March 2013 – Hove to off Swan Point

Still removing broken bits

but there are signs of readiness for rebuilding. As expected (and feared) there are some rotten spots that will need to be dealt with. But nothing so bad that one would need to call for last rites. There are a few frame heads that will be glued and fastened back together. With the cross grain at the ends of the frames some of the splits have been there for years.

Paul Smith is doing fine work, trying to remove the barest minimum. The pics that follow show her at the near end of the removal process. Though I just started taking off the rails on the port side. It looks like the starboard sheer strake will need to have part of it replaced.

Sjogin was moved to the main shop last Friday to be nearer to the steam box.

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Sometimes you need to cut back to sound flesh. Paul and crew ended up removing the entire sheer strake and arranging the scarfs as shown. Some of the structural members behind the sheer strake will need to be replaced. All but one of the new planks will be scarfed. One takes deep breaths and carries on.

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Classic Scandanavian construction
She could almost be a display in a Swedish maritime museum. Classic, traditional Scandinavian construction. No need of a separate building mold or jig. Once you have the frame shape and bevels figured out, the boat planks itself.

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To be transfered
All of the removed planks will be saved for now. Also to make sure the name goes back in the same spot. Perhaps with straighter letters.

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View aft
Still strange to be able to stick the camera through the hull to take pics.

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Ouch
Here she is being moved over to the wood shop. It’s quite a shock to see her from this perspective. When she’s done and looking Beaton Fresh this will all be just a bad memory.

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Pride of place
Sjogin set up in the wood shop ready for planking. She’ll be here for a few weeks.

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Prime cedar to be milled for planking stock. That’s our friend Steven Bauer, down from Maine for a visit, holding up a flitch.

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Progress!
Here’s some evidence of things moving in the right direction as opposed to removing the broken bits. John P. did this fine work.

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Deck work
Most of the fiberglass has been removed from the deck. After all the failed iron nails are cleaned up and any soft spots dealt with, a layer of plywood will be glued to the cedar deck and covered with polyester cloth set in epoxy. This is basically the same method Beaton’s uses for the A-Cats.

Next post should show planking progress.

Russ

It begins

Sjogin is now in the new/old shop with room to spare. The process of removing the broken bits has begun. Once all the damaged planks are removed, the work can begin on getting out the new planks. When they’re ready to start inatalling, Beaton’s will move Sjogin in to the wood shop, quite near the steam box. With her quick and just so curves, all of the new planking will need to spend time in the steam box before hanging.

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Oh that sheer...

On her way in to the shop. That sheer makes it all worthwhile.

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Inside!

A clean well lit space to work thanks to Tom and crew. The broken bits are coming off with the help of a shop made tool.

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Just make it.

It’s just a terminal from the orphan bucket, teeth cut to fit over the barbed nails. It works for #12 Monel Anchorfast nails but not the #14s. I have a set of plug cutters on order to deal with the bigger ones.

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Removal tools

Tools of destruction. Lucky with the 3″ roundhead #14 bronze screws; only had to drill out two of them to date. The rails will also be removed on the port side as well. And all the fiberglass on the deck. But that will all have to wait on the planking.

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Finally

After couple of dozen years of saying “I’ll wood the mast next year, just have to figure out how to get the head gear off”, it finally happened. While waiting for Sjogin to be brought in I finally figured out how to pull off the mast head fittings and remove (after labeling) all the rigging.

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At home for now

A few treasures at home for now. Very happy the wind vane survived.

More next week.

Back from a quick Maine vist

Went to Maine to help my brother with a bit of small boat work last week. He’s started work on the 17′ Yawl boat designed by Eric Blake of Brooklin. She was one of three boats built last winter by Eric, Bob and a few others. They’re burdensome little vessels, designed for comfortable exploration of the nooks and crannies of Eggemoggin Reach. I helped get out the bed logs for the centerboard case and make a pattern for the curved coaming. Hope to see her done for our August visit. Drove up and back by myself with a stop both ways in Portland to visit with the Bauers. It’s tough to get Julia to head north this time of the year.

There’s also progress on the Sjogin front. Beaton’s has pulled her mast and she’s scheduled to go in the new/old shop perhaps as soon as next week. The mast’s already in there so I started taking the rigging off in preparation for stripping the varnish.

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Yawl Boat work
Here’s Bob fitting the aft seat slats. The coaming pattern’s in place and ready for final fitting. The bow of Tendress hangs over all.

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Barn view
Here’s an overview of the new Barn. Some may recognize it as the spot where Bob and Lorinda were married last Summer.

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Vista
A view of the barn with Jet and Bob. Beautiful Winters day in Sargentville. I was very lucky with the weather with snowstorms bracketing my visit.

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A visit to Brooklin Boat Yard is essential anytime I visit. The productivity of this world class shop always astonishes me. Here are two new 47′ sloops being built for June launchings. At right is a new 70′ Sonny. You may remember Julia and I sailing with Bob on the original Sonny a few years ago. The owner, who will be 90 at the time of launch, missed his old boat and is having another one built.

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Mast in shop
Beaton’s has pulled Sjogin’s mast and it’s in the new/old shop on the rack at left. I puled it down today and started removing the hardware and stays. When stripped I’ll take off all the old varnish and build up new coats. This has long been one of those ‘next year’ jobs ever since I’ve had Sjogin.

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Survived!
Amazingly enough her wind vane survived though quite mangled. At the height of Sandy, Sjogin’s mast was laying almost horizontal in the storm wrack that built up in front of the buildings. It’s a miracle that the mast survived, never mind the wind vane. It will live to fly again.

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It begins
After a few hours of work the cap, sheave and crane were removed. It involved a bit of grinding, knocking out drifts and some heavy hammer work. The top three stays were labeled and removed. More on Monday.

Tom hopes to move Sjogin into this shop next week so I can start removing the broken bits. Progress indeed!