gak1965

The Fish is still back in DC. We are keeping our house there because we are back 3 days out of every 14 for a variety of reasons, and I didn't want to put it on the truck. When we eventually buy in Cleveland I may move it, or wait until we sell the DC place. We shall see.

Well, I've been pretty MIA on the forums for almost two months now. The reason is obvious, but I have the following to show. The Discovery packed for moving (in my car): Many of my tools, similarly packed: And my new Ohio worktable which I bought from a used office furniture place in Cleveland: Not shown is a cutting pad I bought, because the table top is a white board! So, I can do my calculations on the table as I work. We'll see if that is just a gimmick, but it's a nice solid table and I'm pleased with it. Alas, my plans are still in DC, so I won't be back to work on the ship until after this coming weekend, but I feel like I'm pretty close to ready. Regards, George

Really nice looking Rick! I know this is a small detail, but how did you get the fairleads on the shrouds so neat? It was a perpetual source of frustration trying to get them to stay in place. Regards, Geirge

Congratulations Jared, this is fantastic. My apologies for the delayed response, I've been AWOL on the forums as we began our move. Regards, George

Congratulations Jared! She looks really great! A long, difficult job that is paying off! Regards, George

Not as much progress as I would have liked. The management company for the house we were trying to lease refused to budge on the extension cord/adapter issue so we told them to pound sand, and I had to make another trip to find an alternative residence. Fortunately, we found an equally nice place about 0.3 miles away, and the lease is acceptable. Expecting the DocuSign Monday, at which point, thankfully, we can start actually planning the move. In the interim, I finished up the tiller box and tiller. To make the metal parts (except the actual tiller), I took 3/16" wide copper tape, made 3 rows of dots for the bolts, and either cut them 1/16" inch thick (the bottom, the iron around the rudder post, and the two straps on the top) or, I cut a 1/8 strip and applied 1/16" to the top of the box and 1/16" on the side. The tiller is brass with a hole cut into it at the end for a wire loop that will be the attachment point for the chains. View from the front: and the side: Then, paint the whole thing black (as on the current ship): To some extent, I don't know why I'm bothering. It will be mostly hidden under the monkey poop, although maybe I'll leave one of the grates off so that it is visible. Thanks for looking in! Regards, George

Ping me. We are looking like we are going to land in University Heights. Only about 20 - 25 minutes to Mentor - heck, we were there on Wednesday, visited James Garfield National Historic Site.

So it seems! Once we settle down I expect us to subscribe to the Symphony and a local baroque group called Apollo's Fire. Sports are potentially more complicated. My wife grew up in Baltimore (where the rest of her family live), meaning that visibly rooting for the Guardians could be problematic (they are rabid Orioles fans). And, well, considering that the Baltimore Ravens were the artist formerly known as the Cleveland Browns and are in the same AFC Division... I grew up with the Washington Senators and then the Orioles, and then the Dodgers while we were in LA. I've been to a few Nats games, but I've never really connected with them, and they are NL anyway. I also grew up with what are now the Washington Commanders, but again, NFC, not AFC, so no problem. Regards, George

National Maritime Museum in the UK. There are a couple of plans of the 1901 version available online but they are really hard to read. Dundee Heritage (which owns the ship) has a lot of digitized, high quality plans from her refit in the 1920s. Regards, George

Hello, it's been a bit of time (looks to be about 3 months) since I updated this log. Partially, that was because I was working a bit on the Kearsarge but also because, as I've mentioned, I've been in job hunting mode, about which, more anon. I've now restarted work on the Discovery. Very brief update. First, I was not happy with the starboard rail (there was too much of a gap with the bulwark), so I removed it, cleaned everything up and reattached it. I'm happy with it now. I also started the first piece of deck furniture - in this case the mount where the rudder post comes through the deck. Plans here: The forward part is actually taller than the after part, and so the initial piece is thus: The tiller will be made from brass, and the whole thing painted, and finished with some brass work that is visible in the side and top views. On the current ship it is black - I have no images to confirm or deny that suggestion, so I'm going to go with it (the whole thing is going to be hidden by the monkey poop that is missing on the current ship. As I said, I've been job hunting, and I have found a new position in a new city, so we are going to be moving soon. Dealing with that, and a bunch of home repairs here has eaten up a large part of the last couple of months. We aren't selling our current place, at least not yet, as both my father and my in-laws are quite elderly and in the area and I will be spending about 10% of my time where we currently live. Finding a rental house has been an interesting exercise; we have a place identified, but I'm having to negotiate with the management company whose lease, as written, would prevent us from working from the house, and prohibits the use of any extension cords or electrical adapters! Their response has been that they aren't worried about people doing office type work from the house, but that is not what is in the lease. I have pointed out that as written, you can't use a computer in their property as pretty much every piece of electronic equipment has an AC adapter. Hopefully, they will accept the proposed language that I provided as an addendum so I can charge my car, run a power tool outside, use a power strip, and plug in our computers. Otherwise, I will likely have to go back again to find someplace else, because I am not going to sign a contract that says one thing with only an email saying the opposite. I can't speak to who the position is with (and anyway I think that we all tend to keep our work out of this), but I will provide a site appropriate clue as to where we are headed: Not exactly subtle, I know. Anyway, come September, a 60 year old couple is headed to a new state to start anew. Exciting but scary, and our (adult) children are ambiguous about it. It will be interesting to see if they come visit us in the new location, or if they only visit us when we are in Rockville where many of their old friends still live. Regards, George PS: My intention, BTW is to split the two models between the two locations. Work on the Discovery in the new place, and the Kearsarge here. And yes, the new place has somewhere for my worktable.

Great looking boats Jared. You are definitely nearing the end of the journey.

Looking great Rick. Love the stern detail, must have missed it all of these other times! George

I assume you are going to put some bulwark planks on, correct? If so, put on the planks and Dremel the down to size once you are done. The extra adhesive on the planks will keep the from flying off. I've done that before with good success. Regards, George

Copper plating continues. The first picture shows the plating before I was really reaching the gore line: As the plating was "bending" up at the stem and stern, it was terminated at the tape marked gore line, where I will start a new row of plating that is more in line with the final waterline. Here it is at the stern: and the stem: The next two show the plates up to the gore line with the tape still in place: And removed Finally, here is the first of the plates above the gore line: One thing that surprised me was that I started a new roll of Venture tape when I went to the gore line and it seems a bit redder to me. I doubt that it will matter once it tarnishes a bit, but it was still a surprise. Fortunately, I ran out of the old roll just as I finished both sides below the gore line, so it will at least be consistent. If it really starts bothering me, I can hit it with some copper paint, but, like I said, my guess is once it starts tarnishing it won't be very obvious. Regards, George

Looking great, Jared!