At the end of March, in celebration of the completion of the frames and floors, we had a little “ribday” party for Mahdee.

You can see a few pictures of the party by clicking on this link!
All the various things we’re doing to get Mahdee into shape
At the end of March, in celebration of the completion of the frames and floors, we had a little “ribday” party for Mahdee.

You can see a few pictures of the party by clicking on this link!
The frames and floors were completed by April 2007. There are 111 frames! Yes, that’s an odd number, but some of the frames are intermediate frames that run from bilge stringer to bilge stringer–one frame! The forward frames back to 5 are double sawn, then every other one back to 17 is double sawn. The last two frames at the transom are also sawn frames. The sawn frames are made of angelique. The floors are all new, they were made of purpleheart. All the rest of the frames are laminated mahogany (sapele). Usually eleven 1/4″ laminates to net a little over 2.75″ thickness of frame. These frames look very “sturdy” to say the least. Crocker’s design had every 3rd frame or so “notched” into the keel to help keep the garboard from “working”. We placed the new frames into these old notches. Additionally, the practice of the yard shipwright is to screw frame heels into the keel. So, we have now screwed in the heels with 4″ #18 silicon bronze screws. These frames aren’t moving, that’s for sure!
In the back of the boat where the frames have more of an hourglass shape, the frame heels were sanded and also had small shims applied to make sure the lines of the hull would be fair when the boat is planked.

You can see a webpage with the later pictures of the framing work at this link!

The rudder on Mahdee is made of wood but has a 10 foot long 2.5″ diameter rudder post that fits into a gudgeon on the bottom of the stern post and goes up to the steering gear. The wood rudder attaches to this post with 3/4″ and 5/8″ bolts. The post was originally cast bronze and has a 10.5″ offset aperture for the propeller. The old on is a bit pink, so this spring Brenda took it to North Star Prop shop to have a new one fabricated. Here’s a pic of it on top of the roof racks on the way over to the shop. Since we don’t have a truck, Brenda’s car, Buttercup, ends up hauling a lot of Mahdee’s parts on the roof racks. It was a heavy bit of bronze to get up on the car!
