Monday was RELIANCE’s last night in Building 28. As of now, she has been transferred down to the Hall of Boats for debut at the Frostbite Bash.
Here’s Captain Trivia’s last cruise while Sandy cleaned up. This is the community’s last time with the spirits of 28.
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.
Please come and join the Herreshoff Museum and RELIANCE crew at the Frostbite Bash on February 6th!! There will be dancing, food, and the RELIANCE model set up in the museum in anticipation of opening day. It will be a wonderfully fun, two-for-one opportunity you can’t miss!
Great work session this past week; Keith and Sandy hung the rudder, Steve completed a dozen shackles, Herb completed several more splices, and Bill started the viewing stand. We’re on schedule to move RELIANCE to the Hall of Boats for the Frostbite Bash!
Please come and see our boat at the Bash! A sneak peek before we rig her.
PS: Enclosed is a picture of our new Executive Washroom; better late than never!
Work has been progressing over this early winter on all the details of the rigging; the blocks, splicing, and making up the shackles are all getting done. We recently dry-fitted the main sheet system. You can see Herb in the background making a micro-splice. Poor guy!
The Saturday crew has been working with extra gusto!
Laura completed all splices for the two topmast backstay runners and started the wire-manila peak halyard tail splice. Joe has been repainting the deck which, over the past two years in the shed, has become shop worn; Bern has been helping with making blocks.
Meanwhile, Burr delivered his latest masterpiece: the topmast cone assembly. You may remember that last fall, Bill fashioned the lignum vitae truck, and several years ago, Mike cast a topmast cone. Well, Burr took those pieces, machined the cone, then made the topsail halyard sheave and metal housing, and assembled everything together. We couldn’t even find the housing solder joint. So awesome!
Did we mention that the average age of these guys exceeds 80?!
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:
Well, we can finally say that sanding, fairing, and priming the hull are finished!
We laid out the waterline with a laser transit. All reference marks are within 1/32nd-inch true! Thank you to Buck of Itchiban and Vinnie of Goetz Composites who brought a laser and great knowledge of getting RELIANCE on her fore and aft to lay out the laser lines.
Tracer lamp black solution has been applied to the hull. Sandy and Herb then sanded away the “orange peel” and tracer.
Keith took down the tent and deck covering to clean up the boat using air, water, and sponge; for a finishing touch, a wash of denatured alcohol.
So far, there was an initial priming of four coats and then sanding fair with 150 grit. This effort brought patches of bare hull and Bondo to light, so another five coats of primer were applied and another round of 150-grit “blocking”/ long boarding. Then, seven coats of white primer and 400-grit sanding to bring to near perfection.
RELIANCE is now ready for masking the waterline and painting the topsides. Only three more coats of paint on each of the topsides, bottom, and lead keel and an application of clear!
While all this effort was going on, Bill has been working on the truck, Tim on the boom, and Yoda (Steve), shown here, on the shackle pins.
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.
The RELIANCE Project 