The days are longer and warmer, the roadside signs advertising shrink wrap have been replaced by signs for slip rentals and sailing lessons, and our boatyards are once again bustling and full of do-it-yourselfers. Can there be any doubt that spring is finally really here?
[gallery type="square" link="file" ids="14032,14033" orderby="rand"]
Alex Shlegel of Hartge Yacht Yard in Galesville, MD, brings us up to date and shares our delight in spring: “Other than the big snow at the end of January, the generally mild winter has been good for business. A lot more gets accomplished when you don’t have to dress like an Eskimo and improvise ways to warm your work area. We filled the yard to overflowing with winter storage boats and then hauled two more. One had to be up for a Coast Guard inspection and repairs. Another haul out was for a waterman friend who is converting a three-sail bateau pleasure boat to an oyster dredger. With that, there was no room left for the travel lifts. We have had a normal amount of typical boatyard work such as replacing corroded fuel tanks, re-bedding leaky ports, repairing Awlgrip scratches, upgrading wiring, and electronics repairs.
Something that was normal for us 40 years ago, but unusual these days, was refinishing the varnished masts of a Herreshoff ketch. Oddly the finish was bubbling in places, but the rest wouldn’t come off with a heat gun or chemical remover. Ernie Stuemer set an electric plane just right and cut off just the deteriorated finish leaving a smooth flat surface on the sitka spruce masts that needed little sanding.
Muriel Eileen, a 1926 buy boat, was launched before Christmas after we rebuilt the troublesome area where the horn timber meets the keel and is pierced by the prop shaft and shaft log. We painted the new wood in the stuffing box area and the interior of the hull from the shaft log area to the transom. We are now digging into bad wood on the chunk stern and the bulwark around the stern that appears to be the original yellow pine. The replacement wood is Ipe and that should last forever.”
Dave Hannam with Classic Watercraft Restoration in Annapolis reports one of his new spring restorations just arrived after being trucked over from northwestern Ohio: “This ole woody brings with her a great history as a family heirloom and was passed down to the third generation from her 1950s cabinet maker, who built this as the last of 13 boat builds. She’s lined up for some shiny new coatings and a mechanical reliability upgrade. We are talking unique: She is currently powered with a Ford 312 out of a 1956 Crown Victoria, includes a working clutch, an actual floor shift, and the original car gas pedal! This was the first of a kind that I have ever seen. Guaranteed, this should be a fun boat to sea trial… a real pedal to the metal out on the Bay!”
By the way Dave, we occasionally still see that sort of arrangement on workboats. It’s called a “waterman’s conversion.”
It has been a very busy month around
Suffolk, VA’s Forrester Boatwork’s shop. Carson Forrester reports: “The guys have been fairing the hull on the 17-foot Trout Skiff. Paint will go on the hull this week, and we will go to work on finishing the inside. This boat will be used as a demo boat until it sells. The 17 will have a forward casting deck and plenty of rod storage. The boat comes with a teak transom and helm. For a long-lasting, durable finish the boat will be painted with Awlgrip paint and have a non-skid finish on the floor and gunnels. It will be powered with a 2016 50-hp Evinrude Etech and come with an aluminum bunk skiff trailer.”
We have a new reporter from
F&S Boatworks in Bear, DE, this month. Ashley Tabibian sends us this quick update: “Right now we have two boats being built: an F&S 78 with twin MTU 2600-hp diesel engines and an F & S 64 with twin MTU 1925 horsepower diesel engines.”
Cad Brenner submits the following report from
Classic Restoration and Supply/Vintage Craft Boats in Philadelphia, PA: “We have an 11-foot Boston Whaler getting new factory gel coat inside and out. Other projects include all new planking on a 1933 Chris-Craft. A new 5200 bottom is being installed on a Chris-Craft Holiday; we’re also getting ready to stain a 1934 Garwood runabout.”
Buster Phipps of Phipps Boatworks in Deale, MD, reports that the hull varnish on the 1940 Hacker Craft
Li’l Angel in his shop is complete. They are refinishing her deck.
From the
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD, Boatyard Program Manager Jennifer Kuhn reports progress on the 25-foot draketail being built by Apprentice for a Day public boatbuilding participants is on schedule for a late summer launch: “Participants have successfully drilled for the one-inch prop shaft, with installation of the white oak keel and chines and Osage forward knee completed. The bead and cove Atlantic white cedar topside planking and the traditional cross-planked bottom are ready for fairing and painting. The crew has also switched out the Yanmar original V-drive transmission for a straight drive.
Pin Tail will be flipped over, with work continuing on the weekends to finish out the interior.
The 25-foot Hooper Island draketail features a reverse-rake round stern and is modeled after the museum’s Bronza Parks-built
Martha. The public can join in on the build throughout the process for one or more AFAD sessions, which take place on weekends through June. CBMM is offering a reduced $25 participation fee the third Saturday of each month. For more information or to register, email Jenn Kuhn at
[email protected].”
Meg Roney sends us this update from Mathews Brothers Boatworks in Denton, MD: “In addition to a brokered Mathews 40 at the Bay Bridge Boat Show, we’ll also have a brokered Patriot 29—be sure to stop by and see us! While the boat show is going on, we will be hosting our second Nautical Flea Market & Brokerage boat sale of the season at Mathews Landing. These will continue throughout the season on the first and third Saturdays of each month. The nautical flea market will also be open Thursday thru Saturday on most weeks as well. As with last year, consignments are welcome.
On the routine spring front, we are busy wrapping up winter maintenance, detailing, commissioning, and delivering boats. While we deliver several boats to nearby ramps, many of our boats are delivered right here to the ramp in Denton, so the first boat ride is down the beautiful winding Choptank River. We have pretty well wrapped up our major projects (i.e. paint jobs, replacing fuel tanks, etc.) that kept us going over the winter with the exception of the ever-evolving
Crow Bros II. Check out our daily pics, so you can see the boat coming together!”
From Lowery’s Boat Shop in Tilghman, MD, Doug Lowery and Craig Brittingham update us on progress of the restoration of
Classy Lassy, a 1959 24-foot Chris-Craft Sportsman. A movie star, the
Lassy was used in 1981’s On Golden Pond. The restoration, first reported in this column in September 2015, has progressed well, according to Craig: “…seats are being fitted, floor is installed, and sanding and varnishing continues. (We’re) hoping for a completion date of April 1 to put her on the market.”
Lauren Distefano of Bluewater Yacht Yards in Hampton, VA, reports: “We have a yard full of boats for different projects; several boats in our yard are having their bottoms soda blasted and getting fresh bottom paint. On a 60-foot B&D boat works, we are striping and repainting the bottom, hull, and topsides. Interior upgrades will also be added. We also have a 52-foot Viking yacht
Contango getting bottom paint, topside gel coat repairs, hull paint, rub rail, and non-skid. Also custom boot stripes and a custom mezzanine installation. The mezzanine will also have teak installation, refrigeration, and freezer boxes along with custom bait trays. We have a full line up of paint jobs just in time for fishing season!”
Butch Garren brings us up to date on activity at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD, by the Patuxent Small Craft Guild: “The 1938 Kennebec canoe restoration had to be hoisted to the rafters to make room for three spring boat building projects at the Patuxent Small Craft Guild (PSCG). Their 20-foot, electric-powered crab skiff
Carol Jeanne is right on schedule with sides on and bottom being fitted. Volunteer Ed Gies is hard at work on the museum’s mainstay 16-foot plywood canoe that will serve as the year’s raffle boat and model for the PSCG family building program. With all the activity in the shop, the crew has still found time to get the museum’s iconic skipjack, the
Dee of St Marys, de-ballasted and ready for the spring haul out at Washburn’s Boat Yard. Over the winter, with her mast and boom horizontal, she has been fitted with new hardware and stays. All of these traditional craft are expected to be in the water in time for the annual Maritime Festival in early May.”
Bruce Sanders of Rappahannock Yachts in Irvington, VA, commented: “The unique restoration project has been an exciting one for the entire team of skilled craftsmen at Rappahannock Yachts. The cockpit floor and rudder structures have been replaced with fiberglass, new bulkheads installed, delaminated deck repaired, bottom faired, and Awlgrip applied to hull, deck, cockpit and spars. We are anxious to see the final restoration of
Interlude. She is going to be spectacular.”
by Capt. Rick Franke