Wooden Boat
Everett Herald Write-Up
This week we will be speaking at the Marysville Opera House as part of the Marysville Parks and Rec Outdoor Speakers Series. Today, the Everett Herald published a nice little write up about our talk on the boat’s restoration and the David B’s cruises in the San Juan Islands, and Alaska. we hope you enjoy the article!
http://www.heraldnet.com/life/skippers-share-sea-stories-at-marysville-speaker-series/
Winter Happenings on the David B – Tuning Up the Engine
Winter is always a busy time on the boat. It’s when we do maintenance, make upgrades, and take on projects. Unlike last year when we built the new pilothouse, this year is a little more mellow. Our biggest project this winter is to do an engine overhaul, which means we’re removing the heads, cylinder liners, and pistons. We’ll check the piston rings, change the gaskets, and fix a water leak in the cooling system. In addition to the big stuff, all the small parts will be cleaned and checked before we reassemble the engine, and Jeffrey will be adding new sensors, so we can monitor the engine more effectively.
We put together a quick time-lapse video showing us lifting the #3-cylinder head off the engine.
Tin Hat Update – Welding, Windows and More
This week saw lots of progress on the Tin Hat Project. We stopped in at Fluid Fabrication to see how things were taking shape. They’d begun assembling the framework for the front of the pilothouse. It was the first time we got to see the curving lines of the new house for real. We’re not sure exactly how long it will take them to finish welding, but my feeling is soon. Maybe just a couple more weeks until we can bring the boat over and have the house put on.
While the welders have been busy, Jeffrey, Tim, and Greg have continued on all of their 
projects. Jeffrey’s work on the refrigeration system is shaping up nicely, and Tim’s been steadily preparing the boat so we can quickly and efficiently install all the systems in the new pilothouse. Greg’s been turning out windows and doors all week. Our good friends Pete and Jackie graciously loaned us the use of their garage to set up a varnish shop, and with the help of their daughter Naomi, I got started on the bright work. I also put together a little video for you to enjoy…
-Christine
Tin Hat Update – Mast, Stairs, and Coolers
T
here’s been a lot of progress on the Tin Hat Project in the last couple of weeks. We ended our 2016 cruising season on October 9th, and starting on October 10th with the help of some friends and family, we began removing everything from the David B to prepare for the new pilothouse.
We also welcomed back employees Greg K. who worked for us on the original rebuild project 12-years ago, and Tim A. who’s worked with us off and on for ten years as both a kayak guide and a jack-of-all-trades.
One of our first big projects was to remove the mast. It took a day or so of preparation before we
took the boat to Seaview North Boatyard. The weather was perfect. We pulled into the bay where we are usually hauled out of the water, but instead of having the TraveLift pick us up, they brought out a large crane came. The crew then set up some rigging and in less than half an hour, the mas
t was lifted out of the boat and onto ground. Later we removed all the hardware and bucked up the mast. Back in 2006 when we placed on the boat we followed an ancient tradition of placing coins under a new mast. The lore is that if the boat ever goes under and the crew lost, the crew will have money to pay the ferryman to cross the River Styx. After the mast was removed, Jeffrey carefully picked up the coins and stowed them away until the new mast is installed. We’ll be sure to add a 2017 coin to commemorate the year of the new mast.
Back the boat, Greg has been making the new Grand Staircase that leads to the cabins, and Tim’s been removing structures from the boat, like th
e skylight, navigation station, and pilothouse trim. He’s also been helping Jeffrey lay the ground work for the new systems.
The new custom fridge and freezer, which Eli S. began work on in the spring, moved out of the shop and onto the boat.
While we’ve been busy on the boat and in the shop, the actual Tin Hat has been in construction. Sean and Nigel from Fluid Fabrication, in Bellingham have been working hard welding the structure.
There’s been a lot going and we’ve been thankful for all the help we’ve had so far. The first few days were filled with lots of mundane things, like carting load after load of David B stuff up the dock and into the storage locker. Thank you to Carol and Steve W., Dan K., Craig T. Jack M. and Eli S. for helping to make that workload much lighter!
-Christine
PS- Here’s a video of removing the David B’s mast:
Traveling When You Were Young
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Jeffrey’s Got Us Organized
Having an eighty-plus year-old wooden boat is a lot of work, and it is sometimes hard to decide which projects are the most important to tackle. For instance, do we re-do the pilothouse, or install a new heating system? When should we start work on the engine? Do we buy a new keel cooler or grind the valves on the engine and generator? These are all on the To-do list and not long ago, as we wrestled with these questions, Jeffrey came up with an idea for how to best organize our list and make our decisions for how to tackle our project list.
To read how Jeffrey got us organized, hop on over to the David B’s blog on Yachting Magazine for the answer.
As we work on making the David B beautiful during the winter months, we look forward to having a great summer of cruising in the San Juan Islands and Inside Passage.
Great Boater Education Organizations
Since the release of More Faster Backwards, Jeffrey and I have been invited to give talks about how we restored the M/V David B. What has impressed me about the places that we talk, is how much enthusiasm surrounds these groups for educating boaters of all kinds. Some of the groups we’ve talked to empathize seamanship skills, while others are more focused on boat building. I recently wrote a post for Yachting Magazine about our experiences giving talks to United States Power Squadrons, the Center for Wooden Boats and Northwest Maritime Center.
http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/blog-post/how-to/seamanship/opportunities-for-boating-education
Opening Up the Pilothouse
The biggest project we’ll be working on this winter is building a new fridge and freezer for the boat. After thinking about this project for several years, we decided that the space between trunk cabin and the front of the pilothouse is the perfect spot since it’s a space that doesn’t get much use. We also need to remove some of the original wood from the front of the pilothouse that has started rotting. Most of the rot has come from rainwater that settles in under the pockets where the windows drop down.
This week was devoted to removing the old wood and assessing what needs to be replaced. Click on the pictures to see them as larger images.
