1930 Schooner MISTRESS

One reason for removing the 3/4” plywood deck was it was heavy and not very strong.The other reason Skip did this was to gain access to the seventy years of paint, which he scrapped away.I never did take a picture of Skip lying full out with a scrapper attached to a stick used to clean the paint away from her stem.It was a precarious position to say the least.In all, there were three, five-gallon buckets of paint removed from these deck beams and the interior of the hull, at the forward end.After stripping all the paint, two coats of red lead was laid on the interior of the hull and the deck beams were sanded and varnished.Her deck beams were made from oak and these are still with MISTRESS.The hull framing in this area is also original.Since the day MISTRESS was first launched, she has had a giant dorade ventilator right up on the bow.Skip is certain this is the reason this area of the boat never rotted out.

 This is the original joiner work, which is around the forward hatchway. They are half dovetails and still strong and tight after seventy years. When Skip discovered this joiner work in such fine condition after so many years, he did not have the heart to remove them, wanting to preserve that part of her history. On occasion, that is to say, when one of us hits our head while maneuvering in the V-berth, Skip wonders if he should not have also removed these and cold molded a new deck without the beams allowing us a little more headroom. Then again, sometimes history is more important than comfort.

This picture I just received from the previous owner.It was taken in September of 1969.Thank you, Patty.What a great thing for you to share with us.

Since the onset of this project, Skip and I have been most interested in learning all we could about MISTRESS’s history.Seventy years is a long time and we knew she spent most of her time in Chicago and Milwaukee.We found information from the Lloyds Registry of American Yachts and discovered she had several names in her first fifteen years.It was not until around the late 1940’s that she became MISTRESS, a name I am certain she will carry for the rest of her days.There are stories about two brothers who owned her for a short time during prohibition days and there may have been some rum-running going on.Just a few months after she arrived to our home, I happened to find an article about her in a sailing magazine while waiting in the doctor’s office.The man who wrote the story was telling his tale of being on board a Schooner named HAPPY HOLIDAY back in 1940 while racing in Chicago.This was MISTRESS’s original name and I was dumb struck when I saw it.He ended his story saying he did not know what had become of this Schooner but considering she was a wooded boat, he imagined she was long gone.I contacted the magazine giving them our phone number and address and asked for it to be given to the author, which they did.When he called us on the phone, Skip and I took great pleasure in telling him, HAPPY HOLIDAY, now MISTRESS, was in our back yard undergoing a major restoration and rebuild.In the early 1960’s, there was an engine explosion, which blew off her aft end.This is when she was extended to 50’ on deck, and why all of her sisters are only 47’.For a short time in the 60’s she was also rigged as a Cutter in the hopes she would be faster, however, she returned to a Schooner and has remained so ever since.In February of 2002, we found one of her sister ships in Michigan who told us about another Eastward in Vineyard Haven.We have had the pleasure of staying aboard both these Schooners thanks to their generous owners.The Eastward plans, designed by Eldridge McInnis are in Mystic Seaport and show two interior designs, galley forward and galley aft.MISTRESS and her sisters were built galley aft.Although MISTRESS is now galley forward, her interior is the design of                   F. W. “Skip” Joest.

I could go on and on about all that transpired before she arrived in our backyard, but with it being seventy years, it is just too long a story to tell now and therefore I will save it for another blog.For now, I will stick to this story, MISTRESS and the Master Shipwright who transformed her from a fresh water sailboat to an ocean cruiser yacht.

 Skip: “This is the first part of the transom.I cut off the old one because it was flat with square corners at the back.I then reframed it on the inside to give it the shape I wanted, a curved, raked, reversed, transom.I then cold molded four diagonal layers of 1/8” Okume plywood that was three inner layers of Okume with two outer layers of Sapele.They were cold molded using epoxy.When I sanded it, the lighter spots you see in this picture are the Okume showing through”.I asked Skip what Sapelle is, he explained it is a high-grade mahogany.

This was the first of many steps before the final transom would be finished.

Skip cheers when he sees this picture saying, “Yeah, the new main bulkhead”.This he made from two layers of 3/8^th AA fir ply and it's watertight.It was a trick fitting it in around the bilge stringer, clamp, shelf and everything else.

It only took Skip just a 1/2 hour to make the temporary stairs however, they lasted years and years and are actually still in use with someone else.As time drew closer for the launch, Skip was trying to design her companionway steps.A great debate ensued between the Shipwright who wanted them to be perfect and the sailor who just wanted to be done with the project so we could go sailing. For several days he sat on the framed out settee, sometimes with cigar in hand and a perplexed look on his face. Time vs beauty. These temporary stairs almost stayed on MISTRESS, but after some mediation between the Shipwright and the sailor a compromise was found.

Note the deck carlin being held up by 2x4’s.

The engine room is now framed with new, varnished Ash and Kauri deck beams.There are a few original side deck beams in place on her port side, which Skip has stripped.Note that most of the bulwarks on the starboard side are gone.Although this picture does not show it, the port side was also missing most of its bulwarks as well.The mast partners were removed at this time.All of her metal floor timbers were also removed.

This was around the time I started to wonder if it would not have been easier to build a whole, new boat from scratch. Skip told me this was cheaper, not faster. I feel compelled to offer a word of caution here.Everyone knows at least one story of an old wooden boat that did not see her re-launch day after being torn down to this extent. It takes a special type of person to finish such a project.It certainly helps to have a special kind of marriage.I had the good fortune to be blessed with both.Additionally, while this may have been a cheaper way of getting a classic wooden schooner to sail again, there was nothing about this project that was cheap.It was also a time of celebration for us, fore there was no longer things that needed to be torn out.All work from this point forward, would be new.MISTRESS must have finally realized Skip was not tearing her apart and leaving her for dead because she finally stopped biting him, drawing his blood on a regular basis.

 Using scrap wood Skip made these strips and fastened them to MISTRESS.The inside shape is the shape he wants the bulwarks to end up with.When I ask him how he figures these things out, he simply says, “I know what I want for the final shape and then I just work backwards”.I realize this is much easier for him to see than someone like, myself.I believe it must be the artist in him who so easily sees what the end-product will look like. 

Starting with the 6” radius on the transom the temporary molds were cut to shape for the bulwarks.

The first strip went down on the deck, clamped tight to the temporary molds, then fastened to the deck.Each layer he then built upon the one before as he fastened it all with glue and 3 & 1/2” nails, every 6 inches.

Skip used Rick's framing nail gun which made this job go much faster. Skip says, “The next time I have to strip plank a boat I’m gonna buy me a frame nail gun”.When I ask him, why, he smiles, says, “Oh man”.Even with a misfire or two, a framing gun saves a lot of time.

Defining moments in your life.Everyone has them.Generally discovered in hindsight but defining moments just the same.If I had only done something this way vs. that way you ask yourself, or if I had gone up instead of down how different things would have turned out or how much faster I could have completed the task.Well you are looking at one of Skip’s defining moments during his life while restoring MISTRESS.You see, her chain plates had been inside the hull and through the deck and this was not something Skip wanted.He removed all her former chain plates finding many more on each side then there should have been except if you take into consideration all the trials her rig went through to discover just how fast she could sail.Instead, Skip opted for the lofty goal of setting the chain plates flush to the hull.Here, he has cut away the exact amount of hull to insure that when all is done, and the thicknesses of all future material is taken into consideration, the chain plates will end up flush to the hull.Yes, he knew when he started this would create more work for himself; he just didn’t know yet how much of a commitment this would be. I have told you all before there were many hours devoted to these 16 chain plates.Skip would end up making the chain plates from scratch and polishing all but two, to mirror image.I will save the story of the fiery death the homemade polisher had just before all the chain plates were completed.However, the flush part would have him repeatedly making up templates just the right thickness to insure his success. I would laugh when Skip would explain to me the thickness of paint and how important it was to calculate that thickness to give him his final results. I just didn’t understand how perfect he really wanted them to be, and of course, I didn’t understand the importance, at least at the time.If you ask Skip now if he would do it again, he will immediately reply with a resounding, “No!”Then after a pause, he is apt to say, “Then again, if someone is willing to pay me my hourly, I guess I would do it again”.

The end product is something to be very proud of for sure.