Marking out the gunports: in inches it works

Today I marked out the gunports on the starboard side. In the end I measured them at 1.2 inches. First I tried 30 mm, which went completely wrong at bulkhead 5. Then, following Piet’s tip, 31 mm, and that too turned out to be just short. Then I tried 1.2 inches and that did work.

Quite hilarious, because 1.2 inches is 30.48 mm. Apparently my eyes aren’t good enough to read off that one millimetre; in inches, apparently, they are. Here and there I still cheated by half a millimetre, but I don’t think you can see it. Judge for yourself.

And with that the first year of building is over. On 11 March the keel was up, then came the bulkheads, the stern frames (twice), the false deck as practice, the gun deck, the inner bulwark, the upper deck and the balsa filler blocks. With the necessary breaks, because the garden and work came first. Cutting out the ports is for the new year. The “finished before I’m fifty” plan still stands, though I’m beginning to suspect I’ll need that margin.