Sand, Paint, Sand, Paint, Sand, Paint, Sand, Paint.

Having finally laid the long cold winter to rest, the Rosie Parks restoration crew has made the shift to springtime. And we all know what spring means in the boating world. Painting and more of it! Of course, good painting requires preparation. This means not only much, much sanding, but other types of prep as well.

Here the shipwrights are preparing lead flashing for all of the joints at the stemhead, knightheads, and sampson post. These joints will be inaccessible after the bowsprit is installed and must be thoroughly protected. Malleable sheet lead is pounded flat into one large sheet and made ready for templating. 

The common manila folder is the perfect thickness for template material. All of the necessary patterns are prepared in advance and then positioned to minimize material waste. The lead is then cut with shears or "tin snips" to the proper shape. It is then folded and hammered into place at the correct location. 

All of the flashing is bedded with a "special blend" of goo that creates a very, very inhospitable environment for any type of fungal growth. The lead is then nailed down with stainless steel ringshank nails approximately 1" apart. Each nail hole is pre-drilled as required with a 1/16" drill bit. Shipwright Shane only broke every single drill bit in the shop in the process. There were over 500 holes, after all.

Vessel Maintenance Manager Michael Gorman gives a painting lesson on Rosie's deckhouse. All of the previously varnished portions are taped, and the top is "rolled and tipped". This technique is common to the marine industry. A paint roller is used to apply the paint and is immediately "tipped" with a high quality paintbrush to eliminate roller marks. The bristle marks left by the brush then "lay down" with the liberal use of Penetrol, a brushing liquid that is added to the paint. Penetrol is the nectar of the Gods and gives the paint a silky, milky slick consistency. It is often measured with the "glug glug" method, more of an art than a science.

For instance:

 "Is it slick enough?"

"I don't know. Give me another glug."

"You got it."

Glug. 

"How bout now?"

"Sweeeet."

Rosie's deckhouse with her thin first coat after hand sanding with 80 grit paper.

The deck is prepared for...yes...painting. I know. We hear it every day. We agree that it really is a shame to paint over that beautiful Douglas Fir, but the old girl needs to be protected. The deck is washed with a water hose, and then mopped with denatured alcohol to eliminate any other dust and dirt. It will only hurt for a minute. Then she'll look great!

Deck painting with flat oil based marine paint in process. The first coat is applied with a 12" roller, but is not tipped. The roller marks will just be sanded out anyway. Each coat is hand sanded with 80 grit paper. A daunting task at first, but actually rather peaceful and meditative in practice. It helps to have a smart phone, some computer speakers, and a rockin 80's mix to get your groove on. 

Rosie with her first full coat of white above the rubrail. Amazing what a transformation a few days of sunny springtime work can make!

Apprentice For a Day Boat- Replica Ghost

Boat Yard Program Manager Jennifer Kuhn of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels, MD reports progress is moving along on the 15’9” deadrise sailing skiff being built by Apprentice for a Day (AFAD) public boatbuilding participants.  The skiff will be a replica of the circa 1916 bateau skiff, Ghost, which is part of CBMM’s collection of historic Chesapeake boats. 

With the top side and bottom planking installed then fared, it was time for the molds of the sailing bateaux to be popped off. This allowed participants to flip the vessel over to continue the construction of its interior.  Shipwrights, volunteers & AFAD participants added the remaining white oak stub frames, installed the cyprus centerboard trunk, constructed the rudder, and designated the cut-out for the mast step. With the interior sealed and the mast partner in place, the sassafras decking and white oak rub rails are next to be installed, while starting to shape the 25' mast. 

The public boatbuilding program continues on weekends through May, with drop-in participation for one day or more welcome. For more information, contact afad@cbmm.org or call 410-745-4980. 

Rosie's New Rudder and Companionway Hatch

The Rosie Parks restoration gang was involved in some very interesting projects during the month of January. Aside from trying to stay warm, the gang installed Rosie's rudder, and work on her companionway hatch continued, and is now nearing completion.

Shot of galvanized steel rudder "gudgeon" looking up through shaft hole in transom.
The rudder is equipped with a "pintle" that fits into the hole in the gudgeon. The top of the rudder is attached to, and supported by the steering gear tucked away in the gearbox on deck. 

A backhoe was necessary to dig a 3'-6" hole in the frozen ground in order for the rudder shaft
to clear the transom. Despite digging through frozen oyster shell and hitting concrete from a pre-existing slab, the mighty Kubota got the job done in less than half an hour.

Special Project Manager Marc Barto measures clearance to let the
backhoe operator know how much further to dig. 

Shipwrights and volunteers "bury" the rudder and prepare for its "resurrection."

Shipwright Apprentice Shane Elliott climbs into the hole to unscrew the lifting straps
from the bottom of the rudder. He claims it was "colder than a well digger's...constitution." down there.

Installation complete!

After the rudder installation, new Shipwright's Apprentice Eric Hervol began working with
Marc Barto to fabricate the companionway hatch. White Oak was milled for the rails, and
miniature beams were cut (the curved pieces in the photo) and dry fit.

Here, the cabin top is taped for gluing, and the rails are set in place. 

Crisp white glue line and evenly spaced 3/8" galvanized lag screws drilled through
the cabin top and into the deck beams below to insure a "bomb proof" installation. 

Apprentice Shane Elliott chisels out a mortise in the cabin top's corner post which has been left long
for just this occasion. The curved cap rail will then fit into place.
The cap rail is the piece of wood that capture the hatch itself as it slides back and forth. 

Shane and Eric chisel their respective corner posts. Eric uses the "electric chisel" for his initial rough cut; Shane uses a hand chisel for cleaning up the first cut. The "electric chisel" has a proper name: the Fein tool. It makes surgical, extra fine kerf cuts, and  is perfect for this application. 

The completed joint now receives rounding over with a sander, and lag bolts for installation. 

"The Deadliest Crew" as referred to by some here at the Museum. When the boatyard starts its first "Gangster Rap" ensemble, it will have the perfect cover art for its first album. 

Docents Paul Carroll and Lloyd Devigne started volunteering as CBMM docents years ago. They conducted the first tours in 2013 for the American Auctioneers & Appraisers and the Auctioneers Association of Maryland. The groups were enjoying a weekend at the St. Michael's Harbor Inn & Spa while exploring St. Michaels. They pick a different venue each year for their meetings. A few have been on the Eastern Shore, but not in St. Michaels. For some the area is all waiting to explore.

We did a fair circuit of the CBMM 18 acre campus, including the boat shop where Jenn Kuhn has volunteers and Apprentice for a Day visitors building a replica of the 1920 Ghost skiff. (See the Star Democrat article dated 27 January 2013). Our visitors didn't start talking fast to sell off CBMM's fabulous artifacts. A few will be auctioning off decoys and guns & other items in the not too distant future. They left with more stories and information about the Chesapeake to add to their repertoire.

Lloyd Devigne (in blue) and Paul Carroll (in green) wait in the  CBMM store for  our visitors. These two docents have given hundreds of tours & adapt their dialog for each group.

Linda & Richard Lowry of Westminster, Maryland have enjoyed many visits to CBMM. This was unique for three reasons. First, the other auctioneers were seeing the Eastern Shore or St. Michaels. Second, Richard fondly remembers sailing in to CBMM before the Hooper Strait Lighthouse was added in 1966. Third and more importantly, they became great grandparents & had to drive back to see their newborn descendent for the first time, arriving back at the Inn in the middle of the night to finish sharing the event with their colleagues. Mia is beautiful and a new joy in their lives.

The docents ask some basic questions to gauge what these particular visitors want to see  and hear about on our 18 acre campus.  There are so many stories to tell in a short time.

The flyway description is a fine way to begin to understand the Chesapeake Bay region.

Punt guns are familiar to some of these visitors.

Hunters really did get into these "coffins" in the sink boxes to go after water fowl.

Oysters are brought up in tongs during this cold season. Getting a few off the dock at Waterman's Wharf is simpler than trying to bring bushels back to the packing house to make a living.

Lynne Zink, President of the Auctioneers of Maryland ( in the black coat) is the international Bid Calling Champion. She's  on  the deck of the 1951 Owens Six-Sleeper Express. Lia Kvatum (in a warm grey jacket) is the 2013 Bid Calling Champion for Maryland.

Deckhouse and Monkey Rails

The Rosie Parks restoration gang made much headway on the skipjack's deckhouse (or doghouse as it is sometimes referred to) prior to the holidays. Then we ate too many brownies, and way too many cookies. Work slowed considerably, but the new year brought a new apprentice, Eric Hervol, and we are now back in full swing. Hopefully our shiny new cabin and fancy new monkey rails speak for themselves.

Shipwright apprentice Shane and our high school intern Johnny pound a 1/2" galvanized rod to tie together the Douglas Fir strakes of the deckhouse. A strake is an individual board or system of boards that composes the side of the deckhouse

Three strakes down, one to go. The rough openings of the window and companionway hatch are formed into the sides rather than cut afterward.

The individual cabin-side strakes meet at the corners with a half-lapped joint. A portion of each strake is removed to interlock with the remaining portion of the other strake, similiar to a dovetail joint. This builds strength and stability into the cabin's design.

Similar to the forward hatch, an oak ledger is attached to the cabin sides for deck beam bearing, and mortised with carlin notches. Volunteer Cliff inspects while Shane marks for a carlin. Carlins are short beams that run perpendicularly to the cambered deck beams.

Close up shot of carlin with routed bead on bottom and fastener hole at top.

Beams, carlins, and vertical corner posts at the companionway in place and ready for the cabin top strakes.

Cabin top strakes in progress. Several strakes on each side are tapered or "coopered" like a barrel to form the trapezoidal shape of the cabin top. Always remember...nothing is square on a boat!

On with the sealer. Two coats and she'll be nice and shiny--and protected for the winter, prior to spring painting.

The monkey rail is a low railing around the aft half of the boat, abaft of the roller knees. We first laid 1/8 luan pattern stock over the existing log rail and then trimmed it to shape with a pattern making bit in a pin router. Next we laid out our scarfs in the patterns, and then transferred them to our stock.

In this shot, the two portions of rail at the aft corner of the boat are taped and ready for "Sika-flex," a phenomenally tenacious, pervasive, ubiquitous adhesive caulk. They will be joined with (2) 1/4" bolts at each scarf. 

Here, "space invaders" block the monkey rail up off of the log rail 6", allowing for drilling and installing 1/2" galvanized rod with clinch rings. The wood spacer blocks happen to be shaped like the infernal aliens from a  fantastic 1980's video game. The rod is then peened over creating a head (a 3 day process for volunteer Mike Corliss) that fits into an indentation in the clinch ring. It is effectively a homemade bolt. 

Shane drills through the monkey rail and the log rail while Special Project Manager Marc Barto gives the drill bit "the evil eye" checking for plumb.

The rod is driven through the clinch ring, and then into a piece of 3/4" pipe. After the spacer blocks are removed, the pipe holds the monkey rail off of the log rail. 

Close up shot of rod and pipe. To remove the spacer, twist the leg up, and pound it out with a hammer.

'

Volunteers Mike and Cliff pounded down the rail the last 3/4" and the rail was complete.

The fruits of our labor. Monkey rails in. Deckhouse in progress. And built just like Bronza Parks intended for her to be built for his brother, Captain Orville Parks, in 1955.

AFAD begins work on Ghost

Hi all! Sorry we've been MIA since November -- things have slowed down a bit in the Boatyard and then the holidays came. But we're back now and we've made quite a bit of progress.

Boatyard Program Manager Jenn Kuhn reports participants in the Museum's Apprentice for a Day (AFAD) public boatbuilding program have begun work building a replica of the deadrise bateau skiff Ghost.
Built circa 1916-1920 in Shadyside, Maryland by Captain Charles Edward Leatherbury, the 15’9” x 5’10” skiff is noted for its herringbone planking and sharp deadrise increasing at the bow and stern.

AFAD participants began the process by taking the lines off the historic skiff. They will continue step-by-step on select Saturdays and Sundays through May, 2013, with drop-in and scheduled participants welcomed. The new boat will be planked in cedar and decked in sassafras, with frames of oak. Most of her other structural members will be constructed of white oak, with the forefoot made up of “chunks” with the grain parallel to the herringbone planking.  

A single, 146-square-foot leg-of-mutton sail will be created at the museum during the program, and will later be carried on a raked mast.  

Donated to CBMM in 1966 by Mrs. Milton Offutt, Ghost sailed the Severn River extensively until WWII, and later traveled with the bugeye Richard J. Vetra to log canoe races and other regattas along with log canoes Island Bird and Magic. More information about the rebuild and CBMM’s public boatbuilding program can be found online at www.cbmm.org. 

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Stay tuned for updates on Rosie and other historic vessels.

Skipjack Rosie Parks Update Video: Deck & Caulking done, on to the Hatches!

With the decking, caulking, sanding, and varnishing done, the shipwrights moved on to the construction of the hatches. See Rosie's progress over the summer and fall months and watch the Parks family come together at the annual November OysterFest.