Beaton’s – Page 16 – Hove to off Swan Point

A Sunday sail

last weekend for Julia and I. A perfect November Sardine morning. I got underway about 10:00; light southwesterly with bright sunshine and a few scattered cirrus. Temps in the high 40’s, certainly cool enough for a fire. Grilled an English Muffin in butter on the stove. Good smells. One on these mornings I’m going to try a full bacon and eggs breakfast.

Julia joined me later with a pier head leap from the Tee Dock. Reached over to the club and hove to on Port for a while till I realized we had a knot and a half (well at least one) northerly current setting us down toward the bridge. Eased the jib to get going and tacked over to Swan Point where we were out of the current. I had a watch below with Julia and a second cup of tea and rum. Simple pleasures.

Ready to go; very light breeze. Perfect for lazy sailing as slow as I can.

Muffin
Cinnamon muffin at the sizzle.

Julia keeping warm
Julia keeping herself and her coffee warm. No puff backs since I started stuffing a rag in the forward vent.

Cool Skipper
Waiting for a watch below

The Flatfish Charlotte hoping for one last sail.

No sailing today

as little water and plenty of wind. Perfect weather for a fire below.

Also a couple of pics from our visit last weekend to Cold Spring on Hudson to visit one of our Forum friends Phil Heffernan. Neat little town filled with antique shops, interesting restaurants and a world class view of the American Rhine.

Little water
Water level down by a foot or so; chilly and spitting rain out of the Northeast.

Cozy below. Had another two fire weekend.

Tom Beaton stopped by for a visit below.

Walker, Julia and Phl
Walker, Julia and Phil at the Foundry Cove marsh. West Point is in the distance.

Julia and Walker in the Foundry Cove woods. Site is litered with remnants of the iron works that supplied most of the Union’s armanent in the Civil War.

Here today....
Here today… An old Manasquan cottage in our neighborhood ready for “improvement”.

Recent pics:

Here’s a mix of newish stuff; a visit from Bob and Jett, a triumphant Margo and Sarah ( a story I will get to next week), Saturday morning on Sjogin and the 1938 Beaton Sneakbox progress.

Bob and Jett, our six legged house guest.

Bob down below.

Margo and Sarah
Our friend Margo on her recently launched Concordia Yawl Sarah. An epic effort to bring a classic back to life.

Hot tea
Time for toast and tea. Blowing 20 to 30 kts today as Noel goes by; chilly and damp but warm enough below.

Tom Beaton and the 1938 Sneakbox
Tom Beaton and the restored 1938 Sneakbox built by his grandfather David Beaton; founder of Beatons. Getting ready to steam-bend the coaming.

Fair deck
The deck is to be finished bright as she was when first built.

All rigged and ready to go sailing

except for the rudder. Applied the first, and probably last for now, finish coat to the rudder. Will have the Yard install tomorrow and hope to have my first sail of the new season after work. Also got a fresh coat of varnish in the tiller. Changed to jib blocks for ones I bought a few years back from the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. A little on the small side but since I had to seize them in place, they’ll be there for a while.

Progress on the first Beaton Sneakbox with the new deck almost done.

Also waiting for the arrival of my brother in Boss Lady on his way South.

Ready to go
Once the rudders gets hung, we’ll be open for business.

Done
All rigged; some of the gear renewed. Decided to keep the now gray Dacron halyards. The potential Manila-like replacements I bought seem to be a little to “plastic”.

Sneakbox Number One
New red cedar deck on the first Beaton Sneakbox.

A-Cat worlds next Saturday.

Rudder progress

I’ve decided to do a quick fix on the rudder as there doesn’t seem to have very many years left. The wood is very tired with many checks and suspicious dark spots here and there. I set up the rivets so it shouldn’t work too much. After a coat of primer I filled the checks, splits and gaps with thickened WEST epoxy. A little more sanding and painting should see us sailing by Sunday or so.

Striped and scraped
Finished with the heat gun and scraper. Fiddly work.

Sanded
All sanded, ready for primer.

Primed
Fresh primer. Exciting stuff, huh?

Last look before leaving Beatons.

Sjogin floats!

Beatons launched her Thursday afternoon. Swelling nicely; her own pump comes on every ten minutes or so. I have a back up sump pump on board, just in case. Gave Sjogin her annual cabin and cockpit scrubbing this morning. All clean now. Will move back in tomorrow and have the first fire of the new season. Still need to sand and varnish the spars, refinish the rudder and cut and fit the new hatch runners. Hope to be sailing by the 29th, the day of the A-Cat Worlds.

Float support
She floats….with a little help from the straps.

Old Lift at Beatons
Hanging in the straps Thursday evening. The lift was built by David Beaton in the 60’s?

On her own now. I bought a new Battery today so I’ll sleep easy tonight. That’s a N. G. Herreshoff E-Boat behind Sjogin.

The Glimmer Glass Bridge; now threatened with “improvement”. There’s a growing public effort to preserve the Bridge as it is now. I believe it’s the only one of its kind in the country. It’s hard to see from this angle but there are massive rollers on a curved track that are counter-weights to the Bridge deck. I’ve know it since I was a child.

Almost done

with Sjogin’s refit. All painting above the waterline is done; finished the rub rail today. When the Yard does the bottom work she’ll be ready for another off-season. Still need to seal, fill and paint the rudder. It’s pretty beat up after 45 years of service.

Photos of the progress as well as other items follow:

Varnish done
House top, trim and house sides painted, hatch frame varnished.

Deck Painted with Kirby’s finest. There’s a greenish cast to everything due to the skyklights in the shed.

South shed light
Evening light in the south shed.

Rudder work. Paint mostly stripped; setting up the rivets in the shop.

On Nimble
Stealing an hour on Kent’s boat.

Kent Mountford
Captain Kent

Done
Names on, almost done.

Beaton’s is restoring the first Sneakbox they built.

Nelson
Here’s a pic from last Sunday, when Nelson, Gerry and I sailed one of the Manhattan Sailing Club (MSC) G-Boats.

Sjogin progress and G-Boat activity

at Beaton’s today. I started on the rail repair, finding a precut piece of cedar scrap or two that just fit. Beatons’ are working on restoring Sneakbox Number 1, so lots of off-cuts.

While working on Sjogin this morning, Michael Fortenbaugh and the G-Boat entourage arrived. He had a few friends and members all for an introduction to sailing these great old boats. They all went out and back a half dozen times, some captured below.

Tomorrow I expect to take one of the G-Boats out with friend and MSC member, Nelson Garcez.

Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend all…

Ready to start fitting the dutchmen. When fit close enough with a dollop of thickened epoxy, it will see the rub rail through the winter.

First group of G-Boaters getting ready to leave.

Reaching in for another crew swap. Nice to see these venerable old boats being restored and used.

Luffing up to the dock
Good landing.

More tomorrow.

Turns out I did have time.

Started stripping the rudder. Long overdue and I noticed it’s starting to get a little dodgy in spots. I’ll strip clean and set up the rivets to try to tighten up the slot for the tiller.

Lot’s of progress yesterday, sanded the toe rails, deck, house and coamings. Also finished sanding the topsides and spot primed the faired and sanded spots with finish paint. Ready for the Yard to get to work.

Should be almost done with the regular work by Labor Day.

Stripping the rudder

On a garden note, have seen what I believe are Swallowtail butterflies visiting this year. Here’s one on the Zinnias:

Zinnias

Next post will have pics of our service in brothers navy. See ya…

August Refit

Sjogin’s out for her annual refit. Nothing major this time except the need for a dutchman in the Port rub rail. It may be time for a new set as I assume they’re original. (45 years old) The topsides also need to be wooded as that hasn’t been for a dozen years or so. The jobs complement each other as I’m sure there will be dodgy bits behind the rails at the top of the sheer strake. Maybe this March when the Yard’s swapping A-Cats out of the shed. We’ll see.

Pics follow:

Forward, August refit 2007
All of the chipped paint scraped off, sanded and primed. I’ll fair with WEST, then sand and prime again.