Penguin Plane

I’ve been working on the restoration of this nice little Penguin class sailboat when I can.  Since she’s made of stable plywood, I’m adding a layer of fiberglass and epoxy to make a nice hard candy shell on the boat.  This will essentially waterproof it, give it some abrasion resistance, and maybe strengthen it up a bit.  In this picture, I have the fiberglass and 3 coats of epoxy applied.  After this cures nice and hard over the weekend, I’ll sand it down nice and smooth ready for primer.  This type of fiberglass sheathing can be done to any boat that has a stable type of planking.  That could be plywood, strip-planking, or hot or cold molded veneers.  You never want to apply it to a traditional boat because the thin glass would never be able to restrain the inevitable shrinking and swelling of the planking timber with moisture changes.  Also, fiberglass sheathing on a traditional boat won’t allow the wood to breathe, and can actually cause rot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week I wrote about a useful homemade tool that I use. I have another one I thought I’d show.

This is basically a rabbet plane, which is like a conventional plane, but is made to shave wood right up to an inside edge rather than just on a relatively flat plane (ya think that’s where they got the name?).  This rabbet plane was made to actually shave the planking rabbet on boats, which is where the bottom most plank rests on the keel.  The plane has some acute angles to allow getting into tight spaces, and side handles so I don’t scrape my knuckles on the frames and such.  I made it from some scrap oak I had laying around, and a Stanley rabbet plane blade from a long ago cracked iron plane.  It works pretty good, but it’s made in the old style where you have to tap the front or back of the plane to adjust the depth of cut.  Not terribly convenient, but it does the job, and the price was right.  Happy Halloween!