I mentioned previously that there were lots of details to sort out with Corsair in these past few weeks. Here's a little sampling of what the students have been working on.
There's the engine box cover.
Fitting all the deck hardware and making it nice and shiny
From left to right down the centerline: Flag mount, auxiliary tiller cover (in case you lose cable steering, you can take off the bronze and mahogany cover and attach an emergency tiller to the rudder), air intake, and lifting eye.
There were doors that needed to be scraped and refinished.
Panels to be finished
Pieces of trim to be installed
Other pieces of trim to be planed flush.
Fuel tanks to be installed
One per side, fit inside these bronze brackets.
And then there's all the systems that go with an engine.
Wiring, fuel, exhaust, water cooling, controls... on and on. Jeff Almeda from the IYRS Systems program has come by to lend a hand from time to time.
There were windows to be installed and trimmed out.
And of course, you don't leave the dock without a bright, polished air horn. No sir.
That's just a partial list. As you can imagine, there's lots of activity going on around her. Students have been staying late, coming in on weekends, making one last mighty push to get her ready for Saturday.
They've done a tremendous amount of work in a relatively short amount of time.
The 12 1/2 has received her final coats of paint and varnish, and she looks just astounding.
It's hard to walk by and not run your hand along her. The topsides paint is smooth and perfect. You wouldn't know that there's a wooden boat under there... not a plank line showing. Of course, a few weeks in the water will change all that as the wood swells and the seam compound gets pushed out a bit, but for now, she's pristine.
The plank lines are visible below the waterline (a normal way to finish the boat), but even there, the attention to detail and finish have been impeccable.
Inside, the paint and brightwork show the same attention to detail.
Herreshoff might have raised his eyebrows a bit to see so much attention paid to the look of this "boys boat." Her owners will certainly have to deal with lots of compliments every time they go out.
Over on the Whitehall, the final details are being worked out as well.
There's lots of time spent building up coats of varnish.
There is a decorative seat back that was first patterned using hot-glued luan plywood templates
and then made of mahogany.
Although the Whitehalls began as workboats, this particular example was clearly made as a pleasure boat.
Showing up at the NY docks to work with this puppy would be right up there with putting on a suit to go dig clams.
The seat back slides into notched pieces attached to the inwales.
There are small metal pins that hold the bottom of the seat back in place when installed as well.
They seem like simple things, but these are small pins that locate precisely into bronze bushings in the sheet below. The seat back meets the sheet at an angle, so getting the pins and bushings to meet up just right is a bit of a trick. It's another one of those boat things that seems simple until you have to do it.
Below the thwarts are small holders for foot rails.
Here's a prototype rail made out of oak, stretching across the boat. The rower will adjust the position of these rails to brace his feet as he hauls on the oars.
A little varnish on the seat back, and she's ready to go as well.
The first year students' Beetle cats are mostly done now with just the final hardware installations and painting to be done. We have a Beetle cat that hangs in the entryway of Restoration Hall that comes down around this time of year so that students can use it as a reference for their final fitting out.
It can seem a little chaotic around the shop at times. The quarter round is being fit to this coaming.
And to that coaming
And that coaming. The strings help to keep the bend while awaiting installation.
The rudders and centerboards are getting their final coats of paint
As are the boat interiors.
There's stem head fittings to be installed,
as well as deck cleats for the halyards
And a little work below decks as well.
As they get closer to completion, though, the decks become less cluttered
And the focus turns to getting the finish just right.
And getting all the little bits shiny and protected.
It's an impressive sight to see all the Beetle cats lined up and rigged.
Walt Ansel, the lead instructor, demonstrated the proper way to raise an lower the sail on a gaff-rigged boat this morning.
Sometimes the gaff jaws stick a bit with the brand new varnish, but a little time in the sun, water, and salt air should fix that up.
One portion of the 2-year program is a five-week long internship or individual project during the summer. The first year students have set these up already, and there's a wide range of projects in the works. One will be working on restoring an Adirondack Guide Boat here at IYRS
Other folks will be at museums in Mystic CT, and Hyannis MA, some will go as far away as Maine, Nova Scotia and even England. Some will stay closer to Newport, crewing on boats or building small boats and toolboxes at IYRS. We'll follow as many of these students as we can, and feature them in entries during the summer.
Remember, Launch Day is this Saturday, June 6th. The public is welcome to come for the graduation ceremony and launching of all of these boats. It's always a great celebration, and there's nothing like seeing the boats actually on the water.
We'll see you there, and if not, we'll have tons of photos here!