From Classic Boats to Exquisite Birds

Katz restored Cobra

 

Bird enjoying the Lake Dora Show

Show season is seriously underway. Two days to Tavares, Florida, three days of show and two days home. When we get home, it turns out, we really werent gone for very long. But, the whirlwind of travel, of seeing faces that we know well, but only from this distant show, of seeing faces that we know from almost everywhere that we travel to, of meeting new faces and of spending time with friends and family who are in this distant place, make it seem like weve been away for ages. 

 

Flying Saucer FiberClassic

Its been about eighteen years since we started this annual journey to Lake Dora where the Sunnyland Chapter of The Antique & Classic Boat Society hold one of the great shows among antique and classic boat shows. Its a given that we will be there next year; “first space to the right of the entrance”.

First booth to the right of the entrance

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is 20 Miles Long!

The drive is as intense as the show, considering that we spend more time in the car than we do in our booth. Route 95, although perhaps a bit faster, doesnt interest us as much as taking those roads that have mom & pop motels, local eateries, farms, houses, and reveal local cultures and industries.

Incredible O.J. Citra, Florida

You cant really see anything from Route 95 and with a good map, and especially with GPS, its hard to get lost anymore. For the most part, these are also 60 mph roads and I dont think that they cost us anything in terms of time.


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The Real Callabash, N.C.

Just as we see familiar faces at the show, there are familiar landmarks along the roads; architecturally interesting old houses and buildings, towns that still hold their character, and because we are on the cusp of Spring, places where the season is much further along or farther behind.

Tara, once upon a time???

As Ive said before, this is where we find the great Barbecue and Seafood restaurants that we like so much.

Santee, S.C. at sunset

Swan Pair by Ed Kuhn

This year, we may as well not have gotten out of the car. We arrived home late on Tuesday night. Friday morning (tomorrow) we leave for Chincoteague, Virginia. Its the Easter show down there, with a totally different set of familiar faces. Weve known them for a lot of years, as well. The ratio of drive time to show time is a bit different. Two hours of driving (each way) and two days of show: Friday and Saturday.

 

 

The Chincoteague Easter Show is not about boats; its about birds (although there are a few of us that make model boats too). Some of the best carvers in the country come to this show. There are also other types of artists who are truly outstanding in what they do. Were looking forward to spending time with Mary Lou Troutman, Ed Kuhn, Bill Veasey, Shannon Dimmig, Don and Donna Drew, Grover Cantwell, Russ Fish, Bill Hickson, Rocky Detwiler, Donnie Thornton,Bill Cowen, Denise Bennett, Joan Devaney, Nancy Richards West and many, many more great people. I definitely recommend this show and you have to know that its pretty special for us to look forward to it after the intense trip to Florida. Here is the show website: http://www.chincoteaguedecoyshow.com/ 

 

At the 2012 Easter Show

Actually, the Chincoteague Easter show is about the arts and like an ACBS show is centered around boats, so is this show centered around birds. Its really worth the trip from wherever you are. It will be good to have a couple of weeks without travel before our next show: The Bay Bridge Boat Show. That will be another story... At least this year, we dont have to drive to New York on Easter Sunday to put a large half-hull on the wall like we did last year.

See you at the Show!

 

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Assembling a Birds Mouth Hollow Mast

Most of the masts that I make are built hollow using the so called "Birds Mouth" technique. This is just a development of a vast range of similar methods used over many hundreds of years, but it is particularly suited to this day and age - mainly because of tilting-arbor table saws and power routers being readily available.

In this series of photos, Ill just show some basic steps in the assembly process. The marking and cutting of the staves which make up the spar need an article of their own.

Because of the large surface area which needs to be covered with epoxy, time is critical, and you need to be organised!

First four staves laid up dry to test fit. I am using U-shaped plywood forms to hold the staves loosely together and in alignment. The forms are clamped to a long piece of timber acting as a strongback.

There are only about four forms for this entire mast, which is 23 feet long. They are simply there to prevent the eight staves getting out of control during the assembly. Once together, the structure is self-supporting, but it does need to be straightend very carefully before the glue goes off. 

I always make solid inserts for the bottom of the mast. It usually extends up to above the level of the mast partners. The internal V cut-out is there so that there is no abrupt transition in stiffness between the solid and hollow sections.

I carefully shape the solid inserts so that they fit the internal shape of the mast without holding the staves apart. A slightly loose fit is good, as it allows a rich glue-line between the insert and the inner walls of the mast.

Another view of the insert

All eight staves are lined up in order, and at a convenient working height. Here I have a helper, as we need to be able to get epoxy out fast. We are applying the sealing coats to what will eventually be the inside of the mast, as it will not be accessible after assembly.

I use foam rollers to apply the epoxy, but you need to be careful to avoid pressing too hard and causing the wet epoxy to foam like whipped cream. After each coat is applied, I run over it lightly with a paint brush to smooth the surface and break any bubbles.

These are the staves at the masthead end. As you can see, these are almost at the minimum size limit for this method - I had done careful calculations ahead of time to make sure it would be feasible. You can see here that the epoxy coatings are building up.

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This shows me working on another mast. We had already applied the glue to the gluing surfaces using various techniques, and at this point I was rapidly adding extra where required, and was smoothing the glue on all mating surfaces

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The assembly just after putting together and placing a few cable ties around it to keep everything in place. Note the squeeze-out beginning to occur. It is important to have the glue fairly runny, as excess viscosity makes it very hard to clamp the total assembly tightly enough so that the mast assumes the correct diameter.

Start with a few, evenly-spaced cable ties, and then put on more in-between.

I use high-quality cable-ties and tighten them with the aid of pliers.

As you can see, Im serious about getting a good and even clamping! Although you cant see it well in the photo, I use multiple windings of packaging tape to apply extra pressure where needed. There are many different methods of clamping, but this system works for me.

Once the clamping has been completed, I then spend time making sure that the mast is straight. While the glue is still wet, you can fairly easily push, pull, and hammer the thing until it is straight. Put some effort into this, as when the glue goes off, the shape is fixed forever! You will find that the human eye is a very effective tool for determining straightness.

Slices sawn off the top and bottom ends of the mast shown in the construction  photos. You will note that when I cut the birds mouth cutouts, I run the saw blade just a little deeper than required, so that I get a little resevoir for epoxy, and that the staves fit in without hang-ups.

Here is a finished mast on another boat I built a couple of years ago.

Be open-minded about this process - it may look intimidating, but in fact it is quite easy - as long as you are organised!

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