Nova Scotia boat porn (moved)

[mmd]

This is copied from the "Misc - Not Boat Related" forum. Do let's continue ...

mmd
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Member # 1908

posted 10-19-2002 12:57 AM
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Firstly, sorry to all of you who have slow modems.

Secondly, I went for a drive today. Stopped in at Snyder's Shipyard where there is currently the Banks fishing schooner Sherman Zwicker, coastal cargo schooner Avon Spririt, Baltic trader schooner Irene, a trawler yacht, and the old fisheries patrol vessel Lady Cobebquid. It is pretty hard to get a decent picture of these large vessels from wharfside, so if the weather holds I'll take a drive down the west side of the river tomorrow and get one from the other side. However, for you tool junkies in the crowd, I took a photo of Snyder's 48" (1.9m) shipsaw, complete with feed roller on a dolly on a dolly. They can do some big cuttin' with this baby (insert Tim the Toolman grunts here):



Then I went to the Fisheries Museum in Lunenburg wher the resident boatbuilder Cliff Zwicker is building a replica of a 38-ft gaff-schooner Tancook Whaler of oak and pine. This will be completely traditional except for a small diesel engine to help it manouever in the crowded Lunenburg harbour. The backbone is set up and the garboard strakes are in place. The stern view:



... and the bow view:



Then I took a drive down to Bayport on Lower South Cove and found a few of the locals hauling out a Cape Islander lobsterboat that has been converted to a pleasure cruiser. This boat is for sale, incidentally.



On my way home I drove through Riverport at the mouth of the Lahave River (I live about 25 km upriver) and spied two more Cape Islanders made over into cruisers. Interestingly, the two are fine examples of the two regional styles of Capes - one had a continuous sheer, the other has a broken sheer line. Neither are terribly glamourous, but then again they are not very pricy, either.





I hope you have enjoyed my little drive to the shore. I hope even more that it didn't take you as long to download this as it took me to drive it. Yell at me (nicely, of course ) if I'm choking your server 'n' I'll be less photo-verbose in future.
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From: Bridgewater NS Canada | IP: Logged

holzbt
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Member # 1528

posted 10-19-2002 05:34 AM
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That is an interesting way of making molds for that Tancook Whaler. Were the frames bent around blocks on the loft floor and then braced to make the molds? If so how do you deal with the bevels, are they just dubbed off? I'd be very interested in hearing how this whole process is done.
Thanks,
Roger
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From: Babylon, N.Y. USA | IP: Logged

reddog
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Member # 2126

posted 10-19-2002 06:15 AM
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mmd;
I'll second the question about the mould/frame setup.Were all the whalers that lightly framed,or will they steam in intermediate frames after she is planked?
Let's pick a date for Bill's.I usually work 'till 4:30,but have been known to weasle out a bit early on Fridays.
Oh,by the way nice pics.I worked in Feltzen South for a couple of years building houses and always enjoyed the drive down through Bayport.
Earl
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From: Mahone Bay,Nova Scotia,Canada | IP: Logged

Daniel
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Member # 4126

posted 10-19-2002 07:10 AM
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mmd, thanks for the pics, they are great. I just love those old lobster boats (drool). When you say they are not too pricey, how much are we talking here?

I also thought that was a different way to frame a boat, one I hadnt seen before, what do you call that particular method of framing?

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May I be half the man my dogs think I am.

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From: Waldemar, Ontario, Canada | IP: Logged

Wiley Baggins
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Member # 5061

posted 10-19-2002 07:35 AM
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mmd,

Your degree of "verbosity" was fine on my dial-up connection, and would still have been fine by me if it had been a slow ride. Thanks! I also have to chime in on that Tancook; I assume that the frames will be bent-in later. Good assumption? Thanks.
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From: Great Lakes | IP: Logged

Gary Bergman
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Member # 1631

posted 10-19-2002 10:51 AM
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Nice saw...might give up starboard testicle for a fine tool like that one....

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Gary B.

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From: Sausalito,Ca. | IP: Logged

mmd
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Member # 1908

posted 10-19-2002 11:00 AM
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Hi, folks. To start an answer to your questions, I'll begin with yet another photo, a detail of the bow of the Tancook Whaler:



The framing of the vessel is approximately (I didn't measure or ask) 1" x 3" oak, laid on the flat. Cliff cut the rabbet in the keel, then cut pockets for the frame heels. You can see the unused frame pockets in the photo. He then fitted the stem & sternposts with knees and deadwoods.

The mould frames were formed on a lofted bodyplan and I presume that Cliff put the twist in the frames by eye as he formed the steamed frames on the loft floor (he's good that way). "Fine tuning" of the frame bevel (twist) will happen when the planks are drawn to the frame and visa-versa. If there is a hard spot - Cliff expects one on the second-to-last mould frame in the stern - he will ease it by chiselling off a bit of the offending edge. He prepared and set up mould frames in the locations that he knew from experience would be the key places required to form the planking. He then fitted the garboard plank.

Note that the stem and sternposts only have a rabbet at the garboard plank. Cliff serves up a plank, spiles it, and then cuts the rabbets to suit as he is fitting the plank. This is a new technique to me, but Cliff tells me it has been common practice at his former employer's (Clarence Heisler & Son) and several other boatyards in the Chester area for as long as he's been building boats.

Cliff will hang the next two planks on the bottom, hang a plank at the turn of the bilge, and hang the sheerstrake. Then he will steam and install the remaining frames to the hung planks. Then it is on with the remaining planking. When I am next in the shop I'll get an education on how & when he fits floors.

As for the price of old wooden lobsterboats, that varies wildly. As low as $2,000 - $3,000 for a hull with drivetrain and in fishing trim without electronics, to around $20,000 - $30,000 to a well-tricked out conversion with rails, electronics, comfy interior, etc. I didn't ask the owner of the boat being hauled out how much he wanted 'cause he was rather busy at the time. I would estimate the cost of the two in-water boats at around $5,000 - $10,000, depending on motor and electronics.

A builder I work with occasionally is presently doing a major conversion to a 40-ft Cape ('glass the hull, new deck, superstructure, interior, flybridge, wiring, plumbing, and paint. His estimate to the client is around $50,000.

All dollar values quoted are in Canadian dollars, and currently $1 CDN = $0.64 US.

Next question?

[ 10-19-2002, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: mmd ]
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From: Bridgewater NS Canada | IP: Logged

mmd
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Member # 1908

posted 10-19-2002 11:46 AM
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Can, and should, we move this to the new section of the forum?
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From: Bridgewater NS Canada | IP: Logged

Paul Scheuer
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Member # 4571

posted 10-19-2002 12:27 PM
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Good question mmd. I'd hate to see this thread get lost in the belly-button-lint quagmire. I expect there will be updates, right ? (or eh ?)

Maybe the originator can simply repost in the appropriate forum. I'm not sure what happens to the replies, and whether there are search/archive implications.

[ 10-19-2002, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Paul Scheuer ]
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From: Hoffman Estates IL | IP: Logged

Dave Fleming
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Member # 577

posted 10-19-2002 12:36 PM
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MMD, interesting technique there on combination mould and frame. Those scanlings seem a bit on the light side to me any reason for those particular dimensions?
And yes see if you can move this good boat thread to the new Forum and away from the CABAL etc. stuff.
Now that Scott has graciously added another Forum lets take advantage( PROPERLY ) of it.
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From: Left Coast of North America | IP: Logged

Bruce Taylor
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Member # 2142

posted 10-19-2002 12:46 PM
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Michael, my enjoyment of your pictures is adulterated by equal parts envy. You do realize you live in heaven, don't you? Yes, I thought you did.

Nice bandsaw. I saw one like it at a boatyard in Vineyard Haven a number of years ago, and have fantasized about it ever since.
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From: Wakefield, Quebec, Canada | IP: Logged

LOON
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Member # 1938

posted 10-19-2002 12:50 PM
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Just copy and paste it to the new forum, then delete the original. No editing will be able to be done on the copy, but all the info will be there.

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Donn

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From: Great South Bay, Long Island, NY | IP: Logged

mmd
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Member # 1908

posted 10-19-2002 12:53 PM
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From: Bridgewater NS Canada | IP: Logged

[ 10-19-2002, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: mmd ]

[rkrough]

Daniel wrote "I just love those old lobster boats (drool). When you say they are not too pricey, how much are we talking here?"

Here is a website that lists used Cape Island fishing boats for sale. I go there often to drool http://www.boatsandrealty.com/boats/CINDEX.HTM. The wooden ones seem to be disappearing fast, most are Fiberglass.

[mmd]

Dave Flemming, re: scantlings. - As I mentioned in my previous post, the size of the frames is a visual estimate only, and by me with my failing-middle-aged-myopic eyesight. This is a common method of framing traditional fishing boats and wooden Cape Islanders in this region. The frames are quite closely spaced (approx 12", 30cm on centre) and the planking a bit stout at 1". Scantlings would have developed at the turn of the 20th century over several generations of the boats and based on the builders experience. I have not done an engineering analysis of the structure.

In later wooden Cape Islanders, the frames were sometimes doubled with another layer of oak, steamed and screwed on top of the first frame. Only the first frame would be pocketted, the second merely butting on top of the keel. I don't like this method as it too easily encourages rot, but one has to keep in mind that these types of boats were developed (note that I did not say "designed") to be fast and easy to build, and all parties involved knew that the expected lifespan of the boat was only fifteen or twenty years, if that. Next time I'm at the museum, I'll ask Cliff if the frames get doubled.

Bruce Taylor - I'd rather have your winter and spring, but keep my geography, but I'll make do.

[ 10-19-2002, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: mmd ]

[mmd]

A little earlier I said I'd post a pic of the schooners at Snyder's Shipyard. Voila! (Yes, ALL the boats are wood.)



Neat boatyard. The only thing missing is the smell of tarred hemp - synthetics have take all the good smells away.

(BTW - how do you adjust the size of the photo in the posting?)

[Dave Fleming]

Donn W aka LOON, seems to be our resident guru on Imagestation, he should be along soon.
I usually set the size in ACDSee at about max of 2600 x whatever ACDSee sets up.
But don't take my word for it.

[Donn]

As far as I know, you can't enlarge the image in imagestation. They have some rudimentary editing functions, but not resizing.

Are you using a digicam, or scanning photos?

If using a digicam, there should be image adjustment software that came with the cam.

If scanning, you can adjust image size with the scanning software.

I use Photoshop, but there are many freeware photo manipulation packages available.

Remember that the resolution of the original image will restrict what you can do with enlargement.

[mmd]

Hi, Donn. The photos I post here are pretty much all taken with a Sony DSC-S30. I download the memory stick to my hard drive and use a copy of Photohouse 1.1 (it came with my HP 1220C printer) to crop, re-name, and save the photos to the proper directories. I then upload the chosen photo to Imagestation and link it to the WBF. I'll noodle around a bit with Photo house to see if I can alter the size on the WBF a bit.

BTW, thanks for the info, everyone.

[mmd]

Hi, folks. I stopped by the Fisheries Museum yesterday and had a brief conversation with Cliff, the resident boatbuilder. There has been precious little done to the Tancook Whaler since my last visit, so I didn't take any new photos. Cliff has been spending his time getting the other boats in the collection (the Labradore Whaler, Sambro Trap Skiff, Bush Island Boat, dories,schooner Theresa E. Conner, and dragger Cape North) ready for winter, so hasn't had time to much work in his shop.

However, I DID promise some new NS boatporn, so ... May I present the Maud R. M., a transom sterned Bush Island Boat, gaff-sloop with 2-cyl Acadia Gas Engines "make-'n'-break" engine. I admit to extreme local prejudice - I think this is one of the prettiest traditional working fishing boat types I have ever seen. (Photo from the Museum's home page at http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fma/



Also, in response to a question on another thread, I didn't get chance to stop in, but I talked on the phone with the lovely lady in the front office (boatbuilder David Stevens' granddaughter, I believe) and confirmed that Lunenburg Foundry is alive & kicking with no evidence of fire since a bit of a weenie roast about ten years ago in the moulding shop. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ishmael]

Ooh, Maud R.M. is a real looker mmd. What's her LOA, and what fishery was she used in? Quite the color green too! Looks almost Kelley.

So delicate looking. Looks more like a one design ('cept for the aft cuddy) than a fishing boat.

[Donn]

What Jack asked...how was she fished?

[NormMessinger]

mmd: ImageStation adjusts the size of the picture for you. No matter how big the original you upload, ImageStation reduces it to a thumbnail and to what you get when you left click on the thumbnail. It will not let you cross link to the original but we can all see it if you post the URL: http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...d.jpg.orig.jpg .

Ifanview is an amazing program for free. You could use it, the $600 dollar version of what Donn uses, or any of several others to make your pictures any size you like but that would not change the way ImageStation deals with them.

Now if you had your own web page you could post any size picture here you want to.

--Norm

[mmd]

Mornin', Ish. I'm not sure of her specifications, but I believe that she is around 7.3 meters (24-ft) LOA and about 1.8m (6-ft) beam. These boats were used in the Lahave/Riverport/Lunenburg area for gillnet and handline fishery of cod, mackerel, haddock, halibut, etc. At the very end of their common useage they may have been used for lobster fishing, but by the time that lobsters became a commercial commodity post-WWII the ubiquitous Cape Islander boat had supplanted the finer-ended hullforms due to their inability to absorb the greater power of the newer marine engines. The Maud is representative of the last development of this type of boat. Bush Island Boats were traditionally engineless double-enders, but in the 'twenties & 'thirties transoms were incorporated to broaden the waterlines aft ("firm her ass up" in local parlance) to better support the weight of the newfangled engine and prop. The paint scheme is pretty traditional around here - my grandfather's boat was painted exactly the same way. Seems that the common colours were buff all over for dories; green or white with grey interior and white trim for small boats; and black with white trim for schooners. I suspect, however, that paint schemes were more often dictated by what was in the company store than by the fisherman's desires.

[Wild Dingo]

Originally posted by ishmael:
Ooh, Maud R.M. is a real looker mmd. What's her LOA, and what fishery was she used in? Quite the color green too! Looks almost Kelley.

So delicate looking. Looks more like a one design ('cept for the aft cuddy) than a fishing boat.

COME ON MATE!!!! gawd dont it just drive yer flamin ratty when some yob does that??!!! flamin eck!!! Come on Michael dont keep us in suspenders!!!

Take it easy
Shane

[ishmael]

Al reet, al reet, who turned the thread panavision? Must a been Norm.

[Dave Fleming]

MMD, t'was I asking about the Lunenberg Foundry.
Haven't talked to the 'scrounger' at the SD Maritime Musuem since that question was posted so I don't know how it all turned out in his quest to get new parts for the Anchor Winch on the Californian.
Thanks for checking!

[Bruce Taylor]

There's a boat to quicken your pulse. What a sweet thing.

[Bruce Taylor]

There's definitely something wrong with me. I've been back to this thread three times to look at that boat...each time, I've had a definite physiological reaction to it. My hands get clammy, and my chest feels tight. I'm not kidding! It's too strange.

I'm going out to the shop.

[ishmael]

Only three? You're getting better Bruce.

[mmd]

We've seen these symptoms before, Bruce. It's referred to as Eastcoastitis and can be quite debilitating. A lot of Torontonians come down with it shortly after their vacations in Nova Scotia. Sadly, there is no known cure, but symptoms can be alleviated with Cape Breton fiddle music and Keith's beer. Severe cases require relocation. Very rarely, all symptoms miraculously dissappear in some individuals after exposure to an east-coast Nor-easter storm in February.

[Bruce Taylor]

Michael, I have no idea how I came down with this. I'm sure I have no Toronto DNA.

I've got the fiddle tunes on tape, and I can pick up some of that India Pale Ale...but I find it hard to believe your midwinter storms can teach me anything I didn't learn in my Winnipeg childhood.

Anyway, I don't think it's the entire East Coast that's gotten into me...there's just something about that particular boat.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll look at it again...

[mmd]

Bruce, I'm not so foolish to think that Winnipeg can't out-cold us here in "Canada's Ocean Playground" (that's what our license plate calls us), or out-snow you where you are now, but a three-day gale carrying freezing rain and wet snow off the winter North Atlantic is hands-down the ugliest around our fair country.

[ishmael]

Hey Bruce, you grew up in Winnipeg? Duh, well I guess so. What is the country and the lake like there abouts? My Drascombe has often whispered in my ear, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Winnipeg.

Looks kinda flat though, and the lake quite shallow.

[Bruce Taylor]

Jack, we left when I was six, but I have strong, dreamlike memories of that strange lake, with its black water.

It seems to me one of the regulars has sailed that murk. Dave Hadfield, maybe?

A Drascombe will do, if you haven't got a York boat. Do you sleep aboard?

[ishmael]

Bruce, not yet. How Chiles sailed one 20,000 miles without some sort of sleeping platform confounds me. He must have been skinny, and young. There is enough room to lay on one's side next to the centerboard well, but not on one's back.

Lake Winnipeg is just a dream on a map to me. I does look a shallow shield lake, and hence potentially treacherous with all that fetch.

Great Slave Lake, another dream destination on the itinerary, looks truly wild and remote. I suppose they both are.

[WWheeler]

Ishmael:

yes, sounds like it's shallow with lots of rocks in places. here's a thread about a trip to Lake W. by a fellow forumite, in a catamaran. it sounds like a crazy trip.

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Braam Berrub
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Member # 3906

posted 08-19-2002 07:39 PM
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WWheeler - not too much to add 'bout the trip. It was seven days of roughish weather. Sailing a 15' Seaspray catamaran (with the deck about 6" off the water) it was a very wet experience. Added to that is the fact that the boat was built for racing and so the sails have no reefs and it don't sail with just the main....it was exciting to say the least. Lots of wildlife - stopped on one shore - well, we had been sailing - it was day six - for quite awhile, something like five hours beating and close-reaching up the eastern coast (which is mainly rocky and islandy - interesting and nice to look at but does not really afford a small catamaran with daggerboards much chance of longterm survival in a storm) so we decided to head across to the western part of the Lake where there was supposed to be a Provincial Park. The way across was a reaally long reach, great sailing, fantastic sailing actually. But because we did'nt have reefs we left all the sail up and because it was squally, and I am chicken, I held onto the jib-sheets the whole time - so as you can imagine after four or five hours my forearms were a little tired, not to mention my wet, numb and freezing/bleeding hands. As we come into the shore, which looked like a wonderful beach, I realized that the yellow sand was really more like yellow rocks - everywhere else had been red/black/brown rocks - and we were coming in at a great clip when I decided that our usual landing procedure was not going to work becuase of the rocks, so I yelled at my spouse to tack (she was helming), and just as I was stretching across the boat (after tacking) to pull the dagger-board up (I was having trouble because of the pressure of the boat against the water) we hit a submerged rock (we couldn't see a darned thing it was so muddy) - it is one of the most dis-heartening sounds I've ever experienced. Anyway we land on this sandy part in the rocky beach - I swim out and salvage the parts of the dagger-boards floating in the water and as I'm lying on the beach panting (I'm fat and out of shape) Myra (SWMBO) comes to me and says "what are these prints - they seem too large to be a dog, and certainly don't look like Moose or anything" "Ummm honey, I think they be bear". Because it was getting late in the day and my complete tiredness we stayed the night surrounded by bear-prints.

So we spent the night with our bear flares real darned close!

I don't know how much I've said previously 'bout the trip, but it was a great time really - the fishsing was out of this world.
We got to Manitoba and I was gonna get a fishing lisence to help out with the food supply etc for a week. I looked at the limits and stuff - 19 friggin fish limit a day. "No problem" I tells the wife "You're gonna have so much pickeral, jack, whitefish etc you'll be sick of it".
HAH, jokes on you buddy - you can keep 19 fish - IF YOU CAN CATCH THEM. Spent seven days fishing, lost like $100 in lures to catch ZERO fish. NONE, nada, zippo, not even a nibble. Apparently it was August and fish don't eat in August, except for one type of fish which only ever goes after live bait. Disgusting. O.K. I am absolutely one of the worlds worst fisher-people, but co'mon, not even a nibble?
I did catch one fish - it jumped onto the boat while we were sailing, but it was small, and my brain don't work, so I let it go (hmm, coulda used some live bait huh ignoramus?) Then another day we were moving the boat around a spit to shelter it from the wind which had shifted and as I was in the water up to my armpits in water pulling the boat, I saw this fish, four feet long or thereabouts, just lying on top of the water. Sheesh, I didn't want to touch the thing, it might be diseased or something so I pushed it with an oar to get it outta my way when all of a sudden it swam away - How the hell was I supposed to know that fish sun themselves and that all I had to do was hang onto the darned thing and we coulda had supper....sheesh.

Anyways WWheeler, there is a little taste of our trip on the mighty Lake Winnipeg. Please give it a go, I think that it has a lot to offer. Just go when the fish are biting, or bring live bait
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From: Calgary, AB, Canada | IP: Logged

WWheeler
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Member # 3999

posted 09-11-2002 01:48 PM
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Sorry for the delay in replying. These days the forum will just drive away on you if you lose touch.

Sounds like Lake Winnipeg could be a excellent adventure for a shallow draft camper/cruiser, with a bear gun mounted on the bow! Say a Princess Sharpie or a Chebacco. Needs a kick up outboard, and a depth finder maybe. Oh yes, and I have an alternative image, of a little tug boat, (devlin's Godzilla?) chugging it's way north, with a really good supply of diesel.

We could be there in a day and a half. But there's many obligations around home, hope that global warming won't boil off the lake before I get there.

[ 12-13-2002, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: WWheeler ]

[Lowell Bernhardt]

Hey for once I can contribute something meaningful to the thread.

I have some boat porn that was taken this summer while on vacation in NS. They were actually taken within earshot of Lunnenburg, and the fisheries museum. Just as a side note, when we were there the Tancook was still being lofted on the shop floor. She's come along way in 6 months.

This photo was taken while on a whale watching trip. I can't really tell you anything about either boat. I LOVE the skiff in the foreground of the picture. Maybe someone here can shed some light on it for me also.



Now I'm sure that someone in the crowd knows what this ship is? Any takers? You can't play MMD.



FWIW,
Lowell

[mmd]

Lowell, the skiff in the foreground of your first picture is a rather ubiquitous boat 'round here. It is loosely based on the Cape Islander hull form - at least the topsides - and is a fine entry, round bilged, rather beamy outboard powered boat. Very roomy, lots of load-carrying ability, quite dry. Not blindingly fast, but a more comfortable motion in a swell than a chine boat. They are usually produced (most are 'glass) in sizes from 18 to 24 feet, but I have seen smaller. They are used as utility boats by fishermen (tending near-shore fixed gear, aquaculture workboats, general duty), yacht clubs (yard boat, taxi boat), and as pleasure boats by folks who don't want to go fast but want to go on days when it isn't flat-ass calm. Larger ones sometimes have fwd cuddies and a standing-room wheelhouse. Atkinson, Rosborough, and several other builders produce these type of boats.

As for the big ragboat, I see that she is flying the proper number on her sail and showing off her hog to best advantage. Poor tired old girl.

[whb]

Lowell,

When I could find a dime that had the traditional tail on it I took a look. She's carrying more sale on the dime but the rigging looks right. I suspect she is the Bluenose II. I hadn't realized she was still sailing.

MMD are there plans for that sweet little boat of Lowells.

Thanks,

Howard

[rodcross]

You know, MMD, the sad thing about the 'Poor tired old girl' is that she's not that old to have developed that reverse shear. If they ever find the money to build a new one, I hope someone will review the design.

The prettiest NS boats I saw were the little Bluenoses

[mmd]

WHB, I don't know if there are plans available for such boats. A lot of these start off as a strip-built hull that gets "splashed" to make a mould which is subsequently bent, cut, sliced, warped, etc, to get the shape that the FRP shop wants. But then, I never asked about plans, either, so don't really know. I'll keep on the lookout for info.

Rodcross, the plans for the Bluenose are quite adequate - I know, as I have a set and have studied them labouriously. The problem with the Bluenose II is that she IS that old; she was launched in 1963. At age forty, she has lived longer than most fishing schooners which had an expected lifespan of twenty years or so, though most never made it that long. Those huge overhangs and big rig are pretty hard on the backbone structure. These were working boats, not lovingly maintained yachts, and they were designed and built to last long enough to pay off the investors and owners with a profit, and not much longer. By the time she was paid off, technology would have changed sufficiently so that to remain competitive in the fishery the ship - if still of a form useful in the new fishery paradigm - would have to be refitted at large expense, and this would have made a new boat more attractive to the owners. So a twenty-year lifespan was pretty normal. In addition, the Bluenose II was built by a private company - Oland's Brewery - as a marketing device to advertise its "Schooner" brand of beer. Although built to the original plans, and by some of the original Bluenose shipwrights, the ship was expected to have a useful life of five to ten years for the company, so less-than-perfect materials were used. It has also been said by some of the "old fellers" in Lunenburg that the quality of big timbers for the backbone components was just simply not to be had as it was back in 1920 when the original was built. Such is the state of big ships built with softwood.

There was a "crisis" about replacing Bluenose II with a new Bluenose III a few years ago. BII had reached an age when major refurbishment was in order, and the provincial government baulked at the large cost to fix up a boat that the bean counters viewed as somewhat akin to a financial black hole. Proposals were put forward to build BIII out of steel, out of wood/epoxy, or to put BII on static display (in Halifax, not her home port of Lunenburg ), anything but spend more money on an "old wood boat". Fortunately, a group of well-connected private citizens formed a private trust and started a campaign to raise money and apply pressure on the government to preserve the Bluenose II as long as possible, and when the time comes, to replace her with a proper, traditionally-built, replica BIII. The government was more-or-less shamed into acquiescance when the Bluenose Trust urged schoolchildren to send in dimes (with the image of the first Bluenose on the reverse, of course) to "Help save the Bluenose" and received an overwhelming response. So BII was give a major make-over spanning three winters, and the Bluenose Trust is quietly continuing to raise money for her upkeep, and to put funding toward eventually replacing her with a brand new, exact replica.

For more info, check out www.bluenose2.ns.ca

[gunnar I am]

My left elbow has retracted into my body, like a set of gronicles in polar water, just lookin at that bandsaw with the left side unguarded!!

[mmd]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread from the bowels to show an update on the progress on the Tancook Whaler being built at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg by Cliff Zwicker. As you can see, the planking is now almost complete and bunging the screws is well underway. Cliff figures that she will be ready for haul-out and launch at the end of the summer. Work doesn't progress very fast in a one-man shop when you spend a lot of your time talking to passersby or maintaining other boats, but I envy him his job.

This is the port bow from deep inside the shop:



and this is the port stern quarter from outside the shop door. What doesn't show very well is that the hull has about 2" total clearance on the shop door width, and about -2" overhead clearance beneath a suspended chain-hoist rail. I hope to be there when it is hauled out 'cause I want to see how Cliff controls such a big object in such tight confines.

[Dave Fleming]

My left elbow has retracted into my body, like a set of gronicles in polar water, just lookin at that bandsaw with the left side unguarded

Agreed Gunnar but, not that unusual in the days before OSHA. If the yard were 'enlightened'by the Comp Insurer there might be a shop built sheet metal shroud over that blade. I still have a knot on the ring finger of my left hand from a blade breaking at the weld and whipping around. Luckly it was the back side that hit my finger/hand not the toothed side!

[Steve McMahon]

Thanks for the post mmd. It sure brings back memories for me. The Bush Island boat is very similar to the one I had, and I used to watch those guys at Snyders sawing big oak frames on that saw for the draggers they used to build. The company I work for used to wire all of Snyders boats back when they built fishing boats 8 or 10 years ago. It was a magical place to hang around. Teddy and Philip Snyder - quite a father and son team.

[brian.cunningham]

boats and thread.

Thanks for the Museum link! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Unusual aft-cabin on that green boat.

[mmd]

The "aft cabin" has a single occupant - the Acadia Gas Engines single cylinder engine. That's right, folks, it's just a glorified engine box. It was common to have hooks on the inside of the bulkheads to hang oilskins and mittens on to dry in the heat from the engine.

[Dave Hadfield]

I just read this thread for the first time. Great photos. The only thing prettier than a Tancook Whaler, to my eyes, is a Tancook Schooner.

As for Lake Winnipeg, I have indeed spent several (5) summers sailing it. I kept a MacGregor 26 at Gimli, and trailored when we wanted to go far afield.

If anyone wants more detail about the sailing conditions there, let me know and I'll oblige.

Dave