Averisera: April 2016 Archives

Skerry Project--Day 46

By Norman H. Martin on April 23, 2016 8:29 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Several fussy parts of the project completed today. The seats were filleted in position. Yesterday we "tack-glued" them into position. The fillets are a thick epoxy mixture that is very strong. It glues the seat panels into place very firmly. The fussy part is that Elizabeth has to do the work crouched over and tries to do the smoothing very delicately and precisely. It is slow tedious work.

Other completed tasks are fairing the foils, epoxying them with a final clear coat, assembling and tack-gluing the yoke to the rudder. Lots of sanding by hand and with the big belt sander.

Soon enough, we will be painting the interior and exterior. The paint and varnish is ordered and due in next week. Should be exciting to see the boat begin to look finished.

We are looking forward to sailing with friends out on Pleasant Bay in the Skerry, Zeppelin.

Skerry Project - Day 45

By Elizabeth on April 22, 2016 5:24 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The weather was wonderful today. Dry, not too windy, temps in the 60s. Our new workspace in the garage was the perfect place to prep the boat for gluing down the seats. We spent the morning sanding the parts to the rudder, the mast partner, and the mast step. Norm assembled the mast step and glued that together. E sanded the rudder parts, and we prepared the cheeks so we could add those to the assembly. E also sanded the rudder and the daggerboard. We'll need another coat of epoxy on those pieces, and some fairing as well, to get the right curves.

We both sanded the frames, front and backs (it will be difficult to finish after the seats are installed) and the tops, where the seats will sit on the frames. With everything ready, we made our mustard consistency epoxy and got all the seats in place. They are weighted down with every heavy object we could find.

Here is the rudder assembly, with its new cheeks. Lots of clamps.

Spring Break - Cape Cod Visit

By Elizabeth on April 22, 2016 9:04 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Two of our grandkids had spring break vacation this week. We scooped them up on our way back from a concert in Maine, and brought them for a few days visit to Cape Cod. Lots of fun having youngsters around. They keep us young, and play for grownups is not only allowed but expected!

Sunset at Bank Street Beach!

Rowing on Lonnie's Pond.

Model boat evolution, from simple to more complex.

A single mast, one sail. Light air design.

If one sail is good, two must be better. Unfortunately this was not a light air week at the beach...

Final design modification - bowsprit and jib. It still sails, but only downwind.... Young man still smiling.

Marina and Teddi became fast friends. Teddi is missing her terribly.

Skerry Project- Day 44

By Norman H. Martin on April 21, 2016 8:29 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

We moved... the boat out of the basement and into the garage. Warmer weather is the big factor. One might suspect that keeping the house clean could be a factor, too.

We do a lot of sanding. Outdoors, the light is terrific and we can see blemishes that need attention. The 5 inch orbital gets a lot of attention, gives a lot of love.

New workspace in the garage looks like this.

Tomorrow we install the seats!

Skerry project- Day 43

By Norman H. Martin on April 14, 2016 4:09 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The Skerry, Zeppelin, is outside for some serious sanding. The Tyvek suit handling the 5 inch DeWalt Orbital Sander is Elizabeth. She loves the tool and goes hands-on at every opportunity. When the exterior is smooth, we will prep and finish coat the bottom and two lower strakes in dark green. The top strake is getting varnish. We are getting close to being launchable!

We get some very nice comments from friends who follow this blog. Thanks to all of you. Don't come during tourist season to sail with us! Well... maybe.

April 14, 2007-- 9 years ago

By Norman H. Martin on April 13, 2016 6:37 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

April 14, 2007. It all started. We moved aboard and waited for a strong storm to move through before we sailed from Stratford, CT to Boston, MA. Check out our earliest entries. Here is a pic of the calm evening before the storm.

It howled all the next day, April 15th, to become what was known as the Tax Day Storm. The deck did not leak, which Norm said was a good omen.

We were so young 9 years ago! Young and foolish!

Continue reading April 14, 2007-- 9 years ago.

Skerry Project-Days 41 and 42

By Norman H. Martin on April 13, 2016 6:18 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Whew. Working on spars and some small stuf leading up building the rudder. Today, we glued the rudder together. First we prepped the surfaces with epoxy. Sanded some more. Dry fit the parts and set up the plan for clamps. Mixed up some splooge and glued the parts together. It worked. The assembly has four parts that must be properly aligned. We did it. Whew.

Dry fit. The rope is used later used to clean squeezed out splooge from the channel. A differnt piece of cordage will be used for raising and lowering the rudder blade.

Applying the splooge, epoxy with silica thickener. This thing isn't coming apart.

Rudder is glued, cleaned, and clamped, drying. Later, the yoke will be glued in place.

Skerry Project- Days 39 and 40.

By Norman H. Martin on April 11, 2016 10:34 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Sanding and more sanding. Norm got in some work with his block plane tapering and rounding the spars. We are both tired from long days. The boat and her parts look darn nice and the project moves forward.

Skerry Project- Days 37 and 38

By Norman H. Martin on April 6, 2016 5:11 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Laminated the spars and installed the dagger board trunk.

Laminating the spar was another clamp job since the spars have to be straight, we clamped them to various timbers holding the shape. The epoxy cured and the spars are ready for trimming. Most of the rest of the spar work is with a block plane to round the edges, taper the ends, and then we varnish them. Ready for the sail!

We did a dry fit of the assembly. It worked so we glued and screwed the whole thing together. Next, we have to taper the foils, epoxy the parts and assemble them. We are getting close to the end.

After the boat is assembled, we will paint and varnish her, go get a trailer, and drag her off someplace to go for a sail.

Skerry Project- Days 34, 35, 36...

By Norman H. Martin on April 4, 2016 4:26 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The big news is that the sailing rig arrived. Thanks Alicia! We unpacked it with our dear friends Tom and Beej. They had arrived for the weekend from Kittery, Maine. It was too much fun.

The other big news is that Elizabeth turned down a trip to the jewelry store for a pearl necklace (and new Tyvek suit) and opted for a new DeWalt 5 inch Orbital Sander and a stack of disks. Sailor-girls. It has made smoothing the epoxy finish a breeze. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the right tools make every job better.

One of the questions regular readers of this blog might ask is: "Why are all the pictures of Elizabeth... working? What does Norm do?" Norm has crummy vision up close and Elizabeth has decided that power tools are way too much fun to not use or leave to Norm. Or... there are no regular readers and no one cares. Same answer. Grandma is having way, way too much fun.

The spars are epoxied together. The operation requires some care so the spar is straight and true. Later, we'll round the edges, taper the ends, sand and varnish the wood. One small issue: It is snowing. And we need some outside time. Oh well....

April Showers

By Norman H. Martin on April 3, 2016 3:22 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Bring May flowers?

Our good friends, Tom and BJ from Kittery, Maine came to visit. It poured rain all day. Elizabeth knows all the best scenes and routes so she drove. Wound our way to Provincetown. BJ is an artist. She got to do a little gallery crawling even though so many galleries were still closed for the season. Tom and I are sailing pals of some 30 years. We talked sailboats and were sometimes critical of the artist's sailing errors. Dinner out at Nappi's was great. Drove home for ice cream and continued conversations.

The next morning! It snowed.

We sat at the breakfast table watching the snow fall in huge soft flakes. It was pretty. Once more only. Good-bye Winter. OK?

April 2016 Archives

Skerry Project--Day 46

Skerry Project - Day 45

Spring Break - Cape Cod Visit

Skerry Project- Day 44

Skerry project- Day 43

April 14, 2007-- 9 years ago

Skerry Project-Days 41 and 42

Skerry Project- Days 39 and 40.

Skerry Project- Days 37 and 38

Skerry Project- Days 34, 35, 36...

April Showers

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