Category: Beaton’s

Along with rapid progress on the keel/sternpost repair, Sjogin’s topsides have been stripped. Once they’re sanded and faired along with the bottom paint off, she’ll look fairly new.

One problem will be having most of the rivet heads right at the surface. We’ll see if we can get away with significant primer coats and avoiding aggressive scraping and sanding near them. Otherwise they’ll need to be re-set and that involves someone to head up the rivets inside the boat and someone else (me?) hold a bucking dolly on the outside; an order of magnitude increase in labor.

When I was down last Saturday I noticed the upper bolt hole through the sternpost and knee was dodgy from iron sickness and will need a dutchman or something else. Thanks again Mr. Gullberg.

Now that the hull repairs are mostly complete, Sjogin’s been moved to the south shed in her usual spot by the Bayside doors. Stop by if you’re in the neighborhood.

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Reminds me of a logo for a certain magazine. It will be great to see her when all is sanded smooth so if you squint you can’t see the new planks. Even better after a few coats of primer. No consideration will be given to keeping her bright.

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Another one of those “I’ll get to it next year” jobs has been done by Paul and Jeff. Thanks. The topsides have been stripped of decades old paint. You can still see some of the very old blue paint.

The prior owner had her painted a light blue. Whenever it was her turn to be launched the crew would say “here comes the Blue Leaker”. I guess she was known as the White Leaker during my stewardship. May that all be in the past.

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Here’s the aft port view showing the completed stem/sternpost repair.

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Another fine job by Paul Smith. He thought most of Sjogin’s leaking came through the old iron sick joint.

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And here she is back in her usual spot. I’ll add another support forward and lay her down on each side to do the bottom work. It’ll make replacing the butt blocks easier.

Paul Smith has been making his usual magic and has four of the forward planks installed. It’s a joy to walk into the shop and see Sjogin’s gaping hole gradually reduced to where her shape is returning.

We’ve talked about the repairs to the deck and the plan to cover it in plywood and polyester. It will require the coaming to be removed and eventually replaced. The shape will be carefully recorded so there’s no apparent change. Based on my prior repairs I expect we’ll need to fix the carlin as well.

Replacing the rails looms as well. That may wait till this summer as the yard is getting busy with normal work and Paul’s talents will be needed elsewhere. I still plan on stripping all the paint off the hull and dealing with her seams. Hope to have her in her usual spot in the big shed for that work.

Speaking of which I haven’t done as much as I planned as I wrenched my lower back a few weeks ago getting the fiberglass off the deck. The joys of advancing age.

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What joy to see things moving in the right direction. Here are the first three planks installed. The lowest one is scarfed and the other two have butt blocks. These three were steamed and bent on a mold. The others will be steamed and clamped in place on the boat.

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Hot, steaming progress. Paul (right) and Jeff clamping a plank in place fresh from the steam box. Note the new inwale and repaired shelf clamp.

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After poking around it was clear that the port sheer strake needed replacing. The ends seem OK so the mid-ship section came out. The inwale needed minor attention but all else seems fine.

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Here’s the fourth plank installed. We’re very lucky to have such fine cedar to work with.

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Starting to look almost normal.

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The new cedar matches better than expected. Though you’ll always be able to see the new planks, a reminder of that terrible October night.

I’d like to close with heart felt thanks to Paul and the crew at Beaton’s for bringing our Sjogin back to life. Progress indeed.

but there are signs of readiness for rebuilding. As expected (and feared) there are some rotten spots that will need to be dealt with. But nothing so bad that one would need to call for last rites. There are a few frame heads that will be glued and fastened back together. With the cross grain at the ends of the frames some of the splits have been there for years.

Paul Smith is doing fine work, trying to remove the barest minimum. The pics that follow show her at the near end of the removal process. Though I just started taking off the rails on the port side. It looks like the starboard sheer strake will need to have part of it replaced.

Sjogin was moved to the main shop last Friday to be nearer to the steam box.

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Sometimes you need to cut back to sound flesh. Paul and crew ended up removing the entire sheer strake and arranging the scarfs as shown. Some of the structural members behind the sheer strake will need to be replaced. All but one of the new planks will be scarfed. One takes deep breaths and carries on.

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She could almost be a display in a Swedish maritime museum. Classic, traditional Scandinavian construction. No need of a separate building mold or jig. Once you have the frame shape and bevels figured out, the boat planks itself.

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All of the removed planks will be saved for now. Also to make sure the name goes back in the same spot. Perhaps with straighter letters.

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Still strange to be able to stick the camera through the hull to take pics.

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Here she is being moved over to the wood shop. It’s quite a shock to see her from this perspective. When she’s done and looking Beaton Fresh this will all be just a bad memory.

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Sjogin set up in the wood shop ready for planking. She’ll be here for a few weeks.

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Prime cedar to be milled for planking stock. That’s our friend Steven Bauer, down from Maine for a visit, holding up a flitch.

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Here’s some evidence of things moving in the right direction as opposed to removing the broken bits. John P. did this fine work.

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Most of the fiberglass has been removed from the deck. After all the failed iron nails are cleaned up and any soft spots dealt with, a layer of plywood will be glued to the cedar deck and covered with polyester cloth set in epoxy. This is basically the same method Beaton’s uses for the A-Cats.

Next post should show planking progress.

Russ

Beaton’s is making great progress in converting the old store and office back to a work shop.  Sjogin will have the honor of being the first boat to use it.  Once in I’ll be able to continue with the removal of the damaged bits and get ready for new planking and deck work.

The mast will come in too so I’ll be able to make good on the oft repeated promise to strip the mast “next year”.  I never striped it so there’s 25 years of varnish to remove.

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Plenty of room for Sjogin and others. A new gas heater’s been installed and there’s AC for the Summer. What joy.

The doors will be wide enough for an A-Cat so the building will get plenty of use.

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I remember seeing these shoes years ago, before the building was converted to an office/store. I’ll have Tom tell me the story.

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She’s nice and dry now. I need to go over her with shop vac to get rid of the last of Sandy’s leavings. Another project is removing the ceiling and sole on the starboard side to get at the damaged planks.

It’s still strange to stick my head in the hole in the bow to take pictures from this perspective.

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Prime spruce in a quartet of A-Cat masts.

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Upstairs in the new building. Tom said it would make a great Model Room. A few couches and comfy chairs and there you go.

Finally started to do some work on Sjogin. Nothing more than removing the rub rail on the Starboard side but it’s a beginning. I’ll discuss options with Paul first before doing anything else. Not sure if I should start removing planks yet. The entire Starboard sheer strake and six others forward will need to be replaced. A lot will depend on when Beaton’s can get back up to speed and bring her into the shop.

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Removed the temporary patch. Seven out of her eleven planks forward will have to be replaced. Assume all will be removed back to their current butt blocks. I spoke to Tom about the process and he said all will need to be steamed to fit properly. It may be a good idea to replace the Port sheer strake as well. We’ll see.

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After removing the rub rails I was surprised to find little evidence of any rot. As far as I can tell they were never removed since she was built. Not too bad after fifty years. The toe rails will be removed as well as the deck edge has to be renewed in spots.

Also thinking about removing the fiberglass on the deck. Once the deck edges are fixed it may be wise to fair the deck and add a layer of plywood followed by a layer of polyester cloth set in epoxy. Of course that leads to a slippery slope as the coamings should be replaced as well.

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Found enough hose to reach Sjogin and hose her out. I think I’ll be finding bits of grass and such for years. It got everywhere.

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The tradition continues of having a Christmas Wreath on Sjogin’s mast. She’s usually floating when this is done but allowances need to be made.

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You all know what you should be seeing in this photo. Next year perhaps.

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The parted line was the spring. The intact line and eye was the stern line. It seems the stern line held and allowed Sjogin to swing to leeward and bang against the piling between her and the next slip.

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Here’s the piling to leeward of Sjogin’s slip. You can see how worn it is near the top. I suspect I’ll find bit’s of planking and paint stuck in the top.

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New addition to the driveway fleet. One of the few fiberglass Duckboats around. I like the name.

Sorry for the delay between posts. Not much Sjogin activity and busy with returning to relatively normal life. More Beaton pics soon.

She was greviously wounded but survived Sandy by hiding under the waves. It seems she parted some of her dock lines early in the storm and laid against the pilings to the west. When the surge was at the highest, Sjogin crashed on to the piling, holing her forward and causing her sinking. We were lucky that she went down and didn’t float into the wreckage and possibly break up. An astonishing result. What joy when Suzanne Beaton sent me a cell photo of her getting hauled last Saturday.

Sjogin will require a lot of work and may not make the water next year. It will be a while before Beaton’s can resume operations. I plan to do as much as I can but the planking I’ll leave to the art of Paul Smith.

Beaton’s was severely damaged with five feet or more of storm surge over the ground. The buildings still stand but the tools, patterns and wood were scattered by the storm. There are boats off their stands, ending up here and there. The A-Cats had a bit of a dance in the big shed but had no major damage.

I was able to get into Beaton’s Wednesday and took the following pics:

The pics below have been fixed. This was written originally on the iPad which is a bit cumbersome. More Sjogin pics (and others) on the Flickr page.

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A nasty hole but between the unharmed frames. The only structural damage was to the sheer clamp which should be an easy repair. Already I can imagine sitting below by the fire and looking at the new wood,  marveling at what a lucky little ship she is.

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You can see the busted sheer clamp at the top. It’s a wonder that the piling didn’t pierce the deck. That would have been far more serious with Sjogin pinned by the piling and thrashing about in the surge. Ouch!

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It’ll be a while before there’s a sizzle down below. We’ll push on and keep trying to bring a bit of beauty to the waterfront.

We made out relatively fine at home. The height of the surge was just a bit above our first floor. The floors which had been refinished during the Summer’s renovation had enough water on them the get well soaked. We hope when we have heat again (all utilities ruined) that the floors will lay down and not have to be replaced. We were very lucky. Neighbors a block away have their lives on the curb.

Best wishes to all in this most trying time,

Russ