Saturday, September 29, 2018

In Case You Missed It - Small Boats Monthly Starts 5th Year

We have been writing boat profiles and gear reviews for Small Boats Monthly, a digital publication of WoodenBoats. Each month there are articles from the Editor Chris Cunningham, 2 Boat Profiles, 2 Reader Built Boats and several gear reviews. There is also a News and Curiosities section, Classifieds and a Calendar. The focus of the site are small boats that can be stored at home and easily towed. SBM also puts out the annual issue of Small Boats, featuring 16-20 boats from previous issues.


Monthly subscriptions are $2.99 and yearly $29.99. Your subscription to Small Boats Monthly will give you complete access to not only our current issue, but also to every issue they’ve published since September 2014.

Here is the list of articles that the Skipper and I have contributed in 2018:
Jan
Penobscot 14

Feb
Drascombe Lugger
Muck boots

March
Flexpoxy

June
Trailer Tires
Dynamic Dollies

August
Insignia Sailcloth
Barry King Mallet


We hope you check out SBM and find all of the articles informative and entertaining, Chris does a great job of putting together each issue.

Cheers
Clark and Skipper

FMI: Small Boats Monthly

Friday, September 28, 2018

Grumman 17 SCOUT 28 Sep 18 Shark Eyes

28 Sep 18:

Worked on the eyeballs and tongue for the Flying Tigers tribute paint paint on SCOUT. Used Kirby Black for the outline and Rustoleum Topside Marine Fire Red for the tongue.



Next we get to figure out the size for the Chinese National roundel.


Log of SCOUT.

Mighty Mini Roller Kit

We do a lot of roll and tip paint jobs and these roller kits from Jamestown Distributors are a great value, currently $5.24 USD. Complete Foam Roller Kit includes 4" roller frame, solvent-resistant plastic tray, two 4" foam covers, and disposable gloves. Just bought 4 of them and some Pettit EZPoxy Blue Ice for CYANE's touchup.



FMI: Mighty Mini Roller Kit

Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES 28 Sep 18 Rudder and Spritsail Rigging

28 Sep 18:

Hauled ST. JACQUES out for a row and sail. The cover is working out nicely, held up for about a year now through a few tropical storms and lots of rain. We have rinsed it off once and it is keeping the inside of the boat clean and dry.


The sail and spars were stored outside the boat for a few days, they rewarded us by creating this beautiful "Bill Knot," a magic creation of unidentifiable origin consisting of the bridle, mainsheet and brailing line.


Some spritsail basics, the mast, sprit, sail and control lines. Peak of the sail is the peak, top forward corner is the throat, the bottom forward corner is the tack and lower aft corner is the clew. The upper spar is the sprit, hoisted up on the mast with a "snotter" line. There is also a thin "brailing line" running up to the top of the mast, around the leech of the sail and back to the top of the mast, it is used to collapse the sail and reduce sail area.


We can also secure the lower part of the sail with a sail tie. Our spritsail is lashed on with a marlin hitch in a permanent position, if we ever to reef it we would just roll up the foot to the reef points and not fiddle with lowering the throat, readjusting snotter etc...We would most likely brail the sail if needed, then maybe remove the sprit and "scandalize" the sail if we needed to reduce sail area fast. WOuldn't be pretty but it would get the sail area reduced.


Top of the sprit and an idea on how tight the brailing line secures the upper part of the sail.


Spritsail brailed and foot furled.


Video tour of the spritsail lines.



Miles rowed 1.5/Total 11.75

In case you missed it, We wrote an article on the Penobscot 14 for the January 2018 issue of Small Boats Monthly. SBM is the digital sister to WoodenBoat, they publish boat profiles, stories on reader built boats and gear reviews every month. Monthly subscriptions are $2.99 and yearly $29.99. Click here for the article.

Log of ST. JACQUES.

Penobscot 14 ST JACQUES 27 Sep 18 Tiller Varnish

27 Sep 18:

Second coat of varnish on the Penobscot 14 tiller, TotalBoat Gleam Marine Varnish Satin, applied with a Fooler chip brush from Jamestown Distributors. And a better look at the new tiller and tiller straps.


Log of ST. JACQUES.





Grumman 17 SCOUT 27 Sep 18 Eyeballs

27 Sep 18:

Put the second coat of Kirby White on the starboard side teeth and painted the white's of Sharknoe's eyeballs.




Log of SCOUT.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Grumman 17 SCOUT 21 Sep 18 Shark's Teeth

21 Sep 18:

Traced the shark's teeth design on SCOUT's port side and transferred it over to starboard.



Outlined the teeth. Brushed on the base coat of Kirby's Marynard Bray Off White, thinned with Penetrol, with a cheapo art brush.


We kept the pattern if anyone needs to put shark's teeth on any of their boats, like GANNETT or NELLIE BELLE.


Port side got second coat of paint.


After we get a second coat on the starboard side we'll add the tongue and a black border.




After we get a second coat on the starboard side we'll add the tongue and a black border.


Log of SCOUT.

Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES 21 Sep 18 Tiller Trials, Day Sail Outfitting

21 Sep 18:

Skipper said I better have a blog post for Webb to read with his evening libation so I thought, how about Sea Trials for the new tiller? The new tiller sits at just the right height, and can be raised to duck under during a tack.






Oarlocks and sockets getting some nice patina, and varnish is holding up well.


We put a little cove and bead detail along the edge of the seat like BARBASHELA had, it tricks the eye to make the seat look a little thinner.



Mast thwart detail, the bolts have wingnuts so it is removable.


Fun clouds today, wind 3-4 knots, high tide with a little river current running out.


When Skipper wants to sheet in a bit more on a broad reach, she throws the sheet over the belaying pin to give it more of an aft angle. This helps keep the foot of the sail flat.


Mess About Mode, we carry a few towels to keep bilge wiped down, a couple of seat cushions and a picnic bag with sailing knives of course.


Dynamic Dolly for beach launch and recovery.




She's getting a little grimy, time for a TILEX wipedown before the Sunbrella cover goes back on.


First coat of varnish on ST. JACQUES' tiller! We used TotalBoat Gleam Marine Varnish Satin, thinned just a bit for better penetration, brushed on with a chip brush. #totalboat


Miles rowed .25/Total 10.25 Thanks a lot Skipper for sailing us all over the place, maybe next time I get to row more. :)

Log of ST. JACQUES.

Grumman Boats

21 Sep 18:

Grumman started making canoes after WWII in Bethpage, NY and expanded production to Marathon, NY in the early 1950s. Here is some of their advertisement.




FMI: Log of SCOUT.

Webb Underway

21 Sep 18:

Our friend Webb Chiles and his Moore 24 GANNETT are underway, running up the Atlantic coast from Hilton Head to Maryland, destination St. Michaels' area for the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival. There will be an interesting log to read in a few days on his blog Self Portrait In The Present Sea.


Webb is on deck to speak at the Mid Atlantic Small Craft Festival, which is hosted by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and runs Oct 6-7.

FMI: MASCF

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Grumman 17 SCOUT 12 Sep 18 Side Paint

12 Sep 18:

TS Gordon come and gone, landfall around Gulfport MS. 6 inches of rain, 35 mph peak wind.


Safe to paint again. Sprayed the sides of SCOUT with Rust-Oleum Anodized Bronze and Sand colors. Feathered the edges. This will be an experiment, not sure how the paint will stick to the aluminum long term.




Used some photos as a reference to free hand the shark's teeth. Painted the first coat with Kirby Paint White.


SCOUT was one of the early Grumman 17s built in Marathon, mid 1950s we're thinking, based on the serial number.


Log of SCOUT.

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Grumman 17 SCOUT 03 Sep 18 Repaint

03 Sep 18:

As a result of playing Boat Tetris in prep for Tropical Storm Gordon, the Canoe Works are now open. Our Grumman 17 double ender SCOUT is going to get a field expedient combat paint job.


SCOUT will get a tribute paint scheme to the American Volunteer Group Flying Tigers, they defended China against the Japanese before the US entered WWII.


I thought I could spot spray a few areas, but there were too many scratches with flaked paint edges and start of corrosion. Sanded scratched paint areas with 120 grit on a randome orbital sander to get rid of sub surface corrosion and give the aluminum some tooth for paint to grab onto.


Taped a waterline for the light gray fuselage bottom.


Transferred waterline to opposite side with our cool cloth tape measure. To make it easy I slid the tape back until an inch or half inch line was centered on the keel, in this case 9 inches, then doubled the number to 18 and marked the opposite line with a small strip of tape. We marked about every foot or so.


Starboard side waterline. Started a long strip of tape, about 4-5 feet and laid a fair curve close to the small tape markers. Found a few math errors and adjusted.


Painted the bottom with Kirby Light Gray cut with 50% White to make Light Light Gray, brushed with a Corona Trim brush. George told me it would have been optimum to brush a coat of primer first but I was too excited. If it comes off I'll redo it or call it battle damage. With the 95F heat index we had I found it best to lay down two brush widths vertical then tip it horizontal, had to work it fast before it got tacky.


Bottom of "fuselage" painted.


Test area to see if I could blend in the Patina Bronze base paint for the side. Liked the clean taped line better. The test area will be painted over with the shark's teeth. As I finished the side the first gust front from TS Gordon blew through, 35 mph gust. Had to move SCOUT into the Carriage House and she bunked with ZIP. Also had to pick a few pine needles off of the tacky paint!


Port bow, worked on the pattern for the shark's teeth.


Log of SCOUT.