WorkNite

Mike and Paul came in to help out and we got another gaff jaw lamination glued up, a gaff jaw pre-bent on a new form, FISH STIX spars marked for rigging, Paul started making blanks for new 4" cleats. He and Mike sanded the tuckup spars and I gave them another coat of varnish. The crew was severely reduced by illness.

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.

Original Silent Maid

Details from the grand old girl. New paint on the planks. Cabin top has new canvas, Starting to reassemble and varnish her insides. Check out the electrical panel and the grown knees around the partners. She has bronze straps leading from the chain plates to the keel.

Vac

Cleaned up all the sawdust I have been making in the shop. Vacuumed off SILENT MAID so Carolyn could give her house a coat of varnish. Got FISH STIX presentable also and did a little work in her corner.

Splices

Made four nice rat-tailed splices for my ditty bag.
Got a lovely new little catboat too. She's a beauty.
Never mind the conflagration the cake was very good.

Sanding Time

Spent an enjoyable morning rigging ISOBEL, a sharpie, and BOXKITE, the garvey. Just masts in the garvey, no sprits, but I did make a pigstick to fly the museum burgee. The sharpie got her whole rig, bent on the sail, and even went for a row after lunch. Got my row in! First of the season. JSBach did a yeoman huge amount of work. He scrubbed the waterlines of both boats, bailed out the rainwater, and carried spars to the dock. We are both bushed I am sure as our fearless leader requisitioned all the remaining time for sanding, two hours of 36 grit longboard sanding, fairing TORCH.
MARION is being loaned out as a mold for a paper pulp casting. Fancy that, a paper tuck-up. SILENT MAID has been recreated as a half-model by Nick

Turning

Got a chance to do some turning while visiting Dad. Made a bunch of fids and a seam rubber. Made my fish boat friend laugh because they are so small.

Shackles, Soft and Iceboats

Soft shackles from Critical Alpha blog. Nice crafty approach with modern materials - There's another master's thesis project here.

Ice boating on the Hudson. Check out all the rigs on this movie put up by frogma