Sjogin – Page 10 – Hove to off Swan Point

Old plank, new leak

There’s been a split in the broad-strake, the plank above the garboard, for as long as I can remember. The split runs from just inside the cabin to the cockpit, passing under two frames. While cleaning out ice last week and wondering why she was making more water than usual, I saw water seeping out of the split. I imagine years of freezing had taken their toll. It needs a permanent repair but a session of caulking cotton and screwdriver work slowed it down considerably.

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Leak!
The area above the split is dry (relatively). This is before the cotton was forced into the seam. When we get a spell of ice free weather I’ll have the yard pull her and do something permanent.

All the wires you see are for the bilge pump, the sole bit of electrical gear on Sjogin.

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Fire in the hole
Warming the cabin while I caulked the leak. Necessary part of any off-season Sjogin work.

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At the sizzle
Post caulking brunch.

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Foggy
Foggy with floating ice yesterday. The photo is via Instagram, a site I use to post pics on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

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Shadow progress
Progress on the Blackjack Shadow. The windscreen’s been rebuilt and painted. Cockpit work continues.

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Icebreaker
Local dock builder doing some icebreaking last week. The basin and upper Bay were ice free this morning.

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Yet more snow
Last weeks storm brought about six inches of wet snow. I think we’re working on a record for continuous snow cover. Very unusual.

More Snow

And more ice. It’s looking more and more like it will be a Winter of much discontent. We’ve had a series of classic coastal storms leaving us snow covered for the last few weeks. The ice in Jones Tide Pond at Beaton’s has been variable, but solid lately. Open water is about fifty yards away.

The water levels have dropped to their usual winter depth, but later than usual this year. One of the very few benefits (if any) to our coastal Northeasters is the raising of the water level in the upper Bay. This kept the level a bit higher over the last few weeks.

All in all no sailing yet this year.

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Streamlined
No sailing but plenty of visits to pump her out and warm up the cabin with a quick fire and fixins’. Lots of slush in the bilges lately but the pump still works.

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Taken Tuesday. Nice conditions for a sail; about 35, Westerly breeze at 5 or so, scattered high clouds but still ice bound. And plenty of water. There’s about 20 yards of thickish ice between the dock and the upper bay.

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Lumpy water
Still pretty solid. Seems it will spread with the coming chill this weekend.

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New on old
Paul Smith building a new windshield frame for Shadow, a well used Hubert? Johnson Blackjack.

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Laying down on the job
One of the joys of boat work. Jeff laying down a bead of caulk in seemingly endless seams.

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New plank ready to be set in place. This is high boatwright art; dealing with the twist and matching the existing, often dodgy, bevels.

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A bit of local color last week in the backyard. Our feeder’s been getting a workout with the lingering snow cover.

New at Beaton’s

Tom Beaton and the Cub Scouts started making snow shoes this weekend. Tom demonstrated how to steam bend wood, use a form and rivet the ends. Webbing to follow.

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A new product line
Introducing a new generation to the charms of Beaton’s

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Maid all aglow
Silent Maid glowing with fresh stain. Lots of varnish to follow.

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Paul Smith sealing the deck of an almost 50 year old Black Jack. I worked on the restoration of one of these boats during my time in the wood shop at Beaton’s.

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Winter storage
The local dock builders rig waiting out winter.

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Sjogin by KM
Photo of Sjogin taken last week by Kent Mountford.

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Fresh Snow
A quick dusting yesterday. No wind at all with drifting ice. A touch of breeze would have tempted me.

As always you can find more photos and larger sizes at Flickr.

Storm of the Century!

So far. We had about 30″ along the coast, the most snow I’ve ever seen here. We were snowed in until today. Tom Beaton was able to get down to the Yard yesterday and pump out Sjogin. Thanks Tom.

When I finally got down today I was surprised to see her decks swept clean from the gale force winds we had during this very nasty Northeaster. The cockpit was full of snow and it took a while to clear it out. Luckily no water in the cabin. It’s supposed to be in the mid 40’s this weekend so she should have ice free bilges for a while.

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It starts
This was from Sunday morning, the start of the storm. Very cozy below with the howling wind and blowing snow.

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What snow?
With the wind out of the NNW, the decks were swept clean. Note the clear dock. And the ice is back but not too thick. With the warming trend it may be gone by Friday allowing a chance for a last sail for 2010.

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Drifts!
Not all the docks were clear. This is in front of the Mast Shed.

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Wow!
Most snow ever at our house. It was about 30″ in the back yard but felt like more when shoveling the path to the street. Thankfully we don’t have any sidewalks to clear. Hope it melts before the daffodils are due.

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Happy tree, happy Julia
Here’s part of our Christmas Tree with a Happy Julia. Note the snow free patio.

Happy New Year all!

Merry Christmas from Sjogin

I’d like to wish you all the best of the Season and say thanks again for following along. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for over five years. I hope you’re not too tired of seeing pictures of Sjogin and such.

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Happy Holidays
Sjogin’s usual Holiday decorations. Maybe some lights next year.

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Nice late afternoon light.

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Ice free!
The strong westerlies of the last week have moved the ice out of the basin. You can see the ice on the Bay south of Curtis Point from the Mantoloking Bridge. I hope to squeeze in a sail to the “ice fields” before the basin freezes again.

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At the sizzle
Breakfast below this week. Continued below average temps but warm enough below.

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Happy Skipper
Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year to you all.

Ice!

And far too early. It’s usually late in December when the basin at Beaton’s freezes over. I’m hoping to get one more sail in before the year’s done. It’s the start of the frozen bilge season and more frequent trips to check on Sjogin. Which isn’t too bad a chore.

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Ice!
First ice of the season last week. Just a bit of skim but a possible sign of the Winter to come. Ice in the bilge as well with the pump turned off. The basin is clear now as the brisk Westerlies move the open surface water down the Bay; the resulting upwelling of the relatively warmer bottom water helps the process. Same principal as a bubbler system used to keep pilings ice free.

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It begins
Reflection season begins.
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Sistership dreams
Let a thousand Sjogin’s bloom. Dreaming of other Happy Skippers heaving to off their own Swan Points. It’s a lot quieter below when iced in.

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Beaton built Sneakboxes in storage. The one with the yellow deck is the last one they made. I had the pleasure of helping Tom and Paul with the build.

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Close the door!
Serena and Quest waiting for the shed door to be shut for the Winter.

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A well loved and used Christmas wheelbarrow built by Tom Beaton years ago. It’s time for another one so this one is at the shop for laying out the new parts.

Sent the latest numbers off to Canada

All of the latest measurements have been sent of to Mr. Gartside. Added to the list was a set of offsets so the deck and house crown will be similar. I still need to make some minor changes to his first construction plan draft and mail that off.

If I haven’t before, here’s a link to his website. Some serious boat-flesh there.

Nothing else new, just the regular “boat check” routine. Starting to think about more frequent visits as the prospect of frozen bilges looms. No sailing this week.

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Still floating
Last Monday’s check up. The usual butt blocks are still leaking. Probably time for some sawdust.

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Ahhhhh.....
Ever the creature of habit. Chilly on deck.

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My current read on board. More pottering about the Thames Estuary in small boats. One of these days I’d like to sail there and channel my inner Griffiths.

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Draft measurement
It seems that Sjogin draws less than the three feet I always thought. Curious.

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Instagram!
Sent via the Instagram App which allows a few effects.

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Mary and Julia on Thanksgiving.

The mailman brought joy

Here she is:

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Click for a larger image.

This is Paul Gartside’s first draft of the Lines Plans for Sjogin. It all starts with this two dimensional representation of the hull, shown in three views. From this the Table of Offsets is created that will allow a builder to begin construction.

Paul took the measurements that Steve Martinsen and I recorded this Summer and worked his magic. Here’s a link to the Post where we picked up the offsets. Seems we weren’t too far off.

Paul asked for some missing measurements and other detail which I picked up yesterday. He’ll then produce plans for traditional lap strake construction and also for glued-lap plywood. Looks like there’s hope for sister-ships someday. Maybe even a gaff yaw version.

What joy.

Waiting for mail from Canada

I heard from Paul Gartside last week. He’s one of the designers working on building plans for Sjogin. A set of initial drawings are on there way here from Nova Scotia along with questions about cabin, deck and spar measurements. Can’t wait.

Back in the off-Season routine. A few more visits per week to “check on the boat” and work in a sail and/or fire if appropriate. She’s still leaking a bit but there’s time before the first ice for her to tighten sufficiently.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks:

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Sjogin in her Summer position in the slip. This makes it easy to drop back and sail off the dock in the prevailing Southerlies.

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Back in her Winter position. This keeps the cockpit in the sun, keeping the bilge warmer. It’s also nice to open the hatch and let the low Winter sun into the cabin.

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Ready
Ready to go. Week before last on a beautiful October morning. The topping lift holds up the boom, taking the drive out of the mainsail. It’s eased just before casting off.

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Nice breeze
Pleasant breeze; sunny and cool enough for a fire.

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Sizzle!
Speaking of which. Back to the same breakfast diet. The crew at Beaton’s are happy with my semi-retirement as it means Joe Leone’s Hot Sausage and Provolone Bread at least once a week.

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Quest
Quest is a Watch Hill 15 restored, actually completely rebuilt, at Beaton’s a few years ago. Here she’s getting ready for a well deserved rest.

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Wow!
Great Fall color from our Staghorn Sumac. We never had such a display.

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Glowing Spartina
Salt marsh with Fall colors. My favorite Season.

Finally a word of thanks and gratitude on this most solemn day for all who served and continue to serve. And a special thanks to my Dad, a WWII veteran. I miss his stories.

She sails!

Finally got out for a sail on Sunday. For a change I had a crowd on board. Julia joined me along with Thomas Armstrong and his friend Liz. Thomas writes the always interesting Blog, 70.8%. You’ve seen him mentioned here before.

This has been the longest without a sail in years. She still seems to be making up as the usual suspects provided an interior gurgle when heeled. I suppose I’ll need to sail her more to keep those seams above water tight.

Most of the following pics were taken by either Thomas or Liz and lifted from Facebook.

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Hove to again
Hove to once more off Swan Point. We had a light breeze to start, varying from calm to 3 kts or so. I like to have as little stress as practical on the hull for the first few sails so the conditions were suitable. (Except for the calm bits rolling in the still present motorboat chop.

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One man power
At one point we were a little too close to the marsh with no wind so it was time to start the auxiliary.

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Good crew
Julia and Liz during one of the quiet spots. Thinking about rigging the sculling oar with a soft lee shore approaching.

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Thomas and your host
Thomas and I discussing something boaty. I think we’re actually sailing here.

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Red sails return
Finally! After sculling away from the marsh we entered the Sea Breeze Zone. SSE about 6 and much cooler. We rode it home and managed a one try docking.

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End of the Season
Here’s the Silent Maid getting unrigged. What a great season for this race proven Queen of the Bay. Here’s a link to John Brady’s Blog where you can read about her Summer cruise. She got as far as Brooklin, ME for the Eggomoggin Reach Regatta.

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Ahhhhh....
One of the reasons I just had my first sail. (Along too much of the semi in semi-retirement). I spent a few days on Boss Lady in the Chesapeake a week or so past. And spent as much time as I could on the settee above. A fine place to watch the day go by.

I’ll try to catch up with some other items this week.