imported_Steven Bauer
03-23-2003, 05:44 PM
Lion's Whelp is a new construction 65' Alden schooner being built by Phineas Sprague at Portland Yacht Services, the host of the Maine Boatbuilder's Show. The boat is named after the boat that took his great great(I don't know how many greats) grandfather here from Europe. Here is the story (as I heard it):
When Phineas was a young man he went on a four year long circumnavigation on an old schooner and always wanted to have a boat like it and go voyaging again. So he found a cold-molded 65' Alden Schooner hull that had been built in California. The builder was building his dream boat and had finished only the hull when he died. When the widow finally got around to selling it it had been sitting uncovered in a marina parking lot for ten years! Full of rain water! So Phineas trucked it to Maine and parked it in a corner of his 'shop'. Yes, his shop is big enough to put a 65' schooner in a corner. Portland Yacht Services is run out of the old Portland Company buildings. I'm sure all you Railroad buffs out there know that The Portland Company build locomotive engines. All the locomotives that built the Panama Canal were built in that building. So he had this huge hull and got to work. His crew chased out all the rot and rebuilt the lowest two feet of the hull. Then they made massive stainless steel floors that go most of the way up the frames. The chainplates are massive - 5' long and 2' high 1/2" stainless steel. Then they put in a ceiling and built the deck structure. That's where the work stood last year at Show time.
This year I was amazed at all the work that had been done. The engine and all mechanicals are in and the whole interior is almost finished. The level of work is just astounding! I hope it comes through in the pictures.
Here is Alden's drawing:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pe25ee90a71dd9b5b77bfd089e0dfa281/fc75961f.jpg
Here is the artists rendering:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/p361bc2d8b7737c6041c4b0e130ae81a9/fc75961d.jpg
Phineas(and check out the chainplate behind him!):
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pd61c7c35d30b92d1c0632d852f630f3b/fc758548.jpg
French and Webb are doing the interior:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pc1d0567ede463bedde0f6ef111c2bc54/fc758c19.jpg
and the galley:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pbee1547f7c1d8c0c1788aba703da1140/fc75988c.jpg
MBBS album - more pics of LW (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?album_id=4290485939&show_all=0&upload_source=album_add&id=4290485939&hide=1&is_owner=1&start=61)
[ 03-23-2003, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: Steven.Bauer ]
When Phineas was a young man he went on a four year long circumnavigation on an old schooner and always wanted to have a boat like it and go voyaging again. So he found a cold-molded 65' Alden Schooner hull that had been built in California. The builder was building his dream boat and had finished only the hull when he died. When the widow finally got around to selling it it had been sitting uncovered in a marina parking lot for ten years! Full of rain water! So Phineas trucked it to Maine and parked it in a corner of his 'shop'. Yes, his shop is big enough to put a 65' schooner in a corner. Portland Yacht Services is run out of the old Portland Company buildings. I'm sure all you Railroad buffs out there know that The Portland Company build locomotive engines. All the locomotives that built the Panama Canal were built in that building. So he had this huge hull and got to work. His crew chased out all the rot and rebuilt the lowest two feet of the hull. Then they made massive stainless steel floors that go most of the way up the frames. The chainplates are massive - 5' long and 2' high 1/2" stainless steel. Then they put in a ceiling and built the deck structure. That's where the work stood last year at Show time.
This year I was amazed at all the work that had been done. The engine and all mechanicals are in and the whole interior is almost finished. The level of work is just astounding! I hope it comes through in the pictures.
Here is Alden's drawing:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pe25ee90a71dd9b5b77bfd089e0dfa281/fc75961f.jpg
Here is the artists rendering:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/p361bc2d8b7737c6041c4b0e130ae81a9/fc75961d.jpg
Phineas(and check out the chainplate behind him!):
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pd61c7c35d30b92d1c0632d852f630f3b/fc758548.jpg
French and Webb are doing the interior:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pc1d0567ede463bedde0f6ef111c2bc54/fc758c19.jpg
and the galley:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid56/pbee1547f7c1d8c0c1788aba703da1140/fc75988c.jpg
MBBS album - more pics of LW (http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?album_id=4290485939&show_all=0&upload_source=album_add&id=4290485939&hide=1&is_owner=1&start=61)
[ 03-23-2003, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: Steven.Bauer ]