Posted on

Quintessence of Serendipity

The schooner “Quintessence” in the foreground during
the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race in 2007

 

Winds are fluky. No wind. Some wind. Takes you one direction, then another. Never know where you’ll end up. Sometimes it can be a very pleasant surprise.

A few weeks ago an email landed in my inbox from a Traditional Small Craft group I belong to. Someone needed a few more hands to help crew a schooner down from New Jersey and back. Sounded interesting, and it appears I have some free time on my hands at the moment. Hmmm.

Continue reading “Quintessence of Serendipity”

Posted on

Topside Varnish

 

Doug helped me flip the boats while he was here so he could see them right side up. That gave me access to all the parts that still needed a last coat of varnish (this year).

The Decks and Coamings now have three coats, the Rails have two. I also got two coats on the Tillers and, finally, two coats on the Hatch Covers. Now they match the Decks, and for the first time you can see how the finished topsides will look with all matching woods and colors. Very nice, I think.

Working strenuously on the hardware now. More on that soon.

Continue reading “Topside Varnish”

Posted on

Notable Boats: Odin

 

image

Mike with Odin, circa 1985 

 

When you spend long days in the shop, on tasks that don’t require much thought, your mind tends to wander. Since I’m working on boats, that’s where my mind goes, and I often take long mental journeys in boats from the past. Something happened earlier this year that reminded me of the second boat I could actually call my own, and I’ve been thinking of it a lot lately. The first boat was great, too, but it’s the second one that’s really been on my mind lately. Like the first boat, this one I shared with a friend, and that contributed a great deal to all the memories connected with it. Continue reading “Notable Boats: Odin”

Posted on

Painting: Final Coat

 

 

Got the final coat on both creatures last night after dinner, so that’s done, and the house can finally start airing out. The fumes are rather heady, to say the least.

Within a few hours, the fresh paint was firm enough to remove all that attractive blue tape. I was anxious to do that, curious to see how the natural wood accents would interact with the colors. Very nice, i think. Should be even better once rails, stems and transoms have been cleaned up and varnished – at the moment they’re dusty and only have a seal coat of epoxy.
Continue reading “Painting: Final Coat”

Posted on

Large Image Detail

 

A large image, shows detail before the fairing and painting. Pretty rough.


melonseed skiff, mellonseed skiff, melon seed, mellon seed

Posted on

Playing Hookie

Things that make you say “ahhhh.” 

 

(to start of project)

Last weekend we got 8 inches of snow, with temps in the single digits.

This weekend we got sunny, breezy, and 80 degrees.

We went from snow boots to sandals in three days.

Continue reading “Playing Hookie”

Posted on

Keel Planks

Shaping the Keel Plank

 

(to start of project)

Gluing up Ash strips for the keels worked really well. Left off the last two strips so the whole blank would fit through the planer, which evened everything out, then planed the remaining strips to the same thickness and glued them on.

Continue reading “Keel Planks”