Got some good work done on the shelves today.
Today, I got the template all cut out for the shelves.  Also I got all the shelf material cut out on the table saw.  Since I am making the shelves 8 inches wide instead of 5, I had to figure a few things out on my own.  First, my new table of shelf loftings for the inside numbers worked fine.  A lot of math, but hey, that is what high school was for, right?

The first 16 feet of the boat!  Well, actually just the template.

I kind of went overboard connecting the two shelf templates together with the glue and staples!

Here is the shelf template and the shelf stock ready to go for tomorrow.

Also, I used a new trick to lift and move full sheets of plywood by myself.  I used a 12 foot piece of rope with a loop tie on each end.  Then placed the loop under the corner of each sheet of plywood, then used the middle of the rope as a perfectly balanced handle.

Another trick I used was when I needed to rip a full size sheet of plywood down, I always have trouble keeping constant tension against the fence.  This time I used my Rockwell Jawhorse with a feather board clamped in it to keep tension on the board.  It worked perfectly!  It was so easy to cut the large sheets that I may stop using the 9 foot straight edge and circular saw that I have been using for years because of trouble keeping the tension.  Here is the jawhorse and featherboard in action:

The Jawhorse is heavy enough that when you clamp the featherboard in (featherboard designed for a 3/4 table saw slot), that you can apply pretty good pressure and that board stayed right up against the fence.  It worked great.  I wish I would have had a jaw horse 20 years ago.  

When I was finished with all the math, it turned out that for the Great Alaskan, I only needed the front bow pieces (the first 8 feet) to be 18 inches wide (same as the plans).  Then I found out that even with the shelves being 8 inches wide instead of 5, I could make the next 8 feet  13 inches wide.  So I cut out my pieces of 3/4 and 3/8 Meranti, and I am ready to cut the templates of the shelves out tomorrow and get them glued up.  After that....stringers!

Tomorrow I hope to get the first 16 feet of shelves from the bow back, cut and glued up!

Check out fishyfish and Glacier Boats for some great info on boatbuilding!