1930 Schooner MISTRESS

It is necessary to back up time to continue our story properly. In this picture, the hull is not yet fair although Memory Monday 19 said is was. This is because Skip often worked on more than one thing at a time with MISTRESS. Here, the bulwarks have the fairing compound on them. This is the same compound, epoxy with micro balloons, which Skip used to fair her hull.

Each of her deck beams received a bead on the bottom and varnished before they were fastened into place. The bead serves two purposes. First, it looks good below and second, it would make hitting your head a little less painful. Skip told me then, he knew he would be crawling about under the aft deck or in the V-berth, and wanted to have a rounded edge in which to hit his head, knowing full well, he would.

With everything finished before it is fastened into place, the effect is dramatic when below. Her interior has two fine coats of Fleet White Awlgrip, which should last a lifetime. The beams are finished, the bulkhead is in, and her knees are in place. Skip is beginning to wear a smile on his face now. He has brought her a long way from where she was when she arrived in our backyard. There is also the temporary first layer for the cabin sole, which saves Skip and his tools from falling to the floor timbers. Although we thought this would be its proper location, allowing our good friend Dave who is 6’ 4”, standing headroom, this would change. In fact, Skip would have to make a compromise and raise the sole two inches all around to allow for the connections and hoses run to the water tanks he built These fit below and between the floor timbers. While it is true Dave can stand tall, it is necessary for him to be between the beams for safe keeping. Yet another good reason for that deck beam bead.

Here you can see the outline of the cockpit. Originally, she had a rather large cockpit. Room enough for several people to sit in. This would not work for us as ocean sailors who prefer to hold less water on deck. Forward, you can see the framework for the engine hatch. This hatch Skip moved to port some to allow more room for the companionway hatch. Between the cockpit and the engine hatch, you can see her 90-gallon diesel tank. One of the things Skip made sure of as he was designing her new layout, is everything which goes below, can be removed without cutting into MISTRESS. This is a good thing and we know someday, down the road, we will be happy for that bit of forethought.

 In May of 2003, Skip is working for himself, which affords him more time to work on MISTRESS. He took the month of May off and planned the deck as his goal. Here, we see some of that cedar Skip handpicked from 12,000 board feet. He has routed a tongue and groove and then varnished one side. He will face the varnished side down and the effect below is stunning.

On May 30^th, I took this picture showing the first layer of cedar in line with the sheer and half of the second layer laid parallel to the centerline.The first layer, Skip fitted dry and glued it to the beams.The second layer he glued over the whole deck, without the tongue and grove.He will finish-up the second layer within a few days and then begin a different third layer.

 From this angle, you can see the two layers of cedar and the deck beam. Previously, I wrote about her side deck tie rods being cut. In this picture, you can see one of the new ½” SS rods Skip put in.

It is now mid June 2003. Skip has laid the Maranti Ply on the diagonal over the cedar. This gives MISTRESS three layers, with each laid in a different direction. In time, Skip will put Dynel over this, which is a wonderful material. I will share more about it with you later. For now, let's just say, if you are redoing a deck, consider Dynel for your top layer.

One reasons Skip choose to put the Maranti down over the cedar was the softness of the cedar. While the Dynel would withstand something dropped from above on it, without the Maranti, the cedar would most likely take the ding. This would allow water a place to pool on deck, never a good thing. The Maranti would insure a strong deck able to withstand some mistreatment.

You may remember it was in May 2000 that MISTRESS arrived and it was August before Skip, released from the house began his work on her. Two years later, the hull is strong, all her keel bolts have been replaced, the watertight bulkhead is in, the deck is on, she has her fiberglass using the Vaitses method, the fairing is coming right along, and she looks great down below. It’s been a good two years for us. We begin to notice when people drop by now, not all consider us nearly so crazy anymore.

 Yeah! The Yanmar 56 hp diesel engine has arrived. It is June 2003. While that may be early, considering we will not be launching until July 2006, our warranty will not start until then, therefore, this will give Skip plenty of time for the installation of it and all that will be needed to make the engine operational. Additionally, we figured the price of the engine would not go down, therefore, no time like the present.

The day after the engine arrived, Tim helped Skip build this apparatus which Skip would attach the hoist to in order to lift the engine up and into place. The following day while Tim was at school and I was at work, it took Skip just 15 minutes to raise the engine to deck level, slide it over above the engine hatch opening, and lower it into place. The hoist was a $75.00 investment and all Skip had to do was press a button up or down for easy maneuvering. Later, he would trade that same hoist for our first engine inspection from our Yanmar guy. It was worth every dime we paid for it.

Once Skip dropped the engine into place, it did not take long for him to level it out and fasten in into place. Much work would still need to be done to hook everything up so we would have a working engine. You can see in this photo the amount of room that is available in the engine room. It sure is nice not to be cramped when trying to do things in this area.

Before the first layer of the cabin sole was set in place, Skip made three water tanks out of fiberglass.  Each was templated to fit into an area between the floor timbers below the sole.  Once he completed building these tanks, he steamed them.  That is what we are seeing in this picture.  By steaming them with a little bleach and water, he removes any unpleasant taste that might linger from the glass.  The tanks hold, 9.5 gals, 17 gals, and 15 gals.  We also bought a 20 gal tank, which lives under the aft end of the settee.  Later, after MISTRESS launches, Skip will add an additional tank up on top the cabin house which will store 6 gals. of distilled water for drinking.  Additionally, the hot water heater holds 6 gals. 

The three tanks he made were than put in place and the water and vent lines were run.  The forward smaller tank, we have discovered, has the water, vent line backwards, and needs to be fixed.  Luckily, this can easily be resolved by lifting one of the cabin sole hatches and using a few hose clamps.  Once completed, this will give us 73.5 gals. of fresh water in our tanks.  Skip will put in a reverse osmosis system as well; this will allow us to turn salt water into fresh water at one gallon an hour. 

Vacuum bagging the cabin house sides. The sides are 3 layers of ¼” Eurolite plywood, cold-molded over a form.  By vacuum bagging, Skip achieved approximately 1800 lbs. per sq ft of clamping pressure. 

 During the process of rebuilding MISTRESS, Skip and I read more than a few books about people who had to abandon ship.  Many of these boats had taken a bad hit to the cabin house causing their vessel to take on water.   This was the reasons Skip went to an airplane building school where he learned about vacuum bagging and the strength it offers and why he choose to use this technique on MISTRESS.  We attempted to vacuum bag the deck as well once all three layers were in place, however we do not believe we achieved the same kind of pressure do to our inability to stop all leaks on such a large and complicated area.  

Once again, Tim came to help Skip and the cabin house sides were attached.

 These are the lodging knees, which Skip made out of White Ash and glued up with Ebond epoxy.  There are seventeen layers in each knee.  Skip had hoped to build these knees in one piece, however, after days of contemplation he settle for a two pieces lodging knee.  To get them to bend to the shape of the mold Skip made, each piece was soaked in the dog pool for an hour first

 He fitted and clamped into a mold he made with the wet pieces of White Ash. He then let them cure for 24 hours to set up.

Although Skip had spent hours trying to figure out how to laminate the lodging knees into one piece, in the end it appears impossible.  However, as two pieces the are still something to behold when below and rarely is someone aboard that it does not come up in conversation.