“Ship shape and Bristol fashion”

“Ship shape and Bristol fashion”

Many have debated the origin of this expression- I don’t really care. I’m not usually so callous with language. In fact I’m rather a huge fan of how things are said and what meaning they carry. But I feel like with any art, what is observed from one person to the next can be different.

All I know is that I’m a fan of this expression for describing a boat, ship, or craft that has had lots of care put into its appearance and functionality.

I have acquired a 16’ sloop. Wooden hull with fiberglass sheathing, gaff rigged, with lovely lines. She is sound and just needs cosmetic work: sanding, painting, and a small amount of patching up fiberglass on her port rub rail.

My goal is clear to me- restore her, get her into the water and explore the lake. Maybe even coastal sailing after I have the feel of her and confidence to match.

This work would not be at all daunting to most, but I’ve never done it before. I know how to weld, and as far as carpentry I have attempted the obligatory spice rack as well as a rickety trestle table. However my trestle table and spice rack never had to worry about if they could float or not. My spice rack never had rigging or complicated lines to care for. My Trestle table never had a sail.

My deadline:

Late summer/early fall for initial refit completion and launch. To be certain- she is, as many are, a work in progress and I can see this work continuing on longer than this deadline.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Refit week part 15,000,000 - the Varnishing


Last day of my vacation (well Sunday will be the last day, but who's counting). I spent some time re varnishing the mast and boom. I know - I have much more pressing things to be doing right now, but varnishing is so much fun (actually I think it is fun, how bad is that).
I still have to epoxy the rub rail in place, but I'm learning a bit more about epoxy before I go live on the boat. Good plan eh?
So this is not a complete shot as she doesn't have her bowsprit installed or any of her rigging (the board on top is just to keep the shape of the boat cover- not actually a mast- thankfully)
Here's a shot of her for now. I will my friend who previously owned her and see if he will mind if I post some shots of how she looked a few years back. I think it will be nice to see the progress getting back to her prime.
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1 comment:

  1. Andolphus GreySeptember 28, 2010 at 7:31 PM

    Hi Robert,

    Put me down as a new reader. I see from our exchange of e-mail, we both have gotten a taste of salt water and it's made us crazy.

    ReplyDelete

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