Sjogin – Page 3 – Hove to off Swan Point

Back to our routine

The heart of Sjogin glows again. Her Sardine wood stove is back in place and providing the usual quick sizzles and cups of something nourishing. It was first installed in the Spring of 2003 (Thanks Bob!) and has been providing warmth and comfort ever since. (Sandy lay up time sadly excluded.)

Having the stove available has slowed down progress on refitting the admittedly meager cabin furniture. The berth flat still needs to be spilled to the profile of the new ceiling but is now shimmed enough to be useful as is the galley box. It’s just too tempting to eat, drink and stretch out to read.

Once the berth is secure, a platform for the galley box will be built. The forward end will serve as a seat to tend the stove. It’ll be about the same height as the berth flat/seat. Stay tuned.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks:

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Fitting
since the shape of the frames changed and with new ceiling pieces it was necessary to do some creative planing.

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Battle scars
Showing the effects of a decade of hard use and a dunking by Sandy.

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Stovepipe fitting
Fitting the stove pipe and bolting the stove in place. Almost ready.

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Ahhhhhh...................................
Finally. Even at my glacial pace, it’s been too long. Of course with the first fire since Sandy we have the first sausage bread sizzle. When the third piece was just right, I cut it up and brought it to the woodshop crew. Very well received.

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At the sizzle
A bit further along. Note the bright light forward. It’s all due to the round deck prism Paul installed when the deck work was done. Quite a difference.

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Current read
First read of the hot stove season. Here Ms. Prim is being plied with something nourishing. Always a pleasure to re-read the The Compleat Cruiser by L. Francis Herreshoff.

More soon though it may just be more of the above.

Sister ships!

Both full and junior size Sjogin’s are underway.

There’s a nice Thread on the WoodenBoat Forum about a Sjogin 3 (the 19′ version) being built in southwest France. Here’s the link to the Thread and a few pics showing the builders fine work.

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Molds
Station molds done. These are to be set up on a strongback and will define the shape of the hull.

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Aft stem lamination
This is what you need to do when natural timbers can’t be found. It’s actually stronger.

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Coming along nicely
Starting to look like a boat. Notice the kids doodles?

There’s also word of a full size Sjogin to be built in Blue Hill, Maine by my friend Steve Brookman. He’s a long time Sjogin fan as can be seen from this page from his Traditional Small Craft website. Steve originally planned to build the 19′ version but since he now has a larger building space, he’ll be building the full size version. I hope it’s the gaff yawl version.

Steve also built a full model of Sjogin 3. Here are a few pics of same. More fine work.

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This is the 19′ Sjogin 3 version all framed up.

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Deck frames done
Working on a model like this helps the builder work out details prior to building full size.

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Fine work
It was a thrill to see Sjogin’s little sister in the flesh. Nice work Steve.

And here’s a pic of your very happy Skipper with the WoodenBoat Sjogin issue. Available at your better magazine stores. Still can’t wipe that smile of my face.

Happy Skipper

Thanks all for following along on this journey.

Cover Girl!

After picking away at an article for WoodenBoat magazine for the last five years or so and delayed by the Sandy repairs, Sjogin has pride of place on the cover of the current issue to go along with her story.

Cover Girl

Amazing photo by the very talented Jay Fleming. Once again hove to off Swan Point.

Here are a few sample photos sent to me by Jay after the photo shoot in late August:

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Reaching

Reaching along the marsh by Sloop Point. Jay took most of these from his kayak.

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Hove to again

Hove to again in just enough breeze. We had an early start, hoping to have early sunrise light but found a hazy light overcast morning. Probably just as well from the photographer’s standpoint.

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Arty

Jay must have taken twenty minutes to get just the right shot hanging off the dock when we returned to Beaton’s. Note all the dings and dents from a well sailed life.

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Happy Skipper

Finally a portrait of your extremely happy Skipper.

Hope you enjoy the article; WoodenBoat is available at most chain bookstores and larger newsstands. There were more things I wanted to cover in the article such as a brief history of Beaton’s and their place in local sailing history and more about the WoodenBoat Forum where this all started but editors edit and here we are. As I said to Matt Murphy at WB, I guess that’s what books are for.

Beaton’s pics as promised

Here are a few photos from Beaton’s over the past few months:

Shadow
Here’s Shadow, a tired Blackjack being given a new lease on life.

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Myth
Myth, looking Beaton Fresh.

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S is for Sad
S if for Sad. One of Nat Herreshoff’s S Boats slowly fading away. She needs a savior.

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Wedding prop
Here’s the Columbia model dinghy I helped Tom Beaton built all nice and clean after being used in a local wedding.

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Finally, here’s Paul Smith working on something other than Sjogin. This is a small table from the Orient that’s been in my family for several generations. More fine work from Mr. Smith.

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Slow sailing
OK. At least one Sjogin pic. Heading out early one morning this Summer. She’ll be hauled next week for some bottom paint, cabin work and attending to a couple of nagging leaks. Then back in for the hot stove season.

Safe and sound

Just a quick note to let all know that all’s well so far. Â Sjogin was moved around to a slip in the creek in case Joaquin took a Sandy like left turn. Â We’re still dealing with a slow moving Northeaster that has Â the water in the upper Bay pushed south. Â When the wind lays down, the water will come sloshing back and sure to flood Beaton’s.

Cozy

Back to normal… almost

What joy to be able to say “…going down to Sjogin for a quick visit/pump out/sail.” There have been a number of them since early July, most just sails of an hour or so, running the same old upper Bay circuit. What a lucky so and so.

Paul has installed the the new seats and they are just as I imagined. Next is the cabin sole, battery and bilge pump, limited furnishings and most importantly, the Sardine wood stove.

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks or so:
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Have a seat!
Do sit down. The bespoke Paul Smith seats are very comfortable and sturdy, matching Sjogin’s robust proportions and just what I had in mind. The cedar slats and teak trim will turn silver with age.

What a treat to be able to step down on a solid surface rather than a loose milk crate with a teak lid. Sorry about all those bruises and such over the years.

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Same as it ever was
The classic “last look before you leave the boat” image. Not so very different from the photo taken on October 28, 2012.

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Fine view
At ease this morning during a quick visit and pump. In a perfect world Ed Lowe should be in the opposite slip in a similar comfortable position. He passed peacefully this year at age 98 after a full life, well sailed.

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Ready
Ready to go. Or just back and ready to go again. It’s an embarrassment of riches to be able to lose track how many times I’ve gone sailing since Sjogin’s commissioning in early July.

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Ghosting out of Beaton’s, Witch to leeward.

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At ease again
Here we are hove to off Sloop Point for a change. Do you see a pattern here?

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New coat!
Thanks to the lessons learned from Hervey Garrett Smith’s The Arts of the Sailor
we have a new mast coat. Please don’t look too closely at the cave man stitching.

Beaton’s and other pics to follow. (ed: We’ve all heard that before.)

Deck fittings

Running out of excuses not to go sailing. Â Installed the new jib sheet fittings today along with the quarter cleats and the out haul cleat on the boom.

Tomorrow the sails get bent on and I’ll see if I remember how to heave to.

The new jib sheets will go through the fairlead at the forward corner on top of the house and then to cam cleats on the aft corner. Â This way there will not be any blocks Â or sheets on the deck.

Sandy survivor. This is the simple little block I use to keep the wire halyard off the mast. Â It was right where I left it when Sjogin was recovered.

Paul Smith fashioning a Duckboat rudder. Â Nice breeze blowing in the window. Â Ahhh…..

As promisedÂ

Sjogin’s mast was stepped yesterday after far too long. Â I forgot the customary 1985 Bahamian quarter with a local sloop on one face. Â A quarter was used yesterday with her traditional coin to be slipped under the mast today. Â That should please Poseidon.

Looks like I managed to label the shrouds and stays correctly as everything seems to fit. Â The rigging will settle down over time and especially after a few sails. Â (Sailing, what a concept.)

Here are a few pics from yesterday:

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Remember you can click on the photos for a larger image.

Thanks all for your patience over the years with my slow posting pace. Â These new tools will hopefully shorten the publishing schedule. Â We’ll see.

What happened to May?

Sorry for the lapse but life sometimes gets in the way of best laid plans. My so called semi-retirement is becoming more like regular work. No complaints here obviously but poor Sjogin slips down the list.

Pics soon I promise. She’s out of the shed and in her usual slip. Works proceeds on the cockpit seats and spars.

Don’t be shocked but we may be sailing in a week or so.

If you can’t wait for pics here, just Google Sjogin and you’ll find all you could ask for.

Thanks all for still watching.

Ice free and a bit of progress

The long Winter and early Spring of our discontent has passed. The ice is gone from the Bay and sailing season beckons.

The mast is in the shop and almost ready to go. The sheave and a few bolts are among the missing but should not prove to be too big a problem. The cockpit sole work is coming along with some of the old cockpit sole teak reused. I had a recent consultation with Paul Smith about cockpit seat options. Looks like the seat slats will be made of Jersey cedar with oak framing, just like Sjogin’s hull.

If all goes according to plan, we should be sailing in May. (The operative word being should.)

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Open water
Ice free and mares tails on a brisk spring day a few weeks ago. Sailing soon.

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Spar work
The mast work is almost done. When I have the rest of the screws the mast track will be done. Then it’s on to the gooseneck and mast head fittings. Also a new topping lift is called for. And then the same process with the boom.