The next project on the pram was to create the seat supports. These are nothing more than blocks of wood about 8" long, fastened to the sides of the boat. The seats are laid on top of and screwed to these supports. We are using scrap pieces of mahogany for the supports. Our seats will be 1" by 8" mahogany. The seats are fashioned so that they may be removed for refinishing as needed over the life of the boat. We will varnish the mahogany seats and install them after the boat has been painted. We plan to just paint the supports and not fuss with varnish. Below, John is measuring the lengths before he cuts the small pieces to fit. After they are cut to length, we will have to sand and shape them to fall flat on the curved sides of the boat.
Last night, we went down to install the supports. We drew lines on the side of the boat to mark the proper positioning of each support and did final sanding to make them fit snug against the side of the boat. We carefully marked on each support where it's home would be (port stern, port middle etc.). Then we drilled the holes through the sides of the boat from the inside out using our positioning marks as guides. Below you see John countersinking each hole from the outside of the boat plank.
At this point, we discovered that we didn't have any of the proper sized screws left to fasten the supports to the side of the boat. Next we looked at the fasteners called for in the plans to secure the seats to the blocks and discovered they were way too big to do the job. So it was off to the computer to order another box of 1" #8 bronze flat head wood screws and some more appropriately sized screws for the seats.
Last night, we went down to install the supports. We drew lines on the side of the boat to mark the proper positioning of each support and did final sanding to make them fit snug against the side of the boat. We carefully marked on each support where it's home would be (port stern, port middle etc.). Then we drilled the holes through the sides of the boat from the inside out using our positioning marks as guides. Below you see John countersinking each hole from the outside of the boat plank.
At this point, we discovered that we didn't have any of the proper sized screws left to fasten the supports to the side of the boat. Next we looked at the fasteners called for in the plans to secure the seats to the blocks and discovered they were way too big to do the job. So it was off to the computer to order another box of 1" #8 bronze flat head wood screws and some more appropriately sized screws for the seats.
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