Working through the rainy season
We’re used to the yard being full of timbers and milled wood to go onto the boat. Now the yard is being used as a staging ground for all of the wood coming off of the boat. Here’s one of the piles of staging along with the I-beam track system from down in the hold.
It’s getting pretty empty down there.
And yet, every morning before we open the boat up, more comes out.
The fashion pieces are now on. You can see how they smooth out the jog in the hull at the transition between the waist planking and the bulwarks planking.
With a coat of linseed oil paint on them, they just blend right into the rest of the hull.
Gary came by this week to lay out the lettering for the transom. He and Shelly put on two primer coats for the lettering, and the final paint should go on soon.
While the MORGAN’s name is painted on her transom, there are two risers up forward with her name carved and painted on them.
Gary did the carving and painting on these. They should be installed very soon.
It would be nice if the weather would cooperate.
Since the cover’s off we’ve had more rain than ever.
Speaking of the cover, Bob and the team continue to make steady progress on removing the scaffolding.
As the cover structure comes down, the good wood is stripped of fasters,
until there’s nothing left but the large scaffolding frames.
One by one, those are removed and put into storage.
You can see a stack of them on the trailer to the left. Every day we see more and more of the boat. It’s been a long time since anyone has seen her lines without interruption.
The punch list of things to do before launch is still long. The apprentices have been going over the hull inch by inch and finding ring staff holes that need to be filled, fasteners that need to be bungs, little indentations that need a touch-up of tar.
Every place that is identified is circled with chalk to make finding it easier. Some are obvious,
and some, a little more subtle.
May I offer you a serving of tar this afternoon?
It’s on special.
The port topsides have been given a good coat of paint,
and now it’s time to work on starboard. The grey / mauve paint is a primer coat.
Of course, this is just the hull. There’s lots more to do on board. Ann works on the paint along the cap rail.
We discovered that if you grind the iron mooring line pipe, and then there’s a torrential rain before you have a chance to clean everything up, well… this happens.
Oof. That’s going to take some clean up. At least the pipe itself is installed, painted and clean now.
Jon is now working on the inside of the fluke chain hawse pipe.
The original ring that acts as a chafe guard is well worn.
You can see where years of chain running through the lower right side of the ring have worn and deformed it. Rather than replace it, he’s working with fitting it as is.
You can see how he’s clamped the ring for the mooring line above the fluke pipe. The wedge holds the ring up while a clamp goes through the pipe and holds the ring firmly against the hull for fastening.
Roger continues to work on the two anchor hawse pipes. Here, he’s fitting the lead liners to the bulwarks.
You can see why they use lead. It’s quite malleable and forms around the opening beautifully.
On the outside of the boat, the lead sleeve is extended for now.
Later it will be cut and wrapped up against the hull.
Matt is steadily building up the gammon knee.
Because of all the work up forward, the cover here will be the last to go.
The boat will be on the lift dock for a while before the actual launch, so Trevor and the planking team are building a new, smaller stair tower that will allow visitors access to the boat from late June throughout July.
Well, small compared to the existing tower.