Classic wooden speedboat build , sink, search for, recovery and rebuild.

I think building a boat is creating a life, and just as wonderful .
Thanks for sharing the pleasure.

I'm in two minds on weather to stain this a bit darker than the rest hmmmm.

I think some contrast might be good, but its your baby
I have found that staining wood, kills something in the wood
not sure what you might call it, but do you know when you are working
on a piece of wood, it takes on or has a life of its own, (people who work
with wood will understand, I hope :eek: ) well I think stain kills that.
But that's just my opinion .
Have you done any inlaid work ? I think that would crown it, narrow strip
down the kingplank and out each side , black , I have seen sawdust from
bog oak mixed with glue, Im sure epoxy would do the same, spread in a recess
made with a router, when finished it looks excellent , like marble, try it on a
piece of waste timber. If you want to transfer a pattern or a drawing to timber,
great with curves etc, is to use carbon paper, I use it for carving

I think you should have your own motif Fergal, the work you do is so rare and to such a high standard.

This is fabulous ,
Looks even better in reality

Terrific work - wish I had the patience for it!

Looks very well Fergal, and really defines the grain.
What stain are you using ?.
Thanks

Looking excellent Fergal.

In the first image, the transom, is that regular marine ply or a veneer ?

Thanks

It was the finish on the marine ply.
I need to replace mahogany veneer ply as water damage has penetrated
the veneer. I have a lot of timber to replace approx 6 8x4 sheets.
Question; Could I use marine ply instead of the veneer and still get an
acceptable finish ?

Thanks Fergal

Thanks Fergal, thats great news, mahogany veneer was going to delay me.
and thanks again, as always, for your help.

Following your work is an education Fergal.
I feel like a student again
If you could see me I have my hand up, please sir, whats peel ply ?

I recall once getting mahogany veneer faced marine ply - more expensive but took a far better finish than say birch finished ply. An alternative, if you've got infinite patience, is to buy sheets of veneer on its own. Alastair Duffin, a tremendous boatbuilder in Belfast (his GP14s are famous) is marvellous at veneering ply decks.

He can apply it so meticulously that it looks as if it is the original wood and, if my memory served me right, matches the figuring in the veneer on both sides of a deck.

A word of caution, however, if you are drawn to the seductive siren song of a veneer. Don't do what I once did doing up a 17 foot clinker dinghy and apply veneer using a West Epoxy mixture lathered on the base plywood of the deck. In my innocence (and I'm very innocent) I assumed that veneer impregnated with epoxy (and veneer really soaks it up) would last longer. What a fool I was! The veneer soaked it up all right but it also buckled and curled and I was left with a miserable currogated surface. I had to take a belt sander to it to get rid of it.

Moral of story: use a contact adhesive like Evo Stick when applying a veneer (apply to deck and underside of veneer, let dry, then bring two sides into contact). While it sticks instantly and needs little more than the gentle touch of a roller to ensure good adhesion, it can be tricky when lining it up with, say, a kingplank (runs down the middle of the foredeck). You can't just lift it and adjust it. When it's stuck it's really stuck! The edges are less of a problem although bear in mind that veneer splits very easily. Leave a little overlapping the edge of a deck (all trim like gunwhales, etc, need to be off) and carefully trim with the grain using the sharpest blade you can find. Read in a magazine somewhere of a guy who uses a cutthroat razor which he constantly strops. Then sand the edge gently with the grain until everything lines up. No power tools for this process.