Concordia..41
01-09-2005, 02:42 PM
I just want to let everyone know what a series of miracles have occurred in St. Augustine.
Things were too busy yesterday to even take pictures, and it’d just be pictures of a big mess, but the move to the new warehouse is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
In nine weeks, James has single handedly replaced the stern knee, deadwood, 12 floors, and at least that many frames. There were also minor side projects that were each analyzed and solved.
James dealt with the deteriorating situation at the boatyard, ran interference with the yard owner, took more than his share of abuse, and got this project back on track.
When I hired James, my instructions were along the lines of ‘just get the bottom under her so I can get her out of here’ and I frankly hoped only to get her moved to an enclosed location figuring that once protected if it took me two or ten years to finish the project, so be it.
But James hasn’t just rigged the boat back together; he’s done an amazing job. I’d known him around the marinas for several years, but I didn’t know how skilled he was. He’s also the hardest working person (including myself) that I’ve ever encountered. The amount accomplished in just over two months speaks volumes.
That is miracle #1.
Miracle #2 is thanks to our sponsors. The brief mention in #182 brought several nice e-mails and phone calls, one of which was a gentleman named Ron Anderson. Ron hails from Mystic, CT, and had already decided he didn’t want to spend the winter in Connecticut when he read the piece in WoodenBoat.
When I checked references, it was obvious from the first phone call that Ron has a tremendous reputation with Mystic Seaport and every boat builder in the area. Despite my insistence that this was a really bad time with the upcoming move, Ron drove down here last week and ignoring my attempts to talk him out of this, he promptly fell in alongside James and went to work. It’s a good darn thing too because I’m in way over my head, and as some frantic e-mails to Oyster will attest, I was getting worked up into a pretty freaked out dither over the boat being picked up in a (to me at least) semi-fragile state.
James and Ron talked things through Saturday morning and came up with a plan to tighten up the port side of the boat and support the keel as necessary as the trailer does its thing. Ron set to work on the port side and James finished the last frames on starboard. I pulled a screw or two to earn my keep. ;)
For me, Saturday afternoon was much like the first day I pulled up to see James’ work and was just overwhelmed by the sight of sawdust under her transom again. Thankfully I had my sunglasses and respirator on because a good bit of the time I was fighting tears as I watched the two of them interacting and listened to the hum of power tools, and the tap of hammers and chisels. At one wonderful point, I had the sander going, Ron was running the table saw behind me, and James was off to the side welding up some boat stand bases for the new warehouse. It will always be wrong that Dave’s not here, but I really feel like he would be happy with how things are going.
Thank you all for all of your tremendous support.
More on the move later. :eek: :eek:
- M
[ 01-10-2005, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]
Things were too busy yesterday to even take pictures, and it’d just be pictures of a big mess, but the move to the new warehouse is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
In nine weeks, James has single handedly replaced the stern knee, deadwood, 12 floors, and at least that many frames. There were also minor side projects that were each analyzed and solved.
James dealt with the deteriorating situation at the boatyard, ran interference with the yard owner, took more than his share of abuse, and got this project back on track.
When I hired James, my instructions were along the lines of ‘just get the bottom under her so I can get her out of here’ and I frankly hoped only to get her moved to an enclosed location figuring that once protected if it took me two or ten years to finish the project, so be it.
But James hasn’t just rigged the boat back together; he’s done an amazing job. I’d known him around the marinas for several years, but I didn’t know how skilled he was. He’s also the hardest working person (including myself) that I’ve ever encountered. The amount accomplished in just over two months speaks volumes.
That is miracle #1.
Miracle #2 is thanks to our sponsors. The brief mention in #182 brought several nice e-mails and phone calls, one of which was a gentleman named Ron Anderson. Ron hails from Mystic, CT, and had already decided he didn’t want to spend the winter in Connecticut when he read the piece in WoodenBoat.
When I checked references, it was obvious from the first phone call that Ron has a tremendous reputation with Mystic Seaport and every boat builder in the area. Despite my insistence that this was a really bad time with the upcoming move, Ron drove down here last week and ignoring my attempts to talk him out of this, he promptly fell in alongside James and went to work. It’s a good darn thing too because I’m in way over my head, and as some frantic e-mails to Oyster will attest, I was getting worked up into a pretty freaked out dither over the boat being picked up in a (to me at least) semi-fragile state.
James and Ron talked things through Saturday morning and came up with a plan to tighten up the port side of the boat and support the keel as necessary as the trailer does its thing. Ron set to work on the port side and James finished the last frames on starboard. I pulled a screw or two to earn my keep. ;)
For me, Saturday afternoon was much like the first day I pulled up to see James’ work and was just overwhelmed by the sight of sawdust under her transom again. Thankfully I had my sunglasses and respirator on because a good bit of the time I was fighting tears as I watched the two of them interacting and listened to the hum of power tools, and the tap of hammers and chisels. At one wonderful point, I had the sander going, Ron was running the table saw behind me, and James was off to the side welding up some boat stand bases for the new warehouse. It will always be wrong that Dave’s not here, but I really feel like he would be happy with how things are going.
Thank you all for all of your tremendous support.
More on the move later. :eek: :eek:
- M
[ 01-10-2005, 07:41 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]