On the agenda:

• Completing cabin installation
• Completing cockpit installation
• Completing bowsprit
• Filling screw heads and fairing the hull
• Flipping the boat over
• Preparing for fiberglassing

Snacks, fod, and non-alcoholic drinks will be available.  Email me for directions.

Today was the big day, the day when fellow builders or would be builders arrived to lend a hand, see what maddness I've been up to, and talk boats for the majority of the day.  We had great weather, starting around the low 60's, and ending near 70 degrees, with a sunny sky and a few clouds.  There was a light breeze, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

A friend, Pete, interested in possibly building a Weekender later this year or early next year stopped by for half the day, and to my benefit, brought real power tools, not just the toys I'm used to working with, so I learned what money well spent feels like.   What a difference!  He has also helped in the past by donating his time, trailer and truck to the 'move my boat to the new house' charity.  A slightly later arrival was Scott Widmier, current president of the BYYB, who drove in all the way from Ohio for the event, and brought Suits Us, a Stevenson designed Pocket Cruiser for a little spring maintenance, and a chance to go sailing later in the day that proved not to be this time around.  At the time that I started typing this page, he was probably on the water with Jim Stumpf, a Vacationer builder who also resides in Ohio, as today is one of their CABBS sailing events.

Once Pete and Scott arrived in the morning, The first thing we tackled was to flip the boat over, and trim the cockpit sides  flush with the bottom of the hull..  That being done, we ... okay, Pete, cleaned up my shoddy job on the keel bottom with his really nice belt sander and some 36 grit sandpaper.  I didn't know you could even get sandpaper that rough.  the keel looks almost like a factory piece now.   Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the boat turning process, but the upside-down boat was captured, along with the crew of sanders.

That's me on the left, my son Devon on the near side with an orbital sander, and Pete on the far side at the bow.  Scott Widmier is taking the picture, and his Pocket Cruiser, Suits Us is in the background.

By the time the sanding was finished, Scott had completed his re-fit of Suit's Us, which basically consisted of replacing the gaff jaws.  With our first jobs done, and Scott's repair finished as well, we flipped Dawn Princess right-side-up, and returned her to the cradle where she's being built.  We did some talking for a while and chatted about boats, modifications, pros and cons, improving ideas for the schooner, and various other boat related things for a while, and Scott raised his sail to let it dry out.  Apparently it aquired a belly full of water over the winter.  That's one of the good things about these boats, since the sails are just tarps, they don't rot anywhere near as easily as Dacron, and their a fraction of the cost.  No need to worry about removing the sails for storage or towing either.  Even my neighbors stopped what they were doing and watched in appreciation as the sail was raised, lowered, tweaked and tightened to give it the best shape.  Big white sails seem to have that affect on people.

By the time chatting was done and the ideas were really flowing on modifications, unfortunately, Pete had to go, due to prior committments.  I cut a few stringers to fit under the deck for the seats, and then Scott and I started by making mock-ups of the bridge-deck, using the ample cardboard left over from moving.  After shaping the cardboard to a rough fit, we transferred it down to a sheet of plywood, traced it out, and cut it.  One thing we discovered ... plywood doesn't bend as easily as cardboard, so we had to cut the plywood piece in half to clear the deck, but once inside, it was almost right on.  only slight trimming was needed ... until even more ideas started flowing.  After the bridge-deck was a real nice fit, we measured, lofted and cut the seat bottoms, running all the way from the bridge-deck piece to the transom (no lazarette to speak of as I'm using a tiller now, not the wheel as a favor for my wife).

Now that we had these three very nicely trimmed pieces, Scott suggested something.  Since my feet are long enough that they need to pass through the stock opening of the cabin bulkhead, and I'm adding a new forward bulkhead and aft bulkhead ... why not remove the remainder of the existing bulkhead completely (which we spent so much time fitting the bridge-deck around).  You know what, Scott's a smart man!  The remainder of the cabin bulkhead wasn't much to speak of anyway, and was really more in the way than helpful, so out it came.  Funny, less wood on the boat now than when the boatshed started, but we're having fun and I really like the ideas that have been put forward. 

Throughout the day, many (and I do mean many) measurements were taken and test fittings, with me crawling under a  balanced sheet of plywood to check for leg clearance under the bridge-deck vs. the same proceedure in Suits Us.  Rough markings were made to indicate the height of seats in the cockpit, and while Scott held the seats, I feined sitting to get a feel for height.  All in all, this boatshed was far more a lab experiment than boat building, but that's the fun in store when you throw the plans out the window.  I think the only time we even looked at the plans was to see how close or far from stock our measurements really were.

At the end of the day, pizza and pop and more conversation, and then a farewell to Scott, who had a really long drive home.

From this humble beginning of ideas and measurements, a far better design will emerge.  Thanks to Scott and Pete for all of your help, and to my wife, Dawn, who was basically ignored for about eight hours.