About a week or two ago we finished planking the port side bulwarks. I’m a little late posting this update because we’ve started our next big project (working on the masts) but more on that later.

First we moved Rediviva over to the other side of the dock then went and picked out our first run’s planks from the truck. Our lovely Toyota has been a champ over the last 4 years. Working just as hard as we have. It’s been our mobile lumber yard, tool storage, and all the normal things you need a vehicle for.

Rediviva is homemade and that being said is not perfectly symmetrical. We wanted to try and match the starboard side using the same lengths but it didn’t quite work out that way. In order to have the butts of the planks land on a stanchion we sometimes had to go the next length up to make that happen. We weren’t way off it just wasn’t quite equal…

We moved a bit faster on day one of planking having done it already and got one more run of planking up than last time. Needless to say we were pretty pooped when the day was done. The sun has been so wonderful to work under and with some pink skin we loved the moment our heads hit the pillow!

When day broke we put our hats on and got back at it.

We had our system down and it was just another day at the office. Fitting planks and drilling holes.

Since Rediviva over hangs the dock by a bit most of the drilling happened from the dinghy. With a little water floating in the bilge our feet were happy to soak in the cool liquid. This is also when we got to row back a little to admire the finish of every run. Being huge boat nerds this never got old.

Just like the starboard side it took two days to plank then another two days to sand and even face the bulwarks.

Then the finishing touch of souping the bulwarks.

We still have to lop off the tops of the stanchions and add the cap rail, trim and round the ends of the planks at the bow, and plank the transom. A few more decisions have to be made to do two out of those three things. How do we want the tiller to come through, over, or under the bulwarks? And do we want the cap rail to follow the angle of the deck or have it flat??

We can however round the tips of the planking at the bow. There’s a space here left open so we can fit in our 8 by 8 bowsprit which will hang out past the stem 10 feet. Garrett wanted 12… We’ve decided to make the bowsprit hinging so when we need a slip in a marina we can save 10 feet of slip fees, which add up quick. We will also have a sampson post that goes through the deck down to the forefoot behind the bowsprit. We’ve ordered a beam from a local lumber yard for the sprit and sampson post it just hasn’t come in yet. When we get those two things installed we can then mount our windlass!

So while we wait for the beam and are anxious to start the next project we head out to the boatyard. Our friends at the Napa Valley Boatyard have kindly rented us a space to tackle the next big task: rebuilding the main mast. It’s a bit of a long story which I’ll fill you in on soon but we’ve decided to laminate our main mast and our epoxy has just arrived in the mail!

Our current goal is to haul out in July and freshen up our bottom paint and step the masts. Assuming we’ve finished installing the motor by then when we leave the boatyard this time it’ll be to head out to the bay. Making Sausalito our home base and continuing to work on anchor. This might seem like it’d be more difficult but Garrett and I have a tendency to do things the hard way. Like build a boat. We need the encouragement of life on the hook to keep a steady pace and get Rediviva sailing this fall. Our biggest project on anchor will be making the sails. We have a few head sails that have been donated but stitching up our main and mizzen gaff sails will be something new and different for us to learn. Forever challenging ourselves I guess 🙂

Cheers!
~Ruthie

p.s. Photos and the full story of the main mast coming in a day or two! Thanks everyone