30 May 23:
The Sunfish daggerboard should have a retaining line, so in the event of a capsize the board does not float away. Very important, as the board is used as a lever to right the boat.
The old wooden boards had a 1/4 inch diameter hole drilled in the cleat to attach a thin line, and many of the holes are nowadays filled with dirt.
29 May 23:
Dug out some Sunfish daggerboards to ship down to North Carolina. The boards on the left were used 1960-1971, called the Spoon Tip. The boards on the right showed up in the late 80s, designed by the barrington Frostbiters and called the Barrington board.
29 May 23:
Technically we are building a 16 x 16 shed, next to our first 16 x 16 shed, Our canoe SCOUT will have a spot in between.
29 May 23:
We rig our Sunfish like Alcort did back in the day, with the boom high, so we geezers don't have to duck as much :)
22 May 23:
We posted a few weeks back about the Nansemond riverfront mural in downtown Suffolk, VA, on the wall of Major Signs, but part of the lot was overgrown. The owner sent out the landscapers to trim back overgrown bushes so we could get a photo of the entire wall. Very kind of him to do so!
FMI: Smithfield Seaport
21 May 23:
SCOUT is filthy, so we moved him over next to the work deck for a bath. That opened up space for us to lay out the piers and beams for his new canoe cubby, aka the SCOUT Shack. While it is a bit of overkill, we use ground contact rated pressure treated lumber for the construction.
20 May 23:
Of the many things we needed to rebuild after our move, the Sunfish Shack was one of them. If you've hung around long enough you know that we like a roof over the boats to keep flotsam and jetsam off of them, and a deck to keep trailers out of the mud. We built the first 16 x 16 section of Shack in 2021, and we'll be adding on a 5 foot wide canoe cubby for SCOUT, aka the SCOUT SHACK, and then another 16 x 16 shack for the Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES, Nutshell Pram EXCUSE ME and Catfish SMEDLEY.
Work began today to lay out and level the pavers that support posts and beams. This is the most time consuming and dirt-y part of the job. SCOUT supervised.
18 May 23:
I can't say that we've ever had a boat trailer roll away, maybe because we keep them chocked, a habit transfer from our airplane activities. We like to make the chocks from scrap 2x4 and line, then paint them with leftover paint, usually a high visibility color. The chocks for ST. JACQUES got freshened up.
18 May 23:
WALDO the little shop stool was sighted today, helping out with some trailer light work. We continue to be amazed at how handy, or footy, this little stool is.
18 May 23:
We had a kind family offer up their collection of WoodenBoat Magazine, dating back to the first issue in 1974. We checked with the Mariners Museum in Newport News to see if they wanted them for their collection, they do, and will be able to fill in any gaps of missing issues, and trade out for issues that are in better shape. These magazines are pristine, some even still have the protective shipping covers. We paid for shipping to get them to Virginia, and now we'll sort them into containers of about 40 magazines each and then have a fun trip over to add them to the pile. The Museum has a special way to bind 10 or so issues together, which will prevent damage to the collection long term.
20 May 23 Update:
The finished product. The hitch is very heavy steel with nice powder coating. There are 3 pins with cotter keys that can be set in 6 different holes, plus the hitch ball bar has its own hitch pin, offering several different ball heights. All we need to do now is measure the ball height of all 7 trailers and find out which holes would work best. There is also an attachment tab at the bottom for the garden cart.
Will this work on your mower? We know it works on a 2020 John Deere E130. The big question is can you reach up inside the mower frame with a wrench to tighten the brace arm brackets. Those brackets are important, they help distribute the tongue weight, which would otherwise easily bend the frame flange at the bottom. Our max tongue weight on our trailers is around 90 pounds.
04 May 23:
Skipper got a new adjustable hitch for her John Deere E130 named WILEY. We tried a hitch on the front bumper for a bit but found that we preferred a rear hitch. The thin metal on the rear hitch would bend under a small boat trailer tongue load, so we found the ECOTRIC Heavy Duty Steel Adjustable Lawn Mower Trailer Towing Hitch on Amazon that seemed like it would work.
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| (Image: Amazon) |
Skipper tested out the hitch on the work dolly first, the hitch worked great!
Hitch Video: https://youtu.be/Wgkxc24QHbY
We'll get a close up of the installed hitch as soon as I can get Skipper off of the tractor, she had to do some donuts on the driveway first.
24 May 23:
We tied the new top plates into the old section, cutting a nice ogee to nest into the old section.
14 May 23:
If you have posts, you can make a simple kayak rack with 2x4 lumber. Pressure treated is best, with a decorative ogee cut on the end. Fastened with exterior grade deck screws.
23 May 23:
We used a heat gun set on low and a razor blade to remove the old vinyl letters on ANNA's bow. The gelcoat underneath the old letters was protected from UV and is in better shape, the exposed gelcoat has absorbed dirt as well. We sanded with 220 grit on a DeWALT 20 cordless random orbital sander to see if we could remove a thin layer of sunburnt gelcoat and get a better match. No can do good buddy, we got close in a few areas but we could see where the good gelcoat was beginning to thin out and we'd be sanding into the good fiberglass underneath if we continued. Perhaps we'll try TILEX on the brown spots...
Speaking of ADHD, or ADHA (Attribute) as we call it, let's expand the Sunfish Shack! More on that in the next post.
14 May 23:
It's not all boats for us, we took a trip over to Portsmouth VA to visit the Railroad Museum of Virginia. As best we can tell the Museum formed up around 2012 based on the efforts of a coalition of local State, City and Community leaders. Fast forward to 2023, post pandemic, and the status of the Museum is unclear at this time. We arrived on a day that the Museum was closed, but reports from other sources indicate the the Museum has not been open even on its advertised days of Friday and Saturday. The good news is that the gates were locked and the grounds are maintained, a few signs of activity, as opposed to our visit in 2022.
From the website:
Mission Statement: The mission of the Railroad Museum of Virginia, located at Court Street and Wythe Street, next to Olde Towne Portsmouth and the Path of History, is to collect and make available to the public for viewing, the exhibits and artifacts from the history of railroads and their people as a very important part of Virginia and America's history. The Museum will be used for the enjoyment and education of the people of Virginia of all ages
Funds were solicited at one time by the Railroad Museum in order to complete the interior restoration and to set up artifacts and exhibits for display in the railroad cars. The Railroad Museum has previously sought and received funds from the General Assembly of Virginia, Beazley Foundation, TowneBank, and others, and the City of Portsmouth has given the tracks and land on which the Museum is located, all of which has been very helpful. We are seeking to raise the additional funds needed for interior work, and other improvements.
Past: Almost 200 hundred years ago, Portsmouth was already establishing itself as a forerunner in railroading. The Portsmouth and Roanoke Railroad Company in 1832 established a railroad in Portsmouth which remained here under various ownerships and forms, operating, at one time, as Seaboard Railroad Company, It operated a large railroad business out of Portsmouth, including shops with numerous employees, and later Seaboard Railroad established its headquarters at the foot of High Street where some 500 or more employees worked. From horse drawn trains to the giants of today's railroading, there has been growth and improvement in the efficiency of the industry, The powers in Washington, DC and across the nation realized the potential and took a chance on investing their fortunes developing railroads, and in Virginia, this included Atlantic Coastline, Southern, Seaboard, Norfolk and Western, C&O, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Norfolk Portsmouth Beltline, and others, This tremendous growth did not just happen in Virginia, but spread throughout the country. It has been said that the power of railroad titans grew to the point they appeared to have as much influence on the Country as the Presidents. This is an illustrious history that has often been lost in. efforts to continue to grow without regard to the past. The Railroad Museum of Virginia was established to assure that this history is not forgotten.
Present: Those who have been involved for a number of years in this ongoing effort and served on the Board of Directors, the Advisory Board, Honorary and Ex-Officio positions, have supported this effort and played a major part in bringing the Museum to this opening event. This will not be just a celebration, but also a recognition of the efforts and determination involved to complete this project successfully. Without your assistance and support, it could not have happened, this invitation recognizes that support and extends to you appreciation from the Railroad Museum of Virginia.
Future: Among our exhibits you will find a collection of 25 photographs of locomotives that were collected and will be hung in the Museum, and just as other artifacts, will be rotated from time to time. We have collected railroad watches used by railroaders at a time when locomotive engineers were required to carry regularly tested time pieces to ensure their accuracy. In the Museum you will also see rail dog hand tools; Nolan buggy; whistle board and post; badges worn by railroad police; locomotive bell; several antique brakeman's lanterns; antique railroad locks; high switch target; rail handler; track wrench; metal blue flag; tamping bars; cross bucks; switch stand; caboose stove; railroad spikes; timetables; antique oil can; spike prier bar; switch stand parts; rerailers; rail tongs; and many other interesting items of the past.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Willard J. Moody, Sr., President C.Raeford Eure, Vice President Herman W. Bates, Secretary Kenneth R. Kwedar, Treasurer and Finance Director Donald N. Burnett James D. Curtin Jackie W. Dunn Edward C. Harris Mary Kelly Brian Mitchell Willard J Moody, Jr., Esquire Paul G. Moody, Esquire Richard M. Turner
Reference: http://www.railroadmuseumofvirginia.com/index.html
Log of the Railroad Museum of Virginia
Any comments or information updates would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Kent and the crew
