The Boat Shop

One of the amusing things about this build has been the “boot strap”

Normally this area of a boat is called a “boot stripe” but for some odd reason, it keeps getting called a boot strap by Ed.  So much so that Keith threatened to paint a buckle onto the side of the hull.

It was now time for some color.  In the archives there was a can that was just screaming to be used on this project, after some heated discussion it was finally accepted by Ed and he agrees that it is an excellent addition.

A little splash of color

3604 International Orange is a friend to everyone.  The discarded tape in the trash could be considered modern art, its sudden changes between cerulean blue to bright orange trapped on an undulating ribbon, twisting back on itself could reflect on various aspects of this build.  The graphic was discussed and roughly drawn out on some paper just to see how it would look.

Now the question is… what color to make the buckle?

We thought it would be a good idea to see how Valkyrie fit on her new ride.  Wrapping a few straps around the hull and attaching some come-a-long winches to the cross members of Shop2 we had a solution for lifting Valkyrie up into the air so the trailer could be slid underneath.  Of course the only way to operate the winches is to have someone inside Valkyrie to pump the handles up and down, so Travis got to do the honors while Ed and Keith backed the trailer up the ramp and under the hull.

Stretched so tight you could play a song on them

If boats could squint, Valkyrie would have done her fair share when rolled outside for the first time.  With ample light and space to move around some measurements were taken for the eventual adjustments the trailer would receive, but for now things looked good.

Sitting Pretty

Once Valkyrie was on the trailer and sitting outside… we had a thought…

“Why not launch her?”

Down to the wharf we went, the fine dust that had not been vacuumed off slowly swirling around Valkyrie, caught in the air coursing over her on her first trip to the water.  As the trailer backed into the frigid waters of Maine, Valkyrie silently lifted off the trailer beds – a gentle tug on the bow line and she swung around, gliding to the dock with little ripples around her hull.

Waiting...

Now that Valkyrie was in the water we wanted to see just what she would do.  Since we didn’t have an outboard at the time we opted to use some paddles – with Ed on the starboard side and Travis on port, Valkyrie made a fair clip of speed in the shallow waters near shore.  Once safely back at the dock various weights (people) were positioned within Valkyrie to see just how close the reference line, that had been put on for the bottom paint, was to the actual way that she sat in the water.  With an outboard, two fuel tanks, the center console in place, the battery and all the other stuff that always finds a place on a boat the waterline should be correct, giving Valkyrie a few inches clearance  so she won’t grass up while on her mooring during the fishing season.

Once back to Shop2, Valkyrie was washed down and the blue tape came out, marking the boot stripe to be painted on before she was rolled back inside, her time outside well spent.  She will have to wait a little longer before coming out to play again.

Confinement

A rare treat for the fiberglass boat builder, while the sounds from an electric plane may overpower the growl from a grinder, the material removed smells a whole lot better.

Just Call Me "Chip"

Finishing up some loose ends around the interior, the seat cleats were planed down even and level with each other, the interior edges were gone over again – taking any waiver out of the surface and the flotation skirts were curled over on the bottom, sealing the underside from moisture and more importantly – shags.

The Bane of Mooring #3