Ted sent us this picture on Sunday:

It looks like a boat inside!

Hooray for our new carpenter, Ted Morse! He’s doing some fantastic work, and I hope to be posting some pics of the progress he’s making by the end of the week. Yay!

Helped deliver Zora back down from Camden over the weekend. Nice to be out on the water, even if it was in a tropical storm. Thanks, Neil!

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“All

Well there’s our engine, all shiny bright and ready to drop in…

I went up to the barn to meet with Myles yesterday, and got some bad news. He took a job at BIW – a union gig, with benefits and all that. Can’t hardly blame him – he’s got a family now and all that, and it’s amazing how much more you care about things like health insurance and a steady income when there’s a baby involved. But… we’re bummed out. Norman is still pretty much torn apart, and we’re facing losing the barn and don’t have anyone to work on her. He’s promised to get the engine, thru-hulls and bulkheads in before he’s done, and that would be a big help… but it’s still a real bummer.

Anyone want to work on our boat?

We ended up buying the W46 out of Chase, a Swan 40 owned by a bunch of guys up here. They’re going transatlantic soon, and wanted to repower. So they have a nice new 44B, and we have a W46:

“W46

Not the prettiest engine, but it came with tranny, panel and alternator, and they guys said she’s a good runner. I found a place that sells rebuild kits, so if time and budget afford, we will rebuild before heading out. But we have an engine! Yay!

So I went up to the boat yesterday, to try and bend the new fixed ports to fit the hull. Bought a box of #10-24 screws to use to draw them up to the hull. The box was full of #10-32 screws. And I was a half an hour away from the hardware store. GRR. So I drove on down to Hamilton; got new screws; got it done.

So now we have 3 contenders – a W40 from Bob Gerwig, A 4-108 from our friend Neil, or a possible W46, also from Neil. I think the SABB is out of the running. I wish we could just get past this!!

So I think I’ve sourced us some lead from Providence, RI – $0.75/lb. Not bad.

So we’re looking at a different engine now – a Norwegian lifeboat engine, a SABB (that’s SABB, not SAAB – just to be confusing). It’s only a 30HP engine, but very torquey – puts out those 30HP at 1900 RPM – and is couple to a variable-pitch propeller to make maximum use of that torque at different speeds and in different conditions. Interesting stuff. Hoping to have a mechanic take a look a it before we make a final decision.

“SABB

So last Saturday I went up to see how Myles was doing… it’s been a bit frustrating, with the painting of the interior taking SOOO LONG – but now there’s some actual progress to show – INSULATION!

“Interior

Bow to stern, down to the waterline, fire-resistant HandiFoam. Should make the boat a lot more comfortable and a lot quieter. Myles had some trouble getting it to stick under the deck, so there are some areas where we are going to use batts of blue foam or some such thing. But for the most part, she’s insulated! Next task? Putting all the lead back in.

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Once the lead is in, we can start putting the bulkheads, floors and tanks back in. But at least we’re putting the boat together now, not taking it apart!

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It’s been pretty cold lately – makes it hard to imagine that Norman could ever be headed to the tropics – but makes it seem all the more urgent, for sure!