26 Sep 22:
Felt good to be back in the saddle, finished up Sea Trials for EXCUSE ME. Came back home, cleaned and stored the gear, and left the sandals out to dry. Been a while since we've done that.
25 Sep 22:
Now that we have the French door on the Boat Works we can move along with adding a work deck behind the shed. The work deck will be the same height as the shed floor, so we can roll work pieces outside to cut and sand, or just for nice days. The deck is a floating deck, pier and beam style. The rim joists have been placed and the first joists are in.
Caroline the turtle inspector came by to check things out, we are sure she thinks it is her new spot to hang out.
Once the deck is finished we'll tie Skipper's brick quarterdeck into the side, so she can Skippervise.
25 Sep 22:
An painting depicting the snow-brig ST. JACQUES surfaced recently at auction, without much accompanying information. The ship depicted in the painting is period correct for the time frame that the Skipper's 4th Great Grandfather Pierre Surget was Captain on a snow-brig named ST. JACQUES, so could this be his boat in later years..?
The snow/snau is a specific type of brig, a brig with a 3rd smaller mast to handle a fore-aft gaff or sloop rig. The mast gradually moved forward over the years and eventually the rigging was set off of a cable on the mainmast. Fast and handy, snows would have been the choice of patriot-pirate-privateers.
22 Sep 22:
Capn Jack's jack stand has been pressed into service holding up the tongue of the dolly, this puts the pram level and makes it easier to clean out the bilge.
Follow us for more jack stand tips.
22 Sep 22:
Took our Nutshell Pram EXCUSE ME out for sailing trials, she performed much better than I expected, very responsive and a lot of fun.
Video: https://youtu.be/qwGFwkbUxY0
Skipper Skippervised and took photos, still awaiting medical clearance for high speed sailing.
Sail Trial Notes Video: https://youtu.be/IHmCWQgh868
This trailer/dolly combo has been working out great, parking lot right to the beach.
20 Sep 22:
Hauled EXCUSE ME to the James River for a Float Test and Rowing Sea Trials. She passed both with flying colors. Easy to row and she doesn't need much space to get around. As for towing, the dolly/trailer combo worked out great, a few simple tiedowns and she's ready to roll right down to the beach.
A full review on the Nutshell Pram is being prepared for WoodenBoat's digital publication Small Boats Magazine, and it should be published in the October issue. Once we see which Sea Trial photos they chose we can post more here.
18 Sep 22:
A few tips on installing the rudder hardware for the Nutshell Pram. We used a dowel to find the spot for the lower pintle bracket, leveled with the top of the gerboard plank.
17 Sep 22:
Wandering around our local Picker's Market we spotted beads for sale, vintage Macrame beads, back in the day when they were made of good wood. Skipper did some negotiating and we came home with 1488 beads, not that we counted them or anything. About half of the beads can be used to make parrels, a loop or sliding collar by which a yard or spar is held to a mast in such a way that it may be hoisted or lowered.
Skipper's Drascombe Lugger, which is a high peaked gunter rig, uses parrels on the upper half of the mast and on the bottom section of the main luff. We've replaced several beads over the years, and over the last decade or so good quality beads have been hard to come by.
