Festival is coming.

Misleading Lady is still getting prettier by the day as more coats of varnish are added to stained mahogany and stain is being added to newly fine-sanded panels.  Latest to receive stain are the massive engine hatch covers.  Newt and volunteers are seeing the process through from beginning to end. Misleading Lady's owner has decided that the boat deserves to be finished to show-quality, so care, precision, and perfection are the standard.

Fine sanded mahogany engine hatch cover awaits staining.

A bit more dis-assembly was required on the Beetle Cat project.  Three cracked frames under the foredeck need replacement, and the only way to insert new frames, which must go gunwale to gunwale between the planks and the sheer clamps, is to remove the sections of deck above the repair location.  As with prior deck removal, these boards were fastened with copper ring nails.  They needed to be drilled out. First, using a bung cutter bit, the board is cut free of each nail.  Then, with the board removed, the nail can be pulled with a claw or cat's paw.  Slow work, but unavoidable.

Foredeck boards have been drilled out to expose damaged frame ends.

John S. removes screws and old, damaged frame.

Old frame has been chiseled out.  Screws are next to be removed.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the Old City Seaport Festival the weekend of October 12 and 13.  The ships have begun to arrive. First in was the schooner Hindu, out of Key West.  She sat at the Museum dock in the nor'easter rain and wind awaiting her comrades and the festival.

Schooner Hindu at the dock, through the windows of WoW.