The Sixth Grade class at Truro Central School has embarked on the journey of their young lives.  During the next 3 months, we will travel to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis, MA to build a Bevin's Skiff Sailing Rig, which will return to Truro Central School for finishing and a class sail before raffling it off.  We will post photos of each week's progress here. The Bevin's Skiff was conceived as a hands-on math experience by Building to Teach--a program of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation.  Special thanks to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum and the Cook Boat Shop volunteers for their support and expertise!  Weekly slide shows with captions are below. Click here if you would like to view a sample without captions.

Week 1: October 1, 2015 ~ Museum Tour & The Boat Bottom

Our first visit to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum began with a tour of the museum exhibits (nautical fine art collection, scrimshaw and the actual boat building shop of Hyannis boat builder "Pete" Culler.)  We then visited the Cook Boat Shop and met some of our boat building teachers--Pete Cross, Don Stucke, Whitney Wright, Bill Cook and Jesse, a high school senior volunteer.  The bulk of our day was spent learning about some of the tools we will be using and using them to get the bottom of our boat ready for the "shop fairies" to have cut and ready for us when we return next week.

Week 2: October 8, 2015 ~ Sides, Stem & Center Frame

Drawing a reference line
This week we arrived as boat builders--ready to get our hands in the sawdust and pound some nails! Pete demonstrated how to efficiently hammer a nail with tips on how to avoid your fingers.  We spent time practicing our newly acquired skills using a tape measure to create reference lines for the chines, stem and center frame. By the end of our day in the Cook Boat Shop, the stem and center frame were glued and nailed in place. It's looking like a boat!
Nailing the side to the center frame

Week 3: October 15, 2015 ~ Transom and Chine Logs (Chines)

Nailing the sides to the chine
It's Week 3 in the Cook Boat Shop and we arrived ready to attach the transom and chine logs (chines) to the sides of our boat. This week Whitney gave us lessons in using a hand saw and plane. It's definitely looking like a boat as we drilled, sawed, glued, nailed and then did it again on the other side of the boat. We finished the day by beginning to plane the chines to match the plane of the bottom of the center frame--getting ready to attach the bottom to the chines.
Planing

Week 4: October 22, 2015 ~ Attaching the Bottom

Lifting and placing the bottom onto the boat frame
Week 4 in the Cook Boat Shop concluded with our boat looking like an actual boat. The bottom has been glued and nailed into place and work for preparing the sides for the ribs is complete.  We are definitely working and communicating as a team! Check out the video of us flipping the boat over.  All hands on the deck!
Turning the boat over with bottom glued and nailed in place

Week 5: October 29, 2015 ~ Planing, Ribs & Seat Risers

Pete taught us about how to use a brace (old-fashioned drill) and bit.  
It's Week 5 in the Cook Boat Shop and our 6th grade boat builders are really beginning to work as a team. Bruce gave a great lesson on planes and how to use this helpful tool before we got to work planing the bottom of the boat so it sat flush with the sides.  We also installed the ribs.  The day concluded with the installation of the seat risers which sit on the ribs. It really looks like a boat!
Screwing the seat risers to the sides.

Week 6: November 5, 2015 ~ Keel, Skeg, Quarter Knees, Ribs

Drilling pilot holes for keel screws
This week we worked on all sides of our skiff.  A mahogany keel and skeg were glued and screwed to the bottom. The quarter knees were installed in the stern.  All of the ribs were sawed off and sanded. We also cheered on Wes and Terri, who just finished building their own modified skiff, and launched it for the first time in Hyannis Harbor!
Sawing off and sanding ribs
Week 7: November 12, 2015 ~ Rudder, Daggerboard, Seats
We are full "STEAM" ahead during Week 7 at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum.  This visit began with a preview of our mast. During the week, Don glued two 2x4s together and eventually we will have to plane it down so that it takes on its rounded shape. We ventured into the boat shed to work on laying out the configurations for the rudder and daggerboard. The seats were measured, cut and sanded.  Finally, work began on beveling the rudder and daggerboard.  Bruce also taught a couple of students how to use Swedish fids to splice line.

Week 8: December 3, 2015 ~ Gunnels, Mast Partners, Seats

After a two week break for Family/Teacher Conferences and Thanksgiving, the boatbuilders are back in the boat shop! We made some remarkable progress this week--the stem was cut, gunnels (gun rails or side rails) installed, mast partners installed at the bow, and seats customized and screwed to the seat rails. Sanding continues to be an ongoing project as well. Perhaps the highlight of the day was when the center frame was cut from the boat. She now sits on her own, her shape held together by the boat herself!

Week 9: December 10, 2015 ~ Sanding, Mast, Cleat, Tiller

Lots and LOTS of sanding and planing today! The Cook Boat Shop was full of sawdust and shavings. The inside and outside of the boat were sanded to get ready for painting. The Boat Shop Fairies had cut out the cleat for the deck and the tiller and those needed to be planed and sanded. The mast, originally two 2x4s glued together, was sectioned off into an octagonal shape using a handmade scribing tool--then the planing began. We also installed a seat brace for the middle seat, drilled holes for the traveller (the rope in the stern that holds the boom in place), installed oarlocks and oh, did we mention sanding and planing?

Week 10: December 17, 2015 ~ Step the Mast, Priming, Plane Boom, Sand Mast

Week 10 and the end is getting near! This week we used a lot of geometry to "step the mast", or figure out the exact location of the step (a block of wood with a hole in the center secured to the floor of the boat near the bow) so that the mast will sit at the correct angle. The sanding frenzy continued as we prepped the boat for priming. More sanding took place on the mast, which started its life as two 2x4s glued together. It's now tapered and smooth. We also started to plane down the boom into a smooth taper. Pete surprised us with a half-model of a Bevin's Skiff that he made for us in his home wood shop. It's hanging in our classroom.

Week 11: January 7, 2016 ~ Painting and A Really Cool Show & Tell

After our holiday break, we arrived at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum ready to work! Over the break, Pete, Don and Whitney helped us out so much by putting the first coat of red and blue on the boat. Bruce finished the work on the mast and boom and varnished them to beautiful perfection! They look like they are coated in glass! Before we began work on the boat, Pete showed us an interactive exhibit that allows users to explore land and sea elevation (topography) and how water moves. What we thought was just a big box full of sand turned into a sort of 3-D interactive model. Images were cast upon silica contained in the box. A computer program allows the peaks and valleys created in the silica to appear with contour lines and colors representing elevation. The "water" can be moved (simulated storm surge), rain "created" and snow in high elevations as well (that melts and runs down the mountains). This exhibit was on loan from the Zephyr Education Foundation in Woods Hole. They have received partial funding from the Woods Hole Sea Grant office. Next week, if the weather is good, we will launch our little red boat from a nearby Hyannis beach!.

Week 12: January 14, 2016 ~ Launch Day! 

Today was our final hour long bus ride to the Cape Cod Maritime Museum's Cook Boat Shop. Today was the day we've been looking forward to since the beginning of October--the day we saw our little red Bevin's Skiff float in the water. Before we loaded our boat into Pete's pickup, we had a few last minute details to finish. First, we had to admire the beautifully lettered tiller that was painted by Don. We also had Don and Bruce to thank for crafting a special cap for our daggerboard box. It fits just snuggly enough so that water does not splash up through the hole when the boat is not being used as a sailboat. After we hand screwed the seats and oarlocks in place, opened the Boat Shop doors, and hoisted our boat into the bed of Pete's pickup we were off to complete this part of our boat building journey.

We drove a short distance around Hyannis Harbor to Veteran's Beach, unloaded, as is tradition when launching a new boat, christened her by pouring a little sparkling apple juice on her bow. We each had turns rowing and riding and celebrated back at the museum with a pizza party and a sparkling juice toast!  

Thank you to our boat building teachers--Peter Cross, Don Stucke, Whitney Wright, Bruce Colvin and Dick Peterson who showed us that "experience starts when you begin". The Truro 6th graders began as "just students" and are now truly apprentice boat builders. Thank you to Deirdre Detjens, Mary Taylor and Chris Galazzi--the caring staff at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum who opened their doors to us every Thursday. Thank you to Mike Gradone, Bob Beaudet and the Truro School Committee who supported our STEAM Dream and allowed us to take this risk. We have all learned so much and will miss our Thursday trips to the Cook Boat Shop. We can't wait to see our boat again at TCS!

Click here to view a feature photo show of the launch from the Cape Cod Times.
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Wishing you fair winds and calm seas, friends--                                                                               
Ms. Klimkosky, Mr. Burns and the 2016 TCS 6th Grade Class
Our little red Bevin's Sailing Skiff being brought to the water.
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