Working wooden boats are not DEAD.

In Apalachicola Florida, real wooden work boats still exist and are still being built new.
This is for the oystering fishery. Made from mostly pressure treated plywood and lumber from the local hardware/lumber store.
They use things like parts of auto engines for anchors.
Many times when they reach the end of their working life they are allowed to rot back into the ground. That's true recycling.

As I live not far from here, I would like to share some photos I took at a new museum in Eastpoint Florida, on the other side of the bay from Apalach.
This is one of the last places in Florida where the old Florida still exist. See it before it's gone. Buy Oysters.

On with the show.

The following boat was built for the museum, but identical to actual working boats.

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

Inside shots.

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

In The museum. Some models.

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

The older sailing version of the oystering boats no longer used.
A model .

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

From Apalachicola Oystering Boats

Sorry for the glare, but they where in a glass case.

The Museum is the: Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve


http://www.dep.state.fl.us/coastal/sites/apalachicola/

http://nerrs.noaa.gov/Reserve.aspx?ResID=APA

 Working sail is something I think our governments should foster. It would be harder for the fishermen, but restrictions and limits could be lifted, thereby promoting the fishery.
If this where done across the board with all fisheries,
or at least have working sail only zones, this would help the fish population and the fishermen who would fish under sail.
This is actually used in Great Britain in sail only fisheries that are hundreds of years old, and their fishermen earn a living from the sea still today.

http://www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk/fishing.html

The Bends ...... Bending shower curtain track.

So just how do you do it with out it collapsing?
First I borrowed a Harbor Freight bender from a friend of mine to see if I could do it.
Then I had to make a jig to work with the bender. Lastly, test on some scrap ( old piece).
 The Jig build.

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With me so far? The half inch ply was a perfect fit. But if not I would have glued spacers in if needed.

On the bender.

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Ok, so what is the secret ingredient? I actually found it on an Chinese industrial website for industrial benders. Dead simple when you know.
It is a spacer/filler. Made from a piece of scrap plastic/Delrin.

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Insert it in the track. It MUST be a tight fit.

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Now bend it.

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First test on scrap. Then buy some track. I got mine here: http://www.curtain-tracks.com/  My problem was I had to match my current track. If you don't have to do this, then you may want to go a different route.

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More bending.

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Finished piece.

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I hope this helps anyone who needs to bend some track. It's not hard and can be done fairly inexpensively. If you have friend with a bender. I should say that of course this is not the only way to do it. It's just the way I did it.