I should be putting out Tech Tip Tuesday...

I was going to blog about some thoughts I've been having on building a steam box to be able to bend kayak coamings and canoe ribs, but I'm playing hooky tonight. You'll still get to read my thoughts - it will just be next week.

Actually I was feeding my brain. This evening, our local Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) has a NOVA program called Building Pharaoh's Ship. It was a fantastic show about a group of archeologists who were re-creating a traditional wooden sea-faring ship based on ancient murals and other archeological evidence found at Mersa Gawasis in Egypt. Queen Hatshepsut launched ships to travel down the Red Sea to a place known as Punt to trade for luxury goods.

The facinating thing about this boat is the construction method that they used. It was completely different from modern boat building in that there are no ribs in the boat. The boat has a keel and is constructed of planks that are carved to the shape of the hull. These planks are tightly fitted and joined using mortise and tenon joinery.

PBS has quite a few of the NOVA programs available for viewing online here. Hopefully this will be available online for viewing soon!