Work Week Two



Well, certain things must be done, no matter how scary. The biggest question about any boat that comes with an engine is whether said engine will restart. Jim has pulled the injectors to see if the cylinders had water in them, and they were dry. Then he squirted in some transmission fluid and manually turned the engine over...hooray! The engine is free, not seized. Then we spun it over with the electric starter...hooray! All seems to be going OK. Onto the fuel system, maybe on a rainy, indoor kinda day.



 This next picture is of the cockpit sole (floor), complete with a real manhole cover. While checking out the launching area in Tobermory, we took a stroll on that waterfront and peeked in some other boats...manholes seem to be a thing here!

 

Driving the caulking is best done in wee chunks. A section one day, another the next. With all the rain and cold weather we've been having, it's good to have a variety of indoor-outdoor jobs. And besides, my arms will seize if I put in a full day of this hard work! So we caulk a few seams with the cotton, then pay them (fill them) with paying compound, and every wooden boat builder has their own secret stuff. We are using roof patch. It's the blackest, stickiest plasticized asphalt you could imagine. Roof patch goes in...water stays out. The topsides will get a different paying compound, more about that when we do it.

Work Week One

We waded through the rain and a few feet of snow to see where she was, and found her in the furthest corner of the yard, amongst other condemned vessels and old rotting docks...the grave yard. Her covering had blown off about six weeks prior, and her cockpit was full of snow. There were mouse nests and a skim of mildew on most painted surfaces, obvious leaks that needed repair...but she was all there. A complete wooden boat. Jim did a quick survey to find a sound hull (1"+ mahogany planks, thank you very much!), a deck and cabin roof that will get us back to Prince Edward County to repair the covering boards and some deck areas while at anchor.

Photographed here is the shortest boat purchase negotiation Jim has ever had. Mark Beaton offered us his beloved wooden cutter...and Jim said OK.  Five years ago Mark had removed every last item that he could pick up and carry off before storing her in a shed, so hatches and covers, cushions, table, drawers and doors were all in great shape when we viewed them at his beautiful home in Big Tub, Tobermory.  

So, here we go again! We have found the great Next Boat and are already working our hearts out. Dolphin III is actually in pretty good shape, but being left for even one more year would have tipped the scales in favour of a much tougher restoration job. There is a lot of work to do, but not too much for Super Jim The Terribly Organized... scrapes off old bottom paint, troubleshoots the Westerbeke engine, able to pull out old caulking with a single hook! And his trusty side-kick Mich is at the ready with her caulking cotton and drill with handy wire hook, (take THAT, spinners and weavers guilds!) to add just enough twist to the new caulking cotton...



 



Michelle sets it with the flat tipped iron and Jim drives it in with the sharp tipped one. Tah-da-a-ah! Watertight seams.

Of course, this whole process will take another week to complete, please stay tuned for further installments that include choosing the new colours, sanding and priming the bottom, deciding on how to repair...well...a whole bunch of stuff!!!

And yes, that is real snow on the ground, way up here in Tobermory, Ontario. April 9, 2013.