I Spun the Threads of Life

It is nice to look at photos of boats and people working on them but that does not get the work done on ours! All of April, save for one weekend due to the flu, we worked on Restless. I cannot say that anything drastic happened compared to before I went gallivanting off across Europe other than now the boat will not sink when we put it in the water. We seem to be getting into the more mundane year to year maintenance which gives us hope that the boat will be in the water before June. But hope is dangerous and I don't trust it! 

After we fit the planks, we had to caulk them. My dad, lucky enough, had some caulking cotton left over from a project and had no future plans to use it. He also let us borrow a caulking iron. After reading our gospel, The Boatwright's Companion: Repairs Below the Waterline, the saying 'lift and tuck- lift and tuck- lift and tuck' rang through my head. We also watched a really good video on how to caulk. I did all of the caulking as I felt that Ted would not have the tender touch to place the cotton into the seams and then the sudden 'THWACK' to get it in. When I was doing it the greek myth about the threads of life with Moirai sisters was replaying in my head; power can be an addicting substance. 

I can honestly say that by the second plank I was getting into to it, but I think I need a bit more practice before I can be as fast as some of the people I watched! In the time I took to caulk two planks, professionals can do half a boat!

The pattern that you make with the cotton reminded me of my Raggedy Ann dolls hair

It is very important that you smell the cotton before using it. It will rot if it gets wet before you whack it into place. 

This is not a a caulking mallet. I nearly finished the first plank with this one. Once I got my hands on a real one it made a world of difference! There is a lot more weight behind a proper caulking mallet. My thumb can tell you call about it. 

This is not all the way in, I pushed a lot more of that further in.

This was clearly our artsy photo shoot! The lighting was perfect

Finding a comfortable position to do this was a bit challenging. I set up various buckets to sit on and when I could I would lean against the trailer. 

In this photo you can see my attempt at keeping the cotton clean as well as the actual caulking mallet laying on top of my bucket with several pieces of wood for the perfect height. 

I did have fun doing this! This is right before I THWACKED all that in

All caulked and ready from some plugs! 

Ted made and put in most of the plugs. (One of our smaller caulking mallets in on the trailer)

Ted and I have been talking about a garboard plug since the boat became Restless. Last year I noticed that she had the fitting for one and then this year I found the hole on the inside. So Ted did some exploring and we found we had a plug! Someone had put filler on top of it and it appears to be a stripped slot head screw head... great... But it is a start, we will try to take what ever plug is in there out, but if that doesn't work we will take the entire fitting out and get a new one. We have a 50/50 shot in my opinion! 

You can hardly tell which one is the new plank...right? We will be sanding the bottom soon and painting so I hope you wont be able to tell! 

We got a coat of varnish on this past weekend. It was nice to spend sometime on deck and we had a very nice weekend to do it.

We are certainly in a different place than last year. We don't have to deal with a baby blue deck and the boat is looking really good. We are feeling the pressure now because the weather has been so nice and we don't want to let her dry out. But it can never be as bad as last year when we were running Henry the heater full time and lights below. The boat has also not made me cry yet, but we still have some work to do so I say I still have a 50/50 shot! 

Restless - A family tradition

I had no idea that when I met Ted that his family was so large or that 98% of them also sail. All I knew when I met him was that he could sail, drink rum, and that his name was Ted. I was soon to find out that there was a little more to that profile.

The year before he met me - now he owns two boats!

Ted is named after his grandfather, Edward Joseph Murphy II. Edward was a character!  The stories that the Murphys have told me about this man make for a story good enough for a film. When it came to naming our IOD, Ted and I spent a whole day coming up with possible names, I am sure we still have the list somewhere. However, I think Ted always knew that we were going to name the boat after his grandfather's Chester C, Restless. I really pushed for the boat to be called the Dayna, but he said I wouldn't like competing for the attention from something with the same name. I say he is waiting for a bigger boat.

We put the name on Restless last year after spending a week deciding on font. Thanks to my sister for her patience!

Chester C's, as their name suggests were designed and built in Chester, Nova Scotia by Benjamin Heisler. I am not sure if she was built first, but she did and does still carry the C 1 sail. She was built in 1937, a year after the first IOD, Aileen, who now sails on the same body of water that the original Restless was built! The Chester C is 37' and carries massive sails; these boat were designed to be fast and race.

This photo was taken during an epic trip from Halifax to Bridgewater during World War II

This photo was taken during the same trip near a 'timber boom' - in the background are logs that would be floated to and from different ports. A method for transporting logs.

Edward bought her from the original owner in 1940, in Back Harbour, Chester, around the corner from where she was built. He picked up her sails from Jon Diamond's house in Chester - if you are familiar with the area, it is the Green House that has tree trunks as porch posts- The sails were made by Ratsey's with narrow sail panels - a beautiful shape.

C 1 - Ratsey Sails 

Of course in that year World War II was happening and most young men had gone to join the army. Edward could not join the military effort over seas because as a child he had scarlet fever, leaving him with a pierced ear drum and he could not be around noise. He tried for the Navy and was rejected, then tried for the army, but because of his issue with noise he was deemed 'bad for war duty'. Eventually, he was able to join the Airforce in the marine division driving a crash boat for downed flyers in Halifax Harbour.

Edward would report for duty with his Chester C, Restless. He had tiresome weeks of 3 days on and 4 days off, leaving him plenty of time to sail Restless. He certainly was never lonely during the war even though most of the young men were away he seemed over come with an abundance of women to keep him company!

Not Ted's Grandmother! 

In the background is Don Haliburton 

A selection of scallywags 

After the war, he continued to sail Restless, as she survived her crash boat work. The yacht club that he became a life time member at, the Royal Nova Scotian Yacht Squadron, reopened, as it had been closed during the war effort, and many of the young men returned to their boats. Racing started up again in 1945, boats from yacht clubs around Halifax and from Chester sailed in the R.N.S.Y.S Opening Regatta. To show their appreciation towards the Chester Fleet, most boats from Halifax accompanied them back to Chester and competed in their Regatta. Restless and Edward won the Visitors Cup in Chester and a tradition was born. The Murphy's have been competing at Chester Race week ever since, and now Ted is continuing in his Grandfather's reputation with Restless, however I am normally on board so I don't think he is entertaining as many young ladies!

In the late 1940's Edward sold Restless and bought a Roue 20, designed by William Roue; the same designer as the Bluenose. The Roue continued Edwards need for speed and he passed that along to his children. Ted's father owns a Roue 20, he might actually own two... 

The Roue 20 with the canoe used as a tender!

We do not know where this is... Any guesses? 

The Roue in front of the Murphy summer houses in Jollimore, near the Dingle. Before you could put the cotton sails away you had to dry them. 

Eventually she was sold as well and Edward went on to sail the schooner the Hebridee, designed by William Roue, for the rest of his life. The Hebridee was later donated to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic where she underwent a major refit.

The Hebridee - Ted still wears that hat!

Restless is now in the good hands of the people of Lunenburg Boat Works, where they are under going a labour of love to get her sailing again! She is no longer called Restless anymore, once sold she was renamed the Gannet, and they plan on keeping the name. We wish them all the luck, we know the trials of working on an old stubborn wooden boat, and we will check on her again after the busy boat season has ended!

Will, Pat, and Rebecca - the only ones we found working on a Sunday! 

Ted on deck? - down to the bones, they are doing a major job! 

Only a little bit of day light

The Mascot 

Go and Get Planked!

I don't think I'm in Canada any more!

As many of you might know I have left Ted to his own devices.  I am travelling until April and Ted has been left under strict instructions not to remove any more planks! The plan always was that we would do the two planks in question before I left for my trip. We knew what we were up against after putting the first one in and we were down to the wire! 

This plank had the most annoying curve to shape. Ted liked to leave it wedged in like this and walk away. I was not a big fan of this practice. 

The weather cooperated really nicely for us and we were able to open the bay doors. Being able to see what you are doing made life a lot easier. You can see how shinny the paint it!

I did all the planning on the second plank. Ted's shoulders were sore from the other one. The life of a lawyer! 

The warmer weather and the light made for less stressful weekend. 

This plank had a bit of curve to it. We had to set up braces to wedge the plank in place. We were also a bit smarter about cutting the end. 

There's that winning fit! The mahogany was such a rich brown, it's a shame we will be painting it!

There is Ted carefully finding my pencil line. I stood over him threatening his life if he messed it up. I dislike using chop-saws. Whenever I can I make someone else do it. 

We were able to find a chunk of lead to help us. We had to move it together it was so heavy. 

So, if you think that plank looks familiar you would be right! That is plank we first put in. I wasn't happy with the fit and forced Ted to take it out and glue some more wood on and refit it. 

We broke our hammer making our braces. 

The first of the fastenings going in!

In the background you can see our three braces. We got clever for one. We found a jack stand and it worked perfectly. 

Family photo. As you can see it is a very tight fit with the boat next to us!

We also broke the driver bit

And the tapered drill bit and a regular drill bit. It was an expensive weekend!

The final result.  Told Ted that I wanted to have both planks in before I left and we did.

I am now receiving cryptic photos from Ted about what he just did on the weekend. Its seems him and Jamie are drilling holes into the boat! I would say I'm worried but the beer and the sun make that hard!


** authors note. The quality of this blog may have been impaired by beer.

What Are You Sinking About?

On a stormy day while working on Restless, the trailer loses its footing and starts to roll down the slight incline towards the sea. She breaks through the boat shops plywood doors, splintering them as she gains speed. Once outside in the open she heads towards the end of the dock. Ted and I try everything to stop the boat. When she gets to the end of the wharf, the trailer abruptly stops but Restless is catapulted into the water. She bucks slightly in the rough water as she enters deeper water before quickly sinking, due to the missing planks. Then I wake up.

This was an actual dream I had. I woke up thinking "oh god, something else we have to figure out." Thankfully, it was only a dream and when we went to the boat she was still safely inside on her trailer. There are several aspects of that dream that would make it unlikely for that scenario to unfold. Mainly that she sits on a level floor and I don't thing she could bust through the doors. The sinking on the other hand, that is something she does every spring when she is taking up!

The last few weeks have been very hard on me because there has not been a lot of visible progress. When I am working on a project and I set out to complete something in a day, or a few I usually get it done. I think it is because I am very stubborn and I work a lot alone. I have come to realize, no offence to Ted, that I prefer to work alone because I get to complete what I want when I want! Ted works on a completely different rationale. So things happen slower then I would like. But I guess as long as it gets done in the end it will be fine!

The visible progress. If I am painting it it means it is ready to go in soon! 

This is another point where we disagree. I wanted to complete one plank at a time, but Ted started working on the second plank before we even had the first plank painted!

One of the things I decided to do to make our lives easier was to draw out a little road map. Below the empty hole I drew the ribs, showing where the old screw holes were and where there were screws/bolts that I had to grind off. You can't reuse the old screw holes. Also, next to the wooden frames are metal frames and in those metal frames are bolt holes. We needed to find those. That was a lot of me upside down in the bilge with a pencil while Ted held the new plank in place. 

We could not just leave empty holes in the ribs. We were advised to fill them and the easiest way was with tooth picks!

We had an issue with the end of the new plank. Seems that it had somehow shrunk and that it was suddenly not connecting with the remaining bit of plank. So I glued a little piece of wood on the end and while it was drying I made a template that would tell us the shape and the length it needed to be. The bolt holes came in handy, I was able to use the hole in the frame which corresponded to the hole in the plank. It's the small things! 

LOOK! There is no hole! Try and figure out which one is the new one. Hint: It is on the starboard side. 

We needed a little extra help getting the end in and Ted came up with this brilliant idea. The only reason we were able to do this is because we removed the rudder this season. South Shore Marine is making us a new fiberglass one. We had patched the old one so much with epoxy last year we were surprised it held together. We are excited to see what it is like not to have a soggy rotten rudder trailing behind us. 

What a pretty bottom. 

Its in, its in, its in!!! There are beautiful bronze screws holding this brand new piece of Mahogany in place. We are still on the hunt for bronze bolts. We have a mish-mass of stainless bolts in place for now while we hunt for the real deal. We needed to put the bolts in to help pull the plank in, we could not rely on the screws alone. 

The next step is the caulking cotton and deciding on a a seam compound. Someone told us we could use roofing tar... 'Does the trick and it is cheap!' I quickly vetoed that plan. So while I am away in Europe I will be researching seam compound.

Time and Tide Wait for No Man

January 27-28 & February 3-4

At the moment there are two planks missing from Restless. The light that shines through the gaps is eerily beautiful, in a haunting sort of way. It is like looking into the light at the end of the long tunnel. But we don't want to go into that light. We want to board it up and paint it blue.

I studied philosophy for one year in University so I like to think that I have read some interesting ways of thinking. In that time, I don't remember any philosopher, poet, disciples, or rappers ever saying that February is the most productive month, and I can now confirm that little of consequence happens in the shortest - and worst? - month.  If T.S Eliot thinks that April is the cruelest month I declare February the most dastardly month.

This is not to say that we have been sitting around the last two weekends thinking of new ways of avoiding the boat and the outdoors. We did go to the boat the first weekend in February and we did the rough cut out of the second plank! But we have yet to fit the first plank. We had various obstacles, like not having the fasteners, not having the first plank fitting perfectly against the ribs to drill holes, and Ted and me arguing about the next step.

Using Sarah, the circular saw, I cut out the second plank. After watching my dad do the first one for us I worked up the courage. I am still not as good as him, but it was not awful! 

After we did that we decided to start working the curve of the hull into the first plank. We cannot put the plank straight onto the ribs because they are curved so to ensure we have a tight fit we have to plane the plank down on the edges to make it slightly curved. 

Mahogany dust is one of the worst wood dusts to breath in. When I started working with my dad and we were planning down planks he made sure we were wearing masks. After breathing it in for years you can develop an allergy to it. Apparently, it can get so bad that you cannot not even be on a mahogany planked boat! Seeing as Restless is planked with mahogany and so is my Folkboat, this would be bad! 

Eye see you!

We fit the first plank against the ribs, it just needs a little more fiddling. We think that we will be screwing it in this weekend. Fingers crossed! We would have done it last weekend but I had a cold. On Saturday, we decided that we would be miserable working in -11 degrees Celsius and seeing as was sick it seemed like a good excuse to take a day off and go full on on Sunday. However, after waking on Sunday I felt even more sick! As I said to my mom, "I feel like a slug with growing pains!" I felt terrible, not just because I was ill but because we were not able to make any progress. All in all I felt very guilty about the weekend because of my lack of ability to complete anything! 

So far February has not been our best month, but we still have two more weekends before it is over and three weekends before I leave Ted up to his own devices. It's thoughts like that leave me lying awake at night, it's either that or the cat that seems to only likes to sleep on my neck.