The sound of progress resumes all around us. The birds are out and the bees are not yet awake. A few buds sprout and the patches of snow that remain are pushed back to the shadows. Those shadows, however, are the perfect place to chill your beers while you work

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We’ve been busy with winter damage control. The mice are being evicted from the trailer and all evidence bleached. The level work floor outside the shed (at first our framing table) was completely crushed under the weight of this years snow. The level supports for our spars took a good beating as well. A few tweaked, some punctured the lofting floor straight through, and others shattered.

We’ve still managed to keep gluing up the cabin deck beams.

We’re now onto the large main mast partner beams; which are wider and one lamination thicker. Today is our first full day being back on the property. It feels wonderful to wake up right next to the boat. Just feeling her presence is a comfort. The sun is out in all its glory, heating up the western red cedar as we coat the strips in epoxy. Hoffa and I do the gluing and Garrett clamps the beam up to the mold.

Once the resin cures Garrett then grinds and sands off the excess. They look so sexy when fare. They’ll receive a light reddish stain and oil to really make them pop.

Another exciting development is the little garden Hoffa has started. One of his talents he brings to the crew is his green thumb. He’s equally as enthralled with plants as Garrett is with wood. Anthony’s put together raised beds with scrap plywood and bits we have lying around. The green onions and garlic are already in the ground. Won’t be long now until we’re picking tomatoes and eating peppers! The ground is frosty in the morning but warms up quickly during the day. No wild flowers yet but we’re starting to see new leaves on the wild strawberries everywhere.

On the really nice days we’ll go for walks through the back forest. Hunting for any usable trees (curved branches for knees, skinny teepee poles, firewood) or any turkeys that need to be eaten. It’s so awesome to begin to see dirt, almost forgot what it looked like!

It took about 4 years to build the tall ship, Matthew Turner, in Sausalito. Our small ship is two years in the making. Today the brigantine tastes salt water for the first time. Tomorrow our gaff ketch gets another coat of epoxy added to her decks. The spring air is charged with a warm breeze (55 degrees and mostly sunny) and the knowledge that somewhere a vessel is being launched!

The Matthew Turner is an educational tall ship built sustainably in the San Francisco Bay Area. My mother-in-law, Susan, shared a video of the awe-inspiring site of her being released from her birth shed. They are streaming the launch from their website. We can’t wait to be anchored in Richardson Bay along side this new wooden lady!

Do you remember this? I do. March 2015, and the build has begun. 2 years ago we started laying the foundation that would house Rediviva. We didn’t even know her name at this point. So many things were unknown. I can feel it quite clearly. The excitement of our fresh readiness.

(Below) Recap of Year #1, 2015

March 2016, year #2, she stands tall. We wrap planks around her ribs to keep her warm. We put an engine in her belly. We open the walls of her home to give her air in the summer and tuck her back in for the long winter. We eat wild strawberries at her feet and drink coffee on her bow. We find tall straight trees for her sails to stretch out from. We lay her deck down and the structure she requires. We buy her gifts of lumber and place them at her sides.

(Below) Recap of Year #2, 2016

Today, March 2017, we look forward to the day she can leave the woods behind her. We’re cleaning up her mark on this spot. Finishing her cabin top and moving onto her interior is electrifying. Soon we’ll caulk her seems, sand, and paint her hull! Closer to summer the goal is to dismantle the shed. Can you believe that! We’ll actually be able see Rediviva outside in the open air, free from the shell she was born in.

And for now, the aim is to transport her to San Francisco in the fall. Transitioning there into year #4 we will rig her, launch her, and sea trial in the bay until we all feel ready to set out to sea for good (maybe even the following fall (2018???)) Through the gate and turn left!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/8519227

New episode y’all!

Hope you enjoy it. I’m going to go start working on the next one 😉

Thanks you guys for your continued love and support

~Ruthie

Last Thursday we covered the entire deck. It surprisingly didn’t take that long…I guess we are still getting used to having 3 people capable of working! The boys slipped on their little blue booties and went to town on deck. I trimmed the edges and glassed the corners. We listened to music until the speaker died, I took pictures till the camera died, and we caught a timelapse of our labor until the GoPro died. We drank champagne to celebrate the momentous day then watched a movie and passed out like we were dead! We were an excitable bunch! Any way here are some photos of the day 🙂

(prepping/sanding the deck)

(breaking out the huge roll of fiberglass cloth and measuring, preferably twice, then cutting the needed length)

(stretching out the individual pieces, trimming the overhang, now all that’s left is to mix up a few batches of epoxy and wet it out)

What have we epoxied this week? Well, the 2nd layer of the hull-to-deck joint, the transom-to-deck (both layers), the cabin-to-deck, then the entire deck minus the side decks, the first two western red cedar cabin beams, and a few hundred bungs that’s all.

Garrett trimmed the corners of the cabin walls

Then him and Hoffa sanded those edges smooth.

We swept the deck free of debris.

And got to it!

We used only a 6oz cloth versus the 8oz we were using on the hull-to-deck joint so it was much easier to wet out. Garrett may hate the sticky but Hoffa and I found it to be quite satisfying. Using a brush, finger, or squeegee to cover and smooth out any air bubbles in the cloth felt gratifying. Standing back and seeing an even glassed surface gave a real sense of accomplishment. Finally we are beginning to get back into the groove of things.

 We’ve been experimenting with the GoPro (Reid, Garrett’s brother, gave us his old one) catching time-lapse footage of our days work. Hoffa started the trend using his iphone. We’ve put them on our Patreon page, exclusive for our patrons 😉

In the evening we take the epoxy over to the house we are sitting to glue up deck beams over night. We are all really excited to have these sexy beams over our heads to stare at down below in the future. The western red cedar came from a schoolhouse in Vancouver Washington built in the 1940’s and torn down several years ago. The demolisher kept the rafters hoping to use them in the home he was building but didn’t so years later he put them on craigslist to sell and that’s where we came into their story. Now the boards that once housed landlubbing children will now shelter big kids at sea.

We will have a total of 6 cabin top beams. So the theory is with being able to glue 2 at a time it should only take 3 days! Once they are in place we’ll then have to decide whether to lay the port orford cedar down now or after we lay the plywood (which will be the main structure for the cabin top) and place the orford between the beams later… I’m thinking we’ll choose to lay the orford first then place the ply on top of that, because you know less measuring.

Garrett built this mold in a few hours and I think the mold itself is pretty special. Bracing for both the bottom and sides to keep the beams to the curve of the crown as well as perfectly square at the sides.

No sleep for these builders for the spring is near and there’s a charge in the air!

If today is a glimpse at what the rest of our stay here in the Northwest is going to look like then bring it on! We’re supposed to receive rain the next 7 days but that’s tomorrow’s problem. Today the sun peaked in and out and inside the shed we may have seen like 55 degrees! Hoffa and I worked on the second layer of glass on the hull-to-deck joint while Garrett cut into the western red for the cabin top beams.

“The day was bomb-diggity. Very glad I pulled my butt out of my ass and decided to do the beams well, and do them right. Really pretty stuff. I definitely feel my motivation returning. Felt good, awesome, to get out to the boat early. To get a real solid day in and make some real progress. I’d say the day was just about as good as a lemon flavored snow cone.”

There you have it folks a winning statement from our Captain

We made it to the boat around 9am and stayed past 6 (longest day since November!) One full day of mixing epoxy and stretching out fiberglass cloth. Garrett even made me and Hoffa a sandwich and brought us a beer! Happy crew, happy ship.

A little snow-fight break and food always puts you in the mood to glass a deck… Isn’t that what mama always said?

Settling in for the evening with hot tea, steaks, and hookah after an excellent day of progress. We can all sleep well tonight knowing that we kicked today’s butt and will do it again tomorrow if we have to. It’s time to embrace today and yell at the snow until it melts

 Garrett consults the building book

while I continue on the next Salt&Tar

episode.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so done talking about the snow and the weather but as it’s still melting slow we remain in the clutches of winter. We’ve moved a few things around and have cleaned up the shed a bit in hopes to improve the flow of motivation. To be honest we’ve mostly been making food and drinking tea. Conserving our energy for the spring to come. Garrett’s been working on the cabin top beams. So far they’ve been constructed out of plywood, which we’ll paint, but I think Garrett may be changing his mind…. He’s been thinking, you know. I think… as well… that his newer idea may be better and he should do it. He’s contemplating laminating together western red cedar for the beams, which we’ll varnish. His hold up is weighing the cost and the time to put these together since the plywood beams are already made. But I know Garrett and he will be truly satisfied if he does it the way he really wants to. The cedar beams will look just gorgeous in the cabin up next to the port orford ceiling. So I may upload pictures later with the beams redone but for now here are the photos of the progress so far:

All three of us are itching to taking off the side walls of the shed. Rediviva deserves to feel the sun. She’s been hard to photograph this winter in the dark. The starboard side of the shed has earned the nickname, the dark side. That portion of the shed is always cold and dreary (probably due to the snow spilling in through the wall.) We can’t express how anxious we are for the change in the season. We still have a bit of cold weather epoxy so we are thinking tomorrow we might get out to the boat early to begin glassing the deck. A second layer on the hull to deck joint needs to be applied and then the entire deck is ready to be covered. The cabin house to deck joinery can be done after that (with 6” cloth). Once the cabin top is on (after we figure out the final consensus on the beams) we will do one more big layer overtop the whole cabin house overlapping the deck a wee bit. I’m getting close on the next episode despite the technical delays. There’s the bright side to not being able to put in as many hours at the boat as we’d like, I can just keep my nose in my laptop to be productive!

That’s all for now 🙂

Cheers,

Ruthie

I almost forgot to introduce the newest furry member of the crew!

Miss Jada has put in a good days work eating up all the snow. Pushing the winter out and helping the spring in.

Garrett’s begun placing the cabin deck beams in. One is fully installed and the next ready to be fastened. Despite the snow continuing to fall, the day was warming up to a delightful 35 degrees making it a perfect day to get back to filling bungs! Hoffa worked with me mixing up epoxy and starting in on the starboard topsides. We made quick work getting done what took me 2 days on the port side in 3 hours. 451 countersink holes were filled,  6 batches of cold weather-epoxy were mixed, 1 batch smoked, another hardened too quickly, and only 2 gloves ripped. It felt good, the first work day as a crew. The music played in the background as we each carried out our duties for the day.

 

Rediviva met her first new crew member today

With the sound of snow still underfoot they locked minds. So many thoughts making their way to reality. A strong feeling of family fills the shed. The first tequila toast has taken place. The first of many musical evenings over tacos has taken place. The first steps upon her deck now have taken place. Welcome Hoffa, you’re home.

Garrett walks Hoffa through the interior ideas that have stuck. We discuss the future, both immediate and long term. First task, while the snow still falls, is assembling the rudder.