My boat...ENTERPRISE...back
in Marblehead - her original home.My Herreshoff S-Boat Restoration
My boat...ENTERPRISE...back
in Marblehead - her original home.
In 1987, I was selected by this forlorn boat in a Niantic Connecticut shipyard. I say selected because of the almost mystical events which came later. I was living in Connecticut at the time and decided I wanted a wooden boat. I saw this 27' 6" beauty for sale in WoodenBoat Magazine and I contacted the owner.
I fell in love with the boat first sight. It was a Herreshoff S-Boat - designed by that great boat designer Nathanial G. Herreshoff. This was a class boat whose design parameters were written out by racers all over the Northeast Coast who wanted a fast racing boat that was seaworthy enough and roomy enough to be used as a weekender.. The idea was that they could use the boat to travel to races all along Long Island Sound and up the New England Coast for various class races. Hence the cuddy cabin, generous cockpit, and reasonable overhangs. S-Boats are not speed demons but they are fast, well balanced, dry boats - a real pleasure to sail. You can sail them singlehanded or with a crew of 3 for serious racing. I myself have raced her only once and she came in second.
She'll leave most modern boats in her wake and give a good account of herself against J-24's. She ghosts along in light winds while other boats are stuck in one place boxing the compass.
The first boat of the class was built in 1919. As stated I bought the boat in 1987 while I was living in Connecticut. In 1990, I moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts, and of course, brought the boat with me. 1994 was the 75th anniversary of the class, and to celebrate, the S-Boat organization out of Bristol tracked all remaining boats out of the orginal 120 or so that were built. They published a book and in that book were some startling results:
Mine was the first S-Boat ever built, and her first owner was named Nathaniel Farwell Ayer, and the boat's first name was GOB. But the amazing fact was that the boats first home was......MARBLEHEAD.
The boat had come home. She wanted to go home and she selected me because she knew I'd get her there.
The boat had many subsequent owners and traveled down to Larchmont NY, up to Brostol Rhode Island, then Niantic Ct. and now Marblehead.
For the first 2 1/2 years I got her seaworthy and then sailed her for 10 years. Each winter I'd replace more parts. Ribs, bulkheads, cockpit, cabin/coaming and overhead.
Here's the new cabin overhead.
Almost 3 years ago I decided to replace her decks. As anyone knows who has done restoration work, there exists the insidious evil known as "Mission Creep": remove a bulkhead because it needs replacing and you'll find that the rib it was attached to has all the structural integrity of fine rich potting soil.
New bulkhead in the aft of the cockpit going in.
Well once the old deck was off I saw that the deckbeams were rotted. Get the deckbeams off and the sheer clamp was worthless...and so it goes. So I gutted the boat and am doing a thorough rebuild.
About a year ago - last January - I got the last new rib steambent in:
It was an icy day - wind chill was about 30 below. Getting steam up in the boiler was, to put it mildly, non-trivial. But I got it done and the last rib went in like a dream. Next day - a Sunday - I get a call from Thad - a boatbuilder friend at the boatyard. Some fool's rickety wood stove chimney gave out in the high winds, and a fire started in the yard. Thad told me my boat was burnt.
"How bad?"
Long pause.....
"Bad."
I raced to the yard and this is what I saw;
As bad as it looks, it could have been worse. The stem was ruined and all those planks. But the new ribs were fine as was, most importantly, the keel. She could be saved. And was. Now here's how that section looks today with new planks and a new stem:
These days, the work I'm performing is a rebuild of the transom. This first photo shows 3 new pieces put in: transom knee (in the center), and 2 quarter knees port and starboard:
The knees are cut from the crooked roots of the hacmatack tree.
The sweep of the grain follows the curve of the piece thereby maximizing the strength.
The next photo shows the portside quarter knee removed and the beginning of the
fitting of the posrtside "fashion piece". This is hackmatack as well. This
is the very devil to fit because in order to lie against the planking snuggly,
the bevel must be ever changing. Once the outside bevel is fit, the interface
between the fashionpiece and the quarter knee can be made. Once THAT is done,
the aft face of the fashionpiece and the quarter knee must be aligned to for a smooth,
every-changing curve.
Note the sweep of the grain on the fashion piece.
This photo shows the old fashionpiece and the blank from which the new one will be carved. Notice the twist on the left end of the fashionpiece: Truly a 3 dimensional carving.
SPILING A NEW PLANK: In this photo, you see the transom assembly partly completed.
The transom framing is done, and the bottom half of the new transom is installed. It's time to do some planking.
The process shown here can be used in any application where you have to fit a piece of wood into a
pre-determined hole. I removed an old plank, and built a truss sytem
to spile in a new plank. The truss was built from long strips of clear pine - 3/4" x 1/4"
and pieces of cheap 1/8" lauan ply. The photo below shows a close up.
To make the truss, I first clamped the long strips of pine into place. It's important that you take care that the strip ends touch the butt end of the plank forward of it, and that they lie hard up against the plank above or below it. Once the upper and lower strip is in place, I then stapled the ply webs to the pine strips. It's important to use webs of sufficient width, to angle them, and to use multiple staples so as to prevent racking of the whole truss. Once you have the truss stapled together, you have captured the shape of the inside face of the new plank including the sweep of the plank, and the twist due to the run along the hull. Next it's time to get the plank out.
GETTING OUT THE NEW PLANK: Now it's time to select the flitch from which the new plank will be sawn.
Issues such as: amount of sapwood, sweep, location of knots all factor into your choice. In addition,
plank thickness matters as, in this application, the inside face of the plank will have to be scooped out
so that the plank lies fair against a curved frame. So if the finished thickness of the plank is 3/4' (as
with this boat) you'll need a thicker plank. How much thicker depends upon the amount of curvature of the
ribs. Once you select your blank, you lay the truss on the blank, moving it around to make best use
of the wood. It's VITAL to keep in mind that the truss represents the INSIDE face of the plank. On carvel planked
wooden boats, the edges of the plank are rarely at right angles to the inside face. you have to keep all
that in mind when you begin your cut. Site the truss and trace the edge of the truss on the plank. Note
that the line you draw results in a plank that's too large for the hole by two pencil lead widths. Keep that
in mine when cutting the plank out.
Once you've traced the shape out, get your circular saw and rough cut the plank. Be sure to set the angle of the blade to match the angle of the original plank edge. This angle normally changes throughout the run of the plank so set the circular saw for the maximum bevel, and plane down the parts of the bevel that have a smaller angle. To capture the bevels, I take them off the old plank, and record them on a bevel board. Cut as close to the pencil line as you dare - remembering that you'll have to plane off the pencil widths to fit the plank. I've built a rough planking bench in order to hold the plank steady while I plane (see photo below). I generally use a #4 smoother to do the planing. Once the plank fits into the hole, the "outgage" for the cotton caulking is planed. The outgage is another bevel planed onto the plank edges from the middle of the edge to the outboard face, removing about 1/16" of wood on the outside face, and none at the middle of the edge.
BACKING OUT: As mentioned above, in order to allow the plank to lie flush against the
curved ribs of the boat, you have to scoop out the inside face of the plank along it's length. To do that,
I use a specially made "backing out" plane. Note the curved iron.
Once the backing out is complete - after endless trial fits and plane passes - it's time to install the plank. The photo below shows the finished installation. Since the plank below the new one is to be replaced, I made life easier for myself during installation by removing the plank below it first. This made it easier to set the clamps. So after a liberal application of boiled linseed oil to the inside face of the plank and the plank edges, I clamped the plank in place, bired the pilot holes and screwed th aplank to the ribs, the butt block and the fashion pieces at the stern.
Over the entrance to the shelter, I have an Old Viking saying
written in Norse Runes. A glass of Grog to anyone who figures out
what it means.
Each season I bring her in for hauling over the Thanksgiving weekend:
And after her latest rebuild is complete, the sun will never
set on ENTERPRISE: 
