Wee Winn has been progressing a lot these past several weeks. Herb has been working diligently on the boom, while Steve had made a cradle for the boat.
Meanwhile, Zach and Sandy measured out and highlighted Wee Winn’s water-line with a laser light (which was running dry on its batteries, making the process much more tedious than it should have been).
Once everything was up to their liking, the paint job began!
Joan Perkins of Padanaram Sign Shop & Boat Lettering has given our model life; having a name on the stern makes RELIANCE feel all the more real. It seems to be one more indication that we’re approaching the goal line. Joan came to us highly recommended by neighbor Dan Shea, and she’s everything he said and more. So many of our local business “volunteers” are the best in the game! Thank you, Joan!
We’ve finished up a large majority of the blocks, so we’ve got Bern constructing stairs for our RELIANCE Display.
Joe is touching up the deck; after all this time working, plenty of dust and assorted undesirables ended up topside.
Meanwhile, Don has been working on the new steam exhibit as well as providing the RELIANCE project with an extra steady pair of hands, as required. The boiler, fire box, and ash pan will complement the stem engine he has restored.
Laura made boom lift pennants and a peak halyard pennant. These doubled-over wires are made similarly to grommets: an endless loop of wire seized together at the thimbles at each end. Thimbles at the mast are directly attached to the mast eyes with no shackles, so Laura makes up the wire on the mast.
Sandy has been fabricating blocks; shown here are the eight 14″ blocks on RELIANCE, six including a double block for the main sheet (the other two are for the peak and throat jigs at the base of the mast).
Bern routed out grooves for the straps and the strippers in the base of the block.
Finally, here’s RELIANCE fully painted after Buck and Don’s hard work!
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and thanks to everyone who has supported us thus far!!
After erecting a new tent fitted with a ventilation system, the group got to giving the model its sleek paint job. Buck and Don painted the topsides.
They painted the bottom a golden bronze just like the polished bronze plates on the original.
The finished product:
To honor the holiday upon us, we in the RELIANCE Project would like to thank all who have helped us on this long, arduous journey, as well as all the fans who have pushed us on with your words of encouragement! To give back to the community, here’s a look at the RELIANCE model, sleek and suave from its final priming!
We’re going to be dabbing on a “blue-ing” film and sanding off the “orange peel” with 400-grit sandpaper very soon.
Early last week, Keith, Herb, Steve, and Sandy erected a tent frame to put the RELIANCE model under. Buck from the world-renowned Itchiban Yacht Painters stopped by to form the actual tent.
On Thursday, Buck returned and put the first five coats of primer on the boat. Buck says he’ll come back on Monday with another person to block down the shear and keel, though he thinks it is “good enough.” I sense he’s really bought into our boat and it is now his boat! On Monday, the plan is that he’ll “block” long board the hull with 150 grit and then put another 3 coats of primer on. We will then sand to 400 grit and he’ll return for finishing coats.
We’ve started assembling the jib halyard. Burr made all the links, while Bruce threaded he shackle pins. Bern tapped said shackles to receive the pins.
Meanwhile, the endless toil of filling and fairing both the rudder and the boat continues. Bruce, Bern , Zach spend plenty of their time working on this; just look how much dust we can make!
Chris Broman visited the museum this past weekend, flush from victory with his “footie” yacht at the World Marine Trade Conference in Providence. He’d also attended a breakfast presentation Sandy gave there on the wonderfully modern Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.
We have our own “footie” champion, Mike, so the challenge has been issued!! Note, Chris has a split mainsail and boom; an airfoil shape but also goes wing and wing downwind! Just a little G2…
As we near (what we hope to be) the beginning of the end of this project, the job of painting the RELIANCE model becomes ever-present.
Bern–with a little help from Sandy–added several coats of Marine Premium Filler to the upper hull in order to fill any indentations and spot any errors we’ve made along the way. The filler hardened extremely fast, so Bern really had to utilize his youthful energy for this task.
The crew then transitioned to the fairing phase, taking shifts sanding down the coats in preparation for priming, which should be happening within the next couple weeks.
We’re leaving the actual painting of the RELIANCE to the pro’s. By the end of October, our dear readers should expect a beautifully painted model–and maybe, if Keith gets his way, some flame magnets!
The RELIANCE Project 