Brig

My favorite man dressed to race in the Carnival Caper race in Chatham's First Night. He wanted to be a barkentine, but with only two masts it got abbreviated to a brig. Happy New Year!

Ice on the Eelgrass

Quanset pond in the morning.

Prints

The 3D prints of SILENT MAID from Shapeways came today, a bit late for Christmas giving, but that was my error in uploading the model. Peter did a beautiful job creating the file in SolidWorks from the original hull drawings. One of the little models made it to the tree, sailing among the boughs.

Beaton's Boatyard and SILENT MAID

Post on SILENT MAIDs facebook page. Her hull is sanded clean of varnish and stain.

Kids Visit the Old Silent Maid

snow day. Friends stopped by the shop to see old SILENT MAID before she leaves. Curiosity raised its head about, "How did we live on the boat?" Here is a short video that shows the replica motoring back up the Chesapeake toward the canal.

Chocks

Paul & I worked on chocks tonight, planning out all the steps involved and making some fixtures.

First, we made decisions about numbers, sizes, shapes and systems. Then, he cut & selected the oak according to grain pattern. Paul created new patterns while I made a fixture for routing. The steps involved are; roughing the strips to size, marking and drilling the pin holes for the curved router cut. cutting the groove, (that's as far as we got tonite, will finish next week.) Cleaning out the router cut, drilling pilot holes, cutting the curve for the back, shaping the top with a bandsaw cut, reassembly, shaping the sides with a bandsaw cut, making a holding fixture and rounding the edges, finishing with sanding and varnish. Lot of steps for a small production run of twenty.

Work on Silent Maid is Ending Soon

More Varnish, more paint, less tape. Soon she will be ready for her cradle fitting and then a move to the warehouse until her new berth inside the museum is ready.

Comet Not a Rocket

The Comet is getting new inner keel, bottom planking outer keel. The bottom of a comet is not a simple curve so planks must be spilled to fit. There is a lot of fussy work here.

COMET keel

Coming along.

TSCA Tuesday

Christmas Party at the Cafe Gallery

Sanding and Printing

Sent a bunch of items to Shapeways to get them printed in different media. Some areas too thin, have to revise CAD model. Sanded the masts and gave them a last coat of sealer. Ready for varnish next.

two masts

sanded and sealed

Pouring Rain

Art Show

1622 Chestnut Street, Phila

Art Institute Faculty Show

Photo of ELF during her sea trials with the new topsail rig and a slice of one of her spars. Next to a great Martone painting of Utah.

More Conservation Work on Old Silent Maid

The crew is using a water level to place the boot stripe around SlLENT MAIDs hull and the TSCA guys are working on the last couple spars.

Keeping Up

and keeping warm. Nothing like a woodstove to keep you hopping. Bring in more wood, toast the other side.

Rail and Case

Newt reinstalled the grab rails on Old Silent Maid. They look very tiny compared to the brass pipe rails on the Replica Silent Maid, especially when you think about the ton or more of human ballast hanging off the side.
Jackie & I worked on the comet, stabilizing the new frames and then removing the inner keel. It had to come off in pieces because it was glued to the centerboard case with Resorcinol and the case was rabbeted. Chisel work.

Sandbaggers

These images are photographs of photographs from the collection of John Brady at Workshop on the Water. John and his crew built BEAR in the mid '90s. Here you see her with the full rig, before it was cut down to a more sustainable and manageable size. This is some sail power!

Happy Thanksgiving!

End of Season

Quanset Pond and Pleasant Bay

Cape Fall

Cold and crisp. First frost up here. Crunchy grass. Warmed up the next day enough to go for a long walk on the beach. We were looking for the wreck that had been uncovered by the overwash at Pochet a few days earlier, but it had already been covered again. Nice log walk and gam. Lunch and Macintosh pie afterward. Fall and winter colors here are amazing. Too cold for sailing.

Nice Going

Paul, Paul, Ed, and Mike, and me. Worked on spars tonite, One sanded and sealed, another on the lathe, and the last one (still in staves, counted and spliced.) Not too much sawdust on account of fresh paint on Maid. Sheerstrake dutchman in and puttied. One little anomaly, a knothole plug that was the wrong grain direction and nailed in. A little piece of revisionist history gone.

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

Painted old Silent Maid's deck & housetop with Jeff & Dave today. It was pouring outside in Philly, but we poured the sunshine on the canvas. It was really yellow. Jeff tried to tone it down by adding white. Very scientific. Meanwhile, Hartly & Bob reattached the brass rub rails, Doc was fixing stuff, Newt & Rick were varnishing more Maid parts, and Joe and Jamaica were fixing the Comet. Full house today. Took lots of pictures on the shop camera. Left it in the shop. Brady received the annual TSCA calendar from Andy. Great shots of the messabout & St. Mikes. I am in one, but you had to be there to know. The sail hides all the occupants. Gotta go grade math.