Also, I didn't have the right tools.
The backbone timbers sitting in my yard are too large to be cut by pretty much any of the power tools that a homeowner is likely to have. A standard circular saw, for example, has a maximum cut depth of around 2 1/2 inches. That's more than enough when you're building a playhouse for the kids out of dimensional lumber, but woefully inadequate for shaping a slab of tropical hardwood that's over twice that thickness and twenty-five feet long. Even a professional 16-inch beam saw like this seven hundred dollar model only has a cut depth of 6 1/4 inches, and many of my timbers, such as the stern knee and horntimber, are nine inches thick. About the only common tool that would stand a chance against something like that is a chainsaw, and those doesn't provide the user with enough control for delicate work like this.
Or so I thought.
Shortly after I got back to the states, I went up to my Dad's place to celebrate my birthday, and after dinner he and Brooke presented me with a long, thin box containing what looked like the chain and guide bar of a chainsaw, but with no motor attachment. Was it a chainsaw? In a manner of speaking. The product is called the Prazi Beamcutter, and it's about as badass a tool as one can imagine. A chainsaw that attaches to a standard circular saw in place of the blade, this tool allows its user to make long controlled cuts that are up to a foot deep:
The roughness of the cut was somewhere between what you'd get from a sawmill's bandsaw and a handheld chainsaw. With the cutting done, the piece fit my plywood pattern from the loft floor beautifully; only a slight amount of planing was required to smooth out the surface and bring it right down to the lines:
To do that, I clamped framing squares to either side of the knee right on the pattern lines, and made guide cuts right down to the appropriate depth:
And just like that, the first part of the boat is ready for assembly!
Oh, and remember the ringshaked keel timber that I couldn't use? Well the wonderful people at Gannon and Benjamin got me a new one; Dad and I drove to Massachusetts to pick it up at the beginning of December, along with that old hand-hewn beam I'd had my eye on for the forefoot. They even let me keep the old keel...I'm sure I'll use it for something!