The
flagpole is a the top of a high grassy bluff overlooking
the Delaware River. Behind it is a large lawn leading
to the veranda of a 1850's mansard roof mansion. It
is cloudy and damp. The Commodore comes out of the door
and with a measured tread walks toward the flagpole
and the small wreath at it’s base. He is in immaculate
summer ‘Dress Whites’; [as an ex-Marine
he may wince at this] you could almost see the
deck beneath his feet. Reaching the flagpole, the ‘Stars
& Stripes’ fluttering at the truck, and the
auxiliary flags at the ends of spreaders, he turns to
face the small and mostly older group that had assembled..
Ironically, a soft rain, like tears, begins to fall.
After
a short speech, and closing prayer he picks up the wreath.
Descending the long flight of steps and walking across
the ‘hard’, with a nod to the ‘Gunner’,
and down to the floating dock with that same careful step.
At the edge he gently places the wreath in the water,
comes to a ridged ‘Attention’ with a smart
‘Present Arms’. The first shot of the salvo
roars from the gun. He holds his salute, as I hold mime,
while the sound of the guns rolls across the river and
the echos return.
It
may seem like a ‘corny’ performance to some,
especially in light of grander ceremonies at the WALL
& elsewhere. Or to those who only think of this day
as one of ‘hotdogs, pretzels, & beer’.
However, as we stood there in the drizzling rain, I’m
sure the Commodore, the ex-Navy who ‘served’
the gun, and a few others were thinking of the real people
they had known. |
There has been a lot of squabbling of late. About
a number of really unimportant subjects. My ‘diagnosis’
is quite simple . . . You people all have ‘Cabin Fever’
{‘Mildew on the Brain’ could be another name
for it; this is about the 10th rainy weekend in a row . . .
with NOT too many dry days in between, either !!}. Get
out on the water . . . SOMEHOW !! Or at least work on a BOAT.
- - - - - -
While one hatch cover does not a ‘full test’ make,
I'd like to make an ‘initial report’ on three items.
Since I’ll be on a mooring this ‘season’ a new
main hatch was of primary importance; at least to keep out the
‘big chunks’. I had fully intended to make a new one
over the winter . . . but . . . So here I was, getting the mooring
‘rigged’, etc. and watching the calendar, the boat
cover, and the rain. I had wanted to do a real ‘Bristol
Fashion’ job, but the only sources of ‘Marine Grade’
ply were either ‘mail order’ or ‘SPECIAL ORDER
. . . FULL SHEETS ONLY’ from local yards. I went to the
local yard I get some of my lumber from and asked about his stock
on ‘guaranteed waterproof’ 3/8 Mahogany ply. “Sure,
we’ve got some”; $0.80 a ‘square’ if cut”.
Figuring this would do for a temporary ‘prototype’,
I bought a 2ftx4ft piece - $7.xx with tax.
A nice lightly figured & sanded face, and the back was marked
‘SuperPly’. I remember reading about this stuff on
a couple of the ‘Groups’ but didn’t want to
order a full sheet just to ‘try’ it . . . now the
chance had literally ‘happened’.
Using the old hatch as a template and one edge of the ply as
the ‘datum line’, I marked the outline {with a bit
of ‘clearance’} on the backside. Now I could ALSO
try the sample ‘LENOX’ Brand bi-metal
‘jig saw’ blades that Jim Fuller [from the ‘Bolger
List’] had sent me SEVERAL months ago.
I used the ‘fine’ blade first. I used it to cut the
curved ‘top’ {‘across the grain’} and
part of one side {‘with the grain’}. Nice clean cut;
front AND back. However a bit slow, and I didn’t want to
push it too hard. I used the ‘course’ blade for the
‘bottom’ cut and the remainder of the side, STILL,
a nice clean cut with almost NO ‘tearing’ of the face
ply. {I did ‘test cuts’ from BOTH the face and back
surfaces}.
Superply - unfinished....
I debated putting on a light coat of stain. It was Mahogany,
but light colored vs the ‘Red’ Mahogany I usually
go for. I elected to go with the ‘KISS Principle’
and went directly to the coat of ‘straight’ epoxy.
NICE slightly amber tone. This was further enhanced by two coats
of Spar varnish [This is actually ANOTHER ‘product test’]
The last coat of varnish has had a couple of days {albeit wet
& rainy} to cure. The results look GREAT !! Later today I’ll
polish up the hinges, mark-out & attach the hasp. Then I’ll
finally be able to take the cover off !!
...and finished (no hardware)
Normally I use, & recommend, ‘Skippers Varnish’
- the ‘West Marine’ house brand; good stuff, not that
expensive, and frequently on sale at a 25% discount !! It is a
‘short oil’ varnish. A while ago, I made Joanne a
‘boat-shaped’ planter. I ‘modified’ the
plans to a ‘Yacht Finish’ with varnished Mahogany
decks and sheer. Rather than open one of my cans of ‘the
GOOD STUFF’, for this I picked up a quart of Minwax ‘Helmsman
SPAR Urethane Varnish’ at the local Home Depot. Within the
last week, I read a comment on one the ‘newsgroups’
about someone in California applying this to his boat and having
longevity that exceeded the ‘Marine Store’ stuff.
We have 25 of 26 moorings set . . . mine is the 26th, of course.
However, there are only a couple of boats ‘on the hook’
so I don’t feel quite that guilty. One advantage of having
a ‘Club mooring’ is that the ‘season’
is longer than the ‘commercial’ facilities. They aren’t
pulled until November. In addition, with a ‘double set’
I don’t have to pull mine at all; just put a small float
on the bottom chain so it can be ‘fished’ in the Spring.
That way I could ‘theoretically’ procrastinate until
. . . whenever.
The bottom line is, this year should be a fair test of both the
SuperPly and the Helmsman. I’ll try to build a couple of
boats, and there are a number of projects I want to do for the
Club, to give more ‘testing’ of the Lenox blades.
|
