1930 Schooner MISTRESS

The fridge and freezer will be a top loader to help keep the cool in.  Skip has built shelves in the fridge and each will have a small sea rail to help keep things where they belong.  The round holes you see here, allow the cold from the freezer to move into the fridge.  The top will also be several inches thick to insure the cold stays in.  Behind the freezer will be a cabinet for the microwave and behind the fridge will be storage for dishware and glasses.  Skip will build cutouts so that the dishes, bowls, glasses, and coffee mugs will all have a secure place.  This he will build it from cedar.  To make the shelves for the dish storage, Skip did the following.  We made the decision before hand, which dishes and glasses would be coming with us on MISTRESS.  He then took those items out to the shop and laid them out on a board.  He drew lines around them to determine what was required to house them and keep them secure.  It took three days for Skip to design and build this area.  I happened to find really nice mugs about two days after he had completed this section and when I showed them to Skip, I was promptly told I was out of luck.  As for the refrigeration shelves, Skip epoxy coated plywood and then added Formica.  Everything then received two coats of Awlgrip. 

The fridge and freezer do a great job of keeping our cold stuff cold using an amp an hour.  Since living on board I will defrost the freezer about once every three months.  The black tube use see at the rear of the unit is a conduit tube, which houses wiring. 

Last night, looking over pictures I came to realize that there were several months I did not take any.  This could only have been because I was not well, and because we had come to discover that many man made products made me sick.  Therefore, there is a gap in time.  This week, is picture week.  In February of 2006, our good friends Dave and Jan came to Florida for a visit. The following pictures were taken by them.  Thanks guys!

Mistress's  name has been carved into place on either side - midship.  In time, Skip will fill it in with gold.

The engine hatch is built and Skip has been spending time hooking the engine up, but most of the work he has done in the past several months involved the interior.

After great debate between the sailor and the shipwright, Skip built the companionway steps.  There are five steps in all and the bottom three are one piece that I can lift out of place with just two fingers.  It is light but very strong.  I especially like the angle of the steps on either side which make using the steps while heeled over, a breeze.  The base of the step is core material and the the treads are yellow pine and the trim is butternut.

The head is coming along.  In this picture we see the hand pump which I am pretty certain came with MISTRESS.  We really did want to use it, but in the end, we opted for a faucet that could double as a shower head.  The old hand pump remains in storage, for now. 

The saloon is coming along quite well.  We opted to have the cushions made by a company in St. Augustine because we realized time was running out.  Skip can do this kind of work, but we really needed him working on other things.  This was one of the few items to be farmed out.  I love the material.  In this area which converts to a quest bunk is plenty of storage.  Behind the three outboard back panels is Skip storage, food storage, and the R/O system.  Under the outboard seating area is food storage.  The forward side houses the A/C unit and the aft end houses a 20 gal. water tank.  Also, the outboard cushion has a lee cloth so it can be used as a single. 

This is the Master Shipwright.  You can see that the interior is coming along quite well.  If you look closely you might be able to see the lines in the white.  Using the core material with the Maranti Ply, Skip made the bulkheads and then cut a line to give it a panel feel, then painted it with Awlgrip.  At the bottom right hand side of the picture is the chart table.  Skip is standing in the galley.  To his right are the sinks and plenty of counter space.  Outboard is the stove and additional storage space, and to his left will be the fridge, freezer, and more storage.

This is the chart table top in ribbon striped mahogany.  Skip has inlayed a world map.  It is subtle and often no one notices it until they are on MISTRESS for a while.  In the background you can see the zebra wood I spoke of several months ago. 

Just forward and out board of the chart table Skip built this drawer.  One side is just a drawer.  The other side he is making into a humidour.  Every Captain should have a humidor onboard.  The drawer is made from Spanish Cedar.

This is the cabin sole at the chart table.  You can see that Skip outlined the hatch in wood.  All of the cabin sole through out MISTRESS looks like this.  It was painstaking slow to build, but in the end, it looks so nice.  In fact, Skip spent two days working on the sole only to accomplish about a third of it.  He looked back at his work and realized it was just too much work and time was not on his side.  On the third day, he ripped it all up and began a new.  By the end of that day, he had accomplished half the sole in MISTRESS in a more traditional fashion; however, once he looked back, he was unhappy with the overall look.  On the fourth day, he tore it up and went back to this design, something he had always wanted to do on a yacht.  The sole is made from yellow pine.

The galley is coming along.  This stove, which also offers an oven and broiler came with MISTRESS, however, within the first year it will conk out and be replaced with a Force 10.  Because the Force 10 is not as wide as this one, the shelf on the right will grow, and underneath it I will get additional storage for my bakeware.  The countertops are made from Sapele Pommelle.

This is the 1/4 berth which is 80 inches long and quite comfortable.  The cushion for this will be the same as the saloon, in fact, all the cushions will be made from the same material.  The ceiling is made from aromatic cedar and the rest is made from juniper and 3/8th Maranti Ply.

In October of 2005 Skip began working on the bowsprit.  He used schedule 80 pipe and with the use of a friends shop, Skip bent the pipe in a U shape.  He put weld-able 90’s on the ends.  He cut a plate out of ½-inch aluminum to affix the bowsprit to the hull and in this picture, we see the clamps holding the fit to the hull. 

This picture shows the bowsprit after welding and powder coating.  Skip cut and fitted all of the parts and then took it to a reliable welder to complete it.  The lower bobstay hull plate came with MISTRESS and after a good eight hours of polishing it looks like new.  Originally, MISTRESS did not have a bobstay; this is another one of her transformations since 1930.  The bobstay itself is a piece of 5/8^th number 304 stainless steel round bar, which our machinist threaded each end to take the end fittings.  Incorporated into the sprit are rollers to handle ground tackle. 

This is one of the two fittings that attach the bobstay to the bow and at the end of the bowsprit.  They were made out of 2-inch diameter stainless steel.  “This came from an old rudder shaft”.  Skip designed the drawings and took them to his machine shop.  The owner, Joe estimated they would cost about $400.00.  When Skip went to pick up the finished pieces, Joe was embarrassed and while looking at the floor told Skip, “I can’t charge you what these actually cost.  It took 18 hours to machine out the two fittings”.  Joe Blythe in St. Augustine, FL is a good man and a superb craftsman.  These fittings are perfect. 

The finished product.

It is May 20, 2006 in this picture; Skip has finished the teak in the cockpit and now moves on to the bridge deck.  The teak is 3/16^th thick strips glued down with epoxy.  They will get a white Polysulfide compound in the seams.  The staving around the foot well is mahogany.   Almost all of the cutouts are in place for the electronics, with the exception of the depth sounder.  From this picture, we can see he has completed the companionway hatch; its frame is 1 & 3/8” mahogany.  The skin he cold molded from juniper and there is the 3/16”, teak strips on top.  Watching Skip build this hatch was amazing.  On the bench, it looked oddly twisted making it hard to imagine it in place.  I recall one evening when Skip came in for dinner, appearing rather frustrated.  He explained the source of his frustration this way. 

“I am just trying to trial fit the companionway hatch before I varnish it.  Even though there is a 64^th of an inch leeway, I can’t get it to slide into place”. 

You see, a 64^th of an inch will be the thickness of the varnish.  I turn my face so he cannot see me roll my eyes.

I say, “A 64^th of an inch Skip.  Are you kidding?  You really expect it to slide right into place when you are using tolerances that tight”?

 “Of course I do”, he shoots back.  And there you have it. 

That evening, after dinner, the hatch did slide into place and once again, all was right in the world of a Shipwright. 

On the same day, I shot this picture showing the new Sampson posts.  Skip made each from Pasture Oak.  The 5” by 5” post extend through the deck and are bolted to the keel.  They are very strong.