Whatever Floats Your Boat - Phase I
Looking for a few able bodied young men and women .... with a positive attitude and ready to learn.
The Loon-I-See and Mill Creek 13 were built under the tutelage of Eastman’s jack and master of all trades, John Larrabee (pictured on the left). This year his returning YCC team was dealt a serious blow when First Mate/Right Hand Guy Bob Katz (pictured on the right), died suddenly shortly before start of the new project. Fortunately Bob’s shoes were stepped into by two other experienced craftsmen, Eastman residents Roger Woodworth and Frank Campisi. To honor Bob, the team also plans to complete a full restoration of Bob’s old weathered 16 foot Mad River Canoe.
Last year's project, the Mill Creek 13 mahogany kayak was raffled off after completion. The raffle proceeds were then channeled into new projects for the community.
YCC member Sarah with an 'H' actively engaged in the work.
Essential plans for building the Kaholo ......
...and the Step by Step outline for canoe restoration accompanied by 'Canoe Terminology 101.'
The boat building Workshop.
The Kaholo 14 Team (L to R) Mary, Jack, Anna, Roger, Kristina with a 'K', Sarah with an 'H', Nick, David, Frank, and John. The Get Well card was sent to one of the Team members who had to sit this one out while he recuperated from surgery.
Day One objectives.
John explains one of the many nuanced steps in boat building.
Anna is all ears while Frank looks on approvingly.
Laying out the sheer clamps.
Removing nibs.
David bevels the sheer clamps.
Mixing station for the various resins needed for the project.
Nick is the team's go-to epoxy mix-master.
Anna applies the adhesive with surgical precision.
Frank checks and adjusts the alignment.
Clamps at the ready.
With the sheer clamp firmly attached to the sheer panels, it is set aside to make room for the next step.
The back panel of our Kaholo will be decorated with a custom design. Here are samples used for other craft.
Working with John, Anna lays out her idea for a back panel design. The fundamentals of geometry and math are required to ensure all bevel cuts are made correctly.
After measuring at least twice, Anna and Nick move to the bevel saw and make the cuts.
Using a jig to align and check the bevels.
It's time to fiberglass the underside of the Kaholo deck.
All hands on deck.
Double checking instructions before the fiberglass is poured.
The first pour of glass goes right down the middle.
Spreading the material from the center.
John fine tunes this first of several subsequent fiberglassing steps.
Frank is pleased with Day One's paddle board progress.
While part of the YCC Team was engaged in the Kaholo work, Roger was guiding Kristine and Sarah with the canoe restoration.
Aside from being an experienced boat builder, Roger is a master carpenter. For this weeklong project, he ferried a sizable portion of his personal tool inventory to the workspace. In several instances, if a specific tool not available in the Team's shop was needed, Roger would dip into his toolbox and come up with the carpenter's equivalent of ''just what the doctor ordered.'
Sisters Sarah and Kristine get to work removing the old Outwales.
With his saw, Roger takes aim at the Inwale.
The canoe's old cane seat clearly needs an extreme makeover. It will get one.
Roger explains and demonstrates the art and craft of removing wornout cane. It's not an easy task.
Sarah begins digging out the cane.
Kristine has almost finished the process.
Now onto removing the finish from the canoe's yoke, handles, and thwarts. Clearly, there's new terminology to master.
Refinishing the wood requires teamwork.
Roger masks the cane in preparation for application of the tung oil finish.
For a restoration project, it is important to carefully label all the parts which will need to be replaced. Roger has seen to that as his Team nears completion of its Day One objectives.
With a few minutes left to the day, Roger gets a start on pre-finish sanding.
Frank takes a welcome break from the action.
All in all everyone did a good day's work. See you tomorrow morning.
Day Two.
Stitching, not with needle and thread but with 4" lengths of copper wire is the boat building way to connect the various sections of the Kaholo. Here's a cup full of previously cut wire ready to be threaded and twisted.