Hove to off Swan Point

After a spell in the care of Beaton’s, Sjogin was launched last Friday. After a week in the slings she’s still leaking more than usual. A check today showed another split plank. This time it’s in the garboard next to a butt block that may have to be replaced. She may need to be hauled to replace the butt and fix the split. Very frustrating but at least the garboard seam seems tight after caulking by Paul Smith. And his repairs to the stem and keel are tight with no sign of any leaks.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

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Prime white oak being fitted to replace the iron sick keel and stem ends. Thankfully the keel was fairly sound at the garboard so we didn’t need to open the planks to go deeper. This should keep her going for a long while.

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Bolted in place with enough goo to keep it tight. The white streaks are filled in checks.

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The joint looks like it did 50 years ago. Thanks Paul.

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Leaving the best boat shop in NJ.

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Hanging in the slings and soaking up. She’s now in the slings in the South shed with the pump going on every three minutes or so. The joys of taking care of an old boat.

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Work continues at the other end. Here’s the plywood rudder blade with the fitted pintels. Fits just fine. Still need to make a new tiller.

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Here’s one of the cheeks and the pattern. A little different than the original but they should look fine.

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This is the bushing Paul turned from a piece of propeller shaft. Nice to have treasures like this laying around the shop. (And the skill at Beaton’s to make it.) The new pintels are a bit smaller than the worn gudgeons so the bushings will make up the difference.

Poor Sjogin; she needs a partial stemectomy. One of her less than stellar attributes is her galvanized iron backbone fastenings. Over the years the bolts have rusted, causing a condition known as iron sickness. The oak surrounding the bolts turned black and brittle; just what we have here.

Now it’s something on the “I’ll get to that next year” list that needs to be taken care of this year. Paul Smith is leading the repair, cutting back to sound wood, removing the old bolts and fitting white oak pieces to match the original profile.

When all this is finished the problem areas at the ends will be taken care of; then it’s time for the middle bits.

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When I went over the bottom, looking for loose paint and such, I noticed my earlier efforts at fixing the problem had failed. After cutting away a bit of the keel it became clear it was time for major surgery.

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The more I dug, the worse it got. The question was whether the planking would need to be opened to do the repair.

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It looks like Paul Smith will be able to scarf in two oak pieces to tie the stem together. He was able to loosen two of the rusted bolts so he’ll be able to reuse the holes. The new bolts will be galvanized as well, hopefully lasting until my heirs will have to worry about it.

Sjogin will go into the Wood Shop this week for the stem reconstruction.

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Here’s Paul pounding in a river of cotton in what I hope was a major source of Sjogin’s leaks.

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Freshly painted and good enough to pass a ten foot test. Photo taken before the stem issue discovered. The painting will continue in the shop.

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You may recall I had a problem with a split plank last winter. Post here. Well I discovered that the split had spread enough to warrant attention from the wet side. The split was cleaned out and filed with goop. It should take care of that leak.

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The rudder work continues; pics next time.

The aft stem shape has been determined and a full size pattern’s been made. I’ve collected the plywood and just about ready to start cutting and gluing. When glued I’ll fair the plywood to the pattern and start getting out the white oak cheeks.

I needed a partial sheet of 6mm Sapele to go between the two layers of 15mm. Beaton’s couldn’t help so I went to Bill de Rouville’s boat shop on Toms River. Nice little boatyard on a cove off the river. I’ll get some pics next time.

When done it should be close to one and a half inches. The pintles are on their way from Hamilton Marine. They’re Wilcox Crittenden cast bronze and should be here by this weekend. The distance between the tangs will hopefully match the finished rudder. I may have to put some sort of bushing in the existing gudgeons as the new pintles have a half inch pin.

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A one inch pine plank served to pick up the stem shape and the location of the gudgeons. Nice bit of chisel and plane work.

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The final shape looks close to the original. The aft edge is a bit fairer at the waterline. The original was scraped and faired over the years and had a funny shape.

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Here’s a view from the cockpit. Speedwell awaits a break in the Sjogin action.