It’s been a month

with precious little to show for progress on Sjogin absent a perfectly varnished mast and boom courtesy of Paul Smith.

The mast is now stored in the spar shed, accessible when it’s time to rig. Jeff’s working on the rigging, serving the eyes with nylon seine twine. They may get a coat of varnish or “boat soup” before using.

Little progress down below but for the fitting of the bulkhead extension down into the bilge. One of my perennial problems with Sjogin’s stove was the puff backs on starboard tack in a good breeze. The original bulkhead was open at the bottom allowing the free passage of air. It also allowed air to leave the cabin, thus sucking smoke and occasionally flame out the stove vent. Quite exciting. By closing this off (mostly, there are still limber holes), the stove should draw better.

Sjogin’s still in the pit in the South Shed. Stop by and say hi to her.

Here are a few pics from the last month.


Resting comfortably
Looks like she’ll be here for the Winter. I expect the basin will freeze soon due to the cold November we’ve had. The rig’s still being worked on and will not be ready for a while. We’ve waited this long to go sailing so a bit more won’t hurt.


Fitted!
The bulkhead extension is fitted. The gap below the original one allowed air to get sucked out of the cabin encouraging puffbacks, sometimes with spectacular results. Fitting this extension should keep the excitement to a minimum.


Fifth coat
Here are the spars with their fifth coat of varnish. Paul Smith has put on the final (for now) coat. Very shiny. The mast and boom are now in storage awaiting rigging.


Published!
Sjogin’s fame continues to grow. This is from Paul Gartside’s just published book Plans and Dreams, available here. The plans are from a series of how-to-build articles for Water Craft, a british publications. The design shown is of Sjogin III, a 19′ version of the plans made by Mr. Gartside a few years ago. You can build these boats from the plans in the book. Very generous.


Better days
Paul included this photo taken by my son Jeff during Christmas years ago.


Small boat work
Here’s Paul Smith doing a bit of very small boat work. That’s a model of the Emma C. Berry with her later Schooner rig. The models getting a little TLC before she’s returned to the Bay Head Yacht Club.


The menagerie
Some of Jeff Reid’s handiwork. He’s becoming quite the carver. We have a Bufflehead in flight he carved for us last year. The cabinet is the one I made when working at Beaton’s those many years ago.

Comments?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *