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June 13, 2025
Acorn To Arabella – Page 6
Last Bronze Floors and a Mast Step – Episode 151 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We finally get to finish up the work on the bronze floors. We had about six sets of frames that needed to go in once we removed the molds. These last sets all needed bronze floors made up for them as we couldn't make those on our first go around. That m...
Mast Step and Alignment – Episode 152 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
With wrapping up the bronze floors comes working on the mast step. This wild looking piece is built up out of live oak and black locust and looks more like a sculpture than a structural element in the boat! We also check alignment on Arabella to see if ev...
Victoria’s Mast – Episode 153 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The bronze floors are done! It's a great feeling complete them and be able to move on to even more tasks that get us closer to launch. Steve keeps on with fitting the main's mast step, and Alix gets to work on figuring out the reuse of Victoria's spars. Yo...
The Mizzen Mast Step – Episode 154 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
With the main mast step finished, it's time to make the mizzen mast step. This one is significantly smaller as it will hold a significantly smaller mast and take less of a load. It feels like we're installing a sculpture as integral part of the boat! It's...
Repurposing Victoria’s Mast – Episode 155 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Getting Victoria early in the project was one of the best decisions we have made. There was so much good material packed in that little vessel, and it seems like she just keeps giving every day. From all the beautiful mahogany in her interior, to the bron...
Homemade Oak Plywood – Episode 156 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We're starting on the interior! At least starting with the pieces of the interior. Steve is milling up the stock that is going to become the bilge bands. These will get installed soon, when we get a new crew in to finish the planking. In the meantime, ...
Fairing the Mizzen Mast – Episode 157 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
There is a lot of work going into restoring Victoria's old mast to be our mizzen mast. We already set up a sort of lathe and jig to cut kerfs into the mast so that we can then bring it down to a six inch diameter. To do that, I used a combination of a po...
There’s a New Shipwright in Town! – Episode 158 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We are looking ahead to getting back to planking Arabella this summer. In order to do that, we are going to want all hands on deck, so we got a little help coming in. The first of the crew has arrived and she will be helping us for the next month or more...
Live From the Boat Shed 5—Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Live Q&A Session we held on Friday, April 16 from Arabella’s boat shed in Granby, MA. We also talked about the important changes coming to Patreon as of May 1. Read more about that here: https://www.acorntoarabella.com/patreon-help-page ------------...
Hooked Scarf Joints and Bilge Stringers – Episode 159 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Bilge stringers (which we also call bilge bands) add longitudinal stiffness to Arabella in an area of the boat where it's needed. Carolyn, who's been working on fitting the stringers into the boat, gives us a good look at how she sneaks up on a very smart ...
Putting Taper in the Mast – Episode 160 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Lots going on here at the boathouse. It's time to put the taper in the top of the mast. Turns out there's a little bit more to that than just doing a straight taper. We'll be talking about a certain kind of taper as well as figuring out how to accommoda...
With a Little Help From Our Friends—Episode 161—Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We're back to planking! We've asked some of our skilled friends to come back and help us get closer to closing up Arabella's hull. We have eight oak planks, a couple of cedar planks, and the black locust sheer strakes remaining for installation. After the ...
They’re Back! – Episode 162 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Jack and Wes are back to do more work on Arabella. Wes's earlier visits involved stacking lumber and bending frames. Now he's back for a taste of planking and we hope he returns to help out with the interior. Jack was a part of our planking crew last year,...
Mizzen Mast: Shaping Below Deck – Episode 163 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The planking work is moving right along, but unfortunately Jack and Wes have to head home. We discuss the work that we got done as a team, then focus on the mizzen mast, which is also nearing completion. Alix has been working on spot repairs with graving ...
Closing in on the Shutter Planks – Episode 164 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The gaps in Arabella's planking are getting much smaller... and soon they will be no more. We are pushing hard to close up the hull with Carolyn's help before she moves on. The shutter planks are a pretty exciting part of the build. There are only two o...
Wrapping Up the Mizzen Mast – Episode 165 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The mizzen mast has been tandem project as the planking has progressed. Alix chipped away at it between other important tasks, and now it's finally finished! Of course, the hounds and hardware need to be installed, but this big, beautiful, repurposed piece...
One Minute About Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
An overview of who we are and what we do. See ya every Friday with a new video. Want to see more? Here are some suggestions. Watch us pour 100 gallons of lead: https://youtu.be/K1cpJBtWnQg Watch us drop a 70' tree Steve's great grandfather planted: https:...
Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Acorn to Arabella—our wooden boat building project—will take you on a journey from stump to ship, as we turn trees from the family farm into a 38' wooden boat that will eventually sail the world. See ya every Friday with a new video highlighting the bo...
Installing the Oak Shutter Planks – Episode 166 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
It's a big moment here in the Acorn to Arabella boathouse. We have been steadily working on closing up the hull and now the oak shutters are going in. After these are installed, we will only have six more planks to go. Two cedar strakes will lead up to th...
Bracing for the Sheer Plank – Episode 167 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Getting the nib-ends of these full-length planks fitted into the rabbet fore and aft is one of the hardest tasks of planking Arabella. Since we don't have any wiggle room to move fore or aft, the cuts need to be dead-on for the planks to sit correctly. Add...
Port Side Sheer Strake – Episode 168 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The weather our here in western Massachusetts has been a bit wacky. Though colder days pushed off the possibility of gluing early in the season, we're now dealing with really hot days and thunderstorms—but that's not slowing us down as we scoot along pla...
Arabella Gets a Makeover – Episode 169 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
As we've been finishing the rest of the planking on the port side, we have had groups of helpers lend a hand to clean up Arabella's interior. Most recently, David and his son, Grant, card-scraped the interior and applied Danish Teak Sealer to planks and fr...
Finishing the Port Side Planking – Episode 170 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The last plank... for now, anyway. This episode doesn't feature the whiskey plank, and Steve does a very good explanation for those who have been asking about the difference between a shutter plank and a whiskey plank. We've got four shutters, and like all...
Cedar Strip House Top, Gluing Up – Episode 171 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The mock-up, and now mold, for the cabin house is finally put to work as the cedar strip-planked house comes together. Building this crucial part of the boat with this method has many reasons, chief among them being that strip-planking is extremely strong ...
House Top Interior, Fairing and Painting—Episode 172—Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
A big part of strip-built construction isn't the glue-up itself, which is a satisfyingly quick process, but is the fairing and finishing process that comes after. Steve and volunteer Grant (thanks again, Grant!) fill large imperfections and voids in the se...
The First Bulkhead – Episode 173 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
The pesky, dangerous maple that serves as an anchor for the boathouse comes down in this episode, and Steve (who has worked in the past as an arborist, and of course, felled the trees for the lumber in Arabella) goes through a couple of specifics about how...
The Floor Plan, Bonus Video – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
A big reveal here: We have a close look, side by side, of Steve's plan for Arabella's interior laid alongside Atkins's fairly general layout he envisioned would fit the needs of most cruisers about a hundred years ago. This conversation between Steve and S...
Pitching the Bilge – Episode 174 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Short run of merchandise available at acorntoarabella.com today: We've got planking offcuts of various sizes, frame offcuts from that closed-up port side of the boat, rejected copper rivets, and challenge coins from @SV Seeker. (Doug's launching in a coupl...
100-Year-Old Mahogany Trim – Episode 175 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
In the past, we've had a look in the garage at the piles, en masse, of the mahogany lumber that came out of Victoria, but this week's video goes through a pretty extensive and specific inventory of what we have to play with for reclaimed wood as we put the...
Bonus: The Satisfying Process of Sealing Wood (ASMR) – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We’ll see you Friday for a regular episode, but we’ve had a lot of requests for less speaking, and for perhaps something with a calm pace. We won’t be changing how we’re documenting progress on Arabella, but we wanted to release a bonus video showi...
The Pleasures of Square Carpentry – Episode 176 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
Buttoning up the forward bulkhead with coats of sealer and varnish makes way for some interior joinery in the forepeak that Steve has plenty of experience producing. Tools that have long sat dormant in the shop are whizzed back into life to create square m...
Installing the Forward Berth – Episode 177 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
This video ends with Carolyn's excitement to sit on the frame she built for one of the saloon setees and we'll get a glimpse of Steve laying down on his future berth thanks to all the work shown in this week's episode. A water tank will go inside the spa...
Fitting the Saloon / Salon Berth – Episode 178 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
For visitor information and to watch the video Ben mentions in the intro, visit this page: https://www.acorntoarabella.com/visitor-welcome We say saloon, some say salon... we say lapstrake, some say clinker... we're not calling the whole thing off. Boat t...
What to Expect When Visiting Acorn to Arabella
We're glad you're stopping by! Please follow all the signs, and very importantly, please approach quietly, silence your phone (including camera noises) and don't disturb work if Steve or other crew are focused and unable to visit with you. To see all the g...
Vacation Adventures and Visiting Norna – Episode 179 – Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
We covered a general plan for the interior in a breezy way a few weeks ago in a bonus video (https://youtu.be/RDxneIM3M8c), but now that a few things are in place and the vision came into focus, Carolyn drew a scaled layout plan that is approaching some se...