In mid-January, the Chief Mate left for a six-week stint on another ship. He’ll spend part of his time being very cold in Lunenburg, and the rest of it being very warm in the Bahamas. Meanwhile, we’ll be toiling away back in Erie, spending part of our time being very cold on the plaza and ship, and rest of it being very warm down in the rig shop. Oh, the places you’ll go.
Since the start of 2018, we’ve been flooded with new arrivals. Our rig shop crew has grown by three (Andrew, Wilmer, and Meghan), and Team Carpentry has grown by two (Paul and Bob). The new section of waterway timber is installed, the capstan is halfway through its makeover, and the blank for our new snow mast is sitting in Spar Alley, waiting patiently for us to turn it from a long square piece of wood into a long roundish piece of wood. We have new catharpins, new futtock shrouds, new turnback seizings on the main shrouds, and a bunch of freshly-painted spars. The garage is crowded with pieces of the new main fighting top, just waiting to be glued up. And the list goes on. It’s a good thing that we’re making so much progress, because the end of March is sneaking up fast, and that means. . .
. . .uprig. (Since the Chief Mate isn’t here, I can say that without getting glared at.)
Here are some progress pictures from the wood shop. If you want to know what’s happening in the rig shop, you’ll have to come down this Saturday and check things out for yourself. Bonus: winter sail training!
Capstan bars, sanded and ready for varnish thanks to Tom Todd and Mary Jo.
One of the aft deck boxes before its Chuck-and-Gail makeover. . .
. . .and after.
Capstan surgery. “Hand me that chisel, doctor. . .”