Restoring Reverie

: The Art of Restoring & Sailing a Classic Wooden Sailboat

Tag Archives: Prudence


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Into The Light

The new year is upon us and it’s finally starting to look like January here along the Lake Michigan shoreline.  We had an unseasonably warm December due to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle.

   http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html

As avid cross country skiers, we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of snow.  As boat restorers, we took advantage of the mild weather to further the cause and get as much done on Reverie as possible before Winter set in.  Fortunately, we tempered these hours of work with some Grade-A, late season sailing aboard Prudence.  

Winter weather has now arrived and we got down near the single digits Fahrenheit last night.  Lake Effect snow has been quietly dusting us and the ground is now covered in white. Last week, we put a tarp over Prudence and brought her outboard in from the cold; time to replace that old water pump impeller I’ve been putting off all season.

Whenever there’s good news and bad news to be communicated, I prefer to have the bad news delivered first.  Candy coating something before the medicine does not help the medicine go down “in the most delightful way”.    Prepare yourself.  Gird your loins.  Here it comes.

If you have been following this blog, you have ascertained we are removing the entire deck of Reverie to get at the rotted deck beams and carlines.  I have no doubt in my mind that this decision was indeed, the best tack. It will also facilitate the replacement of broken frames.  The port-side tongue and groove decking has been carefully removed, labelled and toted off to storage. It proved to be a bit of a task seeing that many of the strips are in excess of twenty feet.  The port-side deck beams are now visible, as are the  areas aft near the cockpit and transom that get little ventilation.

The entire port-side sheer clamp is now visible and there is evident damage amidship.  The sheer clamp is a structural  member that runs stem to stern and serves to support the deck beams and provide resistance to the torsional twisting of the hull.  It is bolted along the inside of the hull at the frames and the deck beams are half-dovetailed into it.  It appears to be made of cypress wood; a good choice considering the need for a light, strong,  rot resistant wood.   I thought of white oak as an alternative for replacement yet was convinced otherwise after researching the weight difference between the two.  Had we gone with oak, there would be another 300 lbs. added to the sheer.

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The port-side sheer clamp showing evident signs of rot amidship.

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A closeup of the rot on the port-side sheer clamp.

Once the port-side deck was removed, it became time to prep the starboard-side deck for removal.  Julia began the monotonous chore of removing all the bungs from the toe rail in order to get at the 4 inch bronze screws holding it down every 6 inches.  While she did that, I worked on the deck hardware.  I removed the starboard winch, cleats, anchor chocks, spinnaker pole chocks and, with Julia’s help, the stanchion bases.

The stanchion bases are particularly hard to get at as they are fastened between the sheer clamp and the sheer plank.  Inside the cabin, it was a tight squeeze but in the cockpit, it seemed nigh impossible.  I had to lie on my back and reach through one of the cuddy holes in the cockpit with my arm fully extended all the while attempting to reach the nut I couldn’t see with a deep socket  and extension.  This maneuver was what I imagine it would be like wearing a blindfold while trying to steal a bag of chips from the top row of a vending machine by reaching up through the discharge bin.  While I attempted this feat of derring-do, Julia waited  patiently on the ladder ready to unscrew the fastener once I found the nut.

Lying on my back, in this twisted state, up became down and down became up.  I fished around here and there but could not find the nut to the stanchion base.  I rolled the socket wrench into the small of my hand hoping for some tactile reassurance that this wasn’t all a bad, painful dream and that I would eventually find the nut and bolt that were obviously eluding me.  I extended my forefinger here and there and suddenly, it felt as if I had stuck it clean through some wood!  “…all part of this bad dream”, I thought.  “Just relax.  Embrace the pain.  Find the bolt.”

My eyes were closed.  They were useless in this endeavor. All sensory input was being conveyed through an arm bent into positions it was never meant to be in yet, there it was: the sensation that I had my finger stuck clean through a piece of wood. I wriggled my forefinger around.   It was as if it was stuck through a hole in a sock; a 5/4 inch thick rotted sock.  I felt air on the other side.  Was my finger sticking through the sheer plank and the world outside?  “No”, Julia assured me.  “I can’t see your finger.”  Then, the truth set in.  I had stuck my finger through the rotten starboard-side sheer clamp!

I writhed about like a crocodile being swallowed by a python,  still unable to find the damn bolts. I began to see a shining light through my closed eyes.  I heard a voice beckoning me.  “Come to the light!”   I reached out, with my contorted arm, and touched the stanchion bolt I so desperately sought.  I focused, careful not to let this moment slip away.  I got the socket on the nut.  Julia unscrewed it from above.

Bolt number two was right next to a frame but now that my arm was a bent pipe cleaner, I got the socket onto it, as well.  The two other bolts to the stanchion base were screwed through the deck and into the sheer clamp.  The cause of the rot, perhaps?  They pulled out without even needing to be unscrewed.  The stanchion base was finally liberated from the covering board.  It then took several minutes to extract my now serpentine arm from the labyrinth while I relived the pain of a long-ago separated shoulder.  Why did I ever think rollerblading was a good idea?

The outcome of these travails are the issues with the starboard-side sheer clamp that will be come into focus as work progresses.  It was  reminder that there is more than meets the eye in our little project.  We’re certainly not out of the woods with these hidden issues.  “… two steps back.”  I’m glad we found this out before Winter set in.   It gives us time to plot out the next course of action. These sheer clamps must be addressed before the deck beam work can start.   I guess that big slab of white oak we have will have to wait a bit before it’s sawn into deck beams.  Time to start shopping for some nice cypress.

Now that we’ve had our medicine, I must say that it has been a delightful season.  El Niño might be wreaking havoc all over the world but he allowed us to get out on our Com-Pac 16, Prudence for some extra-fine Fall/Winter sailing.  One of the real highlights of the season was sailing on Christmas Day.  There had been a raging gale several days before Christmas with 22 foot waves on Lake Michigan.  That’s 22 foot December, Great Lakes waves which are steeper and heavier than ocean waves. While not 22 feet, there were still some big rollers that picked up in the 20 knot afternoon breeze. The waves were very uniform with an occasional series standing above the others.  It was consistent and certainly memorable.

The icy, steel blue water was beautiful and deadly as we beat  5 miles WNW onto the lake.  We were driving so hard, we kept the Port Sheldon pier off our stern with almost no leeway to the South.  Prudence yields a bit to the currents so this was a pleasant surprise.  We would be able to triangulate back to the pier.  Three legs and we’d be home.   We ended up gybing off on the second leg then rounding back NE as Prudence didn’t want to tack into the rollers that were beginning to stand up 5 miles offshore.  On leg three, we ran S along the Lake Michigan shoreline back to Port Sheldon. That leg ended way too soon.

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October on Lake Michigan

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November sailing- Holland, Michigan

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November sailing. Coming into Lake Macatwa from Lake Michigan.

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Christmas Day 2015. 5 miles out, 5 miles back with Julia’s daughter, Chloe. Fine sailing. -Port Sheldon, Michigan

Christmas Day - Lake Michigan

Christmas Day – Lake Michigan

It has, indeed, been a delightful year filled with hard work and dedication that shows in all we have accomplished  It has been a year of change and sacrifice balanced with the enjoyment of life’s small pleasures.  It helps to have someone like Julia who can see the forest through the trees.  She has been working tirelessly alongside me.  Even during the 60 hours it took me to strip the paint from the port topsides,  she was there at the end of the day with a couple of cold beers that we would drink at the Sunset Lounge, our two lawn chairs in the shade of Reverie.  Here’s to everyone having an eventful and  productive 2016.  Cheers!

Shakedown

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Our “shakedown” sail aboard Prudence.

 

Work on Reverie slowed down in July as we took some much needed time to get out on Prudence, our “new” little Com-Pac 16.  July ended up being warm and humid.   At times, when we were working on Reverie, it was almost unbearable.  Luckily, we are in a fairly shaded area that gets decent breeze off Lake Michigan so we did accomplish a thing or two on Reverie.    All work and no play does indeed make Jack a dull boy and I was starting to feel my batteries were depleted.

We get kidded about the fact that we own multiple boats and that’s fine.  The reason for having Prudence is to maintain some connection with what’s truly important in our lives: Sailing.  The restoration work on Reverie is coming along nicely and my next post will get back to that but for now, a little sailing sure goes a long way in recharging those batteries.

By the time I was to pick up Prudence at her previous owner’s, all the ducks were in a row except for one small detail: we had not found a place to keep her. “No problem”, I thought.  “The storage place just down the road looks like it has a spot or two open.” Sorry, my friends, every storage facility within a 100 mile radius was full.   It seems everyone and his brother keep their boats in outdoor storage near the lake and, it being July,  we were a bit late on the take.  A trailerable sailboat is something new to me.  I’ve only dealt with travel lifts and cradles.  I imagined us driving around in this trailering limbo, parking on the streets, moving constantly, never welcomed, scorned by all.  It was starting to seem hopeless.

I was a bit occupied with all the details of getting the boat registered (my two Kafkaesque trips to the Secretary of State is a story itself), making sure the trailer was ok to drive across the state and such so Julia took over the search for a place to keep Prudence.  She got back to me with several updates: “Nothing to be had”and, “Nothing to be had”.  It seemed we had exhausted our options when I got a voicemail from Julia saying she called a marina right near the public launch on Lake Macatawa that leads to Lake Michigan.  We could park the boat anywhere out back and, as there were no power lines, could drive the boat- rig up, right to the launch.  Excellent!

Our eleventh hour reprieve seemed almost too good to be true.  Luckily, it wasn’t.  We leave the mast and boom up and have everything in totes which we bring every time.  It takes us about 15 minutes to be ready for launching.  The public launch at Lake Macatawa is a veritable hive of activity on weekends as hundreds of boats launch and retrieve. It’s 99% power boaters and jet skis at the launch.  It’s quite amusing to see their expressions as we drive out of the launch mast up and head on down the road.  Little do they know we’re less than 100 yards away.

I must say that Prudence sails like she looks, lovely.  She’s a lot of boat for a 16 footer and will keep us sane during the time it takes to get Reverie back in the water.   There are some things to be done on Prudence (don’t get me started on the main sheet) but she’s in sailing condition and that’s work for another time.

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Prudence

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I would like to introduce you to  Prudence, our little Compac 16.  Prudence is the result of my innocent perusal of Craigslist last October.  I like to look at boats and this little beauty caught my eye as I scrolled down the gallery of photos .  The ad was 24 days old when I saw it but it was mid-October, not a time when most people get boat fever.  Mine runs 365 days a year so I took the chance and shot an email to the seller.  I simply said, “Is this boat still available?”  I got and equally simple reply, “Yes, it is.”
I talked it over with Julia and she agreed that it was a nice looking boat and it would be great to have something to trailer around.  Once it was paid for, it would be relatively cheap to own.  We discussed all the places we could tuck into with a little keel boat that only draws 18 inches.  It really would open up a lot of Great Lakes destinations previously off limits for Persistence which draws 4-1/2 feet.  It sleeps 2, has an ample cockpit and, as our friend Terrence put it, “She looks shippy”.  Her graceful cruiser bow hearkens back to many classic designs and somewhat resembles Reverie’s spoon bow.  Prudence looked good and had a reasonable asking price so, I was off for the first look at her.
 It was a blustery October day when I first drove out and met Jack.  The first thing I noticed when I pulled into his driveway was the several campers (one being an old Airstream) and the plethora of boats sitting here and there.  I liked this guy before I even met him.  He turned out to be an older guy in his late 60’s or early 70’s.  I’m not good with ages as we all show our years differently.  We talked boats, campers, life in general and then, he showed me the boat.  She was dirty and had not been in the water for several years.  I gave her a quick look over and asked Jack if he minded if I paid him off bit by bit over the Winter.  He said, “Aw, I don’t need the money.  Sure”  I think he knew just how much I wanted this little boat.
The next step was to report back to Julia with my findings and arrange for the both of us to go out and have a look.  A few days later, the Great Lakes weather had changed and we had a warm up accompanied by a serious thunderstorm system pushing yet another cold front through.  This all occurred on our way out to look at the boat.  When we arrived, there was  a magnificent double rainbow framing Prudence!  Jack was there with his wife and we all laughed about it being a sign that we were to get the boat.  Maybe so.  We shook hands and that was that.
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I’m not a fan of many pocket cruiser designs.  There are ones with grotesque cabins that look like they fell from a waterspout. Some have little or no working room to sail.  Others have garish tumblehome or way too much sheer for my liking.  Many have insufficient construction making them little more than day sailors with bunks. Then, there are those that possess all of these undesirable characteristics.  I’ve found the old saying to be true that, “a boat sails like she looks”. There’s no way I would go for some  little mess no matter how good a deal it was.  Yes, there are a lot of ugly babies out there and parents who think their children are geniuses so please bear with me, gentle reader, and know that Prudence is above criticism.
She wasn’t named Prudence when we looked at her.  She had no name at all.  This could not stand as we were to be heading off to new adventures aboard this vessel. I don’t have names for other things in my life except for my old Coleman stove, Trusty and it’s triple burner, Trey (sometimes referred to as Trip).   This little Compac-16  needed a name and Prudence seemed to fit.  Prudence is a key element of a mariner’s skills and our Prudence is a key element of this stage in our lives.
Merriam-Webster’s definition of Prudence:
1:  the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason
2:  sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs
 3:  skill and good judgment in the use of resources
 4:  caution or circumspection as to danger or risk
While it works well for me on the water, I do need to be reminded, from time to time, that prudence is a valuable asset in every day life as well.
Winter held a lot of twists and turns and, somehow, we wound up with a 31 foot wooden sloop named Reverie and the little Compac 16 sat at Jack’s awaiting our return.  It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I was able to return with more cash.  We sat and talked for over an hour and I left with the little Johnson 4.5 horse motor she came with so as to have it up and running by the time we pick her up in the next few weeks.  While we still have our hands full with the restoration of Reverie, we now have a little boat to get out on Lake Michigan and wherever else we choose to go.  It takes the edge off of the restoration work by reminding us both what it’s all about.