boatbuilding, LOGBOOK

More COI photos

 

The Certificate of Inspection. process is thorough. To date we have done a preliminary inspection,  a rigging inspection (pulling the mast), a haul out inspection, a weight strength inspection of the bow webbing (the “tramps’), a deadweight survey ( measuring the depth of keel so the designer can compute  the volume of displacement, and hence the weight of the boat) and some drills: man overboard, fire drill and abandon ship.

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Meet “Oscar”.  A real dummy.

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The man overboard drill was an eye opener. Oscar is heavy. Getting an unconscious person into the boat after a calamity is a challenge. We worked out a  retrieval  system after doing the needed maneuvers to get the boat quickly back to the victim. It is a good exercise.

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boatbuilding, LOGBOOK

Weight Test

We are getting closer to being awarded a Certificate of Inspection! Today’s inspection  was another milestone, after the initial inspection, then the mast pulling inspection, then the haul out inspection. This was to make sure the bow nets  (made of seatbelt webbing) and their attachment points, were sound. The  procedure called for figuring the allowable number of  passengers for each net, using a square foot allowance, then multiplying the total by 180 lbs per person, then doubling that, and adding an equivalent weight to see what happens.  Fortunately nothing happened.

 

We used  a gasoline pump and 20 of those 30 gallon totes from Home Depot, ten per side, filled with 20+ gallons of seawater each.  3770 lbs total.

Next thing is the deadweight survey, which is a measure of the boats displacement. Then we have a couple of plan submissions yet to be returned from Washington DC. Then the final inspection, where they will count the lifejackets etc.  

LOGBOOK

Thunderbolt Haulout

An out of the water inspection by the Coast Guard is part of the process for securing a Certificate of Inspection, which will allow us to charter the boat for more than six persons.  At this time, the only place left in Georgia to haul out a 23′ beam  is at Thunderbolt Marine in Savannah.


Who should I tie up next to but my old friend Dave Reidel, from the Key Largo days . It was great to have a beer with him and catch up . Next morning he came over to “supervise”

Coasties found no issues, so we checked another milestone off the list

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The way home I was weathered in at Kilkenney Creek. Kilkenney is a beautiful bluff overlooking Ossabaw Island. It was a cotton and timber plantation back in the 1800’s. The marina sells fuel, beer and ice , and moon pies. It is a colorful place, and worth a stop.  Well sheltered from the west. It is quiet.

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Evidently the Marina is always for sale lol

 

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The “Big House” commands a priceless view of Ossabaw,  the north end of St Catherines and the creeks in between.  Union gunboats shelled it during the blockade. The guy at the marina told me there are still holes in the walls on the inside ,that were never fixed, where the cannonballs went through. To the left is the detached kitchen,  with a huge fireplace, where the cook lived upstairs in the loft.

APRIL 16 2019-

0645 underway

1700 tied up Kilkenney Marina

17th

0700 underway

1215 Thunderbolt

18th

0830 haulout for inspection

0930 underway

1500 Kilkenney

20th 0630 underway

1800 tied up Morningstar

motored nearly whole trip

Found that skinny spot  just inside the channel there at marker 208, just west of Dolbow Island, Altamaha River. . The chart clearly shows it. Its there alright.  Don’t cut that turn  too close and you’ll be fine.

Kilkenney Creek, Lincoln Creek, Big Tom or Newell all are fine anchorages. The Ossabow area there looks like a great place to explore by dingy.

 

local history

Taylor Mound

“Excavations at  the Taylor Mound, a late Savannah phase burial mound, on St Simons Island Georgia, resulted in the discovery of several intrusive burials containing material of European origin. These artifacts produced specific 16th century dates and represent what are among the earliest historic remains recovered from coastal Georgia.

The Taylor mound (9GN-55), is located on northeastern St Simons island, Georgia, on a tract of land known as Lawrence plantation … the site is situated on  sloping ground at the head of a shallow fresh water slough which drains into the salt marsh about 150 m to the southeast. The areas to the north, west and south, of the mound have been under cultivation for a considerable period of time and are currently in pasture. The mound itself

local history

A Hundred Giants

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There is now a revised edition of the 2014 book, covering the French Hugenot experience in Florida. The new material  recounts the events following the discovery of more evidence off the beach at Cape Canavarel.

Global Marine Exploration is a salvage company based in Tampa.In 2014-15 they received permits from the State of Florida to survey the area with a magnetometer, but weren’t allowed to recover any artifacts. They found anomalies and dusted off a layer of silt, revealing obvious signs of wreckage; cannonballs, ballast stones, encrusted iron bits and pieces, and several cannon. Most notably, they found a marble monument that exactly matched the description of those that Jean Ribault brought to the new world in the latter 1500’s, which were used as survey markers to formally establish new territorial claims by France.

In accordance with the State permit agreement, the artifacts were covered back up with a layer of sand that will, to some degree, protect them until their legal ownership can be sorted out. The archaeological value of these wreck sites is significant.

All of the Fort Caroline narratives relate how most of the French fleet was driven ashore somewhere to the south of the fort- most likely the stretch between Daytona and Canavarel. Some three hundred sailors were then massacred on the beach by the Spanish. Jean Ribault was beheaded, and the skin of his face along with his red beard was sent back to King Philip of Spain.

There is also a growing body of hard evidence of a French presence from Canavarel northward to Matanzas Inlet. We may never know exactly where the massacress occurred, but findings have accumulated through the years; mainly French coins, belt buckles and forged tools. The site of the improvised French fort, made from the salvaged shipwrecks as a temporary defense, may well be covered forever by a rocket launching pad.

I have added this book “One Hundred Giants” to the Reading List posted earlier. Many resources are listed there of first hand accounts of the whole saga. Other interesting tidbits and anecdotes can be found at the links below.

http://signumops.com/productcatalog.html

French Castaways at Old Cape Canavarel

people

Cast Your Fate To the Wind

The best thing about hanging around marinas is that you get to meet the neatest people. “Crazy Pirates” Dave, Sue and Snoopy- my next door neighbors for the summer.

“A month of nights, a year of days,
Octobers drifting into Mays;
I set my sail as the tide comes in
And I just cast my Fate To The Wind

boatbuilding, LOGBOOK

Some Upgrades

The webbing used for the tramp is made for car seat belts, and comes in rolls. It suffers from UV in the Georgia sun, but if you keep it covered when not in use you can get several years out of it. Its not that expensive, but is a pain to reeve through the slots and around the fiberglass rod inserts. We used sleeves bought from the same supplier to cover the spots we had to sew at the ends. The whole thing is tensioned with a stainless steel ratchet made for truckers.

Finally finished the new lifelines and rails. They now meet USCG requirements for inspected vessels. 7/64th dyneema with spliced eye thimbles and lashings for tension, instead of turnbuckles. The lashings are covered with cutoff pieces of pex tubing. After 96 total eye splices, I have the technique down for working with 7/64th cord. The trick is in getting the taper just so and covered with snag free tape so it will work back up the inside of the weave. I used a sail needle as a kind of a fid, though you can’t attach the line to it, it makes separating the strands easier. You tube has some good tutorials.

Found a soft spot in the back corner of the bridge deck. Using a hole saw, I cut out some “biscuits” from the 4mm ply on top and dug out the saturated balsa core. The blowdryer fit nicely and after a few days off and on it was bone dry. Mixed up some phenolic microballons, aerosil, chopped fibers and resin and parged it in re- using the cutouts. All is well now.