Gotta Start Someplace
This will probably be a pretty short blog, but wanted to share some progress of the next rocker I'm building. This one is for child #4, Jayne. It became tradition for each of my kids to get a rocker on their second Christmas and after plenty of thought about what to build, I finally decided on the boat.
I have never built a boat so I hope the more nautically inclined folks out there cut me a little slack about my construction methods (or suggest a better method!). I want it to look close enough to a boat to look good, but still be relatively easy to build. For that reason, I went with a flat, plywood bottom to simplify the construction and provide an easier platform to attach rockers to.
I plan to curve 1/4 plywood around wooden ribs to create the sides of the boat and attach to a flat plywood back (transom?).
The ribs are created with bridle joints between the uprights and the stretcher connecting each pair. I then drilled a 3/4" hole in each to receive a short dowel plug. Hopefully this will be plenty strong enough to keep the sides in place when bending the 1/4" ply around.
At the bow, I made a glued up block to hold the plywood sides in place and fit to the front of the plywood base.
I still need to shape the tops of all the ribs and the bow-piece, but I wanted to get the angles set first then worry about how tall to make the sides later (I still haven't figured out all the dimensions). I suppose I'll go back to my tried and true method of sizing these rockers; grab the nearest kid and put them on/in the thing and eyeball it!
More to come in the next few days since I only have about a week to get it done!
This will probably be a pretty short blog, but wanted to share some progress of the next rocker I'm building. This one is for child #4, Jayne. It became tradition for each of my kids to get a rocker on their second Christmas and after plenty of thought about what to build, I finally decided on the boat.
I have never built a boat so I hope the more nautically inclined folks out there cut me a little slack about my construction methods (or suggest a better method!). I want it to look close enough to a boat to look good, but still be relatively easy to build. For that reason, I went with a flat, plywood bottom to simplify the construction and provide an easier platform to attach rockers to.
I plan to curve 1/4 plywood around wooden ribs to create the sides of the boat and attach to a flat plywood back (transom?).
The ribs are created with bridle joints between the uprights and the stretcher connecting each pair. I then drilled a 3/4" hole in each to receive a short dowel plug. Hopefully this will be plenty strong enough to keep the sides in place when bending the 1/4" ply around.
At the bow, I made a glued up block to hold the plywood sides in place and fit to the front of the plywood base.
I still need to shape the tops of all the ribs and the bow-piece, but I wanted to get the angles set first then worry about how tall to make the sides later (I still haven't figured out all the dimensions). I suppose I'll go back to my tried and true method of sizing these rockers; grab the nearest kid and put them on/in the thing and eyeball it!
More to come in the next few days since I only have about a week to get it done!