Green Dreamboats

By Don Wallace

Until recently, boating was one of the least green things one could do. Powerboats guzzle fuel at a rate that makes a HUMMER look like a teetotaler. (We're talking gallons per minute, not per mile.) As for sailboats, call them yachting's dirty little secret: They all need smoky, leaky engines and generators to power their increasing amenities: lighting, refrigerators, stoves, air-conditioning, TVs, hot tubs.

And so began the Great Tinkering. All through the 1960s, '70s and '80s, boats sprouted windmills, solar panels, solar-heated showers and underwater electricity-generating propellers.

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Made by hand

by Lisa Crawford
Monday, June 29, 2009

As an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. C. Daniel Smith has a lot of experience using screws, drills, hammers and saws to fix his patients. But when he gets home from the ER, he doesn't relax by watching TV or reading a book. Instead, he has spent the last eight years building a wooden boat in his backyard.

"I've always been a woodworker, and I wanted, more than anything, for my boys to learn how to build," Dr. Smith said.

His two sons, Mike and Nick, have helped their father build a variation of a Nathanael Herreshoff boat since Mike, the eldest, first pointed to a picture of one in a magazine when he was 12.

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On Board with Mark Corke: Rigging adjustment

It's been a very wet weekend up in the north east but none the less I have been out tuning up the rig on Mallard.

The mast is fairly short but I have definitely found that getting the rig set up correctly makes a big difference to the way the boat handles and sails.

With the mast sloping back there is a tendency for the boat to head up into wind in the puffs when sailing to windward but if the rig is too far forward the boat develops lee helm and the boat does the opposite and tends to bear way in strong winds which is far more undesirable than weather helm.

The ideal is for a very slight amount of weather helm so that should the helm be left to it's own devices the boat will slowly come up into wind and stop making way.

Read the complete blog entry.

Jamestown Distributors carries a wide selection of turnbuckles, toggles and other sailing gear.

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Building Alfie's Magic Class 30: Week 39 - Lots of teak, plumbing, Dynel and exterior trim

We came up a little short of our goal to finish the deck by Friday. But we are damn close. Oliver and I went at the deck all week and after we had put on the last of the full length planks, we were able to split off into different sections: Oliver taking the bow, and me at the stern. This way we could work at double the time. Although now that the planks are smaller, they need much more custom attention to fit them around the coach house, the hatches, cockpit, and lazarette.

As I worked in the stern, I shaped all the planks that hung off the end of the boat to follow the shape of the stern. Then I made a mold out of plywood in order to make a solid teak plank in sections that wrapped around the stern. This was pretty tricky and took me most of a day to finish, but the result looks wonderful. Then we just plugged away at the teak planking, trying to get on as many as possible in a day.

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This sailboat, which was posted for sale on the Internet for $24,900, was stolen from Rockport Harbor early Thursday morning.

Rockport Harbormasters say a local man's 31-foot sailboat was stolen "right out from under their noses" about 2 a.m. Thursday in thick fog.

It was moored next to T-Wharf, in the shadow of Motif Number 1, the world famous and historic fishing shack that has been subject of artists.

"It's very strange," said James Tew, who learned his Cheoy Lee sailing yacht, Juno, was missing when friends called Thursday morning and asked, "Where's your boat?"

He looked out from the deck of his home at his empty mooring, speculating with WBZ's Ron Sanders.

"I don't know what to make of it, Ron, because my boat was not the sort of thing people would take out for a joy ride."

My Fox Boston - click to read the rest of the story

WBZ - click to read another version of this story

Gloucester Daily Times - click to read yet another version of the story

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GMT Composites celebrates 25th anniversary

GMT Composites is looking for stories of its oldest spars as part of the company's silver anniversary celebration.

"For 25 years, GMT has shipped custom composite parts all over the world, rudders to the Netherlands, and rigs to the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our products have sailed around the world, flown around the globe and traveled to the depths of the oceans," said Jay Kiley, director of sales, in a statement.

GMT Composites of Bristol, R.I., designed and built the first carbon spar for a large cruising sailing yacht, built rudders for America's Cup and around-the-world race winners, and designed the new PowerFurl Boom for boats 45 feet to 100 feet.

The company has also made jewelry for Tiffany's and furniture for Ralph Lauren, and worked to build parts for aircraft, submersibles and military projects.

For information, contact Kiley at jay@gmtcomposites.com.

Click here for the full news release.

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The Community Boat Building Project Launches First Boat "Journeyman"

On May 28th, students of the "Voyaging" boat building class and community members launched the 24 foot wooden longboat Journeyman in Mystery Bay. From 2-5 pm the students that built the boat rowed and sailed the vessel, then from 5 until 8 pm people of all ages took a turn at the oars.

The boat was built at the Northwest School of Wooden BoatBuilding (NWSWB) by high school students enrolled in the Chimacum PI Program and Port Townsend ICE program, both alternative learning programs for students in Jefferson County.

click here for the full story

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The building of a Fenwick Williams catboat: Planking in full swing - Week 10

We were right back into planking this week. The repair we made on the starboard side garboard last week turned out great. From the outside, you can't tell that anything was even done.

The view from the inside reveals our carbon fiber backing on the plank. This should prevent the plank from splitting again as we fasten it into place.

Speaking of fastening, with the plank repaired, it's time to do just that. Clamping the plank into place, we can lay out all our fasteners.

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Panbo Blog: Wind Meter app, & iPod Touch bluetooth

iPhone folks will notice that the one I'm holding above is upside down. That's because the Wind Meter app shown uses the sound of wind passing over the iPhone's microphone to measure its speed. And -- would you believe it? -- it actually works.

I was out testing and photographing the NMEA 2000 wind rig early this morning and thus could compare Wind Meter to a consensus of five high quality sensors mounted just a few feet over my head. No, it's not as accurate or responsive as they are (especially flaky under 3 knots or so), and it apparently can't handle speeds over about 25 knots, but still...

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Klang II Sails Again

The Hayman and the Klang II Community Association rescued the one-time troop transport (it carried British soldiers to safety during World War II) in 2000 from a mud flat on the Connecticut River. Since then, Hayman and his ship have traveled up and down the Northeast and have seemingly found a new home on the Vineyard.

For more information visit, www.klang2.org.

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