"The Unkindest Cut of All"

Well that's what Caesar might have said when he had to cut off the end of the bottom panel he had just perfectly fitted...however it turns out the "Dwight" was right after all. When we tried to shove the panel into place it just knuckled up into a hump behind the 2nd frame. Sooo we cut it off and scarphed (or possibly scarfed) the end over the third frame.

Chris makes the Unkindest Cut.

George bevels the cut-off panel for scarfing.

Earlier in the week (Thursday evening) was our monthly Shore Leave Night which was well attended - pizza & beer for $10 a head. The teams got to noodle their projects with others and the Youngest Member tried out for one of the upcoming Sea Flea driving openings....

"Boat Widow" catches up with Chris

 

and George

Troy studies sea flea details

Troy begins training early..

comparing notes...

In the engine shop more motors arrived, more were fired up and repairs are moving along.

Joseph cleans out a tank...

for the Lockwood Ash outboard

Rob dropped these two off.

We were delighted to welcome ACBS members Charlie and Rob from Coldwater who dropped off a pair of OMC outboards for the programme. Rob was the 2nd prize winner in the TIBS raffle and went home with a lovely cased model Chris-Craft! Also in the motor shop the parts for the 1956 Johnson 5 1/2 came back from the donated stripping job at Techno Strip in Brampton - looking really great too.

On the Sea Flea front Bernie has moved along with the prototype assembly. Transom is now fitted and includes a little bit of deadrise not in the original plan. Interesting how everything is laying in on nice fair lines now - getting the bow seam to pull up so well just eliminated a lot of difficulties.

Anton, Bernie and Troy glass seam.

dry fitting the final transom

another look at Bernie's Magic Sea Flea Tool!

TNT Team has a blast - as usual. Actually this is a fairly tedious part of the restoration process - refastening and plugging the old screw holes. However it is great to have all those steel screws out of the hull and replace by bronze boat nails. Filling the old screw holes involves dipping mahogany plugs in epoxy and whacking them into the holes.

Jason and Steve plug away...actually they are setting the boat nails!

The raffle skiff is moving along as well under the detailed attention of Wayne and Jim. The inside of the boat has been sanded out with 80 grit paper and all sharp edges have been softened as varnish will not do well on sharp edges. The stem is nicely shaped and trimmed, we are almost ready for interior stain.

Wayne fairs the stem

and Jim trims to height.

And the shot of the week...Troy's little guy takes his first sea flea ride....