Boatshow and Boatshop this week!

There was one good reason to venture past the ACBS booth into the TIBS this year and yours truly did so - to see the amazing new steamboat "AREZOO"! This is a work of art. Chris and I saw this boat apparently her first day in the water at his yacht club - Mimico. She was at the show and I had a chance to speak with the late owners daughter, Barb and learned that the steam equipment came from Peter Freebody on the Thames River in London, UK. The details of this boat are impeccable.

AREZOO at Mimico

Steam engine & controls

The ACBS booth was fun as usual, our own Harry Sutton was the Master of Ceremonies - sort of (really his wife Ruth). Displays included the requisite Dippy, several outboard hydros presented by Richard and Bill Shorney who we will hopefully see at our shop one of these days and a really lovely Ackroyd 9' rowboat much like the one in our store booth except it is beautifully restored by Kenny Lavalette of Woodwind Yachts (where Chris purchased Puffin).

Ruth & Harry Sutton at ACBS booth

Ackroyd Dinghy

Meanwhile back at the Kids & Classics Boatshop, the chips are flying and so was the 16' Shepherd! George and John went at the hole plugging like fiends and they are all done! Rails and frames are being sanded in preparation for paint this week.

plugs trimmed and being sanded

Shepherd flying on 2 cranes!

Meanwhile Chris and Jim went over the bottom of the skiff and decided that it need a bit more filling if we are to achieve a finish up to Anton's standards - question was "where is Anton?"

This week should see the grey part of the Shepherd repainted and the first coat of primer on the skiff. No word on the 96" wide canvas for the Lightning yet. We are going to look into applying a bit of stain to the bottom of the cedar dinghy which might soften the contrast with iron stains in the wood.

Drop in any Saturday morning to see what's up at the Kids & Classics Boatshop in Glen Williams!

of porcupines and paint...

Chris was in and sanded away on the skiff followed by Scott who did a bit more, tacked it off and with George laid a second coat of the Buff colour on the inside of the boat. One more sand and paint should finish the inside - perhaps later this week.

 

Chris cleaning up!

Scott & George - artistes!

 

 

 

George plugged more screw holes in the chines and keel of the Shepherd out board, John arrived later and drilled out the broken screws and plugged those too. All holes are now plugged with splints of mahogany and epoxy, they need to cure overnight so they can be sawn off flush tomorrow. Once that is done we will roll the boat over onto it's starboard side so we can remove the planking from the port side and do all the same to it.

 

George sticks it to the Shepherd

starboard fully porcupined

 

Meanwhile Roni reinvented the whole booth in the mill, dragging the shop team in to move around all the big bits! We added some shelves, pulled out boxes of freshly donated 'stuff' and began loading the shelves. Looks completely different now and she's just getting started! I believe Scott has 'volunteered' to impart a creative note into redesigning how we tell our story in the booth - watch for this development!

 

Roni and the New Look...

Let's see, where would this go best...

 

A great day in and around the boat shop!

I you like old boats, old motors and helping kids - come on out for a visit!

Saturdays from 9 to at least 1 pm

Tuesday & Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm

call 905 873-0141 for more information (Malcolm)

paint, varnish and rivets are flying!

a great day today (Dec 10 11) - lots got done...

Quail was taken outside and washed to remove the residue from the oxalic acid bleaching. George and Bob neutralized her with a baking soda wash as well. Next she can be sanded to see if that process did much to get rid of the water stains.

Scott, Grant, John and MB hauled the two Peterborough cedar strips and the 1946 Lightning down to the Norval barn and stowed them away inside. Now we just need a place to store Wings.

George and Bob sanded and applied the first colour coat to the inside of the skiff - it looks great! We'll leave it for a few days to set, give it a light sanding and another coat of Epifanes Buff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris and Scott applied the first coat of varnish to the Lightning coamings and deck trim parts. They'll need a coat a day for the next 4 or 5 days then sit to harden a bit before another sanding followed by a few more coats. Further research and conversations with Rick at Noah's has led us to come back to using real canvas on the deck, but set in epoxy.

 John and MB went at the copper rivets in the bottom of the 16' Shepherd and by late afternoon today at least half are out. We're thinking of setting the boat up on it's side for the next phase of the restoration - removal of the outer bottom planks

 

See you Tuesday and Thursday evening, 7 - 9 or next Saturday 9 to at least noon!

Lost Souls show up! and stuff happens...

Scott jumps in - well, leans in...

Lots happened this week in and around the shop....including the return of our long lost core volunteer Bill Bowmer! (and our only somewhat lost Scott)

Trevor preps the skiff for paint

Trevor sanded and helped apply another coat of paint to the skiff while mastering tossing a line!

Line laid out like a bar!

Trevor winds up for the toss..

 

Skiff is almost ready for colour on the inside...

 

 

 

 

 

Lightning is ready for deck covering and Chris has almost decided how we are going to do that. More original trim is ready for varnish as well. We are trying to retain as much of the original material as possible but still have a beautiful result.

 

the cleanup after the dumking

Three projects moved along this week!

 

16' Shepherd is out of the pond and back in the shop after a rinse out. The Merc Marathon is being reduced to it's components towards a full restoration - John in charge of that one.

6 weeks ago like this...

Today a bit more promising!

 

Quail our cedar tender was bleached with oxalic acid to reduce the black iron stains. Again we are hoping to be able to return it to a bright finish - won't be perfect but we'll see. Huge improvement so far!

 

This week we' hope to get the Shepherd off it's trailer and onto dollies. While it did take up immensely after 3 weeks in the pond, it is not tight by any means so...we'll be doing a bottom rebuild before anything else. A venture into new territory!

Quail will next be sanded with 60 grit to see what happens to the stains and to smooth our the best of the damage to her planks.

Colour coat on the skiff

and Lighting trim ready for varnish? (Chris?)

Of outboards and sailboats..sinking and otherwise!

Here's what's up at our community boatshop this week...

Lightning sailboat:

Chris and Trevor restoring trim

Kayce poping plugs for Chris

• method of canvassing the deck is pretty much settled, real canvas laid in epoxy - just a bit of research into the best epoxy for this app to complete.
• team has decided to retain as much of the original trim parts as possible so we have been repairing, plugging, sanding and staining all the miscellaneous coamings, corner blocks etc getting them ready for varnish, possibly this week.

Skiff:

Kayce sanding skiff

first coat of primer

• first coat of primer on the inside on Saturday, more this week.

Shepherd Outboard:

really - it will float (next summer)

Merc 6 cyl outboard attacked by John & Anton

• John pumped out the hull which is sunk in his pond and she floats far better than when first immersed (water level didn't change as it went in the first time - leaked literally like a sieve!) One more week in the water then a final test to see how much it tightened up - then back to the shop.
• Mercury Marathon 700 (70 hp) has been partially disassembled on the way to a full restoration although there doesn't seem to be any serious damage. We did hook it up and get it running first.

Chris Cavalier:

• acquisition of this 30' 1961 ChrisCraft Cruiser is complete, she has a good survey and will take very little to be ready for the water in the spring. Plan is to truck it to Manotic near Ottawa, do minor spring maintenance then cruise her to Picton.

Why not come out and join us Saturday mornings (9-1), Tues and Thus evenings (7-9) or pass this on to someone you know who might enjoy messing about in boats while helping kids learn new skills! Perfect for parents and their kids to share a learning experience over the winter then go boating with us next summer! We teach boating skills to our youth and adult volunteers which is part of the reason for the restoration of the Shepherd Outboard (the other is that it is really cool) - if you have some or even NO boating background we can take you from rowing to small outboards, big outboards, small inboards up to twin screw inboards and of course sailing!

See you soon!

November in the boatshop and beyond!

Well the 27' Shepherd is covered and over at the quarry - not a perfect solution but OK. Next year hopefully we can afford a fitted cover if we still don't have indoor storage.

 

We have the materials to make a similar cover for Wings too if a team can come together to tackle it.

 

 

 

Still have 2 Peterborough's and our 1946 Lightning to go to the Norval barn from behind the boatshop.

 

The 16' Shepherd is soaking in the pond at the quarry to see if it will take up over the next couple of weeks. If not it is new bottom time - curious though because the inside of the bottom looks good with no obvious failures...

 

 

 

1960 Lightning has been the subject of research into the various ways of covering the deck - boy lots of opinions out there in the ether! We are considering a hybrid of our own creation - 1. epoxy the deck and perfect it. 2. lay 96" wide real canvas in wet epoxy. 3. apply several coats of S1 epoxy sealer to the canvas. 4. prime and paint with Epifanes yacht paint (our usual technique). Our thinking is that this will make the canvas impervious to moisture intrusion but leave the look of canvas when complete.

 

 

 

Quail, our 10' cedar dinghy has it's bottom stripped and ready for bleach which we now have. The bleach is Oxalic acid which is specifically used to remove the black water stains from the wood. Now if we just knew how to mix it and apply it....anyone? The 5 1/2 HP Johnson outboard has been somewhat torn down in the process of seeing if it will run and be restorable - needs coils, points and condensers for sure!

 

31' ChrisCraft Cavalier, a new donation. This boat was offered a few years ago but we didn't have the formula to accept it then. It was re-offered a few months ago and we have gone through the process of surveys and other due diligence and reached the conclusion that we should accept it. The boat is in very fine condition with very minor work required to put it in the water next spring near Ottawa. K&C volunteers will cruise it to it's new home in Picton where Grant will care for it and where we will be looking to create a new local K&C programme with youth in that area as well as using it for volunteer outings similar to last summer's Supertest outing in Picton.

 

Come on out to the Boatshop in the Glen on any Saturday morning between 9 and noon - see what's happening and join in by all means.

Boatrides, new deck and other September wonders!

Well a huge milestone has been passed with the installation of the new deck on the Lightning, Tuesday evening! Many hands "on deck" was never more appropriate...

George, Scott, Chris and Jim - Ready!

 

Next the Sikaflex...

Lots of bronze boatnails...

DONE! off to the pub...

Next it will need to be faired (Anton are you listening?) then painted and canvassed. 

Meanwhile the skiff parts need a few coats of varnish to be finished, although the painting can begin on the hull.

Motorhead Volunteer Bernie has taken on the restoration of our 5 1/2 HP Johnson over this winter and to go with it we have brought a pretty little 10' cedarstrip tender called "Quail" into the shop for restoration over the winter as well.

Jim records how the rope gunnel fits.

Stripping under way..



With a new jug of stripper on hand, the final layer of bottom stripping can be completed on Quail. 

So far it looks like the planking is all OK although she will need a new external keel and skeg.

Lots of us have been out riding in Despina, our 27' Shepherd which is based at Outer Harbour in Toronto until after Thanksgiving. If you would like to be a Gatsby supporter and be invited, let us know!

Grant, Roni & Hunter and Gretchen all smiles...

Our primary purpose (with Despina) is to promote a new Sick Kids Boatride programme for next summer. If you would like to be part of this programme either with connections to kids organizations, connections to sponsorship or an active roll in delivering the activities, let us know about that too.