Thought some of you (Lew?) might be interested in an article on repairs
to a 50+ year old Chesapeake Bay skipjack. Skipjacks are working
sailboats, first built in the mid to late 1800s, used for dredging
oysters on the bay. The article is at:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...ford/bal-md.ha.
skipjack23feb23,0,998213.story?track=rss

(watch the line wrap, or just go to www.baltimoresun.com and look for
" 'Martha' fix isn't smooth sailing " article.)

This quote about the size of the timbers used and implying a
scarf joint got my attention:

"In the most difficult phase of the restoration, volunteer workers
replaced the chine log, a 50 foot piece of oak that runs the length
of the starboard side. Unable to find a single piece as long as the
original chine, workers coupled two oak boards - each 8 inches wide
and 2 inches thick - at a slanted joint that spreads the stress over
a longer distance, Shinn said."

It's even more remarkable when you consider that one of the reasons the
skipjack was developed was that timbers large enough to build an
earlier design (the bugeye) had become too hard to find.

There's a website with more info for those interested:

http://www.skipjackmarthalewis.org/oyster.htm

Oh, and my favorite quote from the article:

"They thought it was safe to name the ship after mother," said Cindi
Beane, executive director of the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, a
Harford County nonprofit that owns the Martha Lewis. "Wives could
come and go but you always have your mother."



--
When the game is over, the pawn and the king are returned to the same box.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf.lonestar.org