The Anatomy of a Cradle

It all started with a phone call (well that's where it started for me, anyway). Tracy called announcing the news that she and Todd were going to be parents! My daughter was having a child, a grandchild and I would be a grandpa sometime near the 15th of May, 2002. 

I was so happy for them. I didn't feel like a grandpa, but maybe I did, seeing as how I have never been one before. So what could I do to commemorate the occasion? What could I give to make the little one (not knowing boy or girl) welcome to such a fine home. Perhaps a cradle! Yeah, but it had to be different. Not the same old 'rock a bye baby' kind of cradle. A boat cradle! It would be like building a boat, only in miniature.

I found a book, "The Expectant Fathers Cradle Book" at Wooden Boat Magazines website, and it was perfect...The Bahama Dinghy. 

First I had to build the strongback. It is the foundation of the mold over which the cradle would be built. It is basically a box with cross stations to attach the station molds. Then came the time to cut the first mold. These molds were cut from 1/2 inch plywood and then set against the stations on the strongback.

Once all the molds were set on the strongback, along with the stem (front on the boat) and transom (back of the boat), it was time to begin the strippin'. Consisting mostly of pine and a few strips of red cedar, the hull of the cradle is made of 1/4 inch thick by 1/2 inch wide wood strips. These are then glued on edge and  stapled to the forms and nailed to the transom and stem, carefully trimming the bow section. Additional strips are added over time until the entire hull is formed. The wood strips are soaked in water in order to get them to contort and take the form of the hull. This takes some work to accomplish.

When the glue dried, it was time to start the long task of sanding the hull. It's dusty and dirty, but somebody has to do it. Once the sanding is completed the hull was ready for the fiberglass. This is 6 oz fiberglass an was be wetted down with West Systems epoxy resin. The fiberglass cloth was not wide enough to cover the length of the cradle, so I had to put a seam in the cloth. Just a little tricky. After wetting down the entire outer hull, the cradle was left to setup. You probably haven't noticed, but I paneled the shop during this building process, and built the workbench.

After the epoxy was left to set, it was time to lift the cradle from the mold and begin on the inside.  The inside was a bit trickier to work with due to the concave shape of the hull. It had to be sanded smooth like the outside. Once sanding the inside was complete, a finish coat of epoxy (without the cloth) would do the trick. A floor would be placed on the inside to support the baby,  Adding the gunnels (strips around the top sides of the cradle),  breasthook , knees and keel pretty much finished off the boat part of the cradle.

Next was adding the rockers. It just so happens that I got two new tools during the period of this project. Joy got me a 13" power planer for Christmas. That was great for planning the thickness of the strips, rockers, knees and breasthook. The other tool was a platform sander-shaper. Perfect for getting the smooth shape of the rockers.

Cutting the shape of the hull into the rockers was a piece of work, and then fitting them was sometimes a two person job. Once the rockers were fitted, a little rope trim was added, and the job was finished. Just in time, by the way. It was finished 5 days before we got the call, Andrew Paul (Drew) had arrived!

Drew in the cradle