Building a Chesapeake Bay Crabbing Skiff

12-20 I Finished drawing the molds, cut out molds, except the stem and transom. Chine angles measured within 1 degree of plan. I’m not sure how I’m going to set up stem and transom.

12-21 Monday. I spent all day figuring out the proper shape of the transom pattern and cutting it out. Then spent a long time in the evening figuring out the right rake of the stem, which is not at all clear from the plans. In the end, I measured the angle with a protractor.

I suggested to Mrs. Sharpie that we name the skiff after her, but she thinks Naiad might be a good name. In Greek mythology, naiads were water nymphs. But it appears they were associated with fresh water. The salt water version was oceanid, which isn’t much of a name. But one of the oceanids was Calypso, a possibility. Mrs. Sharpie thinks Calypso should be a bigger boat.

12-23 A good day of work. I cut a pattern piece for the stem to the design breadth at the rabbet of 1 ¾”. Fitting the stem pattern in place was not as hard as I expected. I just cut it long, buried one end in the ground, adjusted it to the right angle, and screwed it to the strongback. Using its position as a reference point, I marked off the six mold locations on the strongback, and mounted five of the molds by day’s end. With a little imagination, I can see the shape of a boat.