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Adventures in Centerboard Design 3 – Prior Art

Don Scott’s centerboard trunk, with removable rowing seat.

 

(to start of project)

On a project like this it’s always good to see what other people have done before starting something new, especially when it’s an element crucial to the handling of the boat. Sources can be hard to find, though, and when you do there’s usually very little evidence to help you follow how they got from A to B. This is particularly true of the centerboards as, in many cases, builders start out with daggerboards they replace months later, long after interest in documenting the project has waned. Over time, though, I’ve collected some examples of the different designs I found while researching my own. Continue reading “Adventures in Centerboard Design 3 – Prior Art”

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Visual Interlude

South, down under

 

(to start of project)

Lovely T says all these words are well and good, but she misses seeing pictures, especially of the boats, which is what all this is about. I don’t usually do requests, but she’s actually right, it has been a long time, and she is the First Mate, after all. So here ya go. Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week. Continue reading “Visual Interlude”

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Adventures in Centerboard Design 2 – Virtues of the Daggerboard

Original Daggerboard Plan

 

(to start of project)

The Melonseeds of the 1880’s had daggerboards, as have most built since. Above is the original Chappelle plan drawing shown in black lines. A couple of things are striking about the original. First is the unusual crescent shape. It’s unusual enough that I had never seen one done like that before, and the reason for this shape is both interesting and ingenious. Continue reading “Adventures in Centerboard Design 2 – Virtues of the Daggerboard”

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Adventures in Centerboard Design 1 – Fluid Dynamics

Fog above, Water below, Boats between

(to start of project)

 Random Thought #842:

Air and Water are both fluids – just of very different densities. There’s some limited mixing – clouds, fog, rain, foam – but gravity eventually separates them again, like oil and vinegar.

Ergo: Continue reading “Adventures in Centerboard Design 1 – Fluid Dynamics”

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Morning Commute

Black Angus, Morning Fog, Scottsville

 

It’s a 45 minute drive to work and back every day from Scottsville to Gordonsville. There are three or four different routes, but all go through rural farmland and take about the same time. Beats sitting in traffic. These are all shots from that drive, mostly from a single day.

Continue reading “Morning Commute”

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More Scottsville

Maple Grove, Scottsville

 

 

Some in the yard, and Route 6, Irish Road, just west of town. Route 6 runs all the way up into the mountains, through the Rockfish Valley, then up and through Rockfish Gap. On the way, it winds through apple orchards, along streams, past log cabins in quiet coves, lots of farmland and forests and a few small crossroad villages. Continue reading “More Scottsville”

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Rockfish River

Rockfish River above Schuyler

 

 

Rockfish Gap has been a natural gateway through the mountains for thousands of years, Once travelled by Indians and wildlife along a footpath from the coastal plain to the Ohio Valley, today a highway, four roads, two railroad lines, and the Appalachian Trail all converge on this spot. Black Bears still follow the route as they move from one valley to another, lumbering along on the shoulder of the road like pedestrians. The Blue Ridge Parkway begins here, heading south, as does Skyline Drive, going north. From the crest of the ridge there’s a view that stretches for 20 miles down the Rockfish Valley, and it’s one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen. As many times as I pass through there, my heart still hurts when I see it. The Gap and the Valley both are named for the Rockfish River that winds below, and it’s astonishing to think the entire view was created by that little stream, small enough to throw a stone across. Continue reading “Rockfish River”