This boat is going together quickly. Part of this I attribute to stumbling on a much faster way to lash the joints. I have always done them one joint at a time. Since this boat is multi-chined there are a lot of joints. Matter of fact, there are 9 going from one gunwale to the other. I have always been a little concerned about lashing all the joints instead if lashing them one at a time but I decided to give it try.

I pulled off nine times as much sinew as I normally do. I quickly realized this was going to be a mess so I cut a piece of 1″ dowel and wrapped the sinew around it. Once I tied off the end I started feeding the dowel with sinew around the gunwale. Right off the bat I found it saved a little time because I didn’t have to find my dowel or a block of wood to wrap the sinew around to pull it tight. I just used the the spool I had the sinew wrapped around.

Since I don’t have to tie it off, cut a new length of sinew, tie the stopper knot and then start lashing 9 times I have found it is MUCH faster. I suspect it is at least  twice as fast as doing individual lashings. My only concern was if a lashing breaks or is damaged and having nothing to stop it from coming undone. Of course, I have never had a lashing break in all the boats I have built so I don’t really see this as being a problem.

So far I have 16 hours labor in it and the cost to this point is $150 (rounded off). I estimated a couple of those figures so that may change a little.  That includes so far, plans, plywood, cedar for the stringer and sinew. I don’t count the strongback because it is not part of the boat and it can be taken apart and recycled for another use.

Stringers and frames held together with bungees.

Lashing the frames

Frame starting to take shape.