Good Smells

Visitors to the Workshop on the Water frequently comment about the pleasant aromas in the shop. Those of us who work or volunteer there tend to become desensitized to the smells, but it is nice to be reminded that a boatshop has, in addition to its unique sounds and sights, a pleasing scent. This week, a combination of milling of cedar for Beetle Cat planks , Tung Oil being applied to the interior of the Harbormaster skiffs, and spar varnish brushed onto Misleading Lady's ceiling boards and Hard Tack's new hatch cover, made WoW an especially fragrant place.

The four skiffs are really close to completion. Dave, Jen, and the kids finished installing knees and thwart risers, and also added a second coat of Tung oil to the interiors. The exteriors are all filled, sanded, and awaiting paint. Thwarts are being fitted, and oars are being made.

A transom knee braces the transom to the sheer strake.

Jen holds a thwart riser in place while Dave tightens a clamp.

Fine tuning a thwart template with a joggle stick.

Those first two planks, the garboards, are nearly ready for fastening on the Beetle Cat. The edge of each plank must be precisely fitted to the rabbet in the keel, which requires careful planing and adjusting.  The next step will be to bed and fasten the garboards, before moving on to the next planks.

Joe, Bob, and Jeff test fit a garboard.

Lee tweaks the forward edge of the garboard plank with a hand plane.

Misleading Lady is finally getting her mechanicals installed. The steering quadrant is in place on the rudder, and Jeff and Newt are fitting the steering shaft, which is a long iron pipe running from the steering station back to the rudder.  Jeff has finalized the shape and location of the operator's seat, so fabrication can begin. There is no documentation of this part of the boat, so it is a "best guess" effort.

Misleading Lady's rudder post, quadrant, and iron pipe steering shaft.

The wheel and steering column test fitted up forward.

Mocked up operator's bench. Instrument panel template visible on bench.

Varnish is going on Misleading Lady's ceiling and Hard Tack's hatch cover, thanks to John. Several coats are on and there are more to follow.

Underside of hatch cover sanded and awaiting the next coat of varnish.

When it dries, we'll sand it and do it again.

A stack of ceiling boards ready for the next coat.

The old sandbagger rig cum flagpole is being scraped down and sanded in preparation for a complete refinishing. This is slow, labor intensive work. After the finish is completely removed, it will be possible to see what repairs will be necessary. Meanwhile, the rig provides a very effective barrier between two sides of the shop

A lot of scraping and sanding await.