New Old Paddle

 03 Sep 23:

I found an old paddle in a junk shop last year, and planned to repair it. After tripping over it for a year we decided it was too long and that we could cut it down to a shorter length, trim the blade to a Greenland shape and make it a paddle suitable for a wee lass and/or Sunfish cockpit.

The shaft is about an inch wide so I cut a 12 inch long diagonal scarf in two spots, to remove some of the length.

Next I marked the centerline of the blade, with plans to trim off one edge to match the narrowers side. I'll also cut off the damaged end of the blade. 

23 Apr 24:

Finished!

One Million Views

14 Apr 24:

We started our blog in January 2013 with a purpose "...to share information on small boat restoration, sailing and maintenance." This is our vehicle to pay forward what others have shared with us. A little over 2000 posts later we passed the One Million Views mark! 

Views started to rise during the pandemic, and took a big jump in 2023.

It has been fun to have viewers from around the globe, and although a good number of them are bots, many are real human beings who have reached out to us to exchange knowledge. We've been happy to help with technical knowledge on boat builds in South America and Africa. And we even met a fan in our local grocery store parking lot..."Oh, you're the Small Boat Restoration people!" 

We do indeed reply to comments, so if you have questions or suggestions, drop us a note in the Comments section. 

Global view locations, well, internet server locations anyway.

We've also enjoyed seeing friends check in, one in particular we followed around the globe, a little red dot by Durban a few years back brought a smile to our face.

And we like getting visits from our friends down on the Gulf Coast.

So thanks for tuning in. Keep an eye out for exciting changes coming in 2025, "Clark" Kent (me) will be retiring from a 25 year Air Line career, and be freed up to play with more boats. Skipper and I hope to expand our hobby adventure a bit into a small, fun business, offering more Small Boat Owners Manuals, plans, patterns and build guides. We also plan to build more boats, on speculation or commission. And Skipper will be creating pirate clothes under her brand "Pirating About." If you need a pirate coat, she's the best tailor out there!*

Give us a shout,

"Clark" Kent and "Skipper" Audrey

*Everyone needs a pirate coat...

Paint Removal Continues - Abaco Dinghy HENNING

13 Apr 24:

The first photo is of our shop's light switch. The switch has a motion sensor on/off option, which can be fine tuned to function any time of day or only when it is dark. There is a sensitivity switch and also a vacancy timer which will turn off the lights as soon as we stop moving around, or after 1, 5 or 30 minutes. 

I thought a motion detector light switch would be handy for when I had my hands full entering the shop, and to turn lights off for a while if we leave the shop and get pressed into service on some other project. The switch has been a very welcome addition.

Fine day today despite the high winds. We found a semi sheltered spot on the driveway and removed some more paint from our Abaco Dinghy HENNING. The finishing dolly has been handy in many ways, toting around different project boats and also serving as a mobile workbench base. And the shop vac/dust separator/furniture dolly rig is easy to roll around to wherever the project wanders. Speaking of rolling, we have always found it handy to have at least some decking around a shop(s) that is flat and the same level as the shop floor, so that we can do exactly what the photo above shows, which is to roll boats or saws outside when we are making sawdust, or just to be outside on a nice day and not be working on uneven dirt or mud. Leaving the shop also creates space for more folks to play with the boat, today Skipper ran a scraper and sander while I heat gunned.

Two of the tools we are using for paint removal, heat gun for the first pass then sanding. The blue Kobalt heat gun is set to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit and highest fan speed, we hold it about 4-6 inches from the surface and count to 12, watching for a section of paint to lift or bubble. When we see the paint begin to lift, we remove the heat and use a scraper to scrape the paint, taking care not to gouge the wood. We let the scraped paint cool for a bit then vacuum it into the Dust Deputy cyclonic separator, powered by a ShopVac 4 gallon vacuum with HEPA filter. We have several size scrapers to get into different areas, and a pick awl.

The yellow  and black DeWALT oscillating multi tool with triangle sander head can get into a lot of corners and underneath boat bits like the risers shown in the photo. Risers are pieces that are used to hold up seats, thwarts or floorboards. The triangle sander head can be positioned to the left or right 90 degrees to get into right angle areas, hand for sanding the back sides of frames in spots where the hull has a tight curve.

Golden Hour lighting, back inside the Boat Works to rest up for the next adventure.

Log of HENNING.

HEUER GARAGE EAST

12 Apr 24:

The spots where we put our LEWIS BOAT WORKS and HEUER GARAGE EAST sheds started off as a muddy clay spot, too shady to grow much grass. Over the last few days we added a small deck to the back end of the HEUER GARAGE EAST, and a walkway between the two sheds. 

Skipper is slowly assembling her gardening center. And maybe I'll get motivated to finish framing the vent window we added to the shed in 2023. Right now I'm busy resisting the urge to add and unneeded and expensive door.

Log of the Carriage Houses/Boat Works/Heuer Garage.

Abaco Dinghy HENNING Paint Removal Continues

11 Apr 24:

We scraped and sanded 3 more frame sections and the inner port transom of HENING, the little Abaco dinghy. Next we'll roll the boat to starboard and work on that side. We're also working on a bronze order to replace some tired fittings. They screw eye on the quarter knee snapped loose in my hand when I went to remove the nut.

We're not sure what the bolt mid transom was for, possibly a lifting eye or maybe just a fastener for the knee inside.

Lots of fun working in all the nooks and crannies.

 Log of HENNING.

Small Bench

10 Apr 24:

We made a small bench out of cedar, set at about 18 inches for a good sitting height. It will be used in a shower, the cedar should smell great with a little hot water splashed on it.

I laid out the templates...for the shop stool...To make a bench I needed taller legs, which I remembered when I got to the assembly stage of construction.

Still haven't recognized the short legs...

To make bench height legs, I use the stool leg template to get the legs' top and bottom widths, then a straightedge to draw the sides. All the other pieces remain the same. We fastened the pieces together with silicon bronze Frearson head screws.

Gardner Boat Shop Stool. Plans available, $20 USD, email us at lewis.kent at gmail

Parting Out A Sunfish Hull

31 Mar 24:

This 1964 Sunfish hull ended up having not only a soft deck but also the hull is cracked all around the edge of the cockpit. Add in a few other leak areas and the fiberglass is beyond economic repair. So today we removed the hardware, trim, coaming and bailer to be used on other restorations. 

Video: Parting Out A Sunfish Hull

The coaming is held on by stainless machine screws that screw into aluminum rivet nuts. If the stainless screws are not removed periodically, they become permanently bonded with the rivnut. Out of 13 screws, only one came loose.

 

Land Yaahting

30 Mar 24:

The Granddaughter likes to go yaahting in our forest while we wait for the water to warm up. We figured out yesterday that the tractor makes a good tow vehicle.

We get serenaded with "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" so it's all worth it.

Boat Yard and Sunfish Shack

18 Mar 24:

The Boat Yard, Park and Sunfish Shack are ready for the 2024 season. It's taken a few projects to get to this point!

Bronze For Sale

15 Mar 24: 

Bought some Alcort Sunfish bronze made by Wilcox Crittenden, we needed the boom block, thumb nut and deck drains. The rest is available for purchase, including the nice Schaefer blocks. 

Contact lewis dot kent at gmail if you need some Sunfish parts.

Quarter Deck

18 Mar 24:

Our little quarterdeck has been a popular place to enjoy the back yard park and playset. We can roll boats all the way through from the driveway or bring them around from the side. A meandering rock river may run under the bridge soon...

TETRIS

17 Mar 24:

Well the Mustang came back from the shop faster than we thought, so the Catfish SMEDLEY moved back out to the Wheel Deck hoist. It is warm enough to do fiberglass work outside now, and we have more yard time scheduled.

Skipper did the tractor honors.

Shop Stool Patterns For Sale

05 Mar 24: 

Shop stool paper patterns are for sale, taken directly from our time tested templates. $30 USD gets a set of full size paper patterns with assembly instructions to your door. 

To order a set, send us an email at lewis dot kent at gmail. Paypal or check.

Four-Oared Gig AMERICAN STAR Plans from Mystic Seaport

11 Mar 24:

AMERICAN STAR is a 27' 3" Four-Oared Gig built in 1820 by the Chambers Brothers of Brooklyn in the "Whitehall" style, as in Whitehall Street of lower Manhattan. We ordered plans from Mystic Seaport that were developed from lines taken off the original boat, which is located outside of Paris at the estate of General Lafayette.  

AMERICAN STAR was given to the Marquis in 1825 as he finished his victory tour of the the young United States..all 24 of them.

New To Us Shaw & Tenney Flat Blade Oars

05 Mar 24:

Found some gently used Shaw & Tenney flat blade oars, 7 1/2 footers with nice leathers. Will they fit on the Abaco Dinghy HENNING. We'll find out and report back.

Fair Wind Fasteners

 05 Mar 24:

We get our silicon bronze from Fair Wind Fasteners, they ship small quantities and they ship fast. real fast. Great customer service, real people who answer emails and phone calls and have actually used their products. Here's part of what they have to say about the customer oriented business: 

"We're not the cheapest, but we do provide the best. I've travelled around the globe and received numerous fastener samples from manufacturers and have chosen only the best to be carried here at Fair Wind. At this point in time the marine industry has welcomed us with open arms, and we now supply not only high quality silicon bronze fasteners, but have expanded in to copper and 316 Stainless Steel fasteners in order to serve a larger portion of the marine market. We're regularly supplying boatbuilding companies, boatbuilding colleges, and factory OEMs with quality marine fasteners, but will always give the same attention and service to a DIYer, because that's how we started!"

We're one of those DIYers they mention, and our little Nutshell Pram Excuse me is Fair Wind Fastener-ed.

FMI: Fair Wind Fasteners