The month of May makes it official: Spring is really here! In-water boat shows, warming temperatures, and longer days bring out the do-it-yourselfers. The pace of activity at boatyards and marinas intensifies, and much of the action moves outdoors as it stays warm enough to paint and wax. Regular readers of this column may note that several winter projects are being revisited as they are completed and delivered to their owners, another sign that the summer boating season is almost here. [gallery type="slideshow" link="file" ids="8199,8200,8201,8202,8203,8204,8205,8206,8207,8208,8209,8210" orderby="rand"] Butch Garren, a volunteer for the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons sends us the following. “The Patuxent Small Craft Guild (PSCG) of the Calvert Marine Museum has recently completed restoration of its Poe Skiff in preparation for her re-commissioning. The deck and gunwale were completely replaced along with other items that needed to be rebuilt and replaced. The skiff is powered by a single cylinder diesel engine and can be seen in action during many of the museum’s activities. This 19-foot oystering and crabbing boat was built in 1983 by Francis Goddard of Piney Point, MD. Although of relatively recent origin, her design is traditional. She is one of the last of her type to be built in Southern Maryland. This bateau, as she is called on the Chesapeake, was used by “Web” Poe at St. George Island, St. Mary’s County, for oyster tonging in winter and trotlining for crabs in summer.” Rob Hardy of Composite Yacht brings us up to date on happenings at the facility in Trappe, MD. “We’re coming off of an extremely busy winter, with numerous builds underway. Six are 26s and one is a 34-footer. We have a 43-foot MD Pilot Launch here for a deck replacement and a number of boats in for paint, pipe work, and repowers. We are also wrapping up the restoration on a stunning vintage cigarette. Spring has sprung, so of course we are also very busy getting our customers boats to them on time. Busy, busy!” Scott Anderson of Harbour Cove Marina in Deale,MD, tells us that they are completing the installation of the twin 502 Mercruisers in Freedom II, a 1996 Donzi, as well as an additional outdrive replacement job and the big spring re-commissioning push. Scott’s marina improvement program continues to move forward, as they are replacing an aging dock with a modern floating pier. Dave Hannam of Classic Watercraft Restoration (CWR) in Annapolis reports that he has completed the coatings and restoration of the 1948 Chris-Craft 17-footer and has put her under wraps and in storage until the owner returns to Annapolis where she will be waiting for him to cruise on the Bay. Hannam also reports that the little historic 1927 Lyman 14-footer has returned to the shop for a brand new paint job along with some hardware upgrades. CWR is also in the throes of preparing for the arrival of a rare 1948 Chris-Craft Sportsman 25-footer. Five hundred board feet of Honduras mahogany have arrived from Exotic Lumber. They are getting ready to mill for the start of a complete restoration job of this old woody and are looking forward to smelling like mahogany for a few days in the shop! Meg Roney from Mathews Brothers in Denton, MD, sends us this report. “The spring rush is on! Despite the frigid winter, we started delivering boats the last week of March this year. As of April 1, we’ve had at least two to three boat deliveries scheduled per week and expect that to increase. Meanwhile, in the shop we just completed assembly of a Chesapeake Light Craft Nesting Pram for a customer to have aboard while taking extended cruises around the world on his sailboat. Our varnish team has been working on the maintenance coats for up to three boats per week and has sanded and refurbished the interior of a Whitehall skiff with new varnish. The Whitehall also got a fresh coat of Awlgrip and new bottom paint and will be returning home. Some of our major projects to our storage boats this spring include windshield replacement, water tank replacement, installation of new Honda outboards on a couple of boats, and new electronics. All in addition to our normal spring commissioning!” There always seems to be something interesting going on at Lilly Sport Boats in Arnold, MD. According to Britt Lilly, a major winter project winding up is the refurbishment of a 44 MTI power catamaran. The winter involved extensive bottom work, solving the surface piercing drive mounting problem, and the reinstallation of two rebuilt 1100-horsepower dual supercharged Ron Potter modified, 590-cubic-inch, big-block engines, giving the boat a total of 2200 horsepower. “She should go upwards of 140 miles per hour for sure,” Britt commented. “With all the fine tuning we’ve done this winter, the owner should be a happy customer.” Tracey Munson of Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels sends us the following update. “The three-log sailing canoe is nearly finished at CBMM, with the build of the spars underway. The museum plans to sew its own sails for the canoe as well. This is the first Chesapeake sailing log canoe to be built since 1977, with the vessel scheduled to be launched at CBMM’s April 22 Blessing of the Fleet ceremony. Details about the event are at cbmm.org.” Charley Quimby of Bay Machine Co. in St. Leonard, MD, sends us the following heads up: “The 26-foot Hacker Gentleman’s Racer that was under construction in June 2013 at my facilities in St. Leonard will be on land display at Calvert Marine Museum May 2-3, weather permitting…” I first saw this classic, red and white runabout while she was still under construction in 2013. “I built this boat from plans,” Charlie explained to me then. “She’s named Miss A.P.B.A. (for the American Power Boat Association).” He pointed to the drawings and tables of offsets spread out on a work bench. “They’re copies from an article in a 1922 issue of Motor Boating Magazine. The gold cup boats were being restricted in length and engine displacement. Racers were finding out that millionaire Gar Wood was dropping larger and larger aircraft engines into his boats and winning all the races. It was becoming ridiculous, so APBA tried to trim it back a little bit to make racing more competitive. They dropped the horsepower and the cubic inches back, and this was the result. This is a John Hacker design described as a 26-foot gentleman’s racer. It can be either a two-place or four-place boat. I put back seats in this one.” A shiny 458 Cadillac V-8 marinized by Charley was installed in the replica. True to her Hacker heritage, all the hardware on the Miss APBA, from the step pads to the steering wheel hub, sport the original Hacker logo. Scott and Mike Glyphis of Eastern Shore Boat Works in Ocean City, MD, report that they have one custom 25-foot cold-molded, center-console fishing boat in the final stages of completion. A second 25-foot hull has been molded and faired and when complete will have a custom-built coffin box, a live well, and a leaning post. Nancy Noyes shares the following update from Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) in Annapolis. “At CLC, we build boat builders. In March, we also helped build surfboard builders when Maine-based Grain Surfboards brought their traveling road show to our Annapolis workshop for a four-day build-your-own-surfboard class, the first ever hosted at CLC. Our regular spring class series continues into May in Annapolis before we head out on the road for summer sessions at the legendary WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, ME; the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville, MI; the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, NY; and new classes in Toronto, Ontario. We’ll be back in Annapolis with more classes in September, with additional sessions in Port Townsend, WA, and a repeat of last year’s successful class at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in October. A CLC build-your-own-boat class is a great way to spend a week’s vacation or staycation—with a take-home souvenir much better than a fading tan and a phone full of photos: a completed boat ready for finishing. See the complete schedule at: clcboats.com/classes.”