Volunteer Initiative overcomes Disappointments resulting in a Productive Saturday.

 Although a little marred by a disappointing Volunteer turnout, the four stalwarts, Tony Marchesani, Doug Hartley, Danny Johnson, and Mikell Evatt,  who did muster Monday morning made notable with creativity and initiative.  For once, favorable weather didn't hinder the projects that needed attending, only the number of hands to tackle an ever-increasing punchlist. 

The priority for Saturday was an attempt up the shrouds to replace the inoperative radar dome on the mainmast. This required a topman with bucket of wrenches to climb the main shrouds all the way to the spreaders.  A bosun's chair could not be raised sufficiently for its occupant to reach that part of the mast.  

Doug running antennae cable back
 down the shrouds. Note the
 ratboard configuration over his head.

Doug Hartley volunteered to make the climb, and, so fully harnessed, with a small tool bucket attached, he started up, closely watched by his deck team,  Doug made it to the top except for the last four feet, where the two shrouds were lashed together, allowing further climbing by stepping on the outside where small ratboards extended outward six inches.  Stepping on them created a torque and twisting motion, threatening the climber's loss of footing. Doug attempted a couple of alternative routes over the top, but was hampered by the same obstacle on both port and starboard shrouds.  Back on deck, in a self-critique, they reasoned that the climb might be successful with an under-150 lb topman, and/or some tensioning of the shrouds to reduce the twist tendency. Both made sense. But they were not easily resolved issues for that day. 

Not to be stalled, the four shifted to their back-up punchlist, and focused on the refinishing of several deck furnishings.   With two sanders, and scrapers, the four took the entire jumbo boom down to wood, smoothed it, and started an 8-step recoating/preserving with Deks-olje D1.  Completing 5 coats, was sufficient, at which the absorption rate required a 24-hour period.  The team then proceeded to all the portside kevels.   

Tony  had observed the previous weekend of a serious cracking of the life ring flag pennant rack, along the deck, and so unbolted the two 3x8 inch wood brackets to take home, and recreate new ones.

Next week, will continue to finish off the existing D1 projects, and add a few different ones.

Rainy Saturday forces a shift to below-decks projects and interrupted Mast restoration momentum.

 This past Saturday was a hoped-for opportunity to maintain the momentum created the previous week in advancing our Mast Maintenance; At end of that day, we had noticeably advanced the work of sanding, oiling both, Fore and Main masts.  Despite the ominous rain forecast, I was counting on the swing-and-misses of past weather forecasts to continue.

Unfortunately, this Saturday the predicted solid day of rain actually did show up, likely dampening potential volunteer activity. Nevertheless, five of us volunteers still came on board, some likely out of simple curiosity for possible projects, or maybe just for some news. I'm hoping that a better weather forecast will encourage a bigger Muster, next time.   

As for news.. there is none.  As of last news, over three weeks ago there was Board-level discussion of the ship's general future, one option as an attraction vessel; unknown if that would be short time or much longer. This is a foundational, mission-related issue that must be resolved before anything else can happen.  There is no news of progress in search for a Captain, and paid crew, prerequisites for prepping for and regaining the USCG Certificate of Inspection.  

On the plus side, on deck we are seeing funds made available to reimburse for hardware expenses, such as lubricants, electrical hardware, paints and coatings, hand tools, abrasives, and other useful stuff. And finally, there is discussion beginning on setting a date and planning for our own Appreciation Day.  Your input is welcome.

As for the five of us that did muster, we laid in on a project started the previous weekend.  Tool maintenance; something accomplished without need to be on deck.. in the rain.

Lobscouse prep in
the Oliver Galley

Bryan Oliver arrived first, bringing a pot of Lobscouse to share at lunch with any other volunteers who showed up.  Ken Fonville, followed by Danny Johnson came down the ladder into the saloon; Danny bringing along a dense sweet Soda Bread loaf, and a caramel cake. At least Lunch was showing much more promise. And Hunter would be grateful for not being asked to hike in the rain round trip to Harris Teeter for provisioning.  Finally, Tony Marchesani appeared, ready to further some electrical cable maintenance.  

Diverse collection of hardware gathered
 from all over the ship, most salvageable

After some direction from Bryan, parts of the crew went forward to the forecastle and set up a station of distilled vinegar, for marinating heavily rusted hand tools, and a second soaking station of WD40 lubricant for soaking the de-rusted and dried tools with the moisture displacing lube and preservative. The other crew scoured the dock tool lockers and tool berths for caches of neglected hardware; drive bits, drivers, wrenches, chisels; anything indicating rust damage.  Tony moved in another direction; to repair some of our extension cords.

New socket finds.

By lunch time, the crew had a piles of tools of all sizes and types, loosely organized and in various stages of vinegar marinating, WD40 preservative soaking, and putting away under our improved organizing discipline.  Tony had discovered an additional bag full of loose sockets and drivers; which he reorganized on socket rails and bags.  

Once lunch was complete, scullery and clean-up operations accomplished, all that was left was to secure tools, clean up work areas and disembark while inspecting Danny Johnson's gangway handrail handiwork.. still working by the way.

Volunteers demonstrate Creativity on Two Projects

Seven volunteers mustered on deck Saturday morning to continue some existing projects and start a few new ones.  The two masts remain a priority due to their extended neglect, and need for sanding down, oiling, and slushing to restore some preservative and protection to them. Progress has been intermittent over the past two months due to poor weather. 

Meanwhile, our two life raft canisters, appeared on the dock, fresh from inspection and restocking of expirables, as did the Fore Staysail (Jumbo) neatly rolled  up fresh from the sailmaker's. Unfortunately it was left sitting on the concrete dock without any dunnage below to allow for ventilation and moisture control.  Bryan Oliver salvaged a small pallet from an neighbor and rolled the sail up onto it.

Meanwhile, last weekend, a creative solution was conceived to the continuous issue of lack of a permanent hand-railing spanning from the dock steps to the gangway. Tide changes that forced the gangway rail to rise and fall, was stymying any fixed solutions, until now.  So, Saturday, with materials at hand, Danny Johnson was set to tackle this project and test our theory.

Weatherwise, this past Saturday was not looking good for advancing our planned mast projects aboard. NNW winds sustained at 10-15 knots, gusting to 20, would make it dicey for swinging about in a bosun's chair, let alone trying to slush a mast with linseed oil without it scattering over the deck.  And so, Bryan  Oliver redirected hands to rigging up a sling and boat falls for swinging aboard the two life raft canisters. Tony Marchesani, Doug Hartley, David Brennan, and Mikell Evatt manned the falls, and dockside taglines to control the lifting, swinging over, and lowering away to the deck where they secured each in their forward and aft deck mounting brackets. 

Meanwhile, Danny Johnson and David La Zar organized tools, extension cords, and materials on the dock to begin fashioning a piece of 2x 4 into a sliding hand rail. As those tasks progressed, Bryan set up an oiling station for applying coats of "Deks Olje" D.1 preservative sealant, onto the port side kevel cleats, just recently sanded down to bare wood, handing it off to Doug who managed 7 coats on as the day progressed.  

Just as Bryan was about to run out of projects that would justify provisioning for lunch and afternoon work, Mikell pointed out that the winds were noticeably easing off.  White caps had disappeared, and conditions improving for sending hands aloft to continue the mast preparation. A lunch fund was quickly collected and handed off to Hunter who disembarked for his hike to Harris Teeter.  The rest of the crew gathered around the mainmast to rig up a bosun's chair.  

The mainmast posed a particular challenge in that the throat halyard tackles available to hoist up the chair were situated on the aft side of the mast, preventing the crewman in the chair from working around to the front of the mast for complete sanding coverage.  

Mikell checks the shackle of the boat falls
 that will keep him situated on the foward
side of the mainmast.

Four volunteer minds, gazing aloft at the various options, quickly gained consensus on repurposing the forward boat falls, currently holding up the gangway.  It would act as a tagline on the bosun's chair, keeping it along the forward edge of the mainmast, allowing the occupant to sand down the forward hemisphere of the mast. 

 Mikell volunteered to take a sander aloft in the chair and test out our creative theory of managing vector forces on his chair.  It worked like a charm.   

Mikell makes quick work of a forward section
of the mainmast.-now going up.

With hands left to tend Mikell and his chair, David La Zar started a new project, to gather small piles of rusted drill bits and drivers languishing in old tool bags to soak in a plastic jar of vinegar for a couple of days. 

By 1330, Hunter had returned and been at work creating more magic in the galley.. the aromas rising out of the galley hatch became quite distracting, so with relief, he called for lunch, and all hands piled down into the saloon for platefuls of Shepherds Pie.    

Lunch concluded, there remained an opportunity for one last task to advance.  The foremast had been completely sanded last week and was ready for a first coat of linseed oil.  With two volunteers already departing early, the remainder rigged up a second bosun's chair, using the jumbo halyard tackles for the forward hemisphere of the foremast.  Bryan organized a small canvas bucket holding a pint of linseed oil in a plastic jar with an absorbent rag, and climbed into the chair.  They hauled Bryan all the way to the gaff- copper mast cover, as far as the tackles would allow, where he started slopping linseed oil as far around the mast as he could.  In  about a 1/2 hour, Bryan had covered the entire length of the foremast, forward side in a coat of linseed oil, in time.  In the meantime, idle hands weren't idle, and had been securing from projects, coiling lines, securing tackles and other cordage, tools, and materials.  

By 1500, all secure on deck, remaining volunteers disembarked, still digesting huge lunch, looking forward to finishing up the mainmast with the forward boat falls, and on their way ashore, checking out Danny's workmanship on the now-sliding steps-to-gangway hand rail.

Beautiful Wooden Sailboats, just your size Help build one, or buy one. They're in reach

Lowcountry Maritime School shares an overlapping Mission with Spirit of South Carolina

Have you ever day-dreamed of just messing around in boats? I don't mean a souped up loud and fast gelcoated production thing,, but something simple, classic, an ageless style, maintainable, that might even challenge you're ego a bit, but brings you so much closer to  pure form of boating and even seamanship?   

If not, then I'm likely wasting your time. 

But if  you have,, I'd like to point you somewhere you just gotta see.

This beauty's for sale for a really
 fair price, offer, one of several.

In Mount Pleasant, a block behind the Red Drum Restaurant on Pherigo Street, sits a modest boatyard; the Low Country Maritime School. Sam Gervais runs it, along with the resident Wooden Shipwright, Rachel Berquist. Their mission is to inspire the Low Country's young people to reach their full potential through boat-building and exploring.

In one corner, partly under wraps is on its side, the wood core of a custom fisherman is under construction, but in in the other direction, under the quanset canopy and the old shed are the treasures. small wooden craft in various states of restoration, and some finished, waiting for someone to take ownership and sail them away.  In those bays are examples of arcane skills, exquisite workmanship, imagination, hundreds of years of shipbuilding knowledge, wisdom, and personal touch.     

For the past year, Sam and Rachel have encouraged volunteers to join them in special projects; primarily the restoration of donated boats for the purpose of  resale, as a revenue generator for the school. Several of them have been exhibited at the Georgetown Wooden Boat Show.   

Volunteers engage wherever they choose. Rachel assesses your skill set and assign's an appropriate tasks.  In some instances you might go a bit out of your comfort zone, but Rachel is a great coach, and good supervisor.  At the end of a two-hour session you can see what you accomplished, and appreciate what you learned.  

On the 17'foot yawl boat, Charles Sneed, we mostly sanded, filled, and repainted to make her launch worthy and rowable. Now she needs volunteers to set up and step a lug sail rig.  A couple months back we were troubleshooting an ancient Mercury Outboard, successfully getting it to start  up. the motor, and the Herreschoff Eagle cat boat we refinished were recently sold

Rachel demonstrates marking
the Rabbet  on the stem

Currently we're basically tearing down and starting to frame up an Arch Davis plan "Penobscot 14". A traditional lapstraked dinghy. If you show up you'll get as much hands-on as you want. Rachel's been coaching us on the disciplines of symmetry discipline, fair curves, moulding up.  Amazing insights into the magic of turning raw timber into such things of beauty, and utility.  Some of us have been ripping the mould battans that will set the sheer lines for the planks. Before that we were planing the bevel of the stem to restore a symmetry port and starboard, as well as shift the rabbet line to a more fair curve.

C'mon,, I know you're dyin' to learn what I just described.  

Well you can.  Every Wednesday  afternoon for two hours, you can join us at the boat yard for some comaraderie, conversation, and for sure, some boatbuilding.  This winter, it's been from 3 - 5pm, but will shortly change to 4:30PM to 6:30 pm. Bring a beverage or two, to share, 

Perry Gervais scales up from 
the plan to a full-scale frame to verify
 port and starboard symmetry.
He confirmed it wasn't, and
we'll need to mould up another one.

Contact Sam Gervais at Low Country Maritime School for details, 

or

your faithful Volunteer Coordinator via the Contact Us box in the right column.

  

Ten Volunteers Gang up on the Masts-and it shows!

 If you walked up to the face dock Friday morning you should've picked up small but hard evidence of progress.  The entire section of deck and furniture aft of the mainmast looked brand new, except for the cap rail. That's kudos to Team Hackett for their workmanship. On the dock were resting the schooner's two life raft canisters just returned from inspection and refurbishment. Next to them in a tight neat role lay the jumbo sail, noticeably cleaned up. 

Volunteer Activity this past week actually started on Friday, with the arrival of two of our crowd from out of town.  Todd Cole, from Atlanta arrived first.  Volunteer Coordinator welcomed him aboard with an immediate project to start-fabricating two new fender boards to replace the cracking old ones.  Bryan brought out the 8 foot sections of 2x10 pine  and a pair of saw-horses while Todd went below to gather up power tools, measuring stuff, and return with one of the old boards to use as a model.

Todd Cole checks a cow hitch as he rigs up
his two new fender boards. Steve Rine in
background  is measuring out seine twine, cutting
for his 18 new chafing gear sections.

Later in the morning, Steve Rine rolled in from Gainesville, FL for a day, on his way back home to Pittsburgh.  Steve brought along 20 years of volunteer deckhand experience on the square-rigger-Brig Flagship Niagara, so Bryan basically turned him loose on a separate project,, repurposing one of our old firehoses into 18 sections of chafing gear, cut, fitted with seine twine lacing. As he finished each section, Bryan grabbed a few at a time to start installing on the dock lines.  

By the time in mid afternoon when winds started picking up, all dock lines had been fitted with fresh marling-hitched chafing gear , and two brand new oiled  fender boards stowed under the bowsprit.  

Saturday morning saw the first  good weather day for Volunteers in weeks!  It was sufficient for 9 Volunteers to muster that morning, and divide up into projects Bryan organized the previous afternoon after gauging weather and  volunteer responses.  Bryan was at first understandably a little worried this morning that there wouldn't be any volunteers willing to go up the masts. The previous week, no one else on deck was willing to try the lift up. 

Today was different.  Four different volunteers stood up to going aloft.  That would enable splitting up the mast work into thirds, allowing topmen to be relieved periodically.  

Jim, Bryan, and Nate

While one volunteer passed the hat for provisioning for lunch and turn over to Hunter, Bryan laid out the priorities;  A small team went below to stow in berths the 26 immersion suits that had also returned from inspection/repair. The remainder set up two bosuns chairs on the foremast; one on the throat halyard, the other on the jumbo halyard, enabling coverage around the entire circumference of the mast from for to aft. A third bosun's seat was rigged on the mainmast. 100 ft extension cords were rigged out of the forecastle, power orbital sanders connected and dummy corded to the bosun's chair with a fresh 80 grit sanding disk affixed, and 3 spares stuffed into the small bucket hanging off the other side of the seat.  

Doug Hartley signals to start tugging!

Nate Mack would lead the team up the foremast, with 

Doug Hartley following up opposite Nate in the second seat. 

 Bryan showed the first topmen going up how to secure themselves in the seat with their harness and tether. Next he gathered Todd Cole, Tony Marchesani, Jim Leonard, and Danny Johnson, the volunteers designated to do the hauling-up, and line tending; and walked thru the procedure of lifting, and lowering securing the line to the pin with a locking hitch.

Tony, Bryan, and David team up
 to haul Doug up on the jib halyard.

Finally, they rehearsed the succinct commands to be shouted by the deckhand aloft and repeated back below. Meanwhile, Mikell Evatt was harnessing-up, to set into the seat at the main mast. 

With Bryan satisfied that all hands understood their procedures, safety precautions, he handed over to the seat-sitters, command over their respective line haulers, and  stood back to observe.  As seats were raised to their target start points only one hand was needed to tend the line and lower on command. That enabled some hands to lay aft and help haul Mikell up the Mainmast.  

Dave Brennan on the foremast

By late morning, most seats had come down to rest their rider, and send up a relief to continue the slow advancing down the mast. As Mikell came down, Bryan took his chair and went aloft 2/3 up the mainmast to pick up the trail. Dave Brennan strapped on Doug's fancy bosun's couch and went up the foremast to take it within 15 feet of finishing. 

Nate is anticipating slicing into his monster burrito.

1315- Hunter called for lunch.  For the past 1.5 hours he had been working magic in the galley, creating one of his specialties an exceptionally fat Burrito covered in a tasty verde sauce, really needing no seasoning. Each deckhand coming below was rewarded with one, accompanied by a healthy pile of Spanish rice. 

With the late lunch over, Bryan mustered hands for a final push to a good stopping point.  The foremast only needed a third of one side for being ready to oil down, so Bryan harnessed up to take on that last segment, and designated two line tenders.  Tony, and Jim took some last looks and tugs at the innards of the old trash pump to determine if it could be salvaged, but to no avail.

"remember, its
CLOCKWISE over
 the top of the pin"

He directed the rest to the task of straightening out everything on the decks and below, stowing tools, sweeping of piles of accumulated sawdust from the masts and pounds of nameless bits of debris.

A few minutes after three pm, Bryan came down off the foremast, and mustered all hands one last time for a quick after-action review.  It had been a full day, we'd made good use of every labor-hour, and could boast of three projects completed-on the punch list and two more progressing satisfactorily.  The foremast is ready for its first Linseed oil coat. The main mast needs only another 1/2-hour of sanding to make it ready for same.  At next opportunity the foremast would be oiled, and mainmast would shortly follow. provided volunteers stand up to go aloft. 

That particular adventure quickly became routine for those tried it, but the view!