Alcort 14' Sailfish For Christmas

 09 Nov 23:

You did remember to order your Alcort 14' Sailfish for Christmas, didn't you? 

Calendar Update - The Catboat Rally

28 Nov 23:

April

25-27 The Catboat Rally

Beaufort, SC

Small Boat Calendar

Messing About with Murray: Two Bows

27 Nov 23:

We hear amazing scuttlebutt from our friend Murray, he's been a few places during his family travels and manages to take a camera with him. Recently he asked if he'd told us about the "two bow" boats, and here is his story, led off with a note about "two transoms."

From Murray:

The Two Bow boats of the Grenadines, West Indies

Is Excusez-Moi a Two Transom? Is it easier to build a boat with two transoms? Or with two bows?

What did we do before plywood?

Were the Two Bows descended from whale boats seen on the whaling ships visiting the Grenadine

Islands for provisions and crew?

Were the British Royal Navy Whalers, used for training sailors, adopted from the American whale boats?

And why were whalers double enders (or “Two Bows”? Did the poor whales sometimes pull whale

boats backwards?

https://doryshop.com/stories/2021/08/31/calanova,-no-monkey-and-iron-duke/

These 27 ft ketch rigged whalers were a common sight in Plymouth, UK, sailed and rowed by Navy

recruits and Sea Scouts after WWII.

I first saw the Two Bows in Grenada, West Indies in 1974. They were small fishing boats for one or two

people. What interested me was that they were using square sails, supported by two vertical spars

which were supported by the rowlock sockets, I think. Sail shape was adjusted by moving the masts into

different sockets along the gunwhale. Looked like they could sail on a beam wind or downwind. Not

sure they could sail to windward, though they did have deep garboard strakes for lateral resistance.

We thank Murray for sharing, and if you have a Sea Story to share, drop us a line at lewis.kent gmail

Cheers

Clark and Skipper

Calendar Update

December 2023

2-3 Open House Lowell's Boat Shop

Lowell's Boat Shop & Museum (Since 1793)

Amesbury, MA

Post your events in the Comments to add to the 2023-2024 CALENDAR

Bahamas Dinghy HENNING Mast Repair

17 Nov 23:

HENNING came with two masts, the original mast is split along a scarf line right around where the boom jaws would sit. There is also a bit of rot there, most likely from corrosion where an old fitting would have been, a downhaul cleat possibly. The wood appears to be fir, based on what we see, the weight and what was commonly used. The scarf shows no remnants of glue, it probably soaked into the wood and dried up decades ago. Whether there is a "There I Was" Sea Story to go along with the split, we don't know, but we'll make one up as the restoration progresses. 

Skipper's fleet of Gorilla Carts were called into action to act as mobile workstations, which meant I needed to air up some tires, which meant one tire's dry-rotted valve stem gave up the ghost, which meant I had to find the spare, which meant that the spare hub didn't fit the axle for some odd reason, which meant a spare needed to be ordered, which meant order two in case they are a little different size, which meant scratching my head as to why Gorilla Carts don't sell their own tires on their website, which meant crossing fingers to hope the ordered parts would fit...Spoiler Alert...The spare fit.

We used TotalBoat THIXO PRO thickened epoxy adhesive to reglue the mast. PRO refers to the larger two tube system of THIXO, industry pros who use a LOT of adhesive can save some money and time by buying THIXO in this configuration and using the special High Thrust caulk gun to dispense the thickened resin and hardener. Single tubes are available that fit regular size caulk guns, but if you go that route be sure to buy a High Thrust 25:1 ratio or similar gun vs the basic level 7:1 cheapo gun.

To get THIXO into the small crack at the end of the scarf, we squirt some THIXO into a small plastic syringe, sold by folks like TotalBoat or West System, and use the syringe to inject epoxy as far into the void as we can. Then we hope that light clamping pressure distributes the adhesive throughout the joint.  Only light clamping is needed, just enough to see "squeezeout" along the joint line, to ensure the joint is filled. And when clamping raw or dry wood, avoid the urge to wipe off excess, as the wood will soak some of that epoxy back into the joint. 

The split scarf was about two feet long, but we added a clamp every foot or so to hold the mast level along the forward face. We used all of our Jorgensen clamps, which are named for family and friends. Richard, Webb, Doug, Alan, Murray and Hazlewood are friends who are exceptional Mariners, as well as serial boatbuilders, serial circumnavigators and serial sea story tellers. Hazelwood was Capn Jack's friend, he helped Capn Jack build his first sailboat in the 1960s, a 16 foot Petrel. Skipper watched, fascinated by the thin shavings that curled off of Hazlewood's plane and the thin wisp of smoke from his cigarillo. Skipper was then pressed into service puttying all of the screw holes with her little fingers, peeling off a layer of skin or two in the process. Unfortunately the fingerprints grew back, spoiling her potential career as a bank robber. 

Video: Mast Repair and Clamps

Log of HENNING.

Dust Collection

 05 Nov 23:

Our setup for dust collection is a Dust Deputy cyclonic separator hooked to a ShopVac with a HEPA filter. Dust and debris collects in the Dust Deputy bucket, while the ShopVac bin stays very clean. 

The Vac and Dust Deputy are bolted together, and then we put them on a  Milwaukee furniture dolly for mobility around the shop.

Patent Swivel Oarlock

 01 Nov 23:

HENNING has some interesting patent swivel oarlocks. First ones we've seen in person. Well, half or the mechanism anyway. The oars and top part of the oarlocks are missing in action. We also learned the proper salty pronunciation for row-lock is "rollock." We like it.

The stern also has an rollock fitting, or maybe it's called a scullock.

Log of HENNING.

Side Project - Shelf

17 Nov 23:

Today's side project was to knock together a display shelf. We used select pine and silicon bronze fasteners from our stock of boatbuilder's supply. The frames were cut using a pattern from the 1880s Mississippi River Skiff BARBASHELA's frames using a DeWALT 20V jigsaw. The we ripped the shelf and shelf cleat with the DeWALT portable table saw. 

Edges were eased with a 1/4 inch roundover bit on a DeWalt Compact Trim Router, and screw holes countersunk and piloted with Fuller bits. DeWALT 20V drills ran the bit and set the Frearson head screws. 

The shelf is off to the paint booth.

Bahamas Dinghy HENNING Fasteners and Coating Removal

16 Nov 23:

As we work on removing old coatings from HENNING, we are taking off a few bits to ease access to tight areas. On some pieces like the forward thwart we are finding matching fasteners in good shape, and in others the fasteners are worn and mismatched. Some of the fasteners are coming out easily, like the ones below, and some won't budge at all. 

We are wearing eye, skin, respiratory (N100 mask) and hearing protection as well as capturing dust with our Dust Deputy cyclonic separator and ShopVac with HEPA filter. We've found the cleanest approach involves encapsulating old coatings in stripper gel, then scraping small remnants of paint before we get to sanding the wood.

Forward thwart with the mast collar in the background.

Log of HENING.

Wooded

15 Nov 23:

I learned a term years ago, "wooded, which referred to a level of coating removal. Sometimes on a wooden boat we can sand or scrape a little bit of an old coating of varnish or paint, to fair the coating smooth enough for a fresh coat. We had hoped that would be the case with the little Bahamas Dinghy HENNING. It will not be the case.

There are at least 3 coats of paint on HENNING, 4 in most areas. Previous attempts at removing paint have left high and low spots in the coating, with wood showing in a few areas. Now there was a thought to just scrape off a few flakes and brush on a new coat of paint, but as the Bahamas wood started to peek out from under the paint, it was decided to wood the boat. 

One coat of stripper per layer, followed with some scraping and sanding. A variety of scrapers, chisels, hooks and picks are being use to get stubborn lumps pf paint released. The wood is very hard, so 80-120 grit on a random orbital sander is being used to remove the last opaque layer of paint.

In this photo the bulk of the old coatings are removed on the port side back to the third frame. The upper mast thwart riser was removed to get better access, but the fasteners in the lower seat riser (the Mother In Law seat) would not budge, so we'll leave those alone.

The wood is beautiful and unlike any we've seen before. Grown crook frames, we are thinking they are from local corkwood trees. Not the cork I imagined when I first read the term, but light weight in the pounds per cubic foot sense compared to an oak or mahogany frame. Rot resistant like cypress. And a small shrubby tree with a lot of crooks, along the lines of coastal live oaks, prized for their boat part shaped crooks and base flares.

The plank grain looks like pine, but it is much harder, which checks the block for Bahamas pine, another species we were unfamiliar with. The copper rivets (nails) are put in from the outside of the plank, a tight fitting washer (burr) goes over the nail. The rivet is nipped a little proud of the burr and peened over to hold the plank to the frame. And there are a lot of them. I sanded lightly over a few rivets to remove paint, but that is not a good thing to do as if I sand the rivet down too far, there will not be enough rivet left to grip the burr. On future frames I'll be more patient with stripper and use picks or a small scraper on the paint.

Speaking of small scrapers, this Master one inch scraper has worked very well. I wish I remembered where I picked it up, because I bought it for Skipper and I'll need one too.

Log of HENNING.

Smithfield Foods Red Barn

 11 Nov 23 Update:

The Town's Board of Historic and Architectural Review (NHAR) denied Smithfield Foods' request to raze the barn, and Foods has appealed the decision to the Town Council. A decision on the appeal is desired within 30 days.

Read more at: Smithfield Times

02 Apr 23:

To some it's just an old red barn, owned by Smithfield Foods and used for storage decades ago. Today it is empty and considered a safety hazard due to a rotting false floor and leaky roof, among other issues. Currently located behind the Smithfield Inn, its future is being discussed and meetings held to determine if it is a historic structure or not. 

We looked it over, it does need work but even with the pandemic induced inflationary price of materials, it could be economically repaired. We'd like to see a restoration that would be taken a step further to repurpose the structure into a multi use event-training-museum space. It most likely would need to brought up to fire code also, due to its close proximity to other structures.

In the meantime we took measurements and photos in case that this will be the only record of its existence. At a minimum, there is a lot of good lumber there that could be salvaged, or the structure could be gently disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere, ala Barnwood Builders.

Crusty. Just how we like it. We think it would make a good small boat chandlery and boat works? See the bare wood area over the doors, that "shadow where a sign used to be? It would look nice with carved wooden sign that read Lewis Boat Works and Chandlery, don't you think? Only a block from the waterfront. Just sayin...

Did we mention that we think it would make a good small boat chandlery and boat works?