Build Me Straight

Well, this film got me a little depressed because it shows how much painstaking work and detail goes into a wooden boat (and skill which I am sorely lacking), but it is so cute and dear, and I adore a Scots accent.  It is called “Build Me Straight” and it is about a MAGNIFICENT wooden Scottish fishing boat built in 1963.  The 15-minute film won the “Amateur Cine World Ten Best Competition Gold Star Award” in that year. 

http://ssa.nls.uk/film/6753

“Description: Building of a wooden fishing boat. The draftsman is seen working on the plans, then slowly we see the men in the yard building the vessel up from the keel. Finally the boat is launched and taken out to sea.

This is the “Shot list” which I am reprinting because you practically have to have an English translation, and the sound isn’t great.

Gosford Films Present shot of intertitle in thistle-shaped logo (0.09) Title (0.16) gvs man drafting plans of a boat at a flat desk, with a model ship [classical organ music, badly warped] v/o reads first lines of the poem "The Building of the Ship" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1.28) gvs man building dowelling frame on timber, then sketching an outline in thick pencil while overseen by older man (1.58) two men cut down tree using chainsaw (2.28) v/o 7th stanza of The Building of the Ship; gvs men working with skeleton of the boat's hull, sanding and preparing elements of the timber frame, then building the boat from the keel (4.11) v/o continues with 9th stanza, planing wood, building the walls of the hull, treating the inside of the hull to preserve the wood, (with tar?), includes gvs men using adzes, men shaping wooden planks to bend their shape to fit the hull (5.12) gvs men drilling holes into the hull , and then hammering in rivets, gvs men caulking the joins between planks (6.21) gvs men building the deck, and waterproofing it (8.07) gvs Men metal working, including soldering and drilling (8.31) Treating the deck with sealant (8.46) ints man chiselling wood (8.56) gvs heavy sections of the boat are craned into position including the engine (the crane has been hired from Bernard Hunter of Leith) (11.58) gvs men prepare boat for painting, includes shot of hull being sanded; gvs men paint the boat; (12.19) gvs boat is prepared for launch; launch of boat (12.51) Boat travels to harbour, includes brief shot other boats and c/u boat's name: "MARYEARED" (13.31) gvs Boat is prepared and goes out to sea; gvs on boat; v/o continues with the final lines of the poem (15.22) Gosford Films Production (15.27)

Jeff Brown and Bob Marley: Separated at Birth?

This weekend I worked my butt off to paint the part of the starboard topsides that I could while staying out of Paul’s way so he could fasten the planks to the stem.  But I didn’t mind it because I was laughing the whole time.  Paul had dropped off some paint, and it was the most marvelous stuff I had ever painted with (Interlux, I love thee), especially the gold leaf.  It was so bright I had to keep the can out of the sun because it was blinding me.

These photos are after one coat.  I did the second coat today.

Still have more to do on the deck but I really wanted to see how this looked.

Frankly, I think it looks like a Rastafarian pirate ship.

Hope Uncle Jack is not rolling over in his grave.  Or twisting with the tide around Ram Island, where he technically is.

Mario the cat’s new favorite sunning spot.

I have to put more fairing compound on the transom and then sand and paint it quick so the name can be painted on.  Paul says there’s a woman who loves to paint boat names.  She can have at it.

Perhaps gold leaf this time . . .

From the ridiculous to the (in perspective) sublime . . . and back to the really sublime

 Maryan and I kayaked around the wooden boat show at the Seaport on the 28^th—seen from the cheap seats (the water).

Here’s me kissing the stern of the Emma C. Berry, whom I’ve grown to love (and through editing the book have come to know more about than any boat I’ve ever heard about).

Then we went up the river a bit to see the 1920’s-era Klang II, a hapless collection of planks calling itself a “channel yawl,” and having been rescued from where it had sunk (for the 6^th time) in the Connecticut River as few years ago.

Apparently it was pressed into service in WWII to cruise about looking for submarines, and the two lads who rescued it, at no small expense, have now started a 501 c 3 to raise money to keep it afloat http://www.klang2.org/

I have to confess, it did my heart a bit of good to see that there were some ancient wooden boats out here that need lots more help than Jeff Brown.  Mean of me but there it is.  As Maryan said, “I’m glad we got to see it before it went the way of, presumably, Klang I.”

  So slowly, slowly I sand and prime, sand and prime.  Wonder about the massive caulking that will have to be done.  Paul assuring me he will come this week and do the major repairs.  July 4^th came and went and Jeff did not get a chance to be out there eliciting envy on his mooring.

Don and I kayaked around Ram and Gates Island on the 4th looking for bass (none) and came back by way of passing the 1915 sardine carrier Grayling on her mooring.  My god what a phenomenal job they have done.  That hull has GOT to have a fiberglass shell on it—there is no way the planks could be so fair.  I wept with inadequacy as we passed. 

Hopefully this week I will finish priming the deck and then can paint the bulwarks and sheerstrake to show “my public” that at lest something is happening.  I will have to paint around Paul’s repairs a bit, but so what.  Take that, Grayling!