Splash

By now, you may be tired of looking at the starboard view of Belle Starr. I promise, this is the end of the recovery saga, it's time to party!

Here she is, back in her element. Ship-shape and bristol. The observant will note the anchor chain. Whatever evil lurks below, waiting to chafe innocent anchor rodes, will find this one harder to chew.

A far cry from this.
Thanks to all who stepped up to help bring her back.
Brings tears to my eyes.

Paul Miller
Philip Morley
Martin Schneider
Lynn Watson
Claire Acord
John Acord
Heather Hicks
Marty Loken
Doug Follett
Steve Follett
Scott Marckx
Allan Woodbury

And all of you, my friends all over the world, who offered moral support in a time of need. Thank you.

Doryman's Boatyard

As you might guess, the restoration of Belle Starr is at the top of the list. Working outside definitely has it's drawbacks and I've known all along that when spring weather approached, there would be a frenzy of activity. Nothing new there - to a sailor, the weather dictates everything.

Belle Starr is a happy boat. She's very near being ready to launch. All that remains are the fiddly bits, the structural work is complete. In fact, I have a friendly wager with a fellow sailor about who will launch first. Sometime late this month is my best guess. Despite being very anxious about splashing her, I want Belle Starr to be better than before her accident. This view of the starboard side was a ragged hole not too long ago.

The starboard side from the interior. Those pesky, leaky deadlights have been re-bedded at last!

There are some upgrades this time around. New winches grace the deck to assist in keeping the halyards tight. I'd like to have winches for the new genny too, but that will have to wait. The interior is handsomely reworked. With the boat completely empty, refinishing everything was imperative. It's very rewarding to sew up loose ends. For instance, there will be no more hauling and stowing plastic jugs of water. A rudimentary water system featuring a bladder tank and hand pump now simplifies that task.

An unexpected bonus to this tragedy was revealed while repairing the rudder, which was snapped off at the waterline.

The two sets of gudgeons and pintles that were underwater were corroded to the point that they could have failed at any time. I'm not a welder (at times like this, I wish I was...) so having new hardware fabricated has suddenly become one of the most costly elements of this repair. It will be good to know that the rudder is once again firmly attached to the boat. Losing steerage is a sailor's nightmare.

Meanwhile, look at what followed me back to the shop... an Old Town canoe. I've had my eye on this beauty for a decade. I haven't had a chance to look up the serial numbers yet, but she's probably in the neighborhood of seventy years old.

My friend Rick Johnson finally took pity on me and we loaded her down from the rafters of his shop. She now graces the rafters of mine. It could be a while before she gets the attention she deserves, but when she does, you'll be the first to know.

Doryman's Boatyard

The end of January brought temperate weather to the Salish Sea, enough to tempt a groundhog out early. Which means activity in the Doryman boatyard. Some of you who have been around for a while may remember the Doryman Melonseed. Aria has been in the wings waiting for a sail rig. The plans call for a sprit rig but since I'm the designer, an easy administrative decision was made to substitute a balanced lug sail.
Why not simply make the sprit sail I sewed last winter into a lug sail? I think it will work. But not as easy as one might imagine.

Redesign in the works, on rainy days. Stay tuned.

Dryer days mean repairs on the Sam Crocker Stone Horse, Belle Starr. I met an interesting boatbuilder a few weeks back - a fellow older than me with a more traditional training - who insisted a Stone Horse has no chine. I said it's a Stone Horse redrawn from Sam's plans to accommodate plywood construction. He insisted the chine made it some other boat. Very interesting proposition.........

Belle Starr as she looked last September. A Hulk.
Sailing season over early. Not much chine left.

Demolition left very little of the starboard side. Paul looks despondent but he's really enjoying himself.

  

About a month later the "A" team closed up that gap and once again, a chine emerged.

Plywood construction methods show quick progress toward healing wounds, physical and psychological.

A couple very wet months suspended that initial push but just recently the clouds miraculously parted. The freshly faired Belle Starr emerges whole again. Gotta love that beautiful chine. I think Sam would approve.



These shots are from two days ago, after some intense sanding and fairing.

She's not finished by a long shot.
 But it's a great relief to have gotten this far.

I believe this is one of Sam Crocker's drawings, but I'm not sure which boat. Looks suspiciously familiar though, doesn't it?

Sam Crocker Revisited

The fiberglass Stone Horse one-design produced by Edey and Duff is our standard impression of that boat and few know there were several options available in the original carvel-planked hulls. True to an age when one-off boats were hand-built everywhere, by everyman, options to a design revealed the builder's personality and character. Some of us keep that tradition alive today, despite a culture of mediocrity. It is to those of you I speak.

Joe Evens, on the Oregon coast has a true historic treasure in his barn and is looking for someone to give her the love and attention she deserves. I will be visiting Joe soon, to get the measure of this project. When I do, I'll take you along. Perhaps that perfect person will emerge. Who will take this on? As you will see from the photos, this is an original Stone Horse in very good condition. But she stands to be delegated to the burn pile.



Recently Joe wrote to me and this is what he said:

"She was launched in1948, and first lived on the Columbia, later sailing north to the Puget Sound where she served until a few years ago. She's hauled out now and it's time for major maintenance."


"The boat has a carvel-planked hull, Red Cedar on White Oak. The pictures clearly show a few planks the surveyor marked for replacement.. At some point, the propshaft was removed from the keel and mounted out the port side. This caused some structural problems. It needs to go back, or better, replaced with an outboard. The frames are all good, though the boat needs to be re-fastened. The original galvanized fasteners are beginning to give up. There is a small area of rot on the hatch cover."

"The surveyor indicated that the teak deck was getting thin and should be replaced. Personally, I think that it is serviceable. The deck is beautifully built and is very solid. I am confidant that diligent maintenance would delay that job till the next quarter century maintenance. The builder was obviously a master craftsman. Quality shows everywhere. The mast, boom and the spinnaker pole are truly beautiful, old growth spruce. The rigging includes the original wood blocks and the sails are serviceable."

"Unlike the fiberglass knockoffs, This Crocker Stone Horse is a standard sloop rig, The mast is round and stayed to the bow, no bowsprit. It shows a lot of sail, and uses a wishbone boom to carry it."

"The interior is beautiful and virtually perfect."




"I think that there were only 40 or so of the carvel Stone Horses finished and I suspect that today they could be counted on your fingers."



"It would take a man with no soul to burn it. Or it would be gone with the embers."


Couldn't have said it better, Joe.

Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival 2014

After spending most of the summer on the water, cruising in Belle Starr, a fitting crescendo was the famous gathering of wood boats from near and far, in Port Townsend, Washington. This festival has grown to nearly fill the Port Hudson marina from shore to shore. Thousands of visitors mingle to view hundreds of boats of all sizes and designs.

The festivities are a bit overwhelming for a boatbuilder from a small coastal town, so I concentrate on visiting with friends and catching up with sailing tales and life's changes. Seldom have I actually taken in the entire show, preferring to spend my time in the blockade outside the marina - the small floating city of water tribe on anchor. If you think that after spending months sailing, I'd had enough, you'd be mistaken. The long weekend offered plenty of opportunity to spread canvas, not the least, the great "sail-by" of wood boats on Sunday, the last day of the festival.

Two boats stood out for me this year. The first is the Blue Moon, Katie & Ginny. This Thomas Gillmer gaff cutter has some unique details that really make her stand out. Her clam-shell cabin is both accommodating and low profile. But most of all, she is pretty under a full press of sail.

 I woke one fine morning to gander about my neighborhood and behold, a larger version of the Stone Horse was anchored nearby. The Macaw is a Sam Crocker design of the same name, and her owner claims his vessel is the only one built to that design. She is 36 feet in length, on deck and sports a gaff ketch rig. I am considering a small pilothouse, similar to that shown, for the companionway on Belle Starr.

'

 As is often said, pictures tell the story. You will find random photos from the festival weekend on Doryman's Flickr site. Please enjoy.

Thanks to all the hard working people who make this giant festival possible. DoryMan raises a glass to you all.
 
Photos by Wild Heather

Belle Starr

As was reported earlier, the Stone Horse, Belle Starr has proven to be an exceptional boat. And as documentation, I was recently gifted some photos taken by my good friend, John Kohnen of the Oregon Coots.

Here comes John with a boat-full of Coots now...

On Sunday, the last day of the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, tradition finds the participants on the water for a "sail-by". This year was the first time I've joined the parade in my own boat.

Here she is, all dressed up in tanbark, overtaking the MerrieEllen.

For her first weekend out in several years, Belle Starr looked pretty good. At the helm is Kirk Gresham (AKA Captain Kirk) and his crew is Doryman, shooting photos left and right.

With John's permission, I offer you a sailor's view of the worthy cutter.

People often ask me why I find a strenuous, dangerous and difficult activity like sailing so rewarding. These photos tell it all.

Not looking too bad for an old horse.

After the morning fog lifted, it was another beautiful day on Admiralty Inlet.

Thank you John!







This week will be the last of the season for Belle Starr. The storms that have pummeled the west coast are abating, so hopefully the cutter will get a few more miles under her keel, before she is hauled out for the winter. Please stay tuned!

Celebrating Belle Starr, On the Water

At the end of a very productive week, we find the sloop-rigged cutter Belle Starr in the water for the first time in many years.

Belle Starr, as you know, is a Stone Horse, built in wood, as originally designed by Sam Crocker. This classic was designed in 1931. Less than forty were built before production was interrupted by WWII. Some of the original wood models are still sailing.
An additional 150 fiberglass Stone Horse models were built by Edey and Duff between 1969 and the early 1990s.

The defining feature of the Stone Horse 23 is her raised, flush foredeck and integral coamings. Twenty three feet on deck, the overall length of the Stone Horse is 28’-3” with a bowsprit and boomkin. The hull has a full keel with hard-chined sections and a transom-hung rudder.

After a year and a half in the shop, Belle Starr touched water this week at family-owned Zittle's Marina, outside Olympia, Washington. The launch was flawless, stepping the mast went smoothly and the boat sat pretty on her lines. It's fair to say, this deserves a celebration.

With an enormous amount of help from friends and the professionals at Zittle's, this project has reached a milestone. My very good friends, Doug Follet of Olympia, his brother Steve, from Vermont, and Doug's son, Ian, of Seattle, all chipped in to make two days of rigging and outfitting go smoothly. My heart-felt thanks to these generous men!



Launch Day for Belle Starr from doryman on Vimeo.

The four of us took the cutter out for a trial sail and wouldn't you know, a calm day of 3-4 knot breezes suddenly built to 15 knots. We turned around and headed back but there was enough time to see what could be done to finish the rigging.




test sail from doryman on Vimeo.

Belle Starr behaved like a thoroughbred. Look for updates, right here, in the days and weeks to come. She is bound for adventure...

Progress Report: Stone Horse, Belle Starr

Wouldn't you know? The last work session on the Stone Horse, Belle Starr was during a snow storm. Now, you should understand, it doesn't snow very often in the lower elevations of the Pacific Northwest anymore. Yet, here it is a month later and guess what? Yes it's snowing.

This makes for a challenging outdoor work situation when most of the repairs involve epoxy and the rest of the work is sanding and painting.

One huge benefit from the cool weather is, the epoxy cures very slow. This means that glue applied yesterday is still pliable today and is easy to shape, form and finish.
There are tricks to successful use of epoxy in cold weather so be warned, don't do this at home unless you are willing to accept the occasional failure of your material.

The last few days have seen some progress in the repair and rehab of Belle Starr. This is not a restoration project as we so often see in the Doryman boatyard. Belle Starr is in great shape for a 30 year old boat.

You may think differently from the photos but often, long before an owner decides to sell their boat, maintenance falls to a minimum. It is not unusual to see a fine wood boat, only a couple decades old, with serious problems. In this case a few yearly haul-outs were neglected and it is a tribute to the builder that the boat held up so well.













As noted earlier, the bowsprit and boomkin needed to be replaced. In the process of researching the development of the Stone Horse, I discovered that the original plans called for a plank bowsprit.

This is good news! I'm not too fond of hanging out there, over the deep blue, on a stick.

To supplement the safety factor, Belle Starr will soon have a bow pulpit, which for some inexplicable reason, she didn't have before. A wide flush deck with no life-lines or handholds seems precarious for the single-hander, though I find the sparse, clean lines aesthetically appealing.
















This boat has a bridge deck in the cockpit. It's about the same level as the galley, down below. When rot developed in the main bulkhead from the cockpit deck, as it so often does, it traveled across into the cabinet on the other side.







This is an excellent opportunity to install a new sink where Belle Starr had a simple plastic pan. (May I mention that it is wonderful to have a project that can use some of the stuff that has accumulated in the material storage shed? It's a regular chandlery out there!)






This was a tricky repair; a puzzle. All of the pieces were glued-up at the same time and each had to be installed in the correct order. There is a piece of the deck missing from under the teak overlay that you can't see here. Talk about a challenge!

Once again, the cool weather slows the epoxy cure to a crawl, giving plenty of time to get it right.