Abaco Dinghy HENNING Color Scheme

15 May 24: 

HENNING will have classic sunwashed Bahamas colors, taking inspiration from the Bahamas flag. We're thinking the hull will be limewash white, and the seats and risers aquamarine. Then we'll need spots for black and gold, maybe a cove strip or other decorative flourish. 

Log of HENNING. 

Caulking Seam Roller - Alternative Uses

15 May 24: 

We have a great tool that we use to roll thin cotton wicking into tight seams, recommended by Graham McKay of Lowell's Boat Shop. The tool also has alternative uses.

Caulking a Small Boat - Tools, Tips and Materials

12 May 24:

Caulking cotton and wicking are used to fill seams between planks. When water finds the cotton, both the cotton and wood swell to create a watertight seam. A one pound roll of caulking cotton = 210 feet. We ordered from Defender but Jamestown Distributors is our usual source. We also ordered caulking wicking. We used Defender because we wanted to try the Teak Decking System seam sander and reefing knife, but found out that these tools are way too big for the tiny seams on our dinghy.

One tip with the cotton is to roll it into a ball and keep the ball in a clean container. This keeps the cotton from picking up sawdust, dirt, twigs etc... from the shop floor and other tools can ride around in the box as we work our way around the seams.

Different seam sizes = different materials. Wicking and cotton can be either peeled apart to get the right size for smaller seams or doubled up for larger seams. For this thin 3/8" planking we used about 1/3 of a strand for a 1/8" seam, and less for the tighter seams. When the seams got real tight we switched to wicking. 

We have a traditional caulking hammer, irons and seam roller. For light boats and small planks a caulking hammer can provide very light taps to the metal irons. Any other type of mallet or hammer can be used, but it is best to strike the metal irons with wood or nylon, as a metal hammer would wear out the head of the caulking irons and it is noisy. 

We are not sure what this tool was originally designed for, leather work possibly, but it makes a great tool to roll half a strand of cotton into a 1/16" seam.

Video: https://youtu.be/BNg4X5PO5hM

We broke out the TotalBoat TotalFair to cover the rivets heads. Some folks do not fair over the heads, but they had been faired over in HENNING, so that tradition continues. 

Once the cotton was in the seams, we put a protective coat of primer over the cotton from George Kirby Jr. Paint Company. If your wood is very dry and/or new, it may help to seal up the seams with a wood sealer or primer before caulking. Then either wait for those products to dry or plan on having a messy caulking experience. 

This side is caulked and faired.

Still need to caulk this side but the rivet heads are faired. 

Next up? Sand the TotalFair then get more primer on the wood. Following that we will put a flexible compound in the seam to protect the cotton and that will move a little as planks shrink and swell. And paint. 

Log of HENNING.

Abaco Dinghy HENNING - Interior Primer

10 May 24:

Before the hull dries out we wanted to get some beneficial oils into the wood, so we started applying oil based primer to the interior of the hull. Our finish coat will come from George Kirby Jr Paint Company, so we are using their primer. One question we had is how dry did the wood need to be, and George told us that if the wood absorbed the primer then it was dry enough. 

HENNING was very appreciative of the primer, soaking in 2+ quarts on the first pass. We expected to use quite a bit, given all of the frames, risers and thwarts that needed a coat.

Watching Primer Dry with Rain on a Tin Roof video: https://youtu.be/5uezad1eI1I?si=uwebXEhKggNHi_SV

Log of HENNING.

1930s Abaco Dinghy HENNING - Boat Yard Wanderings

09 May 24:

 Some days we can get one thing done. Today HENNING continued her wanderings around the boat yard, making her way from the Dynamic dolly onto the finishing dolly. Heat index in the 90F range and humid.

Log of HENNING.

Abaco Dinghy HENNING Seam Reefing

02 May 24:

We turned our attention to cleaning out the plank seams on the dinghy, many of them were full of old seam compound and very little cotton caulking. Many of the seams were approaching 1/8" so for those we felt comfortable running a half round blade down the seam on an oscillating multitool. Be sure to check for seam bevels before doing this on other boats, sometimes the plank seams were cut to form a shallow V that holds the cotton caulking in the seam.

A few other seam reefing tools.

This is the old brown brittle goop coming out of the seam.

Here's the type of cotton caulking we expected to find. We think that maybe when the decision was made in 1950 to fiberglass the boat that the seams got filled with seam compound vs traditional cotton. 

Log of HENNING.

Naked DInghy

01 May 24:

We have finished removing coatings from the inside of the Bahamas Abaco style Dinghy. While some folks would like to see a bright finish, we are going to go with a painted finish that is representative of most classic Bahamas dinghies. 

Here's the dinghy after pressure washing, we're starting to introduce some moisture back into the planking. 

Our friend Howie sent us this Alcort tumbler, we put it to use toasting the interior coating removal milestone with some rum. Bumbu happens to be from Barbados, so maybe we need some Bacardi added to the inventory to get the Bahamas vibe going.

Log of HENNING.

Abaco Dinghy HENNING - Soaking the Hull

07 May 24:

We pulled HENNING out of the soak tank after 48 hours, per Smith's Marine Railway's suggestion. When they soak boats to take up water, Tim says if the boat hasn't taken up by 48 hours then it is going to need some caulking to help out.

Several seams closed up, and our biggest gap is now 1/16" or so. 

We parked HENNING in the yard to get sprayed by the sprinklers until we can get to caulking the seams.

Log of HENNING. 

Jamestown - Scotland Ferry on the James River

06 May 24:

We took a historical ride up the south side of the James River through the Counties of Surry, Prince George and Charles City, and visited the ancestral home of the Jordan family at Jordan's Point. Skipper has ties to these early settlers and until now has only known of their land from books and maps. It was nice ride up Highway 10 and we decided to try Highway 5 for the ride back home, on the north side. That took us down to Jamestown where we rode the ferry across to Scotland, a landing on the "Southside"that dates back as long as Jamestown Island. 

On the way out we spotted the replica ships at Jamestown, the GODSPEED, SUSAN CONSTANT and DISCOVERY. 

Buddy the Box Turtle

06 May 24: 

Our buddy Buddy the Box Turtle seems to have awoken from his Winter slumber, he checked in on us today from beneath his massive condo.

1930s Abaco Dinghy - Soak Tank

05 May 24:

We've chatted with a few folks about the dry planking and open seams on HENNING, including Tim Smith at Smith's Marine Railway and the fine folks who make Beetle Cat sailboats. Our plan of attack is to soak the boat for 48 hours in a soak tank to get the wood to swell a bit, then pull the boat and caulk it. But first we gave the boat another 2000 psi bath to clean out the seams again. 

But where to find a soak tank...Found one!

The most open seams are just over 1/8" or so...

Skipper Skippervising.

Log of HENNING.