October 2013 Blog Posts (4)

Britton, 

Given my age and the fact that it’s been a l o n g time since I’ve worked on Newporters (and a lot of new technology has been preferred since then) I am unable to speak knowledgeably to your forward bulwark rot problem.  But I do have some things to say (always, but take it with a critical eye) from what I think I understand. 

First, about the repair you have done.  That may well take care of it, but for how long I can’t guess.  Is it strong enough?  I think it…

My first twenty-five years of boating was on workboats or “yachts” that were workboat built and workboat painted.  When I started working at Stowman’s shipyard I was on the “commercial gang” that worked on workboats.  Then I was transferred to the “Newporter gang” and stayed there, eventually becoming the rigger and demonstration/delivery captain.  We wore non-marking shoes and some of us wore Topsiders.  Those shoes had wavy slits across the soles and heels to give a good grip on…

Well, Greg started me thinking.  Do you know why a head is called a head?

It started innocently enough back in the old days.  Not the old days when I was a boy, but back in the beginnings of sailing off shore on long voyages where you could not wait until you got home.  Something was needed.  Now, for stand up jobs it was easy; just walk to a convenient spot at the rail and pump out your personal bilge.  But a real need for a place to sit didn’t take long to make itself felt.  The…

I am in the process of restoring hull #40 which is in such a state that I am starting from scratch on much of the interior. I was thinking of possibly stealing some room from the pilot house so as to give the head a little more space. What I am contemplating is pushing out the aft wall of the head and stealing about 18" into the pilothouse and in that space I would install a recessed sink into a small cabinet with a mirror above. Then I could possibly get a faucet that has a long shower hose…