Bows, Keel, and Lofting

Gluing Blocks on First Stage

Shaping the Keel

The day started off with the media group making the first stage of four bows for the boat shed, we made them in under a hour.
Check out a slideshow by a Virginia Project Student.
Renovations of the Freight Shed

Justin Completing a Bow

Today the lofting floor group is working on drawing out the mid-ship bend. The mid-ship bend is the biggest and the widest frame in the boat. After they make the first mid-ship bend it will be a template for the other frames. The people that are working on the jig are still making more bows, right now we have 14 bows.

The keel group is trying to flatten and bring the keel to it’s final dimension which is 8” by 10”. To do so, they are using hand planes.

The history of the day is, "Why did they build the Virginia?" The reason why they built the Virginia was for trading, especially in furs. They also built it for exploration, gold, transportation and to trying to find the Northwest passage.

Vocabulary for the day is Baseline. Baseline is the bottom line of the lofting floor, which you measure up for water lines.

Blog By:  Miracle Trimble

Keel, Documenting and More Bows

Students and the Keel

Planing the Keel

Will and Jay Planing the Keel

Class time is first.  In class time we all sat down and talked about what we would do today.  The girls told us about their trip to the Maine State Museum to look at the artifacts from the Popham Colony.  Mrs. Chapin told us about a map and some first day issue stamps that had been given to Maine’s First Ship.  Then we went to work.

Kelsey Preparing a Bow

Will and 3 students were making the keel the right dimensions. They used skill saws and chisels. They have to wear safety glasses and ear muff protection for their ears.  Jay and 4 kids were still working on bows for the shelter for Virginia.


We need 44 bows in all.  Another group was working with Mr. Varney on making the grid for the

Courtney Documenting Repairs to Shed

lofting.  Two students were finishing up their slideshows.  Sometimes Chewbacca, our shop dog, got bored and wanted to play.


Adrian, Student Shipbuilder

Miracle Documenting the Bows

Visit to the Maine State Museum and Loft Board Painting

Maine State Museum

Today the media crew went to the Maine State Museum. We took lots

Film Crew in Front of Museum

of pictures of the Popham Colony exhibit. They are to go on the Maine Memory Network when we are done.  It was a challenge to try to take good pictures of the artifacts because they were behind glass, but it was a good learning experience. The others that were back at the shop worked on making more bows. Also, some of them were working cutting the keel to size and painting the lofting floor. It was a very nice day to be working even though the sun wasn’t out.   It’s so much cooler than the past few days.

Shaping the Keel

Our lesson at the beginning of the day was about the different parts of the boat the keel, rudder, tiller, frames and more. The part that I took out of it the most was a part that is a bit of vocabulary and a bit of history. It’s the words for left, right, front and back. They are port for left, starboard for right, bow for front and stern for back.

Paint the Loft Board and Each Other

The starboard side got it’s name from long ago when the rudders were on the side of the boat and people would call it the steer board  side and it just developed from there to starboard. The port came form having the rudder on the right side of the boat and having to dock on the left side so they didn’t damage the rudder.  They called it the port side. So that’s the piece of history for today.

Blog Post by Kelsey Brick

Sawhorses, Bows and Repairing Bandsaw

New Tire on Bandsaw

Today we built 2 bows, and fixed the tire on the bandsaw. Then, we finished the table we have been working on for 3 days, and planed and polished the keel of the ship. We  also finished two slide shows, one about the shed renovations and one on bows.

Gluing a bow

Planing the Keel

New Sawhorse Table

Grommet: A circle of rope.

History lesson: The settlers chose the location of Popham because of it’s good fishing and exploration possibilities.

Blog and photos by Joey Hudson. 

Hot July Day and Bows

Today at the freight shed we worked on the bows for the bents  to make a shed. Also, some worked on making sawhorses and tables. Due to the extreme heat, everybody had to leave two hours early.
 
History: Around the time the Virginia was built, people used thatch to make their roofs. Thatch is mostly made from straw.
 
Vocabulary: Goals. A goal is something you have to work hard for. A goal takes effort and skills. You can have long-term goals or short-term goals.  Blog Post by Courtney

Bows, Bents, and Video

Today at the shop, the majority worked on creating the shed, in which the Virginia will be constructed.  They made bows, which are within the frames of most buildings.  Two bows will make a bent, and many bents make up the shed’s frame.  Three bows were made today, meaning we have a total of two bents.  Two other students worked on taping together bundles, which makes the wood organized better.  Lastly, the group in which I participated screwed together sawhorses to make a table, so we don’t need to use the tables with a year, or more, of water damage.

Watch Miracle's slideshow on the Making of Bows.

The piece of history I will share is part fact and part theory.  The fact is that the map of Ft. St. George was found in the archives of the Spanish, while the theory is that the Spanish Empire had a spy within the colony, who then brought back a map of the colony.  This is most likely so that they could decide whether or not to invade the colony and take their resources.
Blog Post by Wesley Blum

Grain, Jig and Stanchions

    Today at Maine’s First Ship we worked on setting up the stanchions to keep visitors safe and out of the way. We sanded them and put them up securely. We also finally finished the toolboxes by putting on handles on the side. Now we are working on the jig for the shed we will build the bow of the boat in. So everything is good and we can't wait to get started on the Virginia.

Vocabulary Words of the day.

Grain- Grain is the vessels that carries the sap to the top of the tree. If you look at a piece of wood you can see little lines in the wood. Those lines are the grain.

Ripping- In the case of boatbuilding, ripping means cutting wood with any kind of tool along the way of the grain.

Cross Cutting- In the case of boatbuilding, cross cutting means cutting wood with any kind of tool through the grains. 

Did you know?

Did you know that the building we are working in is one of two remaining 19th century freight sheds (located on the Kennebec River) used to transfer cargo from schooners to trains?
Blog entry by Mike

Jigs and Painted Toolboxes

Today we started to work on our jig for the boat shed we will build to house the Virginia.  A jig is made as a model or pattern for making many pieces of something that need to be the same.  Also, we finished up our toolboxes by sanding them down with electric sanders and sandpaper and then painting them. While we were working inside, we had people outside working on the sills underneath the boat shed.  Some others were working on cutting out triangle bases from a template. The triangle bases are to be used as stanchions for crowd control when we have visitors and a lot of work is going on. 
History  About 100 men arrived in the Kennebec River on the Gift of God and the Mary and John. Sir George Popham was the leader and Raleigh Gilbert was second in
command.

Blog entry by Justin

Tool box miters and Kickback

Today, we worked on finishing our tool boxes. We made three sets of miters. One of them went on the bottom, and the next two go together on the middle top. The two on the middle top will have hinges on the back so we can open and close it.
    The new history fact of the day is the Popham Colony had a lot of people on the boat coming from England. Many of them had different trades. One trade we looked at was the blacksmith. The black smith had a part of everything. They would make nails and other things out of metal for houses and boats. With out them most of the things they made here would not have been done with out the black smith.
   The new vocabulary word is kickback. Kickback happens when the table saw is pinched by the wood that is being cut. When that happens if you let go, the wood passes through the saw and it will throw it back in the area where you are standing.
By Student Shipbuilder Charles

Media Counter and Miter Corners

 Today most of us continued to make the miter joint for our toolboxes. This is done simply by cutting 45 degree angles on two pieces of wood so they fit together. Some of the groups that are a little farther into the process have begun to attach those pieces using nails and glue. These pieces are attached 3/8ths of an inch down from the top and attached simply with wood glue and nails. Over all it's a ton of fun and I can't wait to start working on the actual boat!

History- Bath is called the city of ships because ships have been made here for over 400 years. Since the town is on the river it has always had many ships yards.

Vocabulary- Bevel: A slope from the horizontal to vertical in carpentry or stonework; a sloping surface or edge.

Media Tip:  Move your subject from the middle.  Think of your viewfinder as a tic-tac-toe board and put the main subject on one of the side or top thirds lines.

Blog and images by Wesley Mellor

Trim on Tool Box Lid and Media Room

Today, there was more work on the toolboxes. Some worked on their lids, while others cut their trim to go around the boxes. In the shed’s media office, some put up the counters, while others fixed windows, putting new glass in them. Some of us went rowing as well. Event though this was the first time for most of the students, they quickly learned the ropes.

         History:  We learned that there might have been Marines with the Popham Colony. These Marines would’ve been there to protect the colony from Native Americans.

         Today’s word of the day is lofting. Lofting is a drafting technique and is particularly useful in boat building, when it is used to draw and cut pieces for hulls and keels, which are usually curved, often in three dimensions.
Blog and Pictures by Peter and Bianca

Media Office and Miter Corners

 Today some of us worked on our toolboxes, others painted the office area and the tables for the office. The office is looking better and we are almost done. Courtney and Bianca learned how to clamp wood on to the bench and Courtney learned how to use a handsaw. Today the students worked on the Miter part for the toolboxes.

Vocabulary: The miter joint is the part of the toolbox where two pieces of wood or other material go together to form a 90º angle.

History: Digby was the shipwright for the original Virginia in 1607. material go together to form a 90º angle.

Blog by Courtney and Pictures by Peter, Bianca and Courtney

Tool Box Tops

Today the Maine’s First Ship group flipped the keel onto the bottom side to help let the keel dry evenly.  The sun evaporates the water contained inside and if it loses all of its water unevenly the wood could “check” or split and bow. Then we went back to work on our tool boxes and we got more lumber thanks to Hancock Lumber. 

History-English explorers and would-be colonists came to present-day Maine in the 1500s and 1600s for various reasons: some out of curiosity; some in the  quest to discover a new "northwest passage" to China and the Indies; some in the  hope of locating gold and silver.

Vocabulary-kerf-The cut made by a saw blade. 
Video Tip-When taking video or a still image make sure you have a purpose for the photo.  What part of our story does it tell?

Pictures by Thadius and Blog post by Thadius and Patti