Our Whale Yacht

Whaleboat number one is right side up again, and is pretty much complete.  The key word is pretty, we think.  She has the beautiful lines of her ancestors, and the meticulous fit and finish done by WoW craftsmen as accustomed to building sailing yachts as rough and ready workboats.  With her white hull, ISM blue sheer strake, and dark grey gunwales, she looks simply fantastic.

From the bow . . .

Amidships . . .

Or the stern, she looks every bit as fine as we had hoped she would.

With a tight splash deadline looming for both boats, there is not a lot of time to admire our work.  There is still a lot to do on the second boat, although the team is moving along at warp speed.  Floors have been fitted in both the bow and the stern where soles will be installed, and work has begun on the ceiling, which runs nearly the length of the boat, from keel to thwart rails.  That is a LOT of spiling, cutting, planing, fitting, screwing, and perhaps just a bit of swearing along the way.

The aft sole sits on floors, ready to be fastened.  A similar structure is going up forward.

Bruce cuts out a section of ceiling.  It's double thick so it can be resawn for a port and starboard section.

After the saw the next step is always the hand plane.

The first of many ceiling sections is clamped in place.  Note scarph on aft end.

Lee finishes up sanding the five oarlock pads needed for the whaleboat.

Suzy, the L.F.Herreshoff Meadow Lark, continues her makeover at the far end of the shop.  Jeff has completed his structural repairs on her keel, and is putting her back together.  The chines have been fastened in place and the edges carefully beveled to accept the adjacent plank.  Prior to re-planking, all the old screw and nail holes in the keel, frames, and stem needed to be filled with wood dowels.  John S. was the man with the pen knife taking care of this task.

Jeff checks the fit of the chine on the port side.

Measuring the angle for the plank bevel.

John whittles dowels to fill old screw holes.

A bit of repair work needed to be done on the replica sailmaker's bench.  The pine surface of the bench, which has been on display in the museum as an interactive exhibit, suffered a bit too much interaction from a young would-be sailmaker.  Since it will be part of the upcoming Tides of Freedom exhibit, a re-surfacing job was in order.  Fortunately, the repairs can be made, and the bench will be ready for visitors to experience the craft again.

Fixing damage to the sailmaker's bench.  A coat of paint, and no one will ever know.