AFAD, Rosie Parks, Skipjack Kathryn, Sailing Saturdays at CBMM mixed bag

The boatyard at CBMM was busy in August, as usual. Her are a few of the fabulous people enjoying the Chesapeake Bay at it's best.

Barbara Underwood, daughter of John Carey, a Crisfield Waterman on the left with Gayle Whitelock and Patti Whitelock, the grandaughter and great grand daughter of Welles Evans, an early owner of the Kathryn enjoyed the ride from Deal Island to the CBMM.

Stoney, current owner & captain of the Skipjack Kathryn. She's 110 years old.

Here's the Woods family enjoying the day on the Smith Island Skiff waiting for the start of the log canoe race on the Miles River. The skiff was built here at CBMM.

Jenn & Marc are happy about the visible progress they're making on Rosie Parks.

Frank is making progress on the stem of his 1938 ChrisCraft.

Casey and Bill are having fun planing one of the planks for the 3rd Smith Island Skiff.

Roo & Peter Woods brought their skiff back briefly for a few small additions.

Casey Nelson is taking the Rushton pulling boat out as the NJ Melonseed sails in during August's Sailing Saturday.

Tracey Munson, VP of Communications, is in taking pictures of the 3rd Skiff while one of the Talbot mentor/mentee pairs are at AFAD.

Marty came over from the shop to watch as Doc shows Jermaine Thomas the right angle for the drill. This is another picture of Neil's back. He came over to work since there wasn't enough wind for sailing. Don Schatz, Jermaine's mentor is all the way on the right.

The planking is going along nicely.

Neil is securing one plank while Dan goes to get another.

Ellie and Henry Sweterlitsch play at Rosie's wheel. Orville would have enjoyed watching these 5 and 8 year olds taking turns at being captain & figuring out how the gearing works to move the rudder.

Two more visitors enjoying a visit and looking at the rows of plugs used to cover the screws.

Bill, Doc John & Dan wait as Mary Sue pulls two pieces of Iroko out of the steam box. They were quickly clamped on a jig to give them a curve for use in holding up the canvas cover of the Rushton.

A New Aft Strongback for Rosie

After the completion of a new graving piece for the most forward part of the keelson, the worm shoe was reattached and the crew removed the cabin, in order to get to the aft strongback. A skipjack's strongback helps to support the structure of the boat under the fore cabin while stabilizing the boat from port to starboard.

Shipwright apprentice moves the old wood to set on top the new lumber for the shipwright's work on the strongback.

The old strongback was cut into pieces to remove from Rosie. Shipwrights are keeping any old wood that can be saved as artifacts to the original Rosie Parks skipjack.

Piece by piece, you can see what the old strongback looks like.

The strongback is notched to attach the stringers for the bottom planks.

Old drift pins will be replaced with new galvanized steel drift pins in Rosie's restoration. Remember our posts about sweet nails? These wooden 'toothpicks' are used below the waterline, like on the centerboard. The strongback is above the waterline, just under the fore cabin.

There's that plumb line. This is where the new strongback will be placed.

She looks so different with her decks opened up and the wheelhouse gone.

Shipwrights Marc Barto and Jenn Kuhn and Mike Corliss stand behind the new aft strongback for Rosie. In front of the strongback is the pattern that was created and used.

The timber is rough hewn, and on purpose.Marc Barto says he wanted the new wood to be installed much like builder Bronza Parks had it to begin with.

3 Guys, 12 Hours and 1 Leaking Boat...

Jackson Skiff is a locally built boat from the 50's used for crabbing. She's shallow draft for the area water, economical on fuel, fun to drive, and has been consistently leaking in the stern. So when its her turn to come out for summer maintenance, we want her to go back in looking good and staying dry. Once we remove the fuel tank and drop some planks off the back end, it's not hard to see what the problem has been.

Over time the rabbet has become chowdered and the rudderpost hole (which was probably drilled too big to start) has become bigger to the point of meeting up with the rabbet. This allows water to flow steadily in behind the planking. Jackson has a tendency to dry out quickly when out of the water so putting her back in before the weekend of 100 degree heat was the goal. That leaves a day and a half to to fix and launch her so we can make sure she's swollen up before we go to the pub.

Here we have chopped off out side portion of the horn timber that forms the rabbet. Also set up a guide to drill a bigger hole  for a plug being made.

With hole drilled and the plug made, a hole more fitting for the rudder post is drilled into the plug. The plug is then glued into the horn timber.

                                                Next in the sequence, is to reform the rabbet with a new piece of white oak. While this being cut and installed, one of the boys is milling stock for new planks. On a job like this, its important to think two steps ahead.

                          

As the new piece is being bedded and fastened, cross planking goes on the bottom. This traditional way of planking a bottom is both quick and reliable.

Caulking has been done in the seams and bottom paint is being applied  while the last hole for the rudder post is drilled back down through the plug. Its important that all the drilling is done accurately so the rudder moves easily.

After marking the waterline and touching up paint, shes ready to be launched.

She is now back in her home and dry as we could hope...and we made it to the pub on time to start the weekend off right with a job well done and a cold beverage.

Removing Rosie's Wheelhouse & Hatch

This past weekend, the Boat Yard crew installed the first new deck beams, simultaneously removing the hatch opening, followed by the removal of the wheelhouse, also called a doghouse.

The centerboard trunk has been completed and work has begun on the aft deck beams.

First deck beam installed & another removed.

Second installed & another removed. Do you see a pattern here?

Prior to removal of hatch opening and deck beams.

looking forward...

Jenn is shaping the deck beam while the next one is being laminated behind her.

Jenn Kuhn is shaping the joint on the deck beam to accept the carlin.

On Friday volunteers Bob & Mike, helped us raise the cabin.

Cabin or dog house has been raised and is sitting on 4 x 4's.

The shipwrights slid 2" x 8" x 20" pieces of lumber under the dog house in preparation for removal.

Prepping for the first step of sliding the dog house aft.

Clamped and ready to go.

Second step, sliding strapping under the house and chaining it to the fork lift.

We have a safe lift off!

Moving the cabin to its new resting place.

Success!

Not bad for a Saturday early morning.