Beaton’s – Page 8 – Hove to off Swan Point

More from Maine

along with recent pics of Speedwell and Sjogin.

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Quite calm
Typical morning conditions on the Reach. Julia rowed me around the cove that morning but no pics.

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John Brooks and one of his Sommes Sound 12 1/2 designs.

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Neat old Lobster boat in Center Harbor. We were returning on Malabar II, a beautiful boat in a harbor full of them. (Mostly.)

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Jett and Bob enjoying a Martini.

More Maine pics on Flickr.

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Happy Skipper
Running home today in Speedwell. Rising breeze, several gybes and still dry! Duckboat Worlds on Friday.

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Rudderless
Without direction. Â Sjogin awaits the passing of Irene and several months in the shed.

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More this weekend….

As some may recall, I’ve been looking to replace the standard, 10 year old friendly, marconi rig with a traditional sprit sail. The plan was to make the spars and order a suitable sail. But I saw a Thread on the WoodenBoat Forum where a Cape Cod member had an extra rig that needed a good home. Consider it found.

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New rig!
As it turns out, the rig is too long to sheet as a loose footed sail. The boat it was designed for was a similar length but the mast was stepped closer to the bow. The sheet here is tied around the rudder gudgeon and is at too steep an angle to be effective. Having the sail sheeting point within reach would make it worse. So I’ll make a sprit boom, set up like the peak sprit. It’ll be easier to sheet, using the existing traveler set-up.

There also needs to be a fitting made to accept the base of the new mast that will fit into the existing mast step. Wood noodling coming up.

The sail was made by Nat Wilson of East Boothbay, ME., one of the best traditional sail makers around.

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WoodenBoat Show pics from Mystic to follow.

New Beaton pics

This should make Reader P happy.

Sorry for the three week gap but I’ve been busy with my business. There’s actually something new to report but that can wait a day or so.

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Paul Smith

Paul Smith getting ready to finish the details this remarkable restoration. The boat is a simple plywood outboard runabout, built in the 50’s and near death. Paul replaced the transom, keel, deck, seats and such. She’s ready for another generations worth of fun on the Bay.

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Segar
Segar waiting patiently for a return to service. She’s an Officer’s tender; I believe from one of the Dewey era dreadnoughts. That’s Speedwell, our Clarke Duckboat in the center. It’s the one with the bump in the deck edge.)

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Maid Party
Folks at the Silent Maid Commissioning Party last month.

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Your host and a not too warm Julia.

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Tom Beaton
Tom and a new patient for the geriatric ward.

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Garden pics, news from Nova Scotia and a new rig for Speedwell to follow.

First sail!

Last Friday saw the first sail of 2011. Disappointed that the Winter didn’t allow a single sail but ice, persistent strong westerlies, low water and the leaking split plank conspired to keep me dockbound. I did have many watches below thanks to my semi-retired status so don’t feel too bad for me.

There was a moderate breeze out of the NNW, bright sun, about 40 degrees. Couldn’t resist so I did my usual circuit, heaving to off Swan Point for breakfast. Of course the wind picked up, gusting to 15kts with one blast just off Beaton’s that put the deck under up to the coaming. So far so good with no increase in Sjogin’s normal weeping.

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Nice breeze; ready to go. No one on the Bay but Buffleheads and Ospreys.

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First sail!
Running out of Beaton’s with the stove doing it’s work as the smoke streams to leeward. Unlike most times when there’s a long time between sails, it felt like I had been sailing just the day before.

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Sail covers off!
Left the sail covers off in hopes of another sail but this interminable cold Spring put paid to that hope.

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Your very Happy Skipper enjoying the first sail of 2011.

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Rearranged books
When I got back to the dock and looked below I found the ships library had been shifted to leeward when hit by the gust off Beaton’s. The white and green book on the shelf ended up directly opposite the place where it started. I imagine there was a bit of bouncing to have ended up where it did as Sjogin was certainly not knocked down 90 degrees.

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The Maid emerges
Silent Maid out of the shop after an off-season makeover looking Beaton Fresh. Oh how she glows. Word is that she’ll stay on the Bay this summer and compete for the Toms River Challenge Cup against the A-Cat fleet. This will be the first time a boat other than the 28′ Mower/Sweisguth designs have competed since 1906.

Happy Retirement Jake!

Signs of Spring

The change of the coming season is visible at Beaton’s: the bubbler system has been put away, signs of owners can be seen around the yard and the Ospreys are back. The Silent Maid and the A-Cats are being prepped for the coming battles with lots of varnishing in evidence. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks:

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John Haas and Spyder
Here’s John Haas, up from SP for a visit and Spyder’s freshly varnished transom. Even the wood shop’s being used for paint work.

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Glowing!
Here’s the Silent Maid’s freshly varnished transom and newly painted and gold leafed name. The painter is a gentleman who’s been painting names at Beaton’s for decades. Fine hand.

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The Shadow knows
Speaking of transoms, here’s Shadow, looking Beaton’s Fresh.

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Ingrid Ann getting ready for the dock building season.

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And we have signs of Spring at Ourhouse. Everything seems to have survived the Winter with the bulbs thriving. Bring it on.

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!

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.

Category: Beaton’s