Preparing for Winter

The fleet has been hauled, washed, and trailered to the warehouse for winter storage.  The basin looks fairly empty now, and will be until next spring.  The whaleboats are still in the water, and may be rowed a few more times before they too are hauled.  

George ties up whaleboat rigs for winter storage.

Whaleboat sail hanging out to dry thoroughly before being stored.

Inside the shop, however, there are boats and there is an increasing level of activity. We are gearing up for the student boatbuilding program, and expect that soon there will be as many as four or five small craft under construction by students and their advisers.  The front half of the shop has been cleared for the students, a special tool cabinet and a safety equipment locker have been installed, lofting boards have gotten a new coat of white paint, and we have begun to hear young animated voices over the din of shop machinery. 

Steve built a tool cabinet for the student boatbuilding programs.

Work on the Beetle Cat continues, with volunteers moving through the laborious task of removing and replacing frames.  About half of the frames have been replaced already as we move from bow to stern.  When the frames have been replaced, we will cut a new transom to replace the present one, which is showing signs of rot and has several significant cracks.   Even though we will not be putting on a new deck for a while, volunteers have begun to mill cedar and to cut out deck boards using the old ones for patterns.

Lee and Steve plane cedar to 1/2 inch thickness for deck boards.

The new kingplank is ready for installation.

Volunteers John and Bob fasten a new frame to the sheer clamp.

Lots of new frames in place and fastened.

Meanwhile, Newt is in charge of making the Ventnor runabout, Misleading Lady, as pretty as she was when she left the factory in 1928.  Careful cycles of varnishing and sanding are the only way to do this work, and that takes lots of time.

Varnish, sand, varnish, sand, varnish, sand . . .

The shop got a new resident this week. Volunteer Charles brought in his newly built Iain Oughtred designed "Grey Seal" named Lagniappe. She is a 22 foot gunter rigged sloop. Some heavy work, much more easily accomplished at WoW than in the garage will be done.  First on the agenda is the installation of the 1200 pound lead keel ballast.  Later, the engine will be installed and some standing rigging fabricated and installed.  

Steve, Charles, and Jeff plan the move of Lagniappe into the shop.

In position next to Misleading Lady.

The lead ballast being jacked up into position.