All kinds of interesting things going on with Mahdee right now. On any given day, amazing variety. All dependent upon what parts and bits we have available and what needs to be ordered. Flexibility is key here since we can usually get a much better price on the things we need if we buy them online for delivery rather than locally. Of course, that means sometimes work comes to a screeching halt on a given project until the next bolts or bits/pieces needed show up. Though I try to order things weeks ahead of time, we’re trying not to have too much “extra” left over materials. We won’t have a place to store these materials after the boat is finished (recall, all our “stuff” is back in Maryland and we’re just here more or less camping out for this project).

Given that, projects drag a bit and its always interesting to see what’s going on in the boatyard.

Last week, I picked up the rudder stock from North Star Prop shop and John started working on the pattern for the wood blade based on the old one and the drawings. After a day or so of cutting and forming the oak, he had to set it aside because the bronze stock ordered for the long bolts and drifts through the rudder blade haven’t shown up yet. We order those things from a place with great prices but unfortunately it usually takes between 2 and 4 weeks for the materials to arrive. John and I worked on getting the deck covered with Metacrylic and then overlaid with the canvas deck last week as well. Finally, the decking is done! John moved right along this week to covering boards and caprails. They’re looking quite nice and once they’re done–they’ll be set aside while the hull fairing is completed–they’ll be bedded into place and Brenda will have the task of finishing them “bright” with varnish.

David’s been working with metal all week. It seems that if there’s “specialization” to our work it would be that David works with metal, John works with wood, and Brenda works with goop (e.g. paint!). After getting the gudgeon back from the foundry, John accuses David of completely re-machining it to fit the boat. That isn’t the case, but David did make some changes to the sides where the bronze plates attach to the boat and the gudgeon. He also drilled all the fastener holes and gave it a machined bearing surface where rudder stock will sit atop it. David also spent alot of time in the muck (thanks to the fogger!) under the boat fairing the oak keel aft of the purpleheart worm shoe and cutting/drilling/attaching the heavy bronze plate and bars that fit on the bottom of the aft end of the keel.

Lots of little things happening and things getting punched off the list of “to-do” things. Sometimes, we do things without the right tools for the job and it’s a bit “interesting”. For example, last week I kept running across David pressing the cutlass bearing into the stern bearing housing. We don’t have a hydraulic press. So, first I found him with wood blocks, a bottle jack, and stuff pressing the bearing in using the framing of the 40′ container we use as a workshop. Then, a little later, I ran across him, the bottle jack, blocks, and bearing…under the forekeel of the boat—pressing it in using Mahdee’s 29T girth (of course it was only a 8T bottle jack…). See pics below:

First press…

Final press…