Fair weather work

The sun has finally come out and Bub is taking advantage of it to sand the decks of these twin schooners (and also work on his tan!). Meanwhile, Bob got a coat of primer on the rails.

Hanging plank

Continued wet weather has slowed production on our twin schooners in recent weeks but the guys do what they can, when they can. That includes hanging the first Alaskan Yellow Cedar hull planks and drilling the hole for the rudder shaft on Billy Campbell's schooner (Billy wants a tiller on his boat). So don't let the blue sky in this next picture fool you; it showed up for Bub's birthday (which says something about him, I think), but lasted less than two hours and was gone again.

Introducing the new Lunenburg Schooners website

It's been more than a year and a half since we launched this blog to chronicle the building of two classic wooden schooners here at The Dory Shop Boatyard in historic Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. We really enjoy all of the interest and encouragement we've received concerning the Twin Schooner Project and will continue to provide these glimpses of the work taking place in our yard.
But the Twin Schooners are just the first chapter in what we hope will be a whole new era of traditional wooden boat building here in Lunenburg. It's such an important part of this community's history, such a part of our identity; we want to make it a part of our future as well.
And so to tell you more about our plans and vision, our expertise and capabilities, and of course these two lovely vessels currently underway, we have just launched the new Lunenburg Schooners website at www.lunenburgschooners.com
We hope you enjoy it and encourage you to pass it along to friends and fellow sailors.

Working away in the grey

There's no such thing as spring in Nova Scotia. I'm not saying that to complain. It's just a simple fact. Spring here is a fiction, something Canadian Tire talks about in its commercials so you go out and buy a new lawn mower (and true enough, the grass is growing). But in terms of those bright, sunny, get outdoors and soak up some warmth sort of days - sorry, they don't happen or if they do, they are these cruel one-offs that leave you hungry for more when more isn't available.

And so the gang continues to work under grey skies, often dripping some form of precipitation down upon them. When it's fit (and realize that description is subject to individual interpretation) the gang continues to work on caulking the decks. Tony's also been building the moulded sills for the cargo hatches/skylights.

One exciting development this week was the arrival of a package from Med Chandler, the ironsmith/proprietor of Ship's Coy. Forge in Lisbon, New Hampshire. We met Med at the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic, CT last year. A former crew member of the replica HMS Bounty who undertook his blacksmith training at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, Med has a keen interest in traditional tools.

"In this day and age there are not many sources for the high quality tools that were used 100 years ago," says Med. "The originals are getting harder and harder to find in a fair price and quality. So I am now focusing on supplying builders and sailors with the tools and hardware that was once available so we can do the same work as they did.

Check out his website at http://www.shipscoyforge.com

A new batten for Dave

Dave was pretty pleased to tell me that to work with these beautiful long lengths of Alaskan Yellow Cedar, he had to make himself a new batten. The old one (which you can see lying atop the future plank) was too short!