- Home »
- The Boat Shop »
- San Francisco Pelican
Hands-on Science Technology Engineering and Math, STEM, at Work in the High School Student Boatbuilding Project at BMC
The current primary boat shop project is the San Fransisco Pelican, a 12'6" dory-pram designed to be sailed in the waters of San Fransisco Bay, which is known for cold, rough waters and high winds. A perfect fit for spring and fall sailing in Erie!
The construction of the Pelican began in 2007 with students from the Millcreek Township School District. This project resumed in December 2009 with students attending the Bayfront School, the Sarah Reed Children's Center and BMC partnership which provides an Alternative Education Program with the Erie School District.
Spring 2007
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
October 2010
March 2011
May 2011
Spring 2007
One of the first steps in building the San Fransisco Pelican was building a strongback, on which the whole construction jig would be built. Laying out the stations and cutting the correct curve are essential steps in ensuring the boat is built correctly.
The flareforms, which will support the chines and the sides of the boat, must be very carefully constructed, and deductions made to account for the thickness of the bottom and side planking.
The notches into which the flareforms will fit must be cut exactly, aligned with the proper station line and perfectly square.
Here the students are cutting notches, into which the chines will fit, in the completed construction jig. Truing up the jig and making proper adjustments can be a tedious process, but taking the time to double and triple check everything will make the rest of the building project run smoothly.
The keelson is made by laminating two 1/2" by 6" plywood panels together, which are held to the strongback with Spanish windlasses. The rocker curve in the strongback dictates the shape of the keelson, which is the first part of the actual boat to be built.
The next job is laminating the chines on the construction jig. The chines are made from two pieces of Douglas Fir, and were laminated, instead of being one piece, for strength and ease of bending. The chines were some of the last parts to be made in 2007, and the Pelican was resigned to a project in waiting until a suitable group could resume construction.
January 2010
Before attaching the transoms to the keelson and chines, the students had to cut the chines to the proper length. Here, the forward end of the chines, which support the joint between the bottom and sides of the boat, have been attached to the bow transom.
Using a Spanish windlass, the after ends of the chines were pulled into place and secured to the stern transom using West System epoxy. There were some gaps to fill in the gusset plate chine stopper blocks, which help secure the chines to the transoms.
The sides of the boat are made from 3/8" Marine plywood, cut into 2' wide sections. In order to get the 13' long sections needed, students hand cut scarf joints and epoxied the panels together. Here, an Erie School District student uses a jack plane to get the surface of a scarf joint just right.
February 2010
The sides were epoxied on one at a time, with the starboard side first. Clamps were used to hold the sides onto the chine, and drywall screws with plywood washers acted as temporary clamps for attaching the sides to the bow and stern transom cheek pieces.
Here the port side is being attached. After the epoxy had cured, the small amount of excess was planed off and made flush with the chines. The overhang on the bow and stern was trimmed and faired into the transoms.
The bottom is made from a 3/8" piece of marine plywood, scarfed to 12' long. It was then temporarily put into place, glue lines drawn around the chines, transom cheeks, and keelson from the underside of the construction jig. The students decided to mark 1 1/4" out from the sides and trim off any excess overhang so that the epoxy work would be easier. Here, they are using a jigsaw to trim the bottom before attachment.
The bottom was attached using West System Epoxy, and clamped into place using drywall screws. When the epoxy cured, the excess was trimmed using Japanese ryoba pull saws, and finished with block planes and hard sanding blocks.
The holes created from the drywall screw clamps were filled with epoxy. Here two students are cutting holes in masking tape to contain the epoxy.
March 2010
Before lifting the hull off of the construction jig, the bottom was thoroughly sanded.
A group of students prepares to life the Pelican hull off the construction jig, and...
...up we go! The boat was somewhat flimsy at this point, and had to be handled with some care.
Before doing any work on the hull, the students dismantled the construction jig and used the base for a platform onto which the boat could be attached. Casters were put on the platform so the project could be mobile. The boat was then carefully leveled, with the strongback inside, before being temporarily screwed to the building platform.
The boat was then carefully leveled, with the strongback inside, before being temporarily screwed to the building platform. Here, students are doing some sanding on the flipped over hull, preparing to fill some voids that were created when attaching the bottom of the boat.
Here, the inwales have been attached to the boat, soon after the boat was restored to its original breadth. Careful measurements were made when the boat was still upside-down on the construction jig, so that pushing the sides apart was a straight-forward task.
In order to bevel the inwales to the correct angle for the deck beams, the students contact cemented 36-grit sandpaper onto the bottom of one of the deck beams and worked together sanding back and forth until the correct bevel was created. The final smoothing was done by hand plane.
Friday 16 April 2010, the four deck beams along with the knees and side stiffeners were glued in. Tuesday 20 April 2010 the clamps were removed.
A group of students taking the clamps off of the deck beams.
You can see the mast step sitting in the Pelican, out of place, and temporary spacers running fore and aft between two forward deck beams.
Next the tops of the deck beam support knees were planed and sanded flush with the top of the deck beams.
Students used ryobas, planes and sanding blocks to fair the tops of the knees.
The mast step was glued to the keelson after being notched around the bow transom knee.
A student applies glue on the keelson for the mast step. The rough 2 by 4's are temporary.
The mast step was held in place while the adhesive set with some small sticks pressing down from a brace.
The mast step glued in place.
The mast step was modified a bit by adding a limber hole in the after end to let water out.
The limber hole in the step is a simple and important innovation to prevent water from collecting here and causing problems in the future.
Work on the Pelican resumed in mid-September. The parts for the centerboard trunk were cut out, checked for fit and assembled.
Students clean up and fair the centerboard trunk.
Young boatbuilders proud of their accomplishments, and rightly so!
October 2010
The expectations are high in the Pelican Project, and these students are achieving great things!
There has been a lot of progress in October.
The centerboard trunk is installed, thwarts are in, and foredeck is on. The aft deck is currently being shaped and prepared for installation.
The foredeck is on.
Kids building boats, boats building kids.
Science Technology Engineering and Math at work in the boatshop building skills, teamwork, confidence, and boats!
Maritime Education Specialist Harold Rinn and a student begin to prepare the aft deck for installation.
The expectations are high in the Pelican Project, and these students are achieving great things!
All the coamings and decks are installed.
Proud of their accomplishments.
March 2011
The hull is mostly complete and has been turned over to get it ready to coat with epoxy.
Bayfront Alternative Education Program high school students and Project SAIL participants have been working to make the Pelican ready for sailing this season.
Project SAIL students carefully apply a second coat of epoxy to the Pelican hull.
Getting close to primer and paint!
May 2011
The hull is complete.
Evidence of our students success.
Taking a moment to enjoy their progress.
Applying adhesive to the clear, vertical grained Douglas Fir mast staves.
Clamping the mast staves.
Students learned the traditional process of making a tapered, round, spar, and practiced it while making the gaff, boom, and mast. The plans show the spars rectangular; we made them round as our sailmaker suggested. The process uses math, algebra and geometry, while using a compass and batten to draw lines describing the shape. Hand planes were used to make the spars eight, then sixteen sided.
Hands-on mathematics.
After planing the spars were sanded; teamwork in action.
Mast in place.