Loose ends

One of the whaleboats left for Mystic Seaport on Thursday, and the other one on Friday morning, so we are a bit lonely as we wait for new projects to arrive. Misleading Lady is scheduled to come back to be completed, finally. The boatbuilders at WoW have been working on her, on and off, for years.  She is almost complete, with only seat work, rub rails, and power train installation yet to be done.  For those who have been involved with WoW for a while, it will be especially exciting to see this long term project finally reach completion.  

As of right now, however, we have finished the two sets of spars for our whaleboats, and most of the rigging, so the whaleboat project is truly completed for WoW. 

Sheave at top of mast awaits its halyard.

Boom jaws fitted, riveted, oiled, and drilled -- ready for sails.

The whaleboat oars are each a different length, to accommodate the position of each oarsman in the boat. Aside from lining up the oars side-by-side in the boat to check the length, the best way to distinguish them is by numbering them.  John S. painted stripes of ISM Whaleboat Blue on the blades of each oar to make station determination simpler.

All you need is to be able to count to five.

Lots of equipment is accompanying the whaleboats to Mystic Seaport, including mooring anchors, with chain and rode, life jackets, fenders, etc.

Everything but the galley sink ready to head north with the whaleboats,

Work continued on the two Whitehalls, with one ready to splash, and the other getting closer.  Dan, Julio, and Donstraque replaced most of the frames, cutting, steam bending and riveting them in place.  Meanwhile, Julio and Charles worked on prepping and painting the floor boards and seats which will be reinstalled as soon as the frames are done and the interior painted.

Donstraque laughs and hammers, while Dan mugs and bucks.

It's nice to see two young guys having so much fun riveting frames.

Almost done!

First coat applied to the seat sections

Jesse took a break from doing his imitation of a boiled/boiling lobster aboard Olympia to build a new neutral buoyancy vessel for the tank in the lobby. This is a constant big hit with visitors.

Now, where does the red wire go?

One more cable tie. . . .