ACBS Winter Workshop a blast!

This past Saturday was a beautiful day and what better thing to do than mess about with boats. At K&C we were pleased to host this year's ACBS Winter Workshop Event. The turnout was fantastic with the shop bursting at the seams for much of the time - I believe we had over 50 visitors plus our own team.

The session began with yours truly giving a brief (I hope) explanation of how we operate and in particular in how our kids programme works. This was supported by Hayes (one of our Probation Officer partners) who eloquently described the results he has seen with a number of the kids who he has brought to Boats 4 Folks.

Black blathering to...

a rapt crowd...

Constable Al Bonner of The Halton Regional Police Marine Unit spoke about current marine policing priorities, some of the common pitfalls they see and how to prepare for your boating outing. He has offered to be of whatever help they can be in the pursuit of our goals with kids and safe boating.

John Gullick of ACBS and CPS fame did a most entertaining demonstration of the use and repacking of inflatable PFD's. He pointed out that while they are very comfortable, they are only valid if being worn in the boat.

Constable Al was very informative...

and John was compelling in pink....

Next on the agenda was a presentation by our new volunteer (but long time Vincent chum of mine) Glen Cavers on the ingenious techniques employed in the 40's for hot rodding old engines. The highlight was the use of a Lincoln V12 distributor mated to the flathead 6 base that allowed two coils to fire 3 cylinders each - thus doubling the recharge time between sparks.

Also under way were the fashioning of a real transom to prototype 2 of our modified MiniMax with Bernie leading that discussion and action.

looking better and better! almost ready for a final one...

Over on Gas-Hopper teams went to work on eh stripping challenge lead by young Mr. Parcher who spread the stripping goo like an expert! It turns out that the hull is clad in 'glass which we were not really certain about so the heat method was quickly abandoned as it lifts the 'glass. Interesting how the removal of the paint clears up the history of the repairs done to the boat over the years! More about this in future reports.

Finally many of the group headed over to one of our storage barns to look at some of our boats - leaving others of us to begin the cleanup after a great day!

The volunteers of the Kids & Classics Boatshops Museum would like to thank the members of ACBS Toronto Chapter for honouring us with their presence. Special thanks to John Gullick for the fun it was to work with him in putting it all together!