Well folks (4 boats?) - this week was our best Shore Leave night yet. Our newest board member Ray, thought the monthly event (last Thursday evening of the month) should have a revamp for longevity. To make his point he sponsored a Polish Sausage BBQ roast around the bonfire behind the boatshop. A few got there early and gathered up the fuel lying around and got the fire going. By the time everyone got there is was quite merry! Lots of great conversations and our best turnout yet!
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| George, Jim, Glen and Wayne near heat! |
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| Chris takes delivery from Troy |
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| Troy is self appointed chef! |
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| Boatbuilders gathering by the water |
We will be exploring new avenues to keep SLN vibrant and it is a bit of a fundraiser at $10 a head for food (especially if the food is sponsored! thank you Ray!) and beer so consider joining us for the next one!
In the shop this week we reached a major turning point in the Shepherd restoration project - both sides of the inner bottom are on the boat to stay. It took a team of 6 to make this happen - two gunning out the SikaFlex along the keel, frames and chines, two spreading the stuff out to make sure we have no moisture traps later and all 6 to carry the one-piece panel over to the boat and hold the keel edge in place until location is OK and the first few screws are driven. Most screws went into the holes from the dry fit process which is comforting. Once all the screws are in four of us started banging in the bronze boat nails on about 3" spacing.
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| Ray, Joseph and George SikaFlexing |
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| Bernie jumps in too... |
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| Jason, Ray and Anton spreading goo... |
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| and banging in the boat nails with Glen |
After the goo has set up - typically 24 hours - the screws can be removed. Our thinking is that when we apply the outer planks - they will be screwed right through everything and into the keel, chine and frames. If those screws hit a stainless screw head we have a problem whereas if they hit a bronze boat nail we probably won't even know. At least this is the theory - we haven't done this before and the pro's don't do it quite this way - stay tuned. Meanwhile the starboard side has been faired out and the original side planks dry fitted to assist in shaping the fairing of the inner bottom right at the bow - the trickiest part of all this process.
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| joint looks good near us but opens forward. |
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| needs more delicate shaving to close joint |
On to the Mini-Hopper project with Mad Bernie! By the end of the week the front deck is fully closed with the bulkhead epoxied in place. Beautiful detail work going on here - this will be the most elegant sea flea ever!
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| inner panel material being epoxy coated |
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| bulkhead in and sides faired. |
And the TNT ready for painting - almost. Next week a complete change...?
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| no such thing as too much surface prep...we learned this the hard way. |
Meanwhile Ray, who purchased a Contessa last fall is scrambling to get her ready for launching and he wants to make sure she is perfect. Last week polished, this week bottom bead blasted to the bare boat and now with her in the shop, the 5th coat of stinky paint on and two to go!
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| looks have been transformed - but a fiberglass boat in our shop? Who'd have thought... |
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Oh well not for long the way Ray is going at it.
So that's the news for this week!
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