Rebuilding 1910 Cape Cod Catboat

03/13/2021

An anonymous person dropped this beautiful painting of catboats under sail at my shop today. I’d love to be able to thank that person. It was such a surprise to walk in and see it sitting on the new keel.

The outpouring of generosity from so many people has been truly humbling. People have given me tools, wood, heat, lights, camaraderie, moral support, etc. All things that help move a project forward. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. (My wife says, if I had one. Ha ha. Kidding 🤣)

03/13/2021

Sanding the mast. The widow maker in action.

03/13/2021

This is one way to build a 34' long wooden spruce mast.

01/24/2021

01/18/2021

The anatomy of a transom from old to new. Step-by-step is described under each photo. There are a lot of time consuming individual steps, and accuracy is important.

01/15/2021

One of the white oak planks being cut into its final size, ready to be used.

Hair style by Christine at Charles David in Plymouth. 🙂

01/15/2021

Logs being milled into planks using a bandsaw mill.

01/15/2021

These are four trees I picked out of the pile to be milled into planks. Three white oaks and a red oak.

01/15/2021

Miss Laurie gets a windfall, literally. A few weeks ago there was a cyclone bomb storm in Marshfield that caused a tree to fall through my friend Tony Lambert's roof. He asked me if I wanted some firewood. I went to take a look and there were some beautiful white and red oak trees, perfect for using in Miss Laurie. I thought you might find it interesting to see how boat lumber is processed from the rough log to the finished plank. The first and second photos are the pile of felled trees. Then they are loaded on a trailer for a trip to Middleborough to the saw mill. Next is a photo of the mill. The last few photos are the trees cut up into planks, stacked and stuck, so they will properly air dry.

01/14/2021

Shaping the outside of the stem to a point. One side is done. Then the stem is flipped over and the other side is done. Not to a complete point, but an 1 1/8" flat spot is left in the very center to accept guard metal in the future.

01/14/2021

A continuation of easing the edges of the stem.

01/14/2021

Easing the edges of the new stem so that they hold paint better and aren't sharp to the touch, using a flat-soled and round-soled spoke shave.