Category: News

Now that the calendar is changed over, and we all try to get used to writing “2019”, it’s back to work in the boat shed!  Ragna’s refurbishing is coming along nicely, and it was a productive day yesterday – but we were mostly too busy to take photos – thanks to Dale S for these.

Looking nice and clean – lots of sanding has been done, the gunwale has been planed back and prepared for a new ash lamination on the outer edge – the fir was splintering in places, and not durable enough.  Also, the centerboard was scraped, and will be planed a bit thinner, to keep it from binding in the trunk.

And, as it was a pretty mild January day, with a light breeze, a couple of us decided to take Button Swan out for a bit – sadly, the breeze died almost as soon as we got out there, but for a brief moment, we were sailing!  Good thing we enjoyed rigging the boat, and the bit of rowing!

Yesterday we finished our refurbishment of the boat that was donated to us by Robert and Enneke Allan.  We’ve been working on it over the past few months, replacing the centerboard trunk, stern knee, and mast step, as well as repairing a few other parts.

After a repainting and varnishing, all that was left to do was oiling and installing the floorboards, mounting the rudder gudgeons, and raising the standard.

Then we took her out to the dock to get acquainted with our other boats, performed a brief ceremony, and relaunched her as “ENKE”, named after Enneke Allan, who christened her with a splash of rum.  A couple of rounds of rowing followed, where she was pronounced a fine and speedy craft, and she took up her place at our dock, ready for enjoyment by our club members!

The boat shop didn’t remain empty for long, as we brought Ragna in for a (much less extensive) refurbishment, with some repair needed to her gunwales, thinning the centerboard to prevent jamming, and a thorough varnishing job.  It will be great to get her back in tip-top shape!

Last week we made a visit to a local boat-builder who, sadly, was closing up shop, and offered us some of his remaining wood supply.  We’re sorry to see Dave Bradford closing Alder Bay Boat Company, and wish him well in his next adventure.  We plan to use this wood supply on some of our upcoming work.