mizz -- apron drilling

Comment

Comment by Clyde A. Phillips on June 28, 2016 at 8:25pm

FOR BRUCE -- AND ANYONE ELSE WHO IS OR IS CONSIDERING DOING A REBUILDING JOB ON A NEWPORTER:

I'm here to pat Bob on the back!  I've been with him through most of his rebuild and it has been fun.  Of course, that's because he is doing all the work.  But I've answered a few of his questions, sometimes to his benefit.

FIRST, listen to Bob, he's been there.  I'll give you one example.  He got into his apron project thinking he found about five or six feet of a rotten section and he decided to rebuild that section.  Before he was done he had replaced the whole apron.  That sounds easy, like replacing a section of trim work.  But you must remember where the apron is; it is under the boat on top of the backbone.  It goes from the # 7 frame to the transom, about thirty-three feet long, consisting of six layers of 3/4" plywood.  Bob jumped right into the project and from my perspective did a right fine job of it, he did!!  I used to build those things new, on a mold, with nothing in my way, and it was not the easiest thing I've done.  Bob did it right in the middle of the boat, basically all by himself.  That tells me that these things can be rebuilt, on the hard, by yourself, but with a wee bit of help from a friendly person or so.  

Bob seems to have somewhat of the same philosophy of boat repair that I pride myself in: Do the work first on paper.  Draw out pictures of what you will be doing to find where the problems will be, come up with the answers on the paper until it looks doable so that when you start you'll have no surprises and all the answers you will need.

Bob would often ask a question and before I could answer I'd hear from him how he worked it out.  I would spend hours answering him only to find our he did it his way.  Often, or most of the time, his answers were better than mine.

I've also found Bob to be somewhat negative when writing about his project (don't tell Bob I said that).  So don't let his negativity (if you find any) get you down.  Remember, he is doing this by himself, basically, and any good "worker of tools" is most critical of himself.  He has no one to blame when something goes wrong.  But in those cases he backs up, tears down, and rebuilds, without so much of a word about it because he looks at it as a learning situation and he learns.

I've watched others do about the same.  They'd ask me, as one who helped build many of these boats, rigged a few, sailed a lot of them, what to do is certain situations, then after I spent some good time in coming up with the right answer they would do it their own way, and Bingo- they did it their way and it turned out good.  So I've learned this: it's your boat, do it the way you want to.  You must answer to yourself even if you take your answer from someone else.

Some years ago I bought a very lightly use Merlin 336 35 caliber deer rifle.  First thing I did was tear it down to its last single piece and rebuilt it.  From that point to now (I still have it) I have all kinds of confidence in that rifle.  I now know how it was built and how to rebuild it if necessary.  Rebuilding your own Newporter (or any sailboat) is a confidence builder.  You will know your vessel, and you will love it more and more.  You will know what she can do and you will trust her.  That, in itself, is worth the effort.

My best advice is "Go ahead and do it.  Shucks, you can do it."  Have fun. 

Comment by bob mitchell on June 26, 2016 at 10:02pm

   FOR BRUCE:  8 years ago I bought the derelict of the Newporter fleet. I wanted to work on a big wooden sailboat, and by god I got my wish. So this photo is in no way meant to discourage you. My boat was kept in FRESH water for 20 or 30 years of total neglect. Freshwater encourages rot - as opposed to Salt water, which discourages rot. Anyway, I post this picture because it gives you  fundamental insight into the construction of a Newporter. The picture was taken as I was in the process of totally rebuilding my Newporter from the keel up.

       This picture is taken as I drill upwards through the new apron, through the "floor" of a frame and through the mizzen mast step (the horizontal board on top(. A 1/2" bolt will be countersunk in the apron and bolted on top of the step. Usually the bolt is just bolted on top of the floor. this particular floor member is notched out for the mizzen mast step. I am not drilling freehand, as it looks. I had already used a clamped drilling jig to drill through the floor and apron, and now am just drilling back up through the step which is clamped in place.

     My boat, the DEBORAH LEE, should be back in the water this spring.