Thank You January Work Weekenders

By Capt. Korie Griffith

Scraping the hull

Thank you so much for coming to our last work weekend!  Though we were promised sunshine, we still made the best of what we were given.  I’m happy to say that we met our goal this weekend of getting the entire hull of Adventuress scraped and ready for bottom paint.  This is never a glorious job, but it is one that goes fast with lots of hands and is very satisfying when it is finished!  So, a special thanks to all of you who strapped on a respirator and left with bits of red dust in your hairlines (I hope you all enjoyed a well-deserved, long, hot shower!).

Other weekend accomplishments:

• A big dent in block assembly; 2/3 done’ish (thanks Linda, Tom, Dennis, Mark and more)
• Anchor chain shot marks prepped and painted for the season (thanks Dennis and Burke)
• Mainmast repair (thanks Paul)
• Fo'c's'le hatch got varnish (thanks Beth and Kacie)
• Electrical wiring runs documented for our new navigation equipment (thanks Rick and Jane)
• Repair to our shipyard boat bike (thanks Levi)
• Christmas lights unbent (thanks Zach)
• Delicious meals were cooked and served (thanks Monica and Indu)
• Wood stock was moved (thanks Andrew)
• Lots and lots of clean up (everyone!)

Winter Mate Ryan and Andrew inspecting the mainmast

There is probably more to add to this list, but our Master of Ceremonies, Ryan, is off on some well-deserved time off so I wasn’t able to get his list.  So, thank you for everything and all you did last weekend.

Please remember to sign up* for our last two work weekends this winter if you can: February 19-20 and March 12-13.  In February look forward to some rigging, paying the seams on the new planks and the start of gear shuffling (winter stuff off, sailing gear on).  March should find us back in the water, finishing rigging, cleaning and more gear shuffling and all those pesky projects that hang on until the bitter end of winter maintenance season.  As always, we’d love to have your help during the week too!

Thanks again!
Korie
Centennial Restoration Project Manager, Adventuress
http://www.soundexp.org
korie (at) soundexp (dot) org

*If you'd like to sign up for the February or March Work Weekends, please send Korie an email.

Volunteers scraping bottom paint!

They're a dedicated, hearty bunch

Don't worry, we vacuumed it all up!

Reassembling the blocks

Newly painted metal hardware waiting to be assembled

Jane B. and Rick C. studying electronics

Haven Boatworks Chosen for Restoration Work

Through competitive bid process, we’re excited to announce that Port Townsend-based Haven Boatworks will be tackling Phases II & III of Adventuress' Centennial Restoration project this winter. We look forward to sharing with you all the exciting details from November through March.

Phase I was completed last winter by Haven Boatworks and involved a small army of dedicated Adventuress volunteers! To see pictures from Phase I of Adventuress' Centennial Restoration, click here.

Click here for more info about volunteer opportunities

Click here for details about the Centennial Restoration project

Two Days of Maintenance: Complete!

By Capt. Daniel Evans,

Howdy folks!

We just wrapped up two days of maintenance on Adventuress and you wouldn't believe how much we got done. I could keep it a secret, but decided I would enjoy it much less if I didn't get to share it with all the people who work so hard to keep her(and us) afloat. So here is a list, but keep in mind that for everything that was completed many other things had to happen: like moving deck boxes, walking every where except the deck, working out of Hefe, mixing, cleaning, coordinating, prepping, troubleshooting, buying, climbing, sanding and well...a little bit of guessing and just praying it will dry in time.

So here we go:

1. Scraped the entire deck for paint, etc. and slushed the whole deck
2. Scrubbed down and Osphod the entire hull
3. Sanded and Painted both rubrails
4. Popped paint bubbles on the entire hull, then faired and painted all bare spots (2 coats)
5. Slushed not just the standing rigging, but the backstays, head rig and jib and staysail stays
6. Cut down all the troublesome bolt ends in the focsle that have been bopping people in the head, arms and feet
7. End for ended both the throat and peak halyards on the fore (anything to give them some life!)
8. Painted beautiful bunk numbers on the new focsle bunks
9. Had a thorough cleaning of the belowdecks (field day)
10. Replaced bad shackles aloft - bad shackles! Bad Shackles!
11. Inspected and cleaned 'suspect' blocks aloft
12. Pinned or double nutted every bolt that wasn't already done in the standing rigging
13. Applied sodium borate not just to the lazarette, but to the main cabin and focsle bilges
14. Killed bad mosses that were actually growing aloft in our trestletrees! Bad moss! Bad moss!
15. Finished the servings on the head rig
16. Traced down the issue with the fire pump that was not allowing us to use more than one fire hose (long story, but it was an air leak in the heads)
17. And finally, pulled out all the sole boards in the main cabin, sanded them down and painted on a beautiful coat of Varathane.

It was tremendous work by our Chief Mate Sarah and this eager crew. They worked hard, completed tasks well and were still cheerful at the end of the day. Kacie worked the first day even though it was her day off and Merilee stopped cooking long enough to slush the fore shrouds. Adventuress was in need of some love and she got it in these two days.

Thanks!
Daniel

What's a Futtock?

Tools of Traditional Shipwrights

There are many amazing things about Phase 1 of Adventuress' Centennial Restoration project, but the best part has been--by far--working with our shipwrights. They are strong, intelligent, and humble men keeping a tradition alive. I have learned so much over the last three weeks about ship construction and restoration simply from helping and observing them work. To make things even better, they are natural educators, often giving us demonstrations and answering our many questions.

I am a lover of tools, and the shipwrights of Haven Boatworks have many. They use traditional tools and have tricks of the trade gleaned from the vast history of boatbuilding, but they also use power tools to expedite the overall restoration. The results are beautiful and efficient.

One of my favorite traditional tools the shipwrights carry is the bevel gauge. The picture to the left is a spread of shipwright Leland's tools. You can see three bevel gauges: two small brass ones in the bottom-middle of the picture, and a larger sliding bevel-gauge in the top middle.  The metal ruler is Leland's bevel board; on the back it has specifically angled lines etched in so you can compare the bevel gauge to the bevel board to find your angle.

From top to bottom, the tools are as follows: (row 1) a combination square, a sliding bevel gauge, a hand planer; (row 2) a bevel board, a folding knife, a spiling block, a folding ruler, an awl; (row 3) two sizes of bevel gauges. The square is for measuring and being sure things are "square," i.e. at 90 degree angles. The awl is good for a lot of things, like making marks on wood or probing for rot. It is the spiling blocks, however, are curious and genius tools.

My own description of spiling would be a little rough, so here's a link that explains it better: Spiling. Spiling is the process of making a pattern of an existing futtock so you can make a new, sister futtock. Through this process, our frames are being reconstructed. You can see Brad at right using spiling blocks to make a pattern on the spiling batten.

There are many other tools the shipwrights harness: pry bars, hammers, mallets, drills, sawzalls, bandsaws, table saws, chisels, slide hammers, braces,  pencil sharpeners, and so on. I am continually being impressed by their talents and knowledge, and I am proud to be working alongside them during this restoration project.

The picture above is of Brad and Leland using the ship's saw to cut a futtock.  Brad is careful to keep the saw abreast of his markings while Leland is changing the angle of the saw. 5 degrees, 6 degrees, 7 degrees...

Project Update
The rest of the preservation and maintenance is going well. Here is an list of some things we've done.

• Continually replacing futtocks
• Removed mast wedges to check masts
• Painted anchor chain
• Completely disassembled, cleaned, and painted the Edson Patent Gyber
• Removed & replaced deck bungs
• Overhauled main-cabin stove, Lucy
• Put Dutchmen in the deck (carved out rot and put in new wood)
• Checked shaft alignment
• Overhauled bilge alarms

Pictures (top to bottom): New frames next to the old! Amazing that these futtocks have survived; Nora working under the engine; Lara clearing rot for the Dutchman; A mast wedge removed; Adam proud of his sanding on the main-cabin hatch; A pretty picture of our new futtocks against the hull