With all that has been going on this fall and winter, it has been very difficult to find any time to work on the Penny Fee. However, we still managed to get one or two things done. We have been working on finishing the gunwales. In order to do this we needed to make up both the breasthook and the transom knees that connect the inwales to the structure at the stem and to the transom. All three pieces are made from 6/4 white oak. The breasthook is made of two matched pieces that are splined together. We glued these in and backed up the glue with bronze fastenings.

breasthook

Transom knees with inwales in place

The outwales, which we installed last summer and were described in an earlier post, were glued to the outside top edge of the sheer strake. The inwales are glued to the inside edge of the sheer strake. The three parts together, outwale, sheer strake, and inwale, collectively make up the gunwale.

We wanted inwales that have spacer blocks, and the best way that I know of to get a symmetrical set was to glue the two strips that form the inner face of the gunwales  and spacers into one unit: sort of like a very narrow ladder.

The narrow ladder

Then, when the glue dried, rip the single unit into the two respective, matched inwales.

Dry fit of inwales

This done we dry-fitted the whole together. There was a long interval between the dry fitting and finally getting to do the gluing, but eventually we got it done. As with every other step in glued-epoxy-construction, we spent almost as much time taping off areas and scraping and cleaning the glue that was squeezed out by the clamps as we did making the parts to be glued.

Gluing in the inwales

With gunwales installed the boat is much stiffer and I feel better about getting into the boat to finish the glue clean up.

Finished gunwales

Having now survived the rather frantic run up to the holidays, I can share a few more wooden toys that I made to give to family.

I have four-year-old nephew who is a fireman (at least that is what he tells me). He goes everywhere in turnout gear and helmet, and is often talking on a plastic handheld VHF radio—I believe it is a toy, at least no one has answered him yet on it. Clearly a fire truck was in order:

As with most of my toys, the crew for the truck is made up of bears.

Another nephew has a fascination with the Trojan Wars. This year I made him a toy acropolis. Admittedly it is from a later period than the actual Mycenean, but I could not resist the challenge of making an early Doric temple. And the truth is that at least half the fun of making toys is trying to come up with ideas that are fresh and unusual.

Over the years this nephew has acquired quite a collection of Greek and Trojan toys. Some of the collection can bee seen here.

The Trojan Horse was in another room, and it turned out that several squads of Greeks were hiding in the hull of a toy arc, given to a different nephew…sneaky.

Mystic

The trip to Mystic was fun because neither the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of a stormy night and stand an anchor watch, nor I, had been to Mystic in several decades. It was also fun because in late October the place is devoid of crowds, which pretty much allowed us to look at what we were interested in. We were impressed by the ongoing work on the Charles W. Morgan and equally impressed by the shop floor and piles of beautiful timbers that will take their places as new pieces of the old vessel. We were also impressed by the rest of the fleet and the small boat collection.

The ukuleles that we produced were part of a wedding gift and although one was a tenor and one concert ukulele, they were both made of Hawaiian Koa wood with Aquila strings (the tenor was given a low ‘G’ metal wound string) . They both sound just beautiful, although at the time they were given away the strings were still stretching.

With luck, as we get the sails settled in the sail loft for winter and do our final chores putting the Friendship sloop to bed for the winter, we will be able to get back to the Penny Fee and I will be putting up some more boatbuilding posts…

We hate to see the boating season winding down, and we need to leave ourselves time to wash and dry sails, and clean and winterize the boat. Our focus will shift more and more to getting the cottage ready for winter, but we are not there yet. There is time to enjoy a few more sails and a few more quiet evenings before the shorter days and the colder nights prompt us that other, different chores await us—and that the end of one season heralds the beginning of another.

Friendships in Rockland

The next day was the last of the Friendship sloop gathering. We woke late and spent most of the day visiting and trying to recover from the trip up. Dinner that night was the annual Friendship Sloop Awards dinner, which was very funny and full of good cheer. A wonderful sing along which defies description was lead by the crew of Eden.

The next morning we took on last minute provisions and cast off, following out Banshee, Gaivota and Hegira, who were bound for Cape Cod, and Phoenix who was headed east. Halfway across West Penobscot Bay, we were still not sure what our destination should be. We had all lowers and uppers set in light air and finally decided that the winds were directing us through the Fox Island Thorofare, so that is where we went. The thorofare is narrow and winding, and typically has a lot of boat traffic. It was a challenging sail, and one we were probably over-canvassed for, but we headed in anyway. By the time we were off North Haven proper I had struck the jib-topsail, and fifteen minutes later I was striking the main topsail too.  By the time we cleared the Eastern entrance to the thorofare we were moving more comfortably but it was getting on towards late afternoon, so we made for Seal Bay between Burnt and Hay Islands.

An exquisite night, quiet, and cool, fantastic sleeping weather and classic summer-in-Maine scenery, we did spend some time remembering the last time we were here with our lovely ships-wolf, Saxon, now gone, which added just a touch of sadness to an otherwise perfect evening.

The next morning we set out for Isle Au Haut under all sail. We had a delightful if languid sail across to the island, a special place for me since I first visited the island in 1974. I have been back many times since and we looked to make sure that the flag was not flying at the house of friends (no flag means no visitors) before heading by. I can remember my first stay at that house as a child after a long cruise on an Alden Caravel, and sitting on the porch overlooking the Isle Au Haut thorofare, a porch where the then owner had become somewhat legendary among cruising circles for hailing friends in passing boats and inviting them ashore for “hot water and cold Gin”.

We ducked behind Merchant and Harbor Islands in Merchants Row and ran into a 180 degree wind shift, which we decided was going to mean work, so instead we turned back north and west to McGlathery Island where we anchored and went ashore. While on McGlatherly we saw two friendships headed east through the Stonington thorofare, we decided they had to be Salatia and Eden heading home to MDI. McGlatherly is a lovely spot and we enjoyed stretching our legs, but we were still seeing a building south-easterly wind, which made me uncomfortable, so we motored around the corner to Camp Island for the night. We were in very good company since the schooner Nathanial Bowditch was already anchored there and the Lewis R. French came in as we did and anchored as well. We felt much more sheltered and ended up spending another quiet and restful night.

the Bowditch

Lewis R. French

In the morning there was overcast and winds still out of the south-east so we worked our way to windward into Jericho Bay and the entrance to the Eggemoggin Reach and spent most of the day running downwind along the reach under the mainsail with one reef and the jib-topsail. We were straining to see if the Concordia 41 owned by a friend was in Center Harbor as we passed, but were never sure if she was there or not. We saw another Friendship off Center Harbor, but she was too far away to identify.

Passing under the Deer Island Bridge is always exciting and as we passed through the western entrance to the Reach, the J&E Riggin was entering on an opposite tack. This was particularly exciting because the woman who will willingly get up in the middle of the night and stand an anchor watch worked on the schooner Riggin for four years in the 1980s.

We spent the night in Smith Cove off of Castine. We wanted a quiet night so we went quite far into Smith Cove where there was the most shelter, passing two schooners at the dock in Castine, the Bowdoin and the Grace O’Malley, and yet a third, Timberwind, also at anchor in Smith Cove. The training ship State of Maine was also at the docks of Maine Maritime Academy, quite hard to miss.

Another quiet night and in the morning a rough headwind up around Turtle Head at the northern end of Islesboro and then one long starboard tack almost twenty miles long to Owls Head where we picked up a mooring. Wonderful sailing. Owls Head can be an exposed anchorage, but the forecast was for westerly’s, which would give us good shelter. We rowed ashore to pay for the mooring and bought lobster and made preparations for classic Maine dinner. When we returned to the boat we were joined by yet another schooner, the Stephen Taber. We sat down to a delightful meal on a beautiful summer evening in Maine.

Stephen Taber

It does not get much better than this.

It took us several more days to work our way back to Boothbay, we even did a side trip and motored though Friendship harbor where we saw the Friendship Gladiator on her mooring.  Further along after anchoring in Oars Island Cove we saw the Friendship Sarah Mead out for a sail in brisk winds.

Oars Island Cove. There was a time when I used to sometimes run the Snowgoose I.

We still had to negotiate fog and headwinds before returning to Boothbay, but it would not be cruising in Maine without headwinds and the “F” word.

On the way into Boothbay to pick up our mooring we saw two classic motor yachts headed out,

and two more Friendships the Mary Ann, which we had seen in Rockland was on a mooring in front of the yacht club, and Bay Lady, out for a sail with clients. It was a terrific end to a terrific cruise.

Friendship Sloop Days July 21-23

Rockland town docks,

Rockland Maine

The 2010 Friendship sloop races

Photos by Calef Heininger

Yes the boat is now upright. It took some doing but I managed to roll the boat over by myself.  She is light as advertized, actually I think most of the weight might be the molds, which we left in to help retain the shape. I discovered that the boat is so rigid that once I got the boat upright, the molds were not doing much save getting in the way.

Upright and some of the tape removed

We removed all the tape from the interior, and did some basic clean up to the interior where epoxy oozed out of the laps, there is more of that to be done but for now I want to stabilize the shape of the boat by getting gunwales and knees in. Before doing this we put the key molds back into the boat so that there is less chance of the boat becoming asymmetrical if we glue one gunwale on at a time.

The Gunwales

We are doing something a little different with the gunwales, or more specifically the outwale. I had looked at the very high quality fender material that is for sale at most marine chandleries for the exterior trim of the gunwale, but the material costs were going to be en excess of $300, so we went another route.

Crossection of outwale

Instead we shaped the outwale with a 1 inch wide hollow groove running the length of the wale, the groove is 3/8 inch deep and in it will be seated a piece of soft nylon three strand rope.

gluing on the outwale

Outwales in place

The rope will act as our rub-rail.  I have seen this done on traditional boats over the years and always thought that it certainly looks nice, but the main reason that we went this route is that the rope costs a little less than $60 in order to create a functional fender as opposed to the $300 store bought.

How the rope will look when it is in place

If you would like to read all the posts related to this project together, go to the category at the right called “Penny Fee” and click on it. It will pull all the posts on the penny fee onto one page for you.

Back in the engine room.

The last month has been mostly about getting the friendship ready for the water and then launching her. Each year we do as much prep work for the season while the weather is cool and damp in the early spring, then hope for enough warm dry weather in the late spring to actually get paint and varnish on her. For me the bane of prep work is not sanding and scraping, but cleaning. Winter seems to leave everything coated with dust and dirt, and even though the boat is inside, we still have to deal with the occasional bird droppings on deck and on the hatches. Cleaning takes time and care, we need to wash surfaces carefully and dry surfaces even more carefully. I don’t want to introduce standing freshwater to any part of the boat. I think that the importance of careful cleaning at the beginning and the end of the season is an important key to a healthy wooden boat. I also think what defeats a lot of first time wooden boat owners is not the fact that a wooden boat needs a lot of attention, but rather the surprising discovery of just how much of that attention requires a large bucket of soapy water, and scrub-brush and swabs.

The romantic, if somewhat naive notion, is that working on a wooden boat is somehow all about working with exotic tools like adzes and caulking mauls, or that somehow tar will be involved. The reality is far more banal and always has been. My own experience with this has been that visitors see the boat in her shed, get excited, volunteer to help, and then are crestfallen when they are handed a scrub brush, sponge and a bucket of soapy water.

Cleaning aside, we managed to get the boat ready despite a late spring, she was given her four-year insurance survey, and launched last weekend. It felt strange this year because it is the first time in more than a decade that commissioning and launching was not supervised by the ship’s wolf (I hope I did it right).

Picture taken this week of our boat on the mooring. Friends took this picture with their phone.

Now that the boat is in the water, I should be able to get back to doing a little work on the Penny Fee. The operative word there is most likely “little”. We want to spend as much time on the friendship as we can, but there may be some time in the early mornings to swing by the boat shop and do a little work…

Saxon, still on the job three days before she died.

With very little warning, age suddenly caught up with her and over a forty-eight hour period, her strength failed, her system failed, and she was gone. She passed away quietly in our living room, surrounded by the people who loved her, and without suffering.

She was a part of our family, and we were her pack. She did everything with us, and thus everything we do reminds us of her. She was a part of family gatherings, our holidays, and was involved with every project we took on.

During the twelve years that she was with us, she oversaw the building of three sea kayaks, a 24 foot open pulling boat, a 16 foot sailing tender, the building of the boat shed, and the complete renovation of a 35’ Friendship Sloop. She had sailed the entire length of the coast of Maine from Kittery, into Canadian waters and back three times (the first time she needed more papers to cross the border than the boat did) and has been on cruises too numerous to count all along the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, and on Lake Champlain in Vermont. From 2003 on she was a regular at the annual Friendship Sloop Homecoming in Rockland. In 2005 she was the Boatyard Dog for the May issue of Maine Boats Homes and Harbors magazine. She was one of the main characters of the children’s book Merlin and the Black Star, and the SOLO Field Guide to Wilderness First Aid Afloat is dedicated to her.

Always on watch.

She was such a big part of our lives and we are so grateful that her end was swift, and we are also grateful to have shared such a large life lived by such a small creature. We miss her a hundred times a day.

Saxon 1997-2011

Goodbye old friend.

You can see the brass half oval on the bow in this shot.

Transom has had base coats of varnish, but still needs top coats.

I wanted to point out that many builders would complete the construction of the entire boat before starting the painting. Due to the size of this boat and due to the building schedule, we wanted to minimize the number of times that we had to roll the boat over, therefore we did a thorough painting of the bottom and topsides before rolling the hull. You will notice, however, that we have not painted, or even primed the sheer-strake because that will be easier to work on with the boat right side up, and I want to be able to sight the sheer of the boat in the upright position before we attach the gunwales.

The boot-top.

Unfinished sheer.

All of this has taken a lot of time and energy. At the same time we have begun on the yearly chores that are part of the maintenance schedule for our Friendship sloop. At this time of the year, these chores consist mostly of washing off winter dirt, and prepping surfaces for paint or varnish. There is also the yearly round of checking fire extinguishers, and all the rest of the safety equipment for the boat and the careful inspection of the mechanical systems. This always happens before painting and varnishing because these system checks do not require decent weather.

Anyway, back to the new boat; before we actually roll the hull, a task that will take many hands, we will carefully mark the position of all of the molds on the inside of the hull. In fact, this will be done while the molds are still firmly attached to the builder’s table. The molds are attached to the inside keelson of the boat, but not to the sides. By marking the position of each mold on the inside of the boat at the sheer, we can realign any molds that come adrift in the process of rolling the hull.  There are several reasons for this, one is that we want double check the shape of the hull once it is upright for symmetry and to make sure there is no twist in the hull, and the molds will help with that. Another reason is that as we locate the position of benches, floor timbers, and bulkheads, it will be valuable to have the positions of the molds marked as reference points.

If you would like to read all the posts related to this project together, go to the category at the right called “Penny Fee” and click on it. It will pull all the posts on the penny fee onto one page for you.