane and Allen made it look easy as they showed us how we would be using the block plane to bevel the edges of the parts that we had already laminated...beautiful curliques of wood seemed to effortlessly shave off!  These "beveled edges" will allow for the planking to fit seamlessly against these parts.

It took a bit of practice for the rest of us, but by the end of the demonstration, everyone looked like a pro!

The ever-patient Ahmed...

 Marissa gets those curliques flying!

 Allen helps Elena get just the right angle to her bevel.

Finally it was time to get to work on beveling the edges of the bulkhead, stem and transom that we laminated last week.  Marissa and Greg took some time to get the stem clamped down and discussed the proper angle to bevel this complicated part.

Molly and Elena teamed up to work on the bulkhead and eventually switched out their block plane for a file to make this very detailed job a bit easier.

Andy and Wendy worked on the transom...

Allen guided Ahmed and James through the process of adding supports to the girder.  The measurements and markings that James and Connor had made during our last visit to the workshop made this process a lot easier.

Lastly, take a few minutes to visit Francois Vivier's beautiful website.  There you can see some beautiful images of a completed Morbic 12 and learn a great deal about other vessels designed and built by Vivier.  You can find his website here:  http://www.vivierboats.com/