Project Information
Boat windows - where to start; this was the main hurdle I had to overcome. I knew this was going to be a challenge for me, and it ultimately was. When I went to visit Marc D. in Kansas; he told me to pick projects that were a challenge for me. This was his no.6 piece of advice for buddy woodworkers in his interview after the 2006 summer contest.
Debbie recently posted "quit/ don't quit"; my mind set on this project was "start/don't start".
Randy and Penny, my in-laws, work on old wood boats in his spare time. He is fond of Chris Craft boats and has fixed two early 1960's era cabin cruisers. His latest project is a 1958 Thompson boat; this boat had no windshield or side windows. Randy asked if I would make them for him. Randy supplied the mahogany for this project, no extra lumber for mistakes. So began the turmoil for me; I had built him a set of side windows for another boat so I had my patterns for these. I put the windshield off for about two months while we worked on a fixing up a house our oldest son was moving into.
I like to have a good idea how something goes together before I start. I am a terrible procrastinator. Some aspects of the Windshield are there is not a square corner in it. It is not even a true trapezoid. The center post is 17-1/4" inside and the outside post is 16-1/4". Top is 36" and bottom is 35-3/4". Corner angles starting in lower left and working clockwise; 95 deg., 87 deg, 91 deg and 85 deg. The center and outside post have 12 deg bevels. The bottom has an arc that is 3/8" high in the center, the bottom also has a 35 deg bevel cut along the arc.
Last week the windshield and boat were on their voyage to Florida for ride in an annual river ride my in-laws entered in. I will have to wait until they come back to see the finished boat, they installed the windshield and a few other components the night before they left.
Debbie recently posted "quit/ don't quit"; my mind set on this project was "start/don't start".
Randy and Penny, my in-laws, work on old wood boats in his spare time. He is fond of Chris Craft boats and has fixed two early 1960's era cabin cruisers. His latest project is a 1958 Thompson boat; this boat had no windshield or side windows. Randy asked if I would make them for him. Randy supplied the mahogany for this project, no extra lumber for mistakes. So began the turmoil for me; I had built him a set of side windows for another boat so I had my patterns for these. I put the windshield off for about two months while we worked on a fixing up a house our oldest son was moving into.
I like to have a good idea how something goes together before I start. I am a terrible procrastinator. Some aspects of the Windshield are there is not a square corner in it. It is not even a true trapezoid. The center post is 17-1/4" inside and the outside post is 16-1/4". Top is 36" and bottom is 35-3/4". Corner angles starting in lower left and working clockwise; 95 deg., 87 deg, 91 deg and 85 deg. The center and outside post have 12 deg bevels. The bottom has an arc that is 3/8" high in the center, the bottom also has a 35 deg bevel cut along the arc.
Last week the windshield and boat were on their voyage to Florida for ride in an annual river ride my in-laws entered in. I will have to wait until they come back to see the finished boat, they installed the windshield and a few other components the night before they left.