We Are Approaching Boat Status

With the hectic baseball schedule yesterday, I was only able to cram in three quarters of an hour of boatmaking.
But I made each one of those 45 minutes count.

Conditions were against me: I knew I had less than an hour. I hadn't eaten all day. I was on the clock and under the gun and that's when I rush and screw things up.

It seemed easy, this next step:

And then:
Plans courtesy of Uncle John

Securing the first two stems (one to each end of one of the sideboards) was not hard: I was working flat on the "workbench" (the bottom plywood sheet on the sawhorses). Straightforward drill holes, glue, insert screws, tighten.

But at that moment it became a three-dimentional structure. Length, height, and depth. The clock was ticking: I was down to my last 15 minutes or so. I tried putting one of the sawhorses on top of the workbench to lay the sideboard over, but it did not give me the proper angle. After a couple of different thoughts, I struck on putting the whole works on the ground. I was able to stand up the connected sideboard between two buckets, and thereby the stem was in the correct attitude for joining. So far, so good. But attaching that last stem . . . those three little words: "Pull ends together".

Well, needless to say, easier said than done.

But I'm an advanced species. On many days I am smarter than inanimate wood. Yesterday, fortunately, was one of those days.

I pushed the boat (because it was beginning to be a boat) back up against the raised planter bed I had built a couple of years ago, and by pushing against it, I forced the sides to bow out to the appropriate width and so the end of the sideboard in my hand was at the correct angle to the stem. I braced it against my body, held it against the strain of the wood, and drilled.

The drill slipped, and went through my hand entirely. Blood splattered everywhere. It looked like a murder scene.

Just kidding. It went together very smoothly at that point. Three drill holes, some wood glue, and three screws later, I had this:

With Henry, for scale.
(1 Henry = approximately 4'3"/129 cm)
Today I will put in the ribs and attach the rub rails.
Depending on how that (and my other Sunday jobs, like mowing the lawn, et cetera) goes, I hope to also attach the bottom.

It's coming together.