Build log for Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack by Don Ricardo

Trying log again.
I bought some dowels for masts and spars, laid them on the spar holder, held them steady with tape and ran a pencil atop the dowels. This gave me a nice straight line for attachments. Rolling the dowel over, centering the drawn line on the V of the spar holder and drawing a second line preps both sides of the spars for fore and aft. Now I will drill whatever holes I need for the eyebolts. When the smack arrives the spars should be ready to go. This also works if you need to divide your spars into quarters. If you will notice, since the spar holder blocks fit so snugly, I had not glued them, and to mark the dowels, I inserted the blocks into what the directions would consider inverted.

Hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.

I have my drill clamped into my vise, ready to round off the mast with the proper taper. Then add the lines, fore and aft for placement of eyebolts and cleats. At 82, going up and down stairs is problematic, and the Captain will not allow me to bring the vise upstairs.
When she pulls out the vacuum cleaner though, I get down there fast or she will vacuum the floor, and any fallen parts are gone forever. And she will collect more dollars!
After morning coffee, I will resume work on the mast spars.

The Lobster Smack arrived today.

The first thing to do is to check for pieces falling from the sheets, one way I lost some pieces on my first attempt. A roll of scotch tape will cure that.
Is it advisable to lacquer the sheets before starting? The water in the acrylic paint seems to affect some of the balsa parts. Do you paint parts before assembly, or after?
My Captain is a dustoholic, and vacuums every thing, so this time, unless I am actually working with a part, it stays in the box.

Wow, I didn't break the stem this time...broke it in 3 places first time. Also used PVA this time.

If you are going to try this kit for the first time, there is a very weak point at the stern that is very easy to break during the stem assembly.
The second breaking point is also at the stem at the reinforcing pieces C and D. The breakage will occur when you try to add the bulkhead frames 9 and 10. If they are too tight, sand them before sliding them into the slot...these two bulkheads slide in from the bottom and will snap the stem if they are too tight, and you will have alignment problems with the stern, deck, and planking. Don't ask how I know.
So watch the grain pattern on the stem.
Also make sure the bulkheads will clear the reinforcing pieces A and B. You may want to lightly sand these reinforcing pieces to make sure you have adequate room for the bulkheads...what ever you do, DO NOT FORCE the bulkheads. That stem is to the Smack as your skeleton is to your body. Hug it, kiss it cuss at it, but don't break it.
You have two options on this kit for the centerboard, moveable or fixed. I always use fixed because moveable parts attract curious finger as a light attracts moths. But younhave that option.