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!
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.
Steve continues to work to the upper section of the mast; the angle iron cheeks and, as you can see, the fourteen ladder rungs which Burr had made for us earlier in the year are involved.
We also had a visit from the Okerholms. Bob brought his beautiful model of HMCo’s SCOUT which was one of the first boats through the Cape Cod Canal when it opened.
SCOUT’s external condenser coil must have made running aground a real nightmare, even in mud!
These photos lead us to Don working to restore our triple expansion steam launch engine, another of our projects in Building 28 (Don’t you love candid photos!)
We’ve missed a couple of blog posts because we’ve been deep into detail work, which doesn’t seem to lend itself to blog creativity!
We’ve made a miniature exhibit of our winter lecture series presentation: “Wonderfully Modern Herreshoff Manufacturing Company”, which you can see in our shop if you come by for a visit.
Steve has been finishing the metal angle iron cheeks on the mast; these hold four upper main shrouds, forestay, two preventer stays (main running back stays), and the throat halyard strap.
Meanwhile. Keith has been working on the spreader, and you can see the start of Bill’s jig to make the deck-edge toe rails in the background; Sandy has also been filing, grinding, and polishing more than 150 shackles. You see these in rough form (dark bronze), polished state (bright brass), and finished nickel-plated product in the bins. Hooks are next, and then the dreaded 140 ash blocks from scratch.
Steve is also starting to work on the final tap and die work for all the turnbuckles.
Laura has been making grommets which turn into balloon jib straps, jib tack straps, jib pennants, spinnaker straps, and a throat halyard strap.
Lastly, Herb has become Bosun Splicer. Here’s his stock hanging on the rack awaiting finishing.
We are making extra spars to be stowed on deck. Here Steve Siok, our little dust bunny, is fashioning the sides of the #2 club topsail club.
We continue to work on the deck preparing it for paint and canvas, but in the meantime we are receiving more and more of our bits and pieces. These are really small jewel-like masterpieces from Mike Mirman which we’ll finish up with buffing and polishing.
The first picture is the mainsail clue outhaul slide. In real life it fits onto a 6 foot long heavy duty sail track at the tip of the boom. Inserted in the top is a fitting sewn into the clue of the sail and then pinned to the slide. You can see its size compared to a penny in our scale. The second picture shows the mainsail outhaul sheave holder which is to be attached at the very tip of the boom.
The third picture is of our the belaying pins – about two inches long. The longer ones will be threaded and be used for the forward and aft legs of the pinrail which fellow RELIANCE teammate Steve Siok is making.
MIke has also made a port and starboard mainsheet sheave holder, the fourth picture. It also is about 2 inches long. It sits amidships. The mainsheet comes from aft to here, through the bellow and around an internal sheave to drums and winches below deck. He’s taken them back to his shop to attach brake levers and add the internal sheaves. We also received two mainsheet span shackle assemblies from Mike. The whole assembly is about the size of a silver dollar! Upon close inspection you a see that the shackles are actually twisted.
Meanwhile Joe Uzzo continues to work on his hatches and companionway. Here you see the barometer, race card and clock sitting on a ledge in the companionway. If you really look, you’ll see actual barometer and clock faces complete in all detail. The second picture shows the companionway and its ladder.
We also have a new RELIANCE team member Burr Sebring who brings a wealth of metalworking skill, having retired from Gorham – the silverware company . In this last photo you can see his work-in-progress on the metal strut that forms the back edge of the douglas fir mainmast spreader. The little insert that will carry two shrouds to the top of the mast has been completed. Same piece count in 1/6th scale as the original!
It is good to be back to work! Here’s a picture of the Saturday crew. Left to right:
Mike Mirman, Steve Siosk, Tim Horton, Sandy Lee, Keith Bradley, Joe Uzzo, Herb Luther and Bill Lawton.
We had a great work session – after catching up on all the holiday happenings and telling sea stories.
If you look on the fore-deck, you’ll see the incredible dolphin striker assembly, bowsprit spreader sockets and hawse pipe lips that Mike Mirman just delivered. We’ll be getting these in place over the next month.
You may also have noted that six mahogany stained hatches and the companionway are on deck. RELIANCE’s furniture was butternut and from the pictures stained a mahogany color and then varnished. Joe Uzzo delivered the stained structures, and we worked with him to perfect our technique to attach the canvas tops. The companionway has a sliding top and glass portholes. Joe is working to add the barometer, clock and race card which rest on a ledge in the companionway. Still to go are the monitor and large two piece hatch cover.
Above: Joe and his work.
Below: Steve admiring Joe’s work.
Keith has been working inside RELIANCE to adjust the mast step to her rake. He’s also been making a metal display stand for our 2′ long 14″ diameter solid bowsprit replica while Herb Luther finishes shaping it and preparing it for varnish.
Above: Capt. Trivia emerging from below
We’re also preparing plans for laying cork on the deck, attaching the fittings and painting. We’ll talk about that soon.
The RELIANCE Project 
