We've got sticks, baby!

Work aboard the Martha Seabury has continued at a feverish pace since her launching two weeks ago. The owner of this first of our twin schooners, the amazing Billy Campbell, is kindly allowing us to sail with him to Rhode Island where we'll attend the Newport International Boat Show Sept 13-16. It's a great opportunity to market the Seabury's twin sister (Ollie wants someone to buy her so they can race!) as well as future Lunenburg Schooners. But there's a ton to be done in the span of a few short weeks so every second counts.

Paul 'Jet' Bracken (shown guiding the mainmast in above) is working with Captain Moreland to outfit the Martha Seabury. There's been a ton of ordering - everything from liferafts to water casks - plus painting, rigging and sailmaking taking place. Arthur Dauphinee has made the blocks and moments ago, the vessel's masts were stepped with the assistance of crew from the Picton Castle and an incredibly talented crane operator. Rigging work can now begin in earnest with sea trials slated for next week.

Installing the bowsprit

Dave and the gang (meaning in this case, Bub and Gerald) took advantage of a particularly stunning spring day to install the bowsprit on the Martha Seabury.

A little adjusting and a smear of varnish...

some muscle work...

...and voila!

How to weigh a schooner

Yesterday, in preparation for the launch of the first of our twin schooners this summer, we moved Billy Campbell's vessel, the future Martha Seabury, into her newly-built cradle.

The event - and let me assure you, when you move a vessel of this size around the boatyard, it truly is an event - also provided an opportunity to measure the boat's weight.

Our gang made a game of it, declaring their guesses as they adjusted straps for the lift. Not sure who won. If you play by Price Is Right rules (where you lose if you go over) I think it was Bub.

In any case, the boat weighed in at about 26,000 lbs - less than Dave thought but then that's a dry weight at the moment and it will help to make her fast!

Our thanks to the folks at Lawrence S. Veinotte Enterprises for their know-how and professionalism!

Below decks with Billy Campbell

Actor/adventurer Billy Campbell made a flying trip to Lunenburg on the weekend to help finalize below decks arrangements for his schooner.

Billy, who is currently filming season two of the hit AMC series The Killing (and whose character got shot in the season opener - gasp!), spent Good Friday travelling to The Dory Shop where he met with Dave and Capt. Dan. He also managed a brief visit with his excited shipmates aboard the Barque Picton Castle before boarding a jet plane for the return flight to Vancouver. He was due back on set Saturday morning!

The design for the below decks on Billy's schooner is very simple and open. There will be no real cabins here, but rather big bunks and settees that will make it a sociable craft to sail in. Blond woods and an open layout will keep things airy and well lit, and evoke the feeling of old-time fishing schooners.

He also wants to keep systems to a minimum. So water will be kept in barrels; there will be kerosene cabin lamps, hand pumps and so forth.

To walk you through: heading down the companion ladder, you'll have a fine stand-up galley to starboard and a navigation station and chart table to port; both immediately available to those on deck and ideal for offshore and island cruising. Forward of these, there will be two full length locker/settees that will double as bunks. We'll also be installing a sweet little wood stove to keep things cozy on foggy Nova Scotia (or Norwegian) evenings at anchor.

At the forward end of the cabin trunk, you'll have to duck around the varnished trunk of the bury of the main mast with a large double bunk on one side and two small bunks on the other. These will have curtains for privacy rather than partitions or hard bulkheads. Moving forward there will be a heavy duty work bench on starboard and an enclosed marine toilet and sink on port with full head room under the main hatch. Next there will be port and starboard lockers, the foremast and a V-berth up in the eyes of the hull.

Billy wants to keep the vessel's Hackmatack knees and double-sawn Osage Orange frames exposed, while the steam bent White Oak frames will be covered with a smooth Alaskan Yellow Cedar ceiling.

It's most likely the below decks in schooner two will be nothing like this one. And that's as it should be. After all, these are custom built boats and the aim is to give the customer what he or she is looking for.

In the case of Billy's schooner, the rule is plenty of light and air ~ two things that are good for both wooden vessels and those who go to sea in them.

Who was that mast man?

Ol' Dory Plug has been a bit of a slacker in the photo department lately. Might have something to do with the fact the Picton Castle is getting ready to depart on her summer sail training program (get details at http://www.picton-castle.com/voyages/the-voyages/sail-this-summer-2012.html) But the boatyard gang's been busy all the same. Bub and Gerald are working to complete the exterior of Billy Campbell's twin schooner, Tony's working on the interior and Dave and Gabe are now working on the masts.

The masts for these 48-foot schooners are being fashioned from spruce trees, and are 50 feet in length and 12 inches in diameter. They're being shaped by adze and are traditional in every respect. Says Captain Dan, "There are 40 and 50-year-old schooners sailing around these parts still with their original masts." That says something about quality!

Look Ma, no jackets!

After months of sweaters, toques and gloves, we've been granted a sweet reprieve of insanely warm weather. Today, like yesterday, it is a startling 24 degrees Celsuis in The Dory Shop boatyard; that's around 75 F for our American friends. It's ideal weather for painting the easternmost schooner and caulking and sealing seams on her twin, the future Martha Seabury.

Of course every Lunenburger worth their salt herring is already predicting when the weather will turn and we'll be back to cool temperatures and maybe even a bit of the white stuff. Still we're all hoping that winter's back is broken and that we might just experience the highly rare (to the point of being fabled) thing they show in the Canadian Tire commercials. I think they call it spring. Here's hoping.

(please note: any typos in this entry were caused by the fact that it is difficult to type with your fingers crossed)

Making the most of mild weather

The twin schooner gang has been taking full advantage of the relatively mild weather since Shutter Plank weekend to fair the hulls, install the cap and rub rails and start caulking these lovely ladies. Dave's also hung one of the rudders.

Although we never know when the weather may turn, we do know that the local groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam, did not see his shadow yesterday and that's supposed to mean that we'll have an early spring. Just what "early spring" means in Nova Scotia is, of course, anyone's guess.

Closing the gap

"The gap's getting smaller!," Bub said, biting into the slice of pizza that was his lunch today (sorry Bub, no secrets in the blogosphere!). And he's right. The gap is steadily closing and before you know it, it will be time for that very momentous occasion - the shutter plank ceremony. A la deux in the case of our twin schooners. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, post-lunch, Bub was fairing the rabbet or groove where the next plank will fit.

Angelique for the garboards

As Danie and Bub continue hanging the Alaskan Yellow Cedar hull planks on our twin schooners, Dave is working on patterns for the garboards, to be made of more of that sawblade-killing, but super durable Angelique. You may recall the sheer planks for these new Lunenburg Schooners (www.lunenburgschooners.com) were also made of this wood. See the gang unloading some of these incredibly dense (dense=heavy as hell!) planks below.

Video from the boatyard

Check out this short video of the ongoing planking of these twin 48-foot wooden schooners here in the Dory Shop Boatyard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBn-Woqxm7U

Planking 'em up

It seems like forever since we have posted anything to this Twin Schooner blog. And in fact it has been a month and a half.



While Bub worked all summer (poor guy!) and Dave dropped by from time to time, it all tended to be rather small, if important work and didn't make for especially captivating photographs.


That changes now that Dave is back at work (and so happy to have a camera in his face as you can see at below) and planking can begin in earnest.

Already Dave and Bub have a couple of planks hung and starting Monday we have two additional hands joining us (well four hands, two people), which will make things move along a lot more quickly.

Over the summer, Bub did a superb job finishing the decks, by the way. We also had a couple of hatches made by Kevin at Lahave Marine Woodworking. Constructed of Wana with Purpleheart runners, they're really gorgeous and work like a charm.

This weekend, we welcome the Nova Scotia Schooner Association to The Dory Shop for their annual September Classic. Dave's Sea Change is just one of the many handsome schooners in town for tomorrow's race, after which everyone comes over to The Dory Shop for awards and festivities. The big tent is already up in the boatyard and everyone is psyched for the event!

A deck house parade

Folks travelling along Lunenburg's Montague Street just after lunch today smiled, and in some cases scratched their heads, to see five men walking a deck house down the road.

Their destination? The Dory Shop Boatyard where the house was carefully lifted and placed aboard the westernmost of our twin schooners - the one being built for actor Billy Campbell.

You see, Billy (currently starring in the AMC hit, The Killing) and Captain Dan are sailing into Lunenburg tomorrow aboard the Barque Picton Castle as the ship returns from a triumphant 30,000-mile voyage around the world. Both are anxious to see what progress has been made on the vessels, and in Billy's case, he won't have much time before he must jet off to work in Hollywood, so Dave wanted a chance for him to see the deck house and also ensure the cabin will accommodate his 6' 4" height.And so for the last number of weeks, one of our schooner crew, Tony Chaplik, has been working blessedly out of the rain in a shop just up the road from The Dory Shop.

Tony's the perfect guy to be building these pieces. With nearly 40 years experience as a cabinet maker, builder of fine furniture and boatbuilder, he's inspired by the challenge of the project.

"Making a part and then putting the parts together, whether a chair or a boat or a house, it's very satisfying," says Tony, who started his career in a cabinet shop in Maine. He then worked at the Paul E. Luke Boatyard in Boothbay before spending two years at the prestigious North Bennet Street School in Boston.

The oldest craft and trade school in America, that was "a real hot spot to be," says Tony. "We did a lot of hand work. It was definitely not your average trade school."

Tony went on to operate his own shop, Marblehead Cabinetmakers, which produced fine furniture, cabinetry, exquisite circular staircases and always, always there was boat work.
While operating a sawmill business, he was introduced to master boatbuilder Harold Burnham. He cut practically all the wood for the schooner Thomas E. Lannon and joined Harold as a full-time carpenter on the Pinky Schooner Fame. He also worked at the New York mill shop Big Tree, doing commission pieces, including very fine furniture, doors, windows and trim work for upscale apartments in the city.

Asked what it is that motivates him, Tony shrugs. "I just like buildings things..particularly things that are difficult and demand that they're done right."

Now doesn't that sound like just the right guy for our schooners?