The Boat Shop

Time to change the way Valkyrie looks.  First thing on the list is installing the king plank.  The notch for the king plank in the crash bulkhead was marked and cut with the circular saw, cleaning up the slivers with a chisel.  Spacer blocks were cut and put in place with hot glue for the time being while a piece of strapping was clamped in place to set the skeleton for the topside decking.

Clamps and blocks make the impossible possible

Ed was given the important job of cutting out the under-deck bracing for the skein chocks, which he thought was just busy work since they were curved when they won’t ever be seen once the deck is in place.

It's not busy work, honest

The blocks and strapping were screwed into place and matched on the starboard side, giving Valkyrie a big change in looks.  The console was offset a few inches from center to allow a more spacious walk way to the forward cockpit while the washrail was extended inwards on the starboard side to be used as a work table while servicing traps.

Washrail and work table

The crown on the aft deck was adjusted some so it was more eye pleasing and easier to use.

Aft deck crown

Decking material was purchased and Keith had a master plan all worked out.  Maximizing the deck material to it’s fullest while at the same time adding strength to all the joints.  Double planking with 1/4″ plywood is more work but will create a rugged deck.

Front deck, layer one in place

The first piece put in place was the hardest, with no one anticipating how much crown we were trying to cheat into a 1/4″ piece of plywood.  After some cinder block weights and superficial cracking of the non-visible face, it was in place and it looked great.  Using the cut offs from that first section we now had material for the aft deck which we quickly put in place, scribing and cutting to fit.

Aft deck, layer one

Now that the aft deck was in place, we needed to know where our skeleton framing was in relation to the face so that we could lay out the final look.

Measure twice, them measure again

Now that we knew where the framing was, Keith used Shop2 Special Tool #9 to form the radius’ on the aft deck.

Yeah, it's Ed's plate

Time now to start on the second layer, being sure to overlap the joints to eliminate weak points.

Full length is the way to go

Half & half

With Keith’s careful planning, what originally was 8 sheets was trimmed down to 3, fully decking Valkyrie over.

A look forward from standing on the aft deck

Looking aft

Just how strong is the deck?  It can withstand 200 lbs of boat builder clamoring over it without missing a beat.

Quality Control Inspector

The panels were left over night to get a memory set into them.

Parting Shot

Reading: Stick building