Chickawaukie Ice Boat Club

Tomorrow is the spring ice party at fred wardwell’s……I hope lots of ice-nuts come……I know lloyd and john eastman and scott the guy and the two bills and fred of course will be there…and maybe bianchi and john stanton and ben fuller and maybe doug raymond and doug fowle and dave buckley and chris conary and maybe even kevin……..and if a good number of these fellow-travelers come….they will remind me that indeed…. I was there.

I was there on that crystal black ice of plymouth

I was there those many magic days on megunticook:

and….most amazing of all, I was there on those fantastic adventures on damariscotta:

when howling winds blew snow streamers across pressure ridges which changed before your eyes…..and yet moments later… we snuggled in the lee of Deep Cove, in a peaceful silent world:

today…..here i sit in the bright april backyard sun…..hoping for a little tan…..finishing the last of last christmas’s rum bottle….unable to accomplish the slightest thing….and I look back on our 2012 season…..and that icy environment….those friends…those zen-like moments….and…. if it’s true….if it really happened….then I am flooded with gratitude…..there can’t be very many people in this hurried, degraded world ….who are allowed entrance into such sacred space….

see you tomorrow…..jory

Tomorrow at Fred Wardwell’s in Searsmont. Bring some food and iceboat lore to share! Mid-morning to mid afternoon!

The pair of Whizzes at Steve Lambs shop are coming along nicely, with #5 getting side planks. Notice the clamps he’s using to clamp the sides to the stringers: slices of PVC pipe. You could drill a couple of holes in each one and insert dowels to make them even more user friendly, but you certainly can’t beat the price!

Notice the simple set-up: he chooses a nice straight 2×6, lays out the centerline and squares off the bulkhead positions with cleats or short aluminum angle. Then its just a matter of screwing on the bulkheads, wrapping the stringers around and checking for twist before planking. Steve has decided to use butt blocks on the planks instead of scarfs. Either way is strong enough, but the butt blocks are easier and add a little bulk to the sides which could come in handy some extreme day.

The butt block is clearly visible on the boat on the left. There’s a long span between those bulkheads, but if one were seriously watching their weight a scarf would work, too.

There is a combination of butts and scarfs on our next featured craft. I used butts on the planks and scarfed the bottom. The side planks were set onto the bottom, which ran by temporarily, and the thought of trying to get a dead straight line on a 24′ plank that would fit tight all along didn’t seem like much fun to me. Just moving the thing around was asking for trouble. As you can see, the planking is done, bottom trimmed, and the interior varnished in preparation for the deck. Two of the three deck panels have their veneer glued on, and we’re just waiting for a window between paying work to continue.

Fitting the aft deck. The battens screwed along the edge keep the 1/8″ ply straight, and will make glueing it down very easy once the veneer is on.

While it was rolled over to have the bottom edge trimmed, it seemed like a good time to install the bow headstay chainplate, along with the tangs for whisker stays. This boat has them both fore and aft.

The backing blocks for the aft whisker stay tangs can be seen just behind the aft bulkhead.

As always, please send in anything of interest as these boats will be done at some point and we don’t want to be reduced to reporting on yet another coat of varnish so please get out there, cut some wood, and tell us about it!

Well, until your editor gets submissions from all the projects that I’m sure are coming together in shops and garages throughout New England we’re going to have to make do with the Monotype XV. Planking is going on, and because the hull will be bright there can be no fasteners in the side. This makes for interesting clamping solution as the bottom is already in place. Because the bottom hasn’t been trimmed yet, there was a very convenient shelf to screw little blocks to hold the side plank along the bottom.

The seat is in place, as is the steering. The cheek blocks will be on the bottom, of course. The slotted bracket is so you can raise the wheel to get in and then drop it down on your lap for sailing. I don’t know if there is supposed to be a latch to hold it in a few different position, but it might be a good idea. Any suggestions?

The aft end of the double ended sheet comes through this bulkhead to the skipper and is belayed with a rope clutch hooked up to a foot pedal for quick release, all mounted on the bulkhead. With 150 sq. ft.of sail on a 14′ plank the hiking must come on rather quickly. Anybody have an idea for engineering that?

The 24′ hull just goes on and on…