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Dear friends,
I’m trying to take advantage of the little time I have, so I'm writing this letter while I sit in airports in New Bern, NC., Atlanta, and home in West Palm Beach.
I just had a great week up in Beaufort, N.C. Moores Marine Yacht Center is doing great. Nathan Smith, my partner, brother-in-law and my friend, is doing a great job. The Justice project is wrapping up. She is a 1929 Consolidated.
I talked Richard Ramsay into opening a satellite office near our North Carolina yard and he has played an important role in this project. They have built a breakdown cradle and a stainless cutwater. A cutwater is a metal shield installed over a knife blade stem. They are form and function. This is no easy piece to make the angle changes as the curve of the stem drops down below the water. It’s about 10 feet long. Chip Parsans and Jim Thomason, with Ramsay Marine and Nathan, worked together to build and install it. The finished work is incredible. All the welds are filled and sanded and polished out. Bernard Smith, our head painter, flew up to North Carolina for three weeks to varnish and paint Justice. She is just about ready to go just one last thing is to fit her to her break down cradle.
I think cradles will be the wave of the future for antique and classic yachts. I know that is a big statement. Let me explain.
Through the years, I have received photos from Trumpy yachts in slings, proudly taken by owners and captains from Michigan to Maine, even from Italy. A lot them gave me heartburn.
Many of these photos show the same problem. The Travelifts are too small or don’t have enough strapped areas for the boats. It’s pretty simple. If you pick up a boat and a third of boat is in the strapped area and two-thirds of the boat are hanging out, something has to give such as broken frames, floors and chine logs. This is a long way to get to the point but what Justice’s cradle does is pretty much everything. It will not only fit into a Travelift for hauling and storage but most importantly, the owner can take his yacht anywhere he wants.
The next time she is hauled out, she will be lifted on all five of her structural bulkheads and over 60 feet of her 75 feet length will be supported. The cradle breaks down and fits on a trailer so it can be moved to wherever the yacht will be. It’s an investment that will insure longevity and safety of Justice. It’s a new way of thinking and I like it a lot.
Going to Beaufort is great. I came up to meet El Presidente. She has traveled close to 2,000 miles from Chicago to Beaufort, N.C. The other reason was the Boat Shop Bash. It happens every year at the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s beautiful boat shop, just over the water in downtown Beaufort. It had everything: Zydeco music, Cajun food, and great new friends.
The next day, I got a call from Capt. John on El Presidente. Nate and his crew met the boat at the dock to take in the lines. As I walked down to meet them, Dan Nyes, one of our carpenters was walking up the dock. As he walked past, he said, “God, she is beautiful.” I smiled and nodded. Shortly after she docked, a reporter from the Carteret County News-Times came down to mark the day.
Frank Lynch, El Presidente’s new owner, said the words I have always wanted to hear. “I want to take her back in time.” We are removing the flybridge/cabin top wrap and the modern stack and that is just the beginning. No building plans for the stack, no problem. I called Kevin Walters, who owns Lunetta, a 95-foot Trumpy in Marshalburg, N.C., to borrow his stack as a template. Ramsay borrowed it to make an exact Trumpy smoke stack. Later in the week, I had Nate, Capt. John and Bruce Marek, a naval architect, visit Lunetta, to study the pilothouse front. Mr. John Trumpy is still the designer 68 years later.
In 1939, El Presidente was built for Joseph Cadahy and her original name was Innisfail. But she was not the first Innisfail. Contract 228, the 85 foot 1935 Trumpy yacht now called Enticer was the original Innisfail. I would love to get those two Trumpy yachts together for a photo. It would make a great cover shot for a book. Hint, hint. I am sure that it will happen someday.
Sea Hammock, the 83’ Trumpy is sleeping while a master plan is worked out. We are putting together a great team for this project. When I woke up this morning, I didn’t want to leave North Carolina. When I hit the airport, I was already getting a little home sick but I had to remind myself I live in Florida. I told Stephanie this and she said she gets the same feeling every time she leaves Beaufort.
Heading back to Florida is like going into a bee hive. Moores Marine South is buzzing, no pun intended. Jon Meek is leading the charge on the Summerwind team and they have worked through the long hot summer and now they are working even harder since the temperature dropped. Niels Hellsbherg, the naval architect, has rejoined the Summerwind team. He brings an infinite amount of wisdom with more than 35 years as a naval architect with John Alden. I love working with great people because I can learn so much from them.
Don Thibealt has his finally got the cast off his hand and is heading up Coconut Southern project, a 28-foot Rybovich built in 1954 owned by Mark Spillane, who also owns Coconuts, the 1965 Trumpy formerly named Exact and Patience II, Contract 420 building as Jimiana for James L. Knight.
As I write this, Coconuts just arrived in Beaufort for a quick stop and then she’s off to Ocean Reef for Vintage Weekend. While I am on the subject, Craig and Hanna of Stuart, FL just stopped by the North Carolina yard this week. They plan to take Atlas, Contract 393, built for Ralph Atlas in 1960. Bill Iler, owner of Windrush, gave me a call as I was leaving North Carolina. He’s is on his way to Ocean Reef. I don’t it’s too late if you still want to bring your boat. Go to www.oceanreef.com for more information.
I have one last story to share. A few years back at Ocean Reef, at the final awards brunch, I received the first John Trumpy award. It was an absolutely unexpected honor and I proudly display it my office. This summer, artist Stephen Kneipp, and I started sketching and designing a plaque. We went through many different designs. Stephen even went into clay modeling. We finally agreed on a final design. I pulled a thick, beautiful plank of old growth African mahogany from my stacks and Stephen laid out the patterns. We had just enough wood. Carving and shaping and sanding seemed to take forever but Stephen is getting close. It will be unveiled at Ocean Reef this Vintage Weekend. It is our way of saying thank you to Ocean Reef for the good friends, great times and magic that happens the first weekend in December in Key Largo every year.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
October 2007
Dear friends,
We have had a very exciting month, to say the least. This month’s Professional Boatbuilder has Nathan and Mike on the cover and an in-depth article on our company. Aaron Porter, an editor and writer at the magazine came down and spent a couple days with us in South Florida. He was everywhere and spent time interviewing everyone. When I read the first proof, I found it humbling. It only took me 52 years to become an overnight success. I have sent copies to some of you but I ran out so I have enclosed copies.
In other news, I went on a great adventure on the northeast. That story will be on the web site under letters. It was going to be my next newsletter but there has been so much more going on that I changed mind.
On Summerwind, our schooner project, Jon Meek and crew have installed the stern post. We had to cut off the back part of the keel and the deadwood so the rudder, keel area is new.
Carpenter Don Thibeault, who many of you will remember from his many years at Rybovich Spencer, and Spencer before that, is made of some pretty tough stuff. He broke his wrist removing the shaft log on Stargazer and he was mad at himself because he couldn’t finish it because he had to miss a few days of work. After surgery, with his wrist in a cast, he’s back at work in restoration of a little Rybovich at our yard.
In North Carolina, I got a call from Capt. Jeff on the Sea Hammock, 83’ Trumpy yacht formerly called Eskimo. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a friendly chat. She was just south of Beaufort, N.C. and there was serious duress in his voice. Cruising along just south of Swansboro, around Cherry Point bombing range, Sea Hammock struck something underwater while running in the middle of the channel. The stabilizer and the hull surrounding it broke free. Capt. Jeff did what was best for his ship, running it into a sandbank just ahead that jutted out in the channel. He placed her aground where the aft filled with water. She settled down right in the middle of the channel. Towboat and Capt. Rod and his crew covered the hole and pumped her out. I was in Florida but I told Capt. Jeff that Stephanie, Nathan and Jimmy Berkeley and crew were up there and could help and they did.
As Towboat pumped and patched, we were planning what to do with Sea Hammock’s engines. She has big Caterpillar engines with ZF transmissions. Our neighbor at the marine park include Gregory Poole Caterpillar dealer and ZF marine. Hoses, dehumidifiers and other stuff were already being prepared so I could call Jeff Fulcher, Jarrett Bay’s yard manager. I told him what I knew. It was a Saturday. I said Sea Hammock might be towed in around 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. Jeff said, “Okay.” He didn’t even flinch. At 1 a.m., the slings were dropped in the water and slid under Sea Hammock and lifted her up just enough to hold her for the rest of the night. The next day, Nate would laser target Sea Hammock before hard lifting her. Nathan, like a rock, got everybody working on cleaning and preserving as many things as possible. When I flew in, they had everything under control. Looking at the Sea Hammock, my heart sank deep in my chest.
She is a grand houseboat, Contract 400, built for John Kimberly and launched as “Eskimo.” In the next few days, I was receiving calls like there had been a telegraph sent out in the Trumpy community. I repeated the same answers: “No, she is not cracked in two. No, she did not sink! She flooded aft.” The fact is most of the damage I could see was water damage. So if you hear a lot of nonsense, set things straight.
I know I’ve written about my concerns about stabilizers before. Trianon, for one, has moved her forward ones. I think it’s especially dangerous because it seems there’s less money spent on keeping waterways clear these days. I talked to Mark Spillane, the new owner of “Exact,” renamed “Coconuts” and we talked about stabilizers. Mark said, “ I don’t want them. Let’s get them out of there. They don’t work anyway, right?’ I said, “Not really. I should introduce everyone to Mark. He loves Trumpy yachts, Rybovich and big game hunting. He’s a self-made man who is tremendous fun to be around. I think he’s the type of young owner who will bring new life, with zest, to our community.
Someone else I want to introduce is Frank Lynch, who is famous in the world of Rock & Roll and is soon to be the proud owner of El Presidente. He plans to take her from Chicago to Charleston. So what makes Frank famous? You’ll just have to meet him. The guy speaks in a soft Irish/Scottish brogue that makes my wife swoon every time she talks to him, not that I’m jealous.
As for Joe Bartram, he loves Trumpy yachts, and I don’t see him too far from the water. His firm is celebrating its 40th anniversary soon and Joe’s been around these boats much longer than that.
Matt Howard won’t have El Presidente but he still has a schooner, the Allegro, his 1929 John Alden. If it wasn’t for Matt’s vision to structurally rebuild El President, she might not be here today. Thank you Matt, for your caring stewardship.
In closing, there’s going to be something very special that will be unveiled at Ocean Reef’s Vintage Weekend and only Vicki, Allen and I know. So it’s time to make plans to meet in Key Largo the first weekend in December.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
We have had a very exciting month, to say the least. This month’s Professional Boatbuilder has Nathan and Mike on the cover and an in-depth article on our company. Aaron Porter, an editor and writer at the magazine came down and spent a couple days with us in South Florida. He was everywhere and spent time interviewing everyone. When I read the first proof, I found it humbling. It only took me 52 years to become an overnight success. I have sent copies to some of you but I ran out so I have enclosed copies.
In other news, I went on a great adventure on the northeast. That story will be on the web site under letters. It was going to be my next newsletter but there has been so much more going on that I changed mind.
On Summerwind, our schooner project, Jon Meek and crew have installed the stern post. We had to cut off the back part of the keel and the deadwood so the rudder, keel area is new.
Carpenter Don Thibeault, who many of you will remember from his many years at Rybovich Spencer, and Spencer before that, is made of some pretty tough stuff. He broke his wrist removing the shaft log on Stargazer and he was mad at himself because he couldn’t finish it because he had to miss a few days of work. After surgery, with his wrist in a cast, he’s back at work in restoration of a little Rybovich at our yard.
In North Carolina, I got a call from Capt. Jeff on the Sea Hammock, 83’ Trumpy yacht formerly called Eskimo. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just a friendly chat. She was just south of Beaufort, N.C. and there was serious duress in his voice. Cruising along just south of Swansboro, around Cherry Point bombing range, Sea Hammock struck something underwater while running in the middle of the channel. The stabilizer and the hull surrounding it broke free. Capt. Jeff did what was best for his ship, running it into a sandbank just ahead that jutted out in the channel. He placed her aground where the aft filled with water. She settled down right in the middle of the channel. Towboat and Capt. Rod and his crew covered the hole and pumped her out. I was in Florida but I told Capt. Jeff that Stephanie, Nathan and Jimmy Berkeley and crew were up there and could help and they did.
As Towboat pumped and patched, we were planning what to do with Sea Hammock’s engines. She has big Caterpillar engines with ZF transmissions. Our neighbor at the marine park include Gregory Poole Caterpillar dealer and ZF marine. Hoses, dehumidifiers and other stuff were already being prepared so I could call Jeff Fulcher, Jarrett Bay’s yard manager. I told him what I knew. It was a Saturday. I said Sea Hammock might be towed in around 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning. Jeff said, “Okay.” He didn’t even flinch. At 1 a.m., the slings were dropped in the water and slid under Sea Hammock and lifted her up just enough to hold her for the rest of the night. The next day, Nate would laser target Sea Hammock before hard lifting her. Nathan, like a rock, got everybody working on cleaning and preserving as many things as possible. When I flew in, they had everything under control. Looking at the Sea Hammock, my heart sank deep in my chest.
She is a grand houseboat, Contract 400, built for John Kimberly and launched as “Eskimo.” In the next few days, I was receiving calls like there had been a telegraph sent out in the Trumpy community. I repeated the same answers: “No, she is not cracked in two. No, she did not sink! She flooded aft.” The fact is most of the damage I could see was water damage. So if you hear a lot of nonsense, set things straight.
I know I’ve written about my concerns about stabilizers before. Trianon, for one, has moved her forward ones. I think it’s especially dangerous because it seems there’s less money spent on keeping waterways clear these days. I talked to Mark Spillane, the new owner of “Exact,” renamed “Coconuts” and we talked about stabilizers. Mark said, “ I don’t want them. Let’s get them out of there. They don’t work anyway, right?’ I said, “Not really. I should introduce everyone to Mark. He loves Trumpy yachts, Rybovich and big game hunting. He’s a self-made man who is tremendous fun to be around. I think he’s the type of young owner who will bring new life, with zest, to our community.
Someone else I want to introduce is Frank Lynch, who is famous in the world of Rock & Roll and is soon to be the proud owner of El Presidente. He plans to take her from Chicago to Charleston. So what makes Frank famous? You’ll just have to meet him. The guy speaks in a soft Irish/Scottish brogue that makes my wife swoon every time she talks to him, not that I’m jealous.
As for Joe Bartram, he loves Trumpy yachts, and I don’t see him too far from the water. His firm is celebrating its 40th anniversary soon and Joe’s been around these boats much longer than that.
Matt Howard won’t have El Presidente but he still has a schooner, the Allegro, his 1929 John Alden. If it wasn’t for Matt’s vision to structurally rebuild El President, she might not be here today. Thank you Matt, for your caring stewardship.
In closing, there’s going to be something very special that will be unveiled at Ocean Reef’s Vintage Weekend and only Vicki, Allen and I know. So it’s time to make plans to meet in Key Largo the first weekend in December.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
September 2007
Dear Friends,
I was cleaning out my office and going through some papers when I found a little story I wrote a long time ago. A while back, someone asked me how I got interested in boats and I thought about it and later on, I wrote it down.
I can pinpoint the event that started what would draw me to the sea, before I ever sailed on one. As a child, we had a creek behind our house, “Cool Creek.” It was a swimming hole and we built dams and as kids, it was OUR place. It was winter in late 1960s and we were living in the Causey House back in Indiana. From the back porch down the hill lived a crazy farmer and I mean crazy. He used to chase us around with his tractor and throw pitch forks at us if he caught us on his land. He was the only thing between us kids and the creek.
I was around 11 years old at the time. It was winter and a very cold one. John, my little brother, and I sat one Saturday watching an all-day buccaneer movie marathon. I think it was every one ever made. By early afternoon, we were stir crazy. We grabbed out coats and makeshift swords and out the door we went, headed down to the creek. It was frozen over. Skating in our shoes and swinging our wooden swords, we had a good time. As we played, John saw something in the ice so we slid that way. What we found was our “ship” frozen in the ice and dirt. It was ours for the taking and she was six feet or so long and made of galvanized steel. It was really a watering trough for cattle that belonged to the farmer. John and I made a pact to dig her free of ice, no matter what it took. After school every day, we would dig a little and then little more. We swore an oath to tell no one of our ship. We did not want the other kids to find her and steal her.
One day, she broke free and we dragged our prize into the woods. It was still too cold to take her out. Besides, we needed a plan and even more desperately, paddles. Spring thaw came and the water rose and some boards from the farmer’s barn, and we had a plan and paddles. My brother was much younger than me, meaning smaller, and we needed someone with power and size to crew. There was a new subdivision up the road and we picked a kid, and swore him in to our secret oath. The plan was to make it to the White River. The water was rising in the creek and one Saturday morning, we decided to launch her. The water was swift and she bounced around on her flat bottom, but she was pretty stable. Our first leg of the trip, we had some mishaps and a couple of sinkings but we were men of the water. We pulled her up into the woods and our hands were numb and our lips were blue. We wet buccaneers had a long walk home. The next weekend, we went again.
We were now more organized and we could manuever our ship better. There was a large tree laying across the creek and as we went under it, we got wedged and she sunk to the bottom. We tried to get the trough unstuck and back up but the water was so cold, we finally gave up. The following weekend, we came back. The water had dropped and upon our return, she was gone. Sadly, we never made it to the White River in our trough and our first adventure was over.
I didn’t realize it at the time but it wasn’t the destination, but the journey forward that makes the adventure. Not knowing what was next or just around the corner, that’s what makes life interesting. Shortly after this, we would move to the ocean.
I learned to sail and found that real boats were a lot easier than a cattle trough and my adventures would be a lot grander. But it was that farmer’s cattle trough frozen in the ice of Cool Creek in Indiana that started it all for me.
Now that I’ve shared my story, I’d like to hear from you. What’s your story. How did you get started with boats?
Jim
I was cleaning out my office and going through some papers when I found a little story I wrote a long time ago. A while back, someone asked me how I got interested in boats and I thought about it and later on, I wrote it down.
I can pinpoint the event that started what would draw me to the sea, before I ever sailed on one. As a child, we had a creek behind our house, “Cool Creek.” It was a swimming hole and we built dams and as kids, it was OUR place. It was winter in late 1960s and we were living in the Causey House back in Indiana. From the back porch down the hill lived a crazy farmer and I mean crazy. He used to chase us around with his tractor and throw pitch forks at us if he caught us on his land. He was the only thing between us kids and the creek.
I was around 11 years old at the time. It was winter and a very cold one. John, my little brother, and I sat one Saturday watching an all-day buccaneer movie marathon. I think it was every one ever made. By early afternoon, we were stir crazy. We grabbed out coats and makeshift swords and out the door we went, headed down to the creek. It was frozen over. Skating in our shoes and swinging our wooden swords, we had a good time. As we played, John saw something in the ice so we slid that way. What we found was our “ship” frozen in the ice and dirt. It was ours for the taking and she was six feet or so long and made of galvanized steel. It was really a watering trough for cattle that belonged to the farmer. John and I made a pact to dig her free of ice, no matter what it took. After school every day, we would dig a little and then little more. We swore an oath to tell no one of our ship. We did not want the other kids to find her and steal her.
One day, she broke free and we dragged our prize into the woods. It was still too cold to take her out. Besides, we needed a plan and even more desperately, paddles. Spring thaw came and the water rose and some boards from the farmer’s barn, and we had a plan and paddles. My brother was much younger than me, meaning smaller, and we needed someone with power and size to crew. There was a new subdivision up the road and we picked a kid, and swore him in to our secret oath. The plan was to make it to the White River. The water was rising in the creek and one Saturday morning, we decided to launch her. The water was swift and she bounced around on her flat bottom, but she was pretty stable. Our first leg of the trip, we had some mishaps and a couple of sinkings but we were men of the water. We pulled her up into the woods and our hands were numb and our lips were blue. We wet buccaneers had a long walk home. The next weekend, we went again.
We were now more organized and we could manuever our ship better. There was a large tree laying across the creek and as we went under it, we got wedged and she sunk to the bottom. We tried to get the trough unstuck and back up but the water was so cold, we finally gave up. The following weekend, we came back. The water had dropped and upon our return, she was gone. Sadly, we never made it to the White River in our trough and our first adventure was over.
I didn’t realize it at the time but it wasn’t the destination, but the journey forward that makes the adventure. Not knowing what was next or just around the corner, that’s what makes life interesting. Shortly after this, we would move to the ocean.
I learned to sail and found that real boats were a lot easier than a cattle trough and my adventures would be a lot grander. But it was that farmer’s cattle trough frozen in the ice of Cool Creek in Indiana that started it all for me.
Now that I’ve shared my story, I’d like to hear from you. What’s your story. How did you get started with boats?
Jim
Saturday, August 25, 2007
August 2007
Dear friends,
I opened up a copy of this month’s “Yachting” magazine, its 100th year edition, and the magazine commissioned a T-shirt with a Trumpy yacht on the back. It’s a photo of an Annapolis Trumpy. Of all the yachts from 1907 to 2007 featured in the magazine, they chose one of my favorite Trumpys. So which one is it? I guess you’ll have to pick up a copy or go online at yachting.com because I don’t want to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say, I have the T-shirt.
And, these Trumpy yachts do get around. I got a call from France, from a Trumpy captain asking for help. It seemed that one of the shaft couplings broke and he could not find one so instead, he found me. I gave him a name, Kurt, of Anchor Miami Propellers, who has done of a number of these for me. But first, I had a couple of questions: “Did you re-power?” “Did you change the shifters?” The answer was “yes” to both. It turned out that during the engine refit, they installed electronic shifters. Mr. Trumpy chose Panish controls for a reason. They have a built-in delay. When you are turning a shaft 30 to 40 feet long, the shafts are long and narrow. With the force and energy of a modern engine and new controls, well something had to give.
Panish controls is still very much in business in Bridgeport, Conn. Their website is www.panishcontrols.com. Their addresss is 191 Bennett Street, Bridgeport, Conn., 06605. Tel. 203-333-7371.
My next story involves a recent trip I took to Chicago to spend some time aboard El Presidente, with Matt and Tracy Howard. Along with the 1939 96-foot Mathis-Trumpy, the Howards also have a 1929 John Alden Schooner, named Allegro. We had lots to talk about. So after taking care of business, I was invited to take a sail. The wind was fresh but by the time we weighed the mooring, it was flat calm. That didn’t stop us so we motored around outside the harbor. With the skyline and the clouds touching them, it was quite a picture. We drank red wine and our conversation danced from one thing to another.
Matt told me about his adventures of going to Florida and back on El Presidente and his favorite part was at Ocean Reef. On his way down from Chicago, he called me to ask about something while he was in town. He was in the Tom Digby Canal about 400 miles away from Key Largo headed south. I asked him, “Do you want to go to Ocean Reef’s Vintage Weekend? His reply was, “Sure, why not. Where is it and when?” Well, they did and El Prez won the top prize, the Spectator’s Choice Award.
As we motored about, Matt kept eyeing my hat, a Trumpy hat. “So where do you get one of those?” I told him it was a gift from Bill Waskey and it was the first time I had worn it. Well, Matt is a Trumpy enthusiast to the end and deserved that hat, as much as I hated parting with it. And, I had my old one back at the shop. It looked good on Matt’s head. They invited me to dinner at Columbia Yacht Club. It is a true sailors club, the clubhouse is a 300-foot ice breaker that is permanently moored in the middle of the harbor. We dined on the foredeck with the city lights at sunset as our back drop, while the fog moved in and out. Our conversation flowed until we closed the restaurant down and headed to the lounge at the stern to meet Matt’s friends. Chicago by night has its own magic. The next morning, I spent it aboard El Prez. Matt gave me an Allegro hat with his schooner on it. More than a fair trade. I had only been to Chicago once before, in winter, when the city was asleep and I didn’t realize then the beauty of this city.
Matt’s schooner was inspiring. Our schooner project is moving forward rapidly. We are over four weeks ahead of schedule. Our schooner, and I do mean ours, because everyone here feels she’s a part of us, is being fitted to carry more sail. She was built to cruise but is being refitted to race and cruise with square top foresail and three head sails. And, with her new ring frames, the rig can be turned tighter than ever before. She will carry 1,400 to 1,800 more square feet of sail. John Alden would be proud.
When we unplanked the aft part of the bottom, we found that the stern post needed attention. There has been many steel plates added aft so the decision was made to replace it but where do we get the wood?
I showed Jon Meek, the lead carpenter on the project, where I had hidden away lumber from 500 plus year old trees, Angelique from Brazil. They were 20 feet long, 48 inches across and we would slab laminate. This stern post would weigh 1,000 to 1,500 pounds once it is laminated so we had to think smart. We would laminate and rough out the stern post at the shop using a forklift. It would be loaded in a truck and then unloaded by forklift at the boat yard but we will still need to get it in place..
We have constructed a steel frame to support the aft area, making it hard to get a forklift in the sternpost area. We decided to go low-tech, use Egyptian technology, meaning many men with many ropes and braces. It will be put in place by brute manpower just like we did on the keel forefoot. Summerwind has come so far. We have a lot more still to do but this is such an emotionally rewarding project that everyone’s passions and energies are high.
Now to North Carolina. First, Nathan and Rene became the proud parents of a baby girl, Nicoletta Smith a few days before Nathan’s birthday in July. The Iva W has been launched after Nate and his crew replanked, refastened, caulked and painted her. Our Florida store provided supply support, sending up materials and the wood, old growth cypress, came from our North Carolina supplier, Churchill.
The North Carolina crew just started Cherokee, a 1907 launch and also are working on putting the finishing touches on the store, including varnish on the pilothouse from Ibis, a 1912 Trumpy yacht. She still has some paint work to go and needs a skirt at the bottom but she will be the centerpiece of the store. I recently sent up two bundles of Bangkirai decking so that the store will have a wrap around deck.
Before we started constructing the buildings, I decided that I wanted to name each building after someone special. The first was the Myron, after the young engineer who helped create the boat yard, Myron Meadows. And the second, the store, is named after Mr. Hollis Baker. The first time I met Mr. Baker, he told me that he built a sailing bark with 30 plus sails. I said, “Sure,” with some doubt in my voice. The next day, he brought me a copy of magazine with his bark in full sail on the cover. The man has had my attention ever since and he has had many yachts since then. Mr. Baker is a true yachtsman and a fine gentleman and I’ve been honored to know him all these years. When I told him that I named a building after him, He smiled and seemed pleased. “Well, Jim, no one has ever named a building after me,” he said.
It’s time someone did.
Until next time,
Jim
P.S. It’s never too soon to start making plans for Vintage Weekend at Ocean Reef Club, which runs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. Contact Cindy Elverman at 305-367-5874 or by email: celverman@oceanreef.com.
I opened up a copy of this month’s “Yachting” magazine, its 100th year edition, and the magazine commissioned a T-shirt with a Trumpy yacht on the back. It’s a photo of an Annapolis Trumpy. Of all the yachts from 1907 to 2007 featured in the magazine, they chose one of my favorite Trumpys. So which one is it? I guess you’ll have to pick up a copy or go online at yachting.com because I don’t want to spoil it for you. Suffice it to say, I have the T-shirt.
And, these Trumpy yachts do get around. I got a call from France, from a Trumpy captain asking for help. It seemed that one of the shaft couplings broke and he could not find one so instead, he found me. I gave him a name, Kurt, of Anchor Miami Propellers, who has done of a number of these for me. But first, I had a couple of questions: “Did you re-power?” “Did you change the shifters?” The answer was “yes” to both. It turned out that during the engine refit, they installed electronic shifters. Mr. Trumpy chose Panish controls for a reason. They have a built-in delay. When you are turning a shaft 30 to 40 feet long, the shafts are long and narrow. With the force and energy of a modern engine and new controls, well something had to give.
Panish controls is still very much in business in Bridgeport, Conn. Their website is www.panishcontrols.com. Their addresss is 191 Bennett Street, Bridgeport, Conn., 06605. Tel. 203-333-7371.
My next story involves a recent trip I took to Chicago to spend some time aboard El Presidente, with Matt and Tracy Howard. Along with the 1939 96-foot Mathis-Trumpy, the Howards also have a 1929 John Alden Schooner, named Allegro. We had lots to talk about. So after taking care of business, I was invited to take a sail. The wind was fresh but by the time we weighed the mooring, it was flat calm. That didn’t stop us so we motored around outside the harbor. With the skyline and the clouds touching them, it was quite a picture. We drank red wine and our conversation danced from one thing to another.
Matt told me about his adventures of going to Florida and back on El Presidente and his favorite part was at Ocean Reef. On his way down from Chicago, he called me to ask about something while he was in town. He was in the Tom Digby Canal about 400 miles away from Key Largo headed south. I asked him, “Do you want to go to Ocean Reef’s Vintage Weekend? His reply was, “Sure, why not. Where is it and when?” Well, they did and El Prez won the top prize, the Spectator’s Choice Award.
As we motored about, Matt kept eyeing my hat, a Trumpy hat. “So where do you get one of those?” I told him it was a gift from Bill Waskey and it was the first time I had worn it. Well, Matt is a Trumpy enthusiast to the end and deserved that hat, as much as I hated parting with it. And, I had my old one back at the shop. It looked good on Matt’s head. They invited me to dinner at Columbia Yacht Club. It is a true sailors club, the clubhouse is a 300-foot ice breaker that is permanently moored in the middle of the harbor. We dined on the foredeck with the city lights at sunset as our back drop, while the fog moved in and out. Our conversation flowed until we closed the restaurant down and headed to the lounge at the stern to meet Matt’s friends. Chicago by night has its own magic. The next morning, I spent it aboard El Prez. Matt gave me an Allegro hat with his schooner on it. More than a fair trade. I had only been to Chicago once before, in winter, when the city was asleep and I didn’t realize then the beauty of this city.
Matt’s schooner was inspiring. Our schooner project is moving forward rapidly. We are over four weeks ahead of schedule. Our schooner, and I do mean ours, because everyone here feels she’s a part of us, is being fitted to carry more sail. She was built to cruise but is being refitted to race and cruise with square top foresail and three head sails. And, with her new ring frames, the rig can be turned tighter than ever before. She will carry 1,400 to 1,800 more square feet of sail. John Alden would be proud.
When we unplanked the aft part of the bottom, we found that the stern post needed attention. There has been many steel plates added aft so the decision was made to replace it but where do we get the wood?
I showed Jon Meek, the lead carpenter on the project, where I had hidden away lumber from 500 plus year old trees, Angelique from Brazil. They were 20 feet long, 48 inches across and we would slab laminate. This stern post would weigh 1,000 to 1,500 pounds once it is laminated so we had to think smart. We would laminate and rough out the stern post at the shop using a forklift. It would be loaded in a truck and then unloaded by forklift at the boat yard but we will still need to get it in place..
We have constructed a steel frame to support the aft area, making it hard to get a forklift in the sternpost area. We decided to go low-tech, use Egyptian technology, meaning many men with many ropes and braces. It will be put in place by brute manpower just like we did on the keel forefoot. Summerwind has come so far. We have a lot more still to do but this is such an emotionally rewarding project that everyone’s passions and energies are high.
Now to North Carolina. First, Nathan and Rene became the proud parents of a baby girl, Nicoletta Smith a few days before Nathan’s birthday in July. The Iva W has been launched after Nate and his crew replanked, refastened, caulked and painted her. Our Florida store provided supply support, sending up materials and the wood, old growth cypress, came from our North Carolina supplier, Churchill.
The North Carolina crew just started Cherokee, a 1907 launch and also are working on putting the finishing touches on the store, including varnish on the pilothouse from Ibis, a 1912 Trumpy yacht. She still has some paint work to go and needs a skirt at the bottom but she will be the centerpiece of the store. I recently sent up two bundles of Bangkirai decking so that the store will have a wrap around deck.
Before we started constructing the buildings, I decided that I wanted to name each building after someone special. The first was the Myron, after the young engineer who helped create the boat yard, Myron Meadows. And the second, the store, is named after Mr. Hollis Baker. The first time I met Mr. Baker, he told me that he built a sailing bark with 30 plus sails. I said, “Sure,” with some doubt in my voice. The next day, he brought me a copy of magazine with his bark in full sail on the cover. The man has had my attention ever since and he has had many yachts since then. Mr. Baker is a true yachtsman and a fine gentleman and I’ve been honored to know him all these years. When I told him that I named a building after him, He smiled and seemed pleased. “Well, Jim, no one has ever named a building after me,” he said.
It’s time someone did.
Until next time,
Jim
P.S. It’s never too soon to start making plans for Vintage Weekend at Ocean Reef Club, which runs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2. Contact Cindy Elverman at 305-367-5874 or by email: celverman@oceanreef.com.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
July 2007
Dear friends,
For all of you who did not make the Trumpy reunion, let me tell you what you missed: A lot. There was a great show of Trumpy yachts – Stately Lady, Contract 446, 1972 owned by Mr. Hollis Baker; Sirius Contract 448, 1972 owned by Mrs. Susan Max; Liberty, Contract 368, 1954; Manatee, Contract 341, 1958; Claudette, Contract 438, 1970. And, at the museum dock, Windrush, Contract 424, 1966; Celebration, Contract 415, 1964 and the queen of the ball, S.S. Sophie, Contract 328, 1947. Sophie made a brief appearance like a queen should.
There were a lot of people who came great distances to be there. This was the most intimate reunion I think I’ve ever attended. Quiet conversations on aft decks, small cocktail parties, and dinners water side with friends. It has been five years since the last one so this has been a much anticipated event.
At the last one in 2002, the late Peter Max was president. I made a promise then, at that general meeting, that I would share all the secrets of the trade that I have learned over the years to help preserve these great yachts. Thirty-two letters later, I can say I have kept my promise. I hope that I have entertained you and enlightened you.
The other promise I made to Peter was the web site. Boy, I thought I’d never find a web master who wasn’t all hot air but I found Andrew Peeling, a great young man, very patient. We sat side by side every Saturday for several years building Trumpyyachts.com. He has graduated college and is a webmaster for a television network affiliate, but he still comes in on Saturdays to work on the site. It is something that fill both of us with pride.
I am ready to take on the next challenge, a book about the evolution of design in John Trumpy’s yachts. This is not to compete with the Trumpy book but more to complete the story on these great yachts. Sigrid and Trudy Trumpy and I are talking about writing it together.
A few years ago, I bought a G5 Mac computer and a high resolution scanner just for this task. I still don’t know how to use it by I have young people who do. I need photos, lots of photos of Trumpy yachts past and present. I have started with building the web site. This project will take on a life of its own. We will need many people’s help. This is going to be a great adventure. I have thought about it for a long time. If you would like to help and you have old photos, if you send them to me, I will scan them and return them to you. If we use them in the book, we will give you a photo credit with “photos courtesy of YOU.” Writing a book is a lot like building a boat. There are lots of little pieces that have to go together.
On the way back, I stopped in North Carolina. Rolling into Beaufort is instantly relaxing. I stopped along the waterfront to listen to some music. James, my son, has quickly made friends in summer camp and he is enjoying himself. I have sat along the boardwalk sipping red wine. I called a friend and James and I were swept off for the weekend, sailing out to Cape Lookout. We caught fresh mackerel and invited them to be dinner. The waters here remind me of the Bahamas, clear blues and green, but with the wind and the surf pounding. There is a euphoric feeling I get every time I travel here. Staying in South River, the nights are still cool and the wind hums through the needles of yellow pine tree canopy, see-sawing the rocking chairs out back.
I am really proud of what Stephanie and my brother-in-law Nathan have accomplished. Stephanie has taken our river cottage and made it into a home. At the yacht center, the two of them have transformed tin buildings into a home for our company.
The Ibis, the 1912 Trumpy deck house, is being restored and will be the heart of the new store. We plan to have as many photos in the store and the boat shop as wall space allows.
We are looking for a winter restoration project to fill the boat shop. The door is 20’ wide and 18’ tall and the boat can be up to 68’ long but can’t weigh more than 30 tons or 60,000 pounds.
For all of you who did not make the Trumpy reunion, let me tell you what you missed: A lot. There was a great show of Trumpy yachts – Stately Lady, Contract 446, 1972 owned by Mr. Hollis Baker; Sirius Contract 448, 1972 owned by Mrs. Susan Max; Liberty, Contract 368, 1954; Manatee, Contract 341, 1958; Claudette, Contract 438, 1970. And, at the museum dock, Windrush, Contract 424, 1966; Celebration, Contract 415, 1964 and the queen of the ball, S.S. Sophie, Contract 328, 1947. Sophie made a brief appearance like a queen should.
There were a lot of people who came great distances to be there. This was the most intimate reunion I think I’ve ever attended. Quiet conversations on aft decks, small cocktail parties, and dinners water side with friends. It has been five years since the last one so this has been a much anticipated event.
At the last one in 2002, the late Peter Max was president. I made a promise then, at that general meeting, that I would share all the secrets of the trade that I have learned over the years to help preserve these great yachts. Thirty-two letters later, I can say I have kept my promise. I hope that I have entertained you and enlightened you.
The other promise I made to Peter was the web site. Boy, I thought I’d never find a web master who wasn’t all hot air but I found Andrew Peeling, a great young man, very patient. We sat side by side every Saturday for several years building Trumpyyachts.com. He has graduated college and is a webmaster for a television network affiliate, but he still comes in on Saturdays to work on the site. It is something that fill both of us with pride.
I am ready to take on the next challenge, a book about the evolution of design in John Trumpy’s yachts. This is not to compete with the Trumpy book but more to complete the story on these great yachts. Sigrid and Trudy Trumpy and I are talking about writing it together.
A few years ago, I bought a G5 Mac computer and a high resolution scanner just for this task. I still don’t know how to use it by I have young people who do. I need photos, lots of photos of Trumpy yachts past and present. I have started with building the web site. This project will take on a life of its own. We will need many people’s help. This is going to be a great adventure. I have thought about it for a long time. If you would like to help and you have old photos, if you send them to me, I will scan them and return them to you. If we use them in the book, we will give you a photo credit with “photos courtesy of YOU.” Writing a book is a lot like building a boat. There are lots of little pieces that have to go together.
On the way back, I stopped in North Carolina. Rolling into Beaufort is instantly relaxing. I stopped along the waterfront to listen to some music. James, my son, has quickly made friends in summer camp and he is enjoying himself. I have sat along the boardwalk sipping red wine. I called a friend and James and I were swept off for the weekend, sailing out to Cape Lookout. We caught fresh mackerel and invited them to be dinner. The waters here remind me of the Bahamas, clear blues and green, but with the wind and the surf pounding. There is a euphoric feeling I get every time I travel here. Staying in South River, the nights are still cool and the wind hums through the needles of yellow pine tree canopy, see-sawing the rocking chairs out back.
I am really proud of what Stephanie and my brother-in-law Nathan have accomplished. Stephanie has taken our river cottage and made it into a home. At the yacht center, the two of them have transformed tin buildings into a home for our company.
The Ibis, the 1912 Trumpy deck house, is being restored and will be the heart of the new store. We plan to have as many photos in the store and the boat shop as wall space allows.
We are looking for a winter restoration project to fill the boat shop. The door is 20’ wide and 18’ tall and the boat can be up to 68’ long but can’t weigh more than 30 tons or 60,000 pounds.
June 2007
Dear friends,
Three or so years ago, we were working on a Trumpy bottom refit when it started to rain and wouldn’t stop. It was like something out of the Bible.
The next 30 days of rain set a Florida record. As the rains kept coming, the ground shifted and I had to re-blocked and reset the jack stands several times. No damage was done but I wasn’t going to do another project like that on soft ground again.
We constructed three concrete pads out of high-compression concrete at a cost of $22,000 on someone elses land. One pad got cut up to lay a new water main. The second had containers placed on it. And, the last has our currant schooner project on it. We constructed 16 steel pole arms with jack stands mounted upside down on them to gently support the weight of the whole hull.
We are building a boat backwards. We have a top and we are building a bottom. It’s a dream job. Each person involved in Summerwind has been handpicked. We have the best materials that can be found anywhere and we are walking in the foot steps of great masters and those are very big foot steps to fill. The only changes we are making are to better distribute the stress that modern rigging has placed on 1929 built Summerwind,. The mast step and ring frames will be high tech but buried deep inside the yacht. Then there’s our crew: Jon, Dave, Don, Jim, Arie, Rich, Jacob, Jermaine, Bernard, Alejandro, Brian, and our metal man Kip who looks like he should be on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s one heck of a crew. So how does John Trumpy get into this letter as he invariably always does in my letters? We are working on Trianon, 80 feet, built in 1960, Contract No. 392.
She is out for some bottom repairs. With her long graceful hull, we picked her up on the nine sling Travelift and set her down. We only had 3/8” of deflection from when we laser targeted her in the water to when we blocked her on land.
Through the years we have turned lifting wooden boats into a measurable science. I’ve decide to put together those great masters John Trumpy and John Alden on the Summerwind. project. I told Mr. Williamson that when we re-do the master stateroom on his Alden schooner, I would like to use parts we saved from Ibis, a 1912 Mathis Trumpy. Ibis’ inset mahogany panels, handmade doors with Tiffany glass and one of the finest Trumpy writing desks I’ve ever seen.
I know Mr. Trumpy liked sailing and I think it’s fitting. I don’t think we’re going to take on anymore major projects in Florida for a while. Our hands are kind of full right now. We will continue to take care of our clients and paint and varnish but any more major projects will have to go to our North Carolina yacht center, which is up and ready to work. Mr. Hollis Baker and I have gone through four boat projects together in the last ten years and he always asked before we start if Nathan was going to be working on his yacht. Mr. Baker is not alone. Webster Rhoads, Capt. Jim Twaddle, Capt. John Russell and many others all ask for Nathanial.
Nathan’s mathematical mind and seriousness nature make him one of the most well-rounded and sought after craftsmen I have ever known. My focus is the Florida operation and Nathan’s is North Carolina, that’s the best of both worlds. The next time I pour a concrete slab, I will own the dirt underneath. It will be in North Carolina.!
Until next time,
Jim Moores
P.S. I hope you have made your arrangements to be at the Trumpy meet. Hope to see you there on June 15th – 17th at St. Michaels, Maryland.
Three or so years ago, we were working on a Trumpy bottom refit when it started to rain and wouldn’t stop. It was like something out of the Bible.
The next 30 days of rain set a Florida record. As the rains kept coming, the ground shifted and I had to re-blocked and reset the jack stands several times. No damage was done but I wasn’t going to do another project like that on soft ground again.
We constructed three concrete pads out of high-compression concrete at a cost of $22,000 on someone elses land. One pad got cut up to lay a new water main. The second had containers placed on it. And, the last has our currant schooner project on it. We constructed 16 steel pole arms with jack stands mounted upside down on them to gently support the weight of the whole hull.
We are building a boat backwards. We have a top and we are building a bottom. It’s a dream job. Each person involved in Summerwind has been handpicked. We have the best materials that can be found anywhere and we are walking in the foot steps of great masters and those are very big foot steps to fill. The only changes we are making are to better distribute the stress that modern rigging has placed on 1929 built Summerwind,. The mast step and ring frames will be high tech but buried deep inside the yacht. Then there’s our crew: Jon, Dave, Don, Jim, Arie, Rich, Jacob, Jermaine, Bernard, Alejandro, Brian, and our metal man Kip who looks like he should be on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s one heck of a crew. So how does John Trumpy get into this letter as he invariably always does in my letters? We are working on Trianon, 80 feet, built in 1960, Contract No. 392.
She is out for some bottom repairs. With her long graceful hull, we picked her up on the nine sling Travelift and set her down. We only had 3/8” of deflection from when we laser targeted her in the water to when we blocked her on land.
Through the years we have turned lifting wooden boats into a measurable science. I’ve decide to put together those great masters John Trumpy and John Alden on the Summerwind. project. I told Mr. Williamson that when we re-do the master stateroom on his Alden schooner, I would like to use parts we saved from Ibis, a 1912 Mathis Trumpy. Ibis’ inset mahogany panels, handmade doors with Tiffany glass and one of the finest Trumpy writing desks I’ve ever seen.
I know Mr. Trumpy liked sailing and I think it’s fitting. I don’t think we’re going to take on anymore major projects in Florida for a while. Our hands are kind of full right now. We will continue to take care of our clients and paint and varnish but any more major projects will have to go to our North Carolina yacht center, which is up and ready to work. Mr. Hollis Baker and I have gone through four boat projects together in the last ten years and he always asked before we start if Nathan was going to be working on his yacht. Mr. Baker is not alone. Webster Rhoads, Capt. Jim Twaddle, Capt. John Russell and many others all ask for Nathanial.
Nathan’s mathematical mind and seriousness nature make him one of the most well-rounded and sought after craftsmen I have ever known. My focus is the Florida operation and Nathan’s is North Carolina, that’s the best of both worlds. The next time I pour a concrete slab, I will own the dirt underneath. It will be in North Carolina.!
Until next time,
Jim Moores
P.S. I hope you have made your arrangements to be at the Trumpy meet. Hope to see you there on June 15th – 17th at St. Michaels, Maryland.
May 2007
Dear friends,
This is a short letter from the South. I want to thank you for all the e-mails and phone calls about bilge ventilation. The cost is about four to six thousand to install, houseboats with dry stack are harder than cruisers with stern exhaust. It is well worth the investment.
I want to continue on about air cleansing systems. My writing is based on my observations, and living in Florida. We have a damp, hot summer and houses, buildings and boats are air-conditioned and air quality is very important. HEPA filters remove dust and air particles. The problem is that with small AC systems they can freeze your compressors. It goes like this—your AC works by moving air over the condenser, these filters work only on systems that are designed for them and most massive systems can handle the HEPA filters. The reduction of air will also reduce the amount of cold air that moves about the cabin and mildew can grow in your filters reproducing it more.
The next is negative ion generators. The ocean creates negative ions. Some say that’s why man is drawn to the water in the first place. Ion generators are used to remove smoke and particles. I personally bought and installed them in our house. The metal strips are charged with electricity, as the air passes it pulls the air particles towards the strips. After one season I did not find they really did anything to speak about. Even though they were expensive, I was not impressed. There was an article in The Wall Street Journal that dispels the hype.
So what is next? Sunlight! Sunlight does a great job of cleaning air. I remember in Maine after a long winter we would pull out the rugs and mattresses and set them in the sun. The UV would clean them and they smelled fresh and clean. Open a boat or house and let the air flow through and in a short period of time the quality is refreshed. Sunlight; it’s that simple. So that is what my next newsletter will be about—sunlight in a can.
Just a quick update. I hope that I will be seeing you at the Trumpy meet at St Michaels Harbour Inn, June 15th to June 17th. If you have never attended one, I hope you don’t miss this one.
Last, the schooner project Summerwind is really taking shape. The large chunks of white oak have been cut and shaped into ribs and floors and keel forefoot. We are rebuilding her from the outside in. Using the inner ceiling to connect the new ribs to and patterning the old ones, we are building her new bottom. I hope to have photos on our website soon.
Hope to see you in June.
This is a short letter from the South. I want to thank you for all the e-mails and phone calls about bilge ventilation. The cost is about four to six thousand to install, houseboats with dry stack are harder than cruisers with stern exhaust. It is well worth the investment.
I want to continue on about air cleansing systems. My writing is based on my observations, and living in Florida. We have a damp, hot summer and houses, buildings and boats are air-conditioned and air quality is very important. HEPA filters remove dust and air particles. The problem is that with small AC systems they can freeze your compressors. It goes like this—your AC works by moving air over the condenser, these filters work only on systems that are designed for them and most massive systems can handle the HEPA filters. The reduction of air will also reduce the amount of cold air that moves about the cabin and mildew can grow in your filters reproducing it more.
The next is negative ion generators. The ocean creates negative ions. Some say that’s why man is drawn to the water in the first place. Ion generators are used to remove smoke and particles. I personally bought and installed them in our house. The metal strips are charged with electricity, as the air passes it pulls the air particles towards the strips. After one season I did not find they really did anything to speak about. Even though they were expensive, I was not impressed. There was an article in The Wall Street Journal that dispels the hype.
So what is next? Sunlight! Sunlight does a great job of cleaning air. I remember in Maine after a long winter we would pull out the rugs and mattresses and set them in the sun. The UV would clean them and they smelled fresh and clean. Open a boat or house and let the air flow through and in a short period of time the quality is refreshed. Sunlight; it’s that simple. So that is what my next newsletter will be about—sunlight in a can.
Just a quick update. I hope that I will be seeing you at the Trumpy meet at St Michaels Harbour Inn, June 15th to June 17th. If you have never attended one, I hope you don’t miss this one.
Last, the schooner project Summerwind is really taking shape. The large chunks of white oak have been cut and shaped into ribs and floors and keel forefoot. We are rebuilding her from the outside in. Using the inner ceiling to connect the new ribs to and patterning the old ones, we are building her new bottom. I hope to have photos on our website soon.
Hope to see you in June.
April 2007
Dear friends,
Just when I thought things were going to slow down, we hauled out S.S. Sophie, the 80-foot Trumpy (contract 328, built in 1947), and launched the 1929 Consolidated Commuter Justice at the same time. After getting Justice to the dock, I headed to the Palm Beach Boat Show to see Joe Bartram’s Exact, a 75 foot Trumpy, Contract 420.
We had some minor warranty work that we wanted to take care of after the boat show. Most companies probably would not mention work that needs to be revisited but I have always been proud to stand by our work that we have taken to completion.
I would like to share a story from more than a few years back, about Col. Jack & Dottie Koneazny on the Fayaway, a custom 1940s soft ketch built in Nassau, Bahamas. I had been taking care of Jack’s boat for many years and he would bring her from South Carolina for her maintenance or so he said. Jack is retired military and runs a tight ship. He is also a writer and a fine chef.
On this haul out, we had fixed her side decks. After the launch, he was headed north. A few days went by when I got a call from Titusville. This was before cell phones became common. The message I received was alarming. Sailing the Intracoastal Waterway, yes sailing, the bridge tender had told them he would open and when it opened half way, it suddenly stopped. Heading down wind, they knew they weren’t going to make it. They hit the bridge. The heavy stays half in and chains that ran from bow sprit the stem, the impact pulled out the stem right out of the boat. As the mast started to break and head towards Jack, he pushed his wife overboard and deflected the mast away from him, breaking his hand. The spreader drove through the deck and out through the hull, below the water line. So if you are thinking the decks were maybe leaking, they weren’t. Col. Jack is a stubborn man and doesn’t give up easily. They brought the Fayaway back to me.
This whole ordeal had taken its toll on them. We made a deal to do this work in the off season and have her ready by the next winter. We built a new bow sprit, spliced new bottoms on to the spars and built a new stem. When I installed the new stem, we decided to use modern rubberized glue instead of putty and old-fashioned stop water in between the joints between the keel and stem below the water. After replanking the bow and replacing bulwarks, bow up and repairing the foredeck, the Fayaway was ready. So when Jack and Dottie returned that winter, we were painted and when we launched her after she swelled up, everything seemed okay. About two weeks in the water and she really started to leak in the bow. Jack brought her back to the shipyard. She was hauled out last boat and would stay in the slings overnight and go back first thing. So I pulled
Out the tools and got the power cords hooked up when it started raining, not a light rain but a flash flood type. I was so determined to drill and installed the stop water, a wooden dowel that I kept going. Dottie came up behind me and unplugged me before I electrocuted myself. The next morning, I installed it. I learned two good lessons: Keep to what has worked for centuries and don’t get so carried away that you get yourself electrocuted.
Although Joe’s warranty work wasn’t so dramatic, it involved interior veneer, it was still important to me. My father always said a man is only as good as his word and I have always tried to live by that.
As for the books that Col. Jack has written, he is in his third or fourth reprint on his Moose Cookbook. It think it has sold 300,000 or 400,000 copies. I didn’t know there were that many moose to cook. If you want one, his telephone number is 413-229-8841. He will sign a copy and write something special for you. You’re on you own on acquiring the moose.
I was recently asked when I find the time to write my letters. I just do. I think it might be something I learned from my father. He died when I was 10 but I still learned a lot from him. I truly enjoy writing it every month.
Stephanie, James and I recently headed to Beaufort, N.C. to stay at our little river cottage. My neighbor and friend, L.J. Hardy told me the history of our house. It was a “dollar house.” Mr. Hardy said, “Back in the 1950s, after the war, they would build you a house for a dollar down payment with the builder.” There were three of these little houses in South River, now only two remain.
The cottage reminds me of my childhood family getaways. Two years ago, my Uncle Merrill Moores sent me a drawing my father had done of a cottage called Kessler’s of Pompano Beach, FL. As children in the 1950s and early 1960s, my family would pack into our station wagon with six kids, two parents and lots of suitcases for the trek south from Indiana. At home, it was cold and we were pasty white and aching to swim in the Florida Ocean. The cottage was just off the beach, behind a small sand dune. There was a line of trees, and through the grass loaded with sand spurs was a stand of white cottages with blue shutters and palm trees. Inside, there was tongue and groove varnished walls. There might have been five or six, total. My whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, would descend on the cottages for the winter vacations and all the cottages were ours. I remember sand in my bed, shorts, everywhere. We must have driven our parents crazy. So when we found South River, I wanted this little house to have that spirit. So the heat is open gas front with white bricks that glow orange like Kessler’s and the walls are tongue and groove. As a nod to the south, we have added a porch swing to the front porch and put out rocking chairs made by hand by Mennonites out of willow on the back porch. If you get to South River, you’ll recognize the house because I crossed a pair of Amazon River paddles on the house peak. Most of the furniture came as gifts. The writing table is from Mr. Hollis Baker of Stately Lady. The white wicker came from Kris and Sheryl Garrison when they owned Patience II. Our art work consists of name boards we’ve collected over the years to original art from my son’s James early work in preschool and first grade. And yes, my father’s drawing of Kessler’s cottage is there, and it hangs in the center or the heart of our little house, the kitchen. We didn’t redo this house to rekindle something from my childhood. I was looking at the drawing when the similarities dawned on me. I wanted to create a special place for our own memories, new ones. James said, “We’re going to keep this place forever.” I agreed. “Yes, James. Forever.”
He only spent Spring Break at the cottage but he is already making plans for the summer with his best friend, Trey, Mr. Hardy’s grandson.
So from warranty work to Pompano, to South River, what other news do I have?
There are two Trumpy yachts that have made plans to be in Beaufort for the wooden boat show, but I’m not sure which ones. If you plan to be in the area, this is a great event.
The Summerwind project is in full swing, it’s ribs, ribs and more ribs. We are cutting small sections of planking away and sawing new frames below the waterline. There are two teams: one team is working in the rear of her and one on the bow. The new keel forefoot has been installed with floor timbers. Our bolts were made in Katy, Texas and the owner is a Texan so it was quite fitting. Our final cut of planking is in the kiln draying and will be shipped soon.
As I’m writing this letter, so much has happened that Justice has arrived in Beaufort. This was a big project done in a short time. It makes us proud to be a part of such a great American yacht.
I’m supposed to be on vacation, this is what Stephanie tells me, but when we arrived in Beaufort, there was so much to do. Jim Berkeley drove up our stuff to South River and the boat yard and David Rose helped him unload it all. So after we put our house together, we headed to the boat yard. Most of our equipment was still in the crates and needed to be put together and the work benches needed to be finished. There were piles of dirt in the lift path and no electricity and where was my blocking the boats? So we ended up painting and installing equipment personally. Well, our project engineer, Myron Meadows helped with the dirt and electricity.
David, Stephanie (who is now a pro with a screw gun) and I worked and worked to try to hang a cyclonic dust system on the wall, way up on the wall. Lifting, prying, using jackstands, we had her standing on scaffolding. As it moved up the wall, we needed to move it two inches to the right to hang it. As Dave and I pushed, with Stephanie acting as a counterbalance, the jackstands shifted. It was falling down. Stephanie jumped off and David and I tried to control the crash and we did. No one was hurt but we also didn’t have any energy left after that scare. Dave was willing to try again but we decided to take lunch and come up with a new plan. I hit the Ace Hardware and picked line and a come along, jerry rigged it and one man, Dave, was able to put it in place. Did I mention we were supposed to be on vacation!
With all this said, Moores Marine Yacht Center will open on time for our first boat, Windrush. The project after that will be Iva W, a 1929 Chesepeake Bay Buy Boat. We are official open for projects, big or small. Whatever you need.
If you want to know whether Beaufort is worth a stop, just ask the folks on Justice, S.S. Sophie and Sea Tabby. Justice had just left after inciting a local media frenzy when Sophie and Sea Tabby pulled in at the town docks.
It just so happened Stephanie’s new favorite person, Jeff Adams put together a shrimp boil that she says came straight from Creole country, with corn on the cob, potatoes and whole fists of garlic. After Sea Tabby left, Mike and Corliss Bradley had the rest of the crew over for dinner the next night. Beaufort people take Southern hospitality to new heights, and the thing is they really are this nice all the time.
Did I mention how I had to go back to Florida and miss all this already?
NOTE: This is my first installment on what I have learned about bilge and boat ventilation and air purification over the years.
Maybe it’s because I live in Florida where the water is warm but after working on many Trumpy yachts and other types, I found that many of these yachts share the same inherent problem. Now I do want to say that all of the yachts are at least 40 years old or much older. Many people in this day and age are allergic to mold and mildew and I’m one of them. Mold and mildew are the beginnings of rot, brown rot. It’s also known as wet rot. It needs dampness, stall air and darkness to grow. If you remove one of these elements, brown rot won’t grow. We developed a system to move air in and out of the aft areas on many Trumpy yachts. In Mr. Trumpy’s masterful original designs, he accomplished many things: Engine room forward, long shaft angles for less drag and one of the most beautiful hulls ever built. To make all that work, the aft floors are installed directly on top of the floor timbers. That restricts air movement quite a lot.
The problem with pumping air in the cabin is it will fill the boat with bilge smell. Sucking air out and you have pumped all your air conditioning and cold air overboard. The solution is to push and pull the air. There’s a large lazarette aft. By installing two low volume, silent running fans and using rubber connection hoses down and through the aft bulkhead, there is an area that runs along the hull that a 3” PVC pipe can be installed. Drilling and tapping the pipe every 16”, a hose bar and a plastic hose can be installed. That hose needs to be secured with a strap and fastener. They all need to be led under the sub floor. All angles have to be soft, no 90 degree turns, more 45 degrees. The trick is to match the push and pull of the air. Look at the drawing. What has taken years for us to perfect, I’ve just shared with you. Air Purifiers: (First of four installments).
Ozone generators have become quite popular and the U.S. government stores documents in an ozone rich environment because mildew will not grow in it. The problem with these being used for marine applications is ozone is corrosive and will eat the flexible finishes on varnish, paint and rubber. We just finished a project where it ate all the rubber out of the portholes and turned the painted surfaces to peeling paint. In my next installment, I will be writing about bow vents.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the letter.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
Just when I thought things were going to slow down, we hauled out S.S. Sophie, the 80-foot Trumpy (contract 328, built in 1947), and launched the 1929 Consolidated Commuter Justice at the same time. After getting Justice to the dock, I headed to the Palm Beach Boat Show to see Joe Bartram’s Exact, a 75 foot Trumpy, Contract 420.
We had some minor warranty work that we wanted to take care of after the boat show. Most companies probably would not mention work that needs to be revisited but I have always been proud to stand by our work that we have taken to completion.
I would like to share a story from more than a few years back, about Col. Jack & Dottie Koneazny on the Fayaway, a custom 1940s soft ketch built in Nassau, Bahamas. I had been taking care of Jack’s boat for many years and he would bring her from South Carolina for her maintenance or so he said. Jack is retired military and runs a tight ship. He is also a writer and a fine chef.
On this haul out, we had fixed her side decks. After the launch, he was headed north. A few days went by when I got a call from Titusville. This was before cell phones became common. The message I received was alarming. Sailing the Intracoastal Waterway, yes sailing, the bridge tender had told them he would open and when it opened half way, it suddenly stopped. Heading down wind, they knew they weren’t going to make it. They hit the bridge. The heavy stays half in and chains that ran from bow sprit the stem, the impact pulled out the stem right out of the boat. As the mast started to break and head towards Jack, he pushed his wife overboard and deflected the mast away from him, breaking his hand. The spreader drove through the deck and out through the hull, below the water line. So if you are thinking the decks were maybe leaking, they weren’t. Col. Jack is a stubborn man and doesn’t give up easily. They brought the Fayaway back to me.
This whole ordeal had taken its toll on them. We made a deal to do this work in the off season and have her ready by the next winter. We built a new bow sprit, spliced new bottoms on to the spars and built a new stem. When I installed the new stem, we decided to use modern rubberized glue instead of putty and old-fashioned stop water in between the joints between the keel and stem below the water. After replanking the bow and replacing bulwarks, bow up and repairing the foredeck, the Fayaway was ready. So when Jack and Dottie returned that winter, we were painted and when we launched her after she swelled up, everything seemed okay. About two weeks in the water and she really started to leak in the bow. Jack brought her back to the shipyard. She was hauled out last boat and would stay in the slings overnight and go back first thing. So I pulled
Out the tools and got the power cords hooked up when it started raining, not a light rain but a flash flood type. I was so determined to drill and installed the stop water, a wooden dowel that I kept going. Dottie came up behind me and unplugged me before I electrocuted myself. The next morning, I installed it. I learned two good lessons: Keep to what has worked for centuries and don’t get so carried away that you get yourself electrocuted.
Although Joe’s warranty work wasn’t so dramatic, it involved interior veneer, it was still important to me. My father always said a man is only as good as his word and I have always tried to live by that.
As for the books that Col. Jack has written, he is in his third or fourth reprint on his Moose Cookbook. It think it has sold 300,000 or 400,000 copies. I didn’t know there were that many moose to cook. If you want one, his telephone number is 413-229-8841. He will sign a copy and write something special for you. You’re on you own on acquiring the moose.
I was recently asked when I find the time to write my letters. I just do. I think it might be something I learned from my father. He died when I was 10 but I still learned a lot from him. I truly enjoy writing it every month.
Stephanie, James and I recently headed to Beaufort, N.C. to stay at our little river cottage. My neighbor and friend, L.J. Hardy told me the history of our house. It was a “dollar house.” Mr. Hardy said, “Back in the 1950s, after the war, they would build you a house for a dollar down payment with the builder.” There were three of these little houses in South River, now only two remain.
The cottage reminds me of my childhood family getaways. Two years ago, my Uncle Merrill Moores sent me a drawing my father had done of a cottage called Kessler’s of Pompano Beach, FL. As children in the 1950s and early 1960s, my family would pack into our station wagon with six kids, two parents and lots of suitcases for the trek south from Indiana. At home, it was cold and we were pasty white and aching to swim in the Florida Ocean. The cottage was just off the beach, behind a small sand dune. There was a line of trees, and through the grass loaded with sand spurs was a stand of white cottages with blue shutters and palm trees. Inside, there was tongue and groove varnished walls. There might have been five or six, total. My whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins, would descend on the cottages for the winter vacations and all the cottages were ours. I remember sand in my bed, shorts, everywhere. We must have driven our parents crazy. So when we found South River, I wanted this little house to have that spirit. So the heat is open gas front with white bricks that glow orange like Kessler’s and the walls are tongue and groove. As a nod to the south, we have added a porch swing to the front porch and put out rocking chairs made by hand by Mennonites out of willow on the back porch. If you get to South River, you’ll recognize the house because I crossed a pair of Amazon River paddles on the house peak. Most of the furniture came as gifts. The writing table is from Mr. Hollis Baker of Stately Lady. The white wicker came from Kris and Sheryl Garrison when they owned Patience II. Our art work consists of name boards we’ve collected over the years to original art from my son’s James early work in preschool and first grade. And yes, my father’s drawing of Kessler’s cottage is there, and it hangs in the center or the heart of our little house, the kitchen. We didn’t redo this house to rekindle something from my childhood. I was looking at the drawing when the similarities dawned on me. I wanted to create a special place for our own memories, new ones. James said, “We’re going to keep this place forever.” I agreed. “Yes, James. Forever.”
He only spent Spring Break at the cottage but he is already making plans for the summer with his best friend, Trey, Mr. Hardy’s grandson.
So from warranty work to Pompano, to South River, what other news do I have?
There are two Trumpy yachts that have made plans to be in Beaufort for the wooden boat show, but I’m not sure which ones. If you plan to be in the area, this is a great event.
The Summerwind project is in full swing, it’s ribs, ribs and more ribs. We are cutting small sections of planking away and sawing new frames below the waterline. There are two teams: one team is working in the rear of her and one on the bow. The new keel forefoot has been installed with floor timbers. Our bolts were made in Katy, Texas and the owner is a Texan so it was quite fitting. Our final cut of planking is in the kiln draying and will be shipped soon.
As I’m writing this letter, so much has happened that Justice has arrived in Beaufort. This was a big project done in a short time. It makes us proud to be a part of such a great American yacht.
I’m supposed to be on vacation, this is what Stephanie tells me, but when we arrived in Beaufort, there was so much to do. Jim Berkeley drove up our stuff to South River and the boat yard and David Rose helped him unload it all. So after we put our house together, we headed to the boat yard. Most of our equipment was still in the crates and needed to be put together and the work benches needed to be finished. There were piles of dirt in the lift path and no electricity and where was my blocking the boats? So we ended up painting and installing equipment personally. Well, our project engineer, Myron Meadows helped with the dirt and electricity.
David, Stephanie (who is now a pro with a screw gun) and I worked and worked to try to hang a cyclonic dust system on the wall, way up on the wall. Lifting, prying, using jackstands, we had her standing on scaffolding. As it moved up the wall, we needed to move it two inches to the right to hang it. As Dave and I pushed, with Stephanie acting as a counterbalance, the jackstands shifted. It was falling down. Stephanie jumped off and David and I tried to control the crash and we did. No one was hurt but we also didn’t have any energy left after that scare. Dave was willing to try again but we decided to take lunch and come up with a new plan. I hit the Ace Hardware and picked line and a come along, jerry rigged it and one man, Dave, was able to put it in place. Did I mention we were supposed to be on vacation!
With all this said, Moores Marine Yacht Center will open on time for our first boat, Windrush. The project after that will be Iva W, a 1929 Chesepeake Bay Buy Boat. We are official open for projects, big or small. Whatever you need.
If you want to know whether Beaufort is worth a stop, just ask the folks on Justice, S.S. Sophie and Sea Tabby. Justice had just left after inciting a local media frenzy when Sophie and Sea Tabby pulled in at the town docks.
It just so happened Stephanie’s new favorite person, Jeff Adams put together a shrimp boil that she says came straight from Creole country, with corn on the cob, potatoes and whole fists of garlic. After Sea Tabby left, Mike and Corliss Bradley had the rest of the crew over for dinner the next night. Beaufort people take Southern hospitality to new heights, and the thing is they really are this nice all the time.
Did I mention how I had to go back to Florida and miss all this already?
NOTE: This is my first installment on what I have learned about bilge and boat ventilation and air purification over the years.
Maybe it’s because I live in Florida where the water is warm but after working on many Trumpy yachts and other types, I found that many of these yachts share the same inherent problem. Now I do want to say that all of the yachts are at least 40 years old or much older. Many people in this day and age are allergic to mold and mildew and I’m one of them. Mold and mildew are the beginnings of rot, brown rot. It’s also known as wet rot. It needs dampness, stall air and darkness to grow. If you remove one of these elements, brown rot won’t grow. We developed a system to move air in and out of the aft areas on many Trumpy yachts. In Mr. Trumpy’s masterful original designs, he accomplished many things: Engine room forward, long shaft angles for less drag and one of the most beautiful hulls ever built. To make all that work, the aft floors are installed directly on top of the floor timbers. That restricts air movement quite a lot.
The problem with pumping air in the cabin is it will fill the boat with bilge smell. Sucking air out and you have pumped all your air conditioning and cold air overboard. The solution is to push and pull the air. There’s a large lazarette aft. By installing two low volume, silent running fans and using rubber connection hoses down and through the aft bulkhead, there is an area that runs along the hull that a 3” PVC pipe can be installed. Drilling and tapping the pipe every 16”, a hose bar and a plastic hose can be installed. That hose needs to be secured with a strap and fastener. They all need to be led under the sub floor. All angles have to be soft, no 90 degree turns, more 45 degrees. The trick is to match the push and pull of the air. Look at the drawing. What has taken years for us to perfect, I’ve just shared with you. Air Purifiers: (First of four installments).
Ozone generators have become quite popular and the U.S. government stores documents in an ozone rich environment because mildew will not grow in it. The problem with these being used for marine applications is ozone is corrosive and will eat the flexible finishes on varnish, paint and rubber. We just finished a project where it ate all the rubber out of the portholes and turned the painted surfaces to peeling paint. In my next installment, I will be writing about bow vents.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the letter.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
February 2007
Dear Friends:
It’s February in Florida. Cool days and even cooler nights and sleeping with the windows open make this the best time of the year. My wife Stephanie pinched me the other day when I was venting after a hectic day. Slow down and just savor the moment, she said. “Isn’t this what you always wanted?” I did and she was right. We have so much going on that everything gets lost in the moment. So where do I start?
We finally have our Certificate of Occupancy for Moores Marine Yacht Center. I don’t want you going there looking for a grand palace of a boat yard. This is just the beginning. I’ve always started small. My first business was operated out of an old bread truck. I still miss my Gruman.
We started about a year ago today. Myron Meadows, an engineer fresh out of college, and I started designing it. The first building, “The Myron” is now standing. It is 40’ x 70’ with 20’x20’ doors. The yard is built out to Phase II, with three more phases to go. We have water, power, and three acres of boatyard. Thanks to the Carteret County’s commission, county manager and economic development council, we received a $12,500 grant. We applied the money to new machinery for the boatyard. The new planers, table saw, band saw, and dust system, will be delivered tomorrow. For this, we are truly grateful.
Our project team, Trader Construction, Jimmy Berkeley and David Rose, have done an incredible job. Jimmy watched over the project for us and helped out with every aspect of the project. David transformed our little house on South River into a sweet little cottage. Then there is Walter Compton, Dave Inscoe, and Mike Bradley who helped us when it all seemed impossible. This is has been both exciting, and terrifying, all at the same time.
Nathan Smith, my partner, brother-in-law, and my friend will be opening our boatyard this spring.
Our ships store will be built and, we hope, open this summer. Now we can move larger restoration projects and storage to our own piece of dirt. Our motto “We Keep Legends Alive” goes for our yacht center. I don’t know the last time a boatyard was built for wooden yachts, but ours will be open in April, 2007.
So what else is going on? We just gave Mr. Bud Paxson back his baby, a 21-foot Riva Artisan She is a museum piece, the first of her kind. She had lived in a climate-controlled environment for forty plus years. Now she has been moved into the real world. She had approximately 300 cracks in her. She still had her original factory finish from 1960. Our carpenter, Bill, patiently fixed the cracks. Then, for her finish, we sprayed Epifanes varnish, then blocked it out and then we sprayed three coats of Awl-Brite clear coat after she was re-assembled. I said to myself, “This boat would be in my living room.” But, that’s just me.
The “Justice” project is going full force. The 1929 75’ Consolidated yacht is starting to wrap up and she’s a stunner. There has been a lot of re-chroming done, so now it is time for the reassembly. Varnishing, painting, plumbing, systems and not to forget the carpentry have been going great. We are installing an environmental air cleaning system, I will tell you more about that in my next newsletter.
On to the 102’ schooner built in 1929 from a John Alden design that was repatriated from Mallorca, Spain. Her new name is “Summerwind.” We brought in a 60-ton crane to pull down her spars. The wind was blowing a good 20 plus knots and the mainmast is close to 100 feet tall! We were in the capable hands of Chuck of Florida Rigging and Hydraulics. They have done many large sticks in the past. But, I was still nervous just watching. “Summerwind” was re-built in Italy back in the 1990s. They did some wonderful work and some not so wonderful. They built all of these beautiful stainless steel water tanks, installed them, and built a beautiful interior over them. In Italy they don’t have to clean, inspect or maintain the bilges on their 1929 Schooners, apparently.
So we had a choice, rip out the interior or climb down and cut the tanks out. We disposed of the tanks. Each day as our guys climbed out of the bilges, they looked like coal miners. We are using air cutters and air chisels under the tanks, but this black muck just keeps seeping out of the concrete. Well, let’s just say it’s getting better. We have removed planking on the starboard side. This is where this story really begins.
We need wood, lots of wood and the right wood for specific applications. I called Earl McMillin. “I have just the man for you: Churchill Hornstein,” he said. The name alone sounds like a master of wood. I pictured a man in plaid flannel, with a clay pipe clenched in his teeth at the wheel of a Baltic Trader. I wasn’t far off. He has facilitated a number of historic restoration projects by getting them the quality woods they needed. “Summerwind” is planked out of long leaf yellow pine 1-7/8 inches thick and 24 feet in length. As they were already cutting straight, 150-year-old or better longleaf yellow pine trees, for a project in Virginia, a sailing scowl. We lucked out and could piggyback on their order.
Knowing we had planking, my next mission was finding white oak for the ribs. I phone shopped all over the U.S., covering Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania. These ribs are 3” thick and the floors are 4” after some false leads. I was talking to Churchill about some Appalachian Mountain White Oak. The best time to cut wood is the new moon in January or February so that the sap is at its lowest point and so is the moisture. Less cracking, warping, so our timing was perfect. Only one problem, the lower part of the stem or forefoot was also found to be too deteriorated.
I don’t like to laminate in this wet area. So we called Neils Helleberg at John Alden and Co. He reached into his “Grand Drawer of Plans” for the forefoot drawing and faxed it to us. We forwarded it to Churchill the same day. He is now wandering the woods in search of a tree that will be “Summerwind’s” stem/forefoot, 8” x 17” x 20 feet long. He called me today and he thinks he has found her. We made a paper pattern and overnighted it to him. Also next week he said he will personally deliver our new stem/forefoot. His importance in this project can’t be overstated. He has the passion to search for just the right timbers and has just as much a desire to see these great yachts preserved as we do. We are not alone, there are some North Carolinians who share the same passion we do.
Other projects in the works include painting the interior in Stargazer. We are getting started on Emma’s projects. We just helped Trianon with a quick haul out.
Along the waterfront: Gitana has been abandoned by the Englishman. Indiantown Marina is looking for anyone interested in her to contact them at (772) 597-2451. The Trumpy in Connecticut that broke her mooring, I don’t think will make it. Her fate is still undecided but so far it doesn’t look good. Norsaga I guess is just about over. I hope that anyone looking for parts has called the number in the last newsletter. Sadly, she is slated to be demolished soon.
I would like to leave this letter on an upbeat note: Trumpys yachts are coming to St. Michaels, Maryland!! The Trumpy Yacht Association will have its general membership meeting from June 15 to June 17. Call the St. Michaels Harbour Inn Marina and Spa’s sales manager, Cyndi Morgan, 410-745-9001, ext. 157 for reservations and more information.
Also there is a great little (soon to be bigger) wooden boat show May 4-5, in Beaufort, N.C., by the state’s maritime museum. The kick-off party is May 4. Contact Brent Creelman at (252) 728-1638.
I’ll be at both shows with bells on. See you there.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
And welcome.
It’s February in Florida. Cool days and even cooler nights and sleeping with the windows open make this the best time of the year. My wife Stephanie pinched me the other day when I was venting after a hectic day. Slow down and just savor the moment, she said. “Isn’t this what you always wanted?” I did and she was right. We have so much going on that everything gets lost in the moment. So where do I start?
We finally have our Certificate of Occupancy for Moores Marine Yacht Center. I don’t want you going there looking for a grand palace of a boat yard. This is just the beginning. I’ve always started small. My first business was operated out of an old bread truck. I still miss my Gruman.
We started about a year ago today. Myron Meadows, an engineer fresh out of college, and I started designing it. The first building, “The Myron” is now standing. It is 40’ x 70’ with 20’x20’ doors. The yard is built out to Phase II, with three more phases to go. We have water, power, and three acres of boatyard. Thanks to the Carteret County’s commission, county manager and economic development council, we received a $12,500 grant. We applied the money to new machinery for the boatyard. The new planers, table saw, band saw, and dust system, will be delivered tomorrow. For this, we are truly grateful.
Our project team, Trader Construction, Jimmy Berkeley and David Rose, have done an incredible job. Jimmy watched over the project for us and helped out with every aspect of the project. David transformed our little house on South River into a sweet little cottage. Then there is Walter Compton, Dave Inscoe, and Mike Bradley who helped us when it all seemed impossible. This is has been both exciting, and terrifying, all at the same time.
Nathan Smith, my partner, brother-in-law, and my friend will be opening our boatyard this spring.
Our ships store will be built and, we hope, open this summer. Now we can move larger restoration projects and storage to our own piece of dirt. Our motto “We Keep Legends Alive” goes for our yacht center. I don’t know the last time a boatyard was built for wooden yachts, but ours will be open in April, 2007.
So what else is going on? We just gave Mr. Bud Paxson back his baby, a 21-foot Riva Artisan She is a museum piece, the first of her kind. She had lived in a climate-controlled environment for forty plus years. Now she has been moved into the real world. She had approximately 300 cracks in her. She still had her original factory finish from 1960. Our carpenter, Bill, patiently fixed the cracks. Then, for her finish, we sprayed Epifanes varnish, then blocked it out and then we sprayed three coats of Awl-Brite clear coat after she was re-assembled. I said to myself, “This boat would be in my living room.” But, that’s just me.
The “Justice” project is going full force. The 1929 75’ Consolidated yacht is starting to wrap up and she’s a stunner. There has been a lot of re-chroming done, so now it is time for the reassembly. Varnishing, painting, plumbing, systems and not to forget the carpentry have been going great. We are installing an environmental air cleaning system, I will tell you more about that in my next newsletter.
On to the 102’ schooner built in 1929 from a John Alden design that was repatriated from Mallorca, Spain. Her new name is “Summerwind.” We brought in a 60-ton crane to pull down her spars. The wind was blowing a good 20 plus knots and the mainmast is close to 100 feet tall! We were in the capable hands of Chuck of Florida Rigging and Hydraulics. They have done many large sticks in the past. But, I was still nervous just watching. “Summerwind” was re-built in Italy back in the 1990s. They did some wonderful work and some not so wonderful. They built all of these beautiful stainless steel water tanks, installed them, and built a beautiful interior over them. In Italy they don’t have to clean, inspect or maintain the bilges on their 1929 Schooners, apparently.
So we had a choice, rip out the interior or climb down and cut the tanks out. We disposed of the tanks. Each day as our guys climbed out of the bilges, they looked like coal miners. We are using air cutters and air chisels under the tanks, but this black muck just keeps seeping out of the concrete. Well, let’s just say it’s getting better. We have removed planking on the starboard side. This is where this story really begins.
We need wood, lots of wood and the right wood for specific applications. I called Earl McMillin. “I have just the man for you: Churchill Hornstein,” he said. The name alone sounds like a master of wood. I pictured a man in plaid flannel, with a clay pipe clenched in his teeth at the wheel of a Baltic Trader. I wasn’t far off. He has facilitated a number of historic restoration projects by getting them the quality woods they needed. “Summerwind” is planked out of long leaf yellow pine 1-7/8 inches thick and 24 feet in length. As they were already cutting straight, 150-year-old or better longleaf yellow pine trees, for a project in Virginia, a sailing scowl. We lucked out and could piggyback on their order.
Knowing we had planking, my next mission was finding white oak for the ribs. I phone shopped all over the U.S., covering Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania. These ribs are 3” thick and the floors are 4” after some false leads. I was talking to Churchill about some Appalachian Mountain White Oak. The best time to cut wood is the new moon in January or February so that the sap is at its lowest point and so is the moisture. Less cracking, warping, so our timing was perfect. Only one problem, the lower part of the stem or forefoot was also found to be too deteriorated.
I don’t like to laminate in this wet area. So we called Neils Helleberg at John Alden and Co. He reached into his “Grand Drawer of Plans” for the forefoot drawing and faxed it to us. We forwarded it to Churchill the same day. He is now wandering the woods in search of a tree that will be “Summerwind’s” stem/forefoot, 8” x 17” x 20 feet long. He called me today and he thinks he has found her. We made a paper pattern and overnighted it to him. Also next week he said he will personally deliver our new stem/forefoot. His importance in this project can’t be overstated. He has the passion to search for just the right timbers and has just as much a desire to see these great yachts preserved as we do. We are not alone, there are some North Carolinians who share the same passion we do.
Other projects in the works include painting the interior in Stargazer. We are getting started on Emma’s projects. We just helped Trianon with a quick haul out.
Along the waterfront: Gitana has been abandoned by the Englishman. Indiantown Marina is looking for anyone interested in her to contact them at (772) 597-2451. The Trumpy in Connecticut that broke her mooring, I don’t think will make it. Her fate is still undecided but so far it doesn’t look good. Norsaga I guess is just about over. I hope that anyone looking for parts has called the number in the last newsletter. Sadly, she is slated to be demolished soon.
I would like to leave this letter on an upbeat note: Trumpys yachts are coming to St. Michaels, Maryland!! The Trumpy Yacht Association will have its general membership meeting from June 15 to June 17. Call the St. Michaels Harbour Inn Marina and Spa’s sales manager, Cyndi Morgan, 410-745-9001, ext. 157 for reservations and more information.
Also there is a great little (soon to be bigger) wooden boat show May 4-5, in Beaufort, N.C., by the state’s maritime museum. The kick-off party is May 4. Contact Brent Creelman at (252) 728-1638.
I’ll be at both shows with bells on. See you there.
Until next time,
Jim Moores
And welcome.
January 2007
Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! The Trumpy M/Y Stargazer III is back in the water after a major topsides refit, planking around portholes, transom and top transom skirt, with teak covering boards with combings. We T-splined her sides and transom. We was stripped by long board, faired and painted. She has come out beautifully. I think even Mr. Trumpy would be proud. Bernard Smith led the paint crew and Don Thibeault handled the carpentry and they both did a great job. Stargazer’s owner and captain have been wonderful to work with. While in the water, she is now getting paint and varnish with a few woodworking projects. Stargazer and Emma are sitting side by side and look like a photo op.
On to the next story, people who have seen our lumber room know I have some huge, beautiful boards. Some are 4 feet wide and several hundred years old. Six years ago, I got a call from one of our lumber suppliers, Kelly. “I just uncovered something you might be interested in. Three 2-1/2” x 18” x 27’ matched Honduras mahogany boards,” she said. Kelly didn’t know when or where they came from but she knew I was the customer who was sure to say yes.
When they showed up, I buried them deep in the lumber stacks in our shop. Someday, I knew there would be a special project that would call for this mahogany. The years have passed. I tucked the location of those boards in the back of my mind. Then Justic, a 75’ Consolidated Commuter built in 1929 showed up. She had projects that needed long lengths and there had been many repairs over the years. There was a tapestry of many different types of mahogany.
She was built with old growth Honduras and that is what I’ve been saving all these years. My ship had come in for the wood I had been saving.
Justice’s Captain and First Mate Bryant and Corine Akers have been hands-on, removing everything from the inside. We drained the water tanks in preparation for the haul out. We had only one last thing to do, burn off a little fuel. I volunteered to go for a ride. When the engines started, you could hear 1800 horses. Justice (formerly Jem) responded more like a 21-foot boat with big engines.
We headed up the Intracoastal. Once it was clear, the captain brought her up to speed. Her knife bow sliced through the water. The rush of wind made my eyelids flap and my heart pound with excitement. You usually don’t do those kinds of speeds on a 1929 wooden boat. We headed to the boatyard. We have a dream team working on here. Don Thibeault is Justice’s project manager. We’ve got a great carpentry team with David, Douglas and Charles handling the woodwork. Duol Thach and his three sons are handling the interior bright work. Jon Dunn and his crew are handling the topside bright work and Bernard Smith is heading up the hull paint crew. Justice’s own crew have rolled up their sleeves and work right along the rest of the crew.
It’s funny how things work. I remember last year, I tried to help one client find a pre-war boat suitable for restoration. I said then that I would like to do more pre-war projects. I must have wished hard because we are working on two pre-war yachts from the same year, 1929, at the same time.
The second yacht is a 1929 102’ John Alden Schooner, Summerwind, formerly called Sea Gypsy. Her adventure started in Spain, where the new owners found her. She was loaded on a transport ship and arrived in Fort Lauderdale and we towed her up to West Palm Beach. This might be corny but I’ve always loved schooners. If there was a schooner sailing by, I always stopped what I was doing to watch them go by whether I was Camden, Maine or St. George’s in Grenada, where they had a fleet of Island Trading schooners in the 1970s.
I once bought a Tanchook Island scalloper, a baby Bluenose, up in Nova Scotia. She was 28 feet. After getting her loaded on a trailer, a husky silver-haired man briskly walked up to me and asked, “Where do you think you’re going with the Vernon Langille Tanchook!” I told him, “To Maine, to restore here.” He asked if I wanted to see here big sister. Of course. I followed him to the maritime museum in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. He was the curator and the big sister was the schooner “Bluenose II.”
I went straight to the wheel and sat on the box. My eyes rolled up and down her rig. It was faill and her sails were put away on shore. It made no difference. You could feel the power she possessed. He asked me if I wanted to see the rest of here and he showed me around.
I went back to the wheel box and sat there a while longer. At that moment at the wheel, it was a childhood dream come true. So when I wished to work on more pre-war projects, I couldn’t have wished for two greater projects than Justice and Summerwind.
Now for some Trumpy news:
-The Gitana, formerly Adabab, Contract 236, a Mathis Trumpy built in 1938, was bought by an Englishman who wanted to export her to the Med and have her restored in Spain or Turkey. He moved her west in Florida and left her tied up at a marine unattended over the holidays. She sank and water under for over two weeks. She has been re-floated from what I understand but I haven’t seen here. What the future holds for Gitana is uncertain.
-The next is Norsaga, Jinofor II, Contract 367, built in 1954. We recently received an email that she is going to be parted out and items from the vessel are for sale. The owner’s name is Tim Dugger, 386-673-3373, email: daytonatents@cfl.rr.com.
-On this Trumpy, I’m not at liberty to say her name but she broke her moorings in November, it was night and she went ashore onto granite rocks. By sunrise, she lay sunk. Three days down. She is now on hard ground, here engine pickled. I have been asked to make a determination on whether she can be saved.
The future of these three Trumpy yachts are uncertain. I will let you know the rest of the stories as they unfold.
One more Trumpy story. Freedom, 104’, Contract 181, built in 1926, is being restored by a crew put together by Earl McMillan. I am enclosing some info that Earl sent me.
And, I haven’t talked about North Carolina yet. We are close to finishing the first two phases. We have the first building up and three acres cleared and compacted for storage and projects.
Nathaniel Smith, my partner and brother-in-law, will be moving up in late March to open up the new facility. We will be opening in April 2007. Bookings will be handled through Moores Marine Florida. Call Stephanie at the office at 561-841-2235 and we’ll try to reserve your pick of haul-out dates.
We have settled on the name Moores Marine Yacht Center. Our Florida operation is still Moores Marine. We’ve already started calling it North and South although North Carolina is still very much the South.
I will leave you with what I started this letter: Happy New Year from all of us.
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Publish Post
Until next time,
Jim Moores
Happy New Year! The Trumpy M/Y Stargazer III is back in the water after a major topsides refit, planking around portholes, transom and top transom skirt, with teak covering boards with combings. We T-splined her sides and transom. We was stripped by long board, faired and painted. She has come out beautifully. I think even Mr. Trumpy would be proud. Bernard Smith led the paint crew and Don Thibeault handled the carpentry and they both did a great job. Stargazer’s owner and captain have been wonderful to work with. While in the water, she is now getting paint and varnish with a few woodworking projects. Stargazer and Emma are sitting side by side and look like a photo op.
On to the next story, people who have seen our lumber room know I have some huge, beautiful boards. Some are 4 feet wide and several hundred years old. Six years ago, I got a call from one of our lumber suppliers, Kelly. “I just uncovered something you might be interested in. Three 2-1/2” x 18” x 27’ matched Honduras mahogany boards,” she said. Kelly didn’t know when or where they came from but she knew I was the customer who was sure to say yes.
When they showed up, I buried them deep in the lumber stacks in our shop. Someday, I knew there would be a special project that would call for this mahogany. The years have passed. I tucked the location of those boards in the back of my mind. Then Justic, a 75’ Consolidated Commuter built in 1929 showed up. She had projects that needed long lengths and there had been many repairs over the years. There was a tapestry of many different types of mahogany.
She was built with old growth Honduras and that is what I’ve been saving all these years. My ship had come in for the wood I had been saving.
Justice’s Captain and First Mate Bryant and Corine Akers have been hands-on, removing everything from the inside. We drained the water tanks in preparation for the haul out. We had only one last thing to do, burn off a little fuel. I volunteered to go for a ride. When the engines started, you could hear 1800 horses. Justice (formerly Jem) responded more like a 21-foot boat with big engines.
We headed up the Intracoastal. Once it was clear, the captain brought her up to speed. Her knife bow sliced through the water. The rush of wind made my eyelids flap and my heart pound with excitement. You usually don’t do those kinds of speeds on a 1929 wooden boat. We headed to the boatyard. We have a dream team working on here. Don Thibeault is Justice’s project manager. We’ve got a great carpentry team with David, Douglas and Charles handling the woodwork. Duol Thach and his three sons are handling the interior bright work. Jon Dunn and his crew are handling the topside bright work and Bernard Smith is heading up the hull paint crew. Justice’s own crew have rolled up their sleeves and work right along the rest of the crew.
It’s funny how things work. I remember last year, I tried to help one client find a pre-war boat suitable for restoration. I said then that I would like to do more pre-war projects. I must have wished hard because we are working on two pre-war yachts from the same year, 1929, at the same time.
The second yacht is a 1929 102’ John Alden Schooner, Summerwind, formerly called Sea Gypsy. Her adventure started in Spain, where the new owners found her. She was loaded on a transport ship and arrived in Fort Lauderdale and we towed her up to West Palm Beach. This might be corny but I’ve always loved schooners. If there was a schooner sailing by, I always stopped what I was doing to watch them go by whether I was Camden, Maine or St. George’s in Grenada, where they had a fleet of Island Trading schooners in the 1970s.
I once bought a Tanchook Island scalloper, a baby Bluenose, up in Nova Scotia. She was 28 feet. After getting her loaded on a trailer, a husky silver-haired man briskly walked up to me and asked, “Where do you think you’re going with the Vernon Langille Tanchook!” I told him, “To Maine, to restore here.” He asked if I wanted to see here big sister. Of course. I followed him to the maritime museum in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. He was the curator and the big sister was the schooner “Bluenose II.”
I went straight to the wheel and sat on the box. My eyes rolled up and down her rig. It was faill and her sails were put away on shore. It made no difference. You could feel the power she possessed. He asked me if I wanted to see the rest of here and he showed me around.
I went back to the wheel box and sat there a while longer. At that moment at the wheel, it was a childhood dream come true. So when I wished to work on more pre-war projects, I couldn’t have wished for two greater projects than Justice and Summerwind.
Now for some Trumpy news:
-The Gitana, formerly Adabab, Contract 236, a Mathis Trumpy built in 1938, was bought by an Englishman who wanted to export her to the Med and have her restored in Spain or Turkey. He moved her west in Florida and left her tied up at a marine unattended over the holidays. She sank and water under for over two weeks. She has been re-floated from what I understand but I haven’t seen here. What the future holds for Gitana is uncertain.
-The next is Norsaga, Jinofor II, Contract 367, built in 1954. We recently received an email that she is going to be parted out and items from the vessel are for sale. The owner’s name is Tim Dugger, 386-673-3373, email: daytonatents@cfl.rr.com.
-On this Trumpy, I’m not at liberty to say her name but she broke her moorings in November, it was night and she went ashore onto granite rocks. By sunrise, she lay sunk. Three days down. She is now on hard ground, here engine pickled. I have been asked to make a determination on whether she can be saved.
The future of these three Trumpy yachts are uncertain. I will let you know the rest of the stories as they unfold.
One more Trumpy story. Freedom, 104’, Contract 181, built in 1926, is being restored by a crew put together by Earl McMillan. I am enclosing some info that Earl sent me.
And, I haven’t talked about North Carolina yet. We are close to finishing the first two phases. We have the first building up and three acres cleared and compacted for storage and projects.
Nathaniel Smith, my partner and brother-in-law, will be moving up in late March to open up the new facility. We will be opening in April 2007. Bookings will be handled through Moores Marine Florida. Call Stephanie at the office at 561-841-2235 and we’ll try to reserve your pick of haul-out dates.
We have settled on the name Moores Marine Yacht Center. Our Florida operation is still Moores Marine. We’ve already started calling it North and South although North Carolina is still very much the South.
I will leave you with what I started this letter: Happy New Year from all of us.
javascript:void(0)
Publish Post
Until next time,
Jim Moores
November 2006
Dear friends,
I would like to share with you a tale of adventure and even magic. Maybe it’s getting to be that time of year, just luck, or just opening my eyes wider but I started writing this on the plane flying back from North Carolina.
I went to Beaufort to meet with engineers about Phase II at Moores Marine Yacht Center. I brought a friend, Jon Dunn, of Dunn Marine, to help me with my electrical requirements. Some dear friends offered me their house on the water in Beaufort while they were away, actually in South Florida while I went up there.
As the sun rose in the morning, I sat on their second-story porch overlooking the water and boats. The sky filled with pink and yellow as the sun drenched everything it touched. The smell of the sea filled my senses. It was like standing in a postcard.
Behind me, a bell kept ringing. Afraid I might miss a moment, I turned around. The lift bridge opened and a line of sail boats motored through the bridge. I watched them go out to sea from the porch. They looked like ducks in a row.
Later that day, I headed out to Harkers Island. On the way, my friend Jimmy Berkeley, who has been overseeing construction in Beaufort, was trying to teach me about the Carolinas. “Do you see that?” I wasn’t sure what he was pointing at. “Look at the sparkles on the water. That’s why it’s called the Crystal Coast.” I could see it. The water refracted like cut crystal.
Once we reached the end of Harkers Island, we got out of the car. I showed Jon the point and Hatteras National Sea Shore and Cape Lookout lighthouse. Jon cut me short. “Do you hear that?” We fell silent. As we stood there, the wind was calm, no cars, planes or trains, not even bugs. It was so quiet I could hear my heart beat. I never take the time to notice these things. I’m rushing around all day with a cell phone in my ear.
The next day, after a series of construction meetings, I headed out to Big Bend, 15 miles out of town, looking for a house that was listed for sale. The house was a disappointment. Coming back, I turned right and headed to South River. As we drove, I saw something in the woods. We pulled over and there in the woods was a hull of a 70-foot plus wooden ship, ribs exposed and trees growing through her. We traveled down the road, stopped and watched fishermen bring their boats to dock. We stopped to talk. “How did you do?” The man proudly opened a big cooler. It was full. We helped him load his cooler in his truck. This fishing village reminded me of Maine. Work boats. Nets drying in the breeze. We walked around and met Liam Hardy, 86, and his wife. We sat on their porch for a while and she kept saying she didn’t like him out fishing by himself because “You know, he’s old.” I asked him if there were any houses for sale and he pointed down the road. “My cousin, L.J. Hardy, he has a house he might sell. You could talk to him.”
We knocked on Mr. L.J. Hardy’s house. We stood there talking for quite a while. Then he showed me the house. “It’s a little small,” he said. It’s about 1,000 square feet. Three small bedrooms and a bathroom, porches in front and back. From the back porch, you could see Mr. Hardy’s shrimp boat. We visited for a while, mostly talking about boats and fishing. He was a retired captain, used to run big tug boats. After a while, he said, “I’ll sell you the house. You would make a good neighbor.” That was that. He had to size me up first and I guess I passed.
The next day, L.J. Hardy turned 80 and he invited me to his party. Jimmy and I went and met his wife, Mary, and their two daughters. We sang “Happy Birthday.” These Hardys have are pretty hearty and I’m sure there will be many more birthdays. And I appreciate Mr. Hardy deciding he would sell his cottage to me because it will be a great place to live. There are live oaks trees and 100-year-old pines in the yard and access to as much fresh shrimp as we can eat. I can’t wait.
The next day, at the construction site, I’m running around, trying to get ready for Phase II, to make room for more boats on the land. The backhoe is digging and they started to lay the water pipe and the surveyor’s stakes. While I was there, S.S. Sophie cruised through. Captains John and Aimee called to say hello and to remark on all the new docks at Jarrett Bay. Next time, they’ll stop.
As I drove to the airport, I saw cars covered in cotton balls. The wind was blowing through the cotton fields and there were twisters of cotton balls swirling in the air. This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
The last amazing thing from my North Carolina trip was meeting David Rose. He is from Harkers Island and he was a key man in restoration of the Lunetta, a 95-feet Trumpy. David is a soft spoken man with a strong Downeast accent. This man’s hands are tough from years of hard work. I was kind of embarrassed at how soft my hands must feel in comparison ever since my knees, right arm and back gave out and I’ve straddled a desk instead of jumping scaffolding. He comes from a long line of boat builders. He and his brothers have built some 50 boats and rebuilt many more. He doesn’t remember how many, just “a whole bunch.” We are proud and excited to have Dave join us at Moores Marine in North Carolina. Dave shares our philosophy: We just want to do the best work of our careers with each boat. Welcome aboard, Dave.
You would think after my adventures in Beaufort, that would be the end of this letter but I spent one night at home and I was off again. I got back, drove to Miami for IBEX, a marine trade show, and then I headed out to Florida’s west coast the same day.
The following morning, at sunrise, we were on board Emma, a 58’ Trumpy built in 1963, helping the owner bring her to Palm Beach County from Palmetto. The crew also included owner Bill Jenkin’s brother, Eric and pro golfer and nice guy Jeff Leak. We picked a tough weekend to head east. The Weather Channel chatter predicted 2 to 5 feet seas with wind gusts up to 25 knots. As we cleared the point at Tampa Bay, we hit a 2 to 3 beam sea and something we forgot to stow flew about. It hit the glass on the table on the aft deck, making the glass slide off its table base. It didn’t break but it hit the deck loud enough to knock the sleep from our eyes. I have never traveled the west coast of Florida so this was a treat. The movement of the sea and wood decks under my feet reminded me that it has been too long. Coming down the dark green water in Sarasota, porpoises followed us down the waterway. When we came out of Venice’s inlet, our porpoise friends followed us out to sea and there, they left us behind.
So what is the occasion for the latest adventure? Ocean Reef Vintage Weekend, Nov. 30 through 3. Bill and I have been thinking and planning the trip for a while but now that it was getting close, although we’re both very busy, we want to make sure to make time. I know I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Emma will be at Singer Island, getting varnish and paint, a little here and there, in time for the show.
Heading in shore, the sunset and full moon rising, we are running on GPS and search lights. We slow our speed down. The throb of the diesels ringing in unison. I headed down to the main saloon and as my eyes started to close, we hit something submerged. Was it a log or sunken boat left over the Hurricane Ivan? We don’t know but from the ring of the metal, we know it has hit the prop, and hard. We tied up at the Fort Myers dock. In the morning, as we filled her fuel tanks, we stood on the dock looking down at the root beer water felt the wind out of the north. We decided to run on one engine. Leaving the dock at 1500 RPM, we are making 8 knots with the wind at our nose.
As we proceed up the Okeechobee waterway, it started to narrow. The water got deeper and Emma picked up speed at the same RPMs. We were cruising at 9.3 knots, still on one engine. Breakfast was served by Jeff: potato salad, ham sandwiches and cola. Obviously, this is a guys-on-an-adventure breakfast.
We decided to cross Lake Okeechobee at night. By the light of the full moon, we reached the eastern shore, Port Mayaca lock. The lock was closed so we set anchor for the night. As we motored along, our gauges read 24 to 22 on the charger. Those were supposed to be volts, not amps, meaning our batteries were going dead! I was at the wheel most of the day and I thought I was reading the gauges wrong. The engine shut down. That was it. The alternator was dead. The batteries were dead.
About 1-1/2 years ago, we had taken out an old Sentry charger because it cooked the batteries. We installed a modern type that could sense the amps needed to maintain the batteries. Well, with that said, we were all stuck in Lake Okeechobee. But, it was a simple problem. We needed a 32v charger. For a dead battery with a 120 amp system, we would need to charge for four days at 16 amps. The hero in this story is Capt. Jim Twaddle for cleaning out his carport, giving me his old broken Sentry 32-volt charger.
Arie, our electrician, fixed it and turned it into a portable charger and Janel, from the marine store, drove the contraption to the lake. The old Trumpy charger brought our system back on line in less than 2 hours. It wasn’t a bad two hours. We watched movies, “Clear and Present Danger” and “Bedazzled.” If there were no low points in an adventure, how would you judge the highs? We had some good times such as when Bill tried to land the dinghy and needed to get a 12 foot sleeping alligator to move off a small beach. The gator was bigger than the dinghy.
The adventures are over. I’m back at the shop. Stargazer III is in full swing. We should be getting close to painting her this week. She’s gone through a total topside refit. We’re making new rub rails and spray rails for her to go with it.
Later this week, Capt. Twaddle will be here with Stately Lady. He’s bringing her down from St. Michael’s in Maryland. We’ve also got 102-foot Alden schooner coming in from Majorca, Spain and we’re supposed to work on a mine sweeper from the Korean War. My plate is full.
I’m sure by the time Ocean Reef weekend comes around, I’ll be ready for another little adventure. I hope to see you there. If you want to come down on Saturday, give my office a call and I’ll get your name on the day list. My office number is 561-841-2235. Ask for Janel. Let me know as soon as you can.
Hope to see you there,
Jim Moores
I would like to share with you a tale of adventure and even magic. Maybe it’s getting to be that time of year, just luck, or just opening my eyes wider but I started writing this on the plane flying back from North Carolina.
I went to Beaufort to meet with engineers about Phase II at Moores Marine Yacht Center. I brought a friend, Jon Dunn, of Dunn Marine, to help me with my electrical requirements. Some dear friends offered me their house on the water in Beaufort while they were away, actually in South Florida while I went up there.
As the sun rose in the morning, I sat on their second-story porch overlooking the water and boats. The sky filled with pink and yellow as the sun drenched everything it touched. The smell of the sea filled my senses. It was like standing in a postcard.
Behind me, a bell kept ringing. Afraid I might miss a moment, I turned around. The lift bridge opened and a line of sail boats motored through the bridge. I watched them go out to sea from the porch. They looked like ducks in a row.
Later that day, I headed out to Harkers Island. On the way, my friend Jimmy Berkeley, who has been overseeing construction in Beaufort, was trying to teach me about the Carolinas. “Do you see that?” I wasn’t sure what he was pointing at. “Look at the sparkles on the water. That’s why it’s called the Crystal Coast.” I could see it. The water refracted like cut crystal.
Once we reached the end of Harkers Island, we got out of the car. I showed Jon the point and Hatteras National Sea Shore and Cape Lookout lighthouse. Jon cut me short. “Do you hear that?” We fell silent. As we stood there, the wind was calm, no cars, planes or trains, not even bugs. It was so quiet I could hear my heart beat. I never take the time to notice these things. I’m rushing around all day with a cell phone in my ear.
The next day, after a series of construction meetings, I headed out to Big Bend, 15 miles out of town, looking for a house that was listed for sale. The house was a disappointment. Coming back, I turned right and headed to South River. As we drove, I saw something in the woods. We pulled over and there in the woods was a hull of a 70-foot plus wooden ship, ribs exposed and trees growing through her. We traveled down the road, stopped and watched fishermen bring their boats to dock. We stopped to talk. “How did you do?” The man proudly opened a big cooler. It was full. We helped him load his cooler in his truck. This fishing village reminded me of Maine. Work boats. Nets drying in the breeze. We walked around and met Liam Hardy, 86, and his wife. We sat on their porch for a while and she kept saying she didn’t like him out fishing by himself because “You know, he’s old.” I asked him if there were any houses for sale and he pointed down the road. “My cousin, L.J. Hardy, he has a house he might sell. You could talk to him.”
We knocked on Mr. L.J. Hardy’s house. We stood there talking for quite a while. Then he showed me the house. “It’s a little small,” he said. It’s about 1,000 square feet. Three small bedrooms and a bathroom, porches in front and back. From the back porch, you could see Mr. Hardy’s shrimp boat. We visited for a while, mostly talking about boats and fishing. He was a retired captain, used to run big tug boats. After a while, he said, “I’ll sell you the house. You would make a good neighbor.” That was that. He had to size me up first and I guess I passed.
The next day, L.J. Hardy turned 80 and he invited me to his party. Jimmy and I went and met his wife, Mary, and their two daughters. We sang “Happy Birthday.” These Hardys have are pretty hearty and I’m sure there will be many more birthdays. And I appreciate Mr. Hardy deciding he would sell his cottage to me because it will be a great place to live. There are live oaks trees and 100-year-old pines in the yard and access to as much fresh shrimp as we can eat. I can’t wait.
The next day, at the construction site, I’m running around, trying to get ready for Phase II, to make room for more boats on the land. The backhoe is digging and they started to lay the water pipe and the surveyor’s stakes. While I was there, S.S. Sophie cruised through. Captains John and Aimee called to say hello and to remark on all the new docks at Jarrett Bay. Next time, they’ll stop.
As I drove to the airport, I saw cars covered in cotton balls. The wind was blowing through the cotton fields and there were twisters of cotton balls swirling in the air. This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.
The last amazing thing from my North Carolina trip was meeting David Rose. He is from Harkers Island and he was a key man in restoration of the Lunetta, a 95-feet Trumpy. David is a soft spoken man with a strong Downeast accent. This man’s hands are tough from years of hard work. I was kind of embarrassed at how soft my hands must feel in comparison ever since my knees, right arm and back gave out and I’ve straddled a desk instead of jumping scaffolding. He comes from a long line of boat builders. He and his brothers have built some 50 boats and rebuilt many more. He doesn’t remember how many, just “a whole bunch.” We are proud and excited to have Dave join us at Moores Marine in North Carolina. Dave shares our philosophy: We just want to do the best work of our careers with each boat. Welcome aboard, Dave.
You would think after my adventures in Beaufort, that would be the end of this letter but I spent one night at home and I was off again. I got back, drove to Miami for IBEX, a marine trade show, and then I headed out to Florida’s west coast the same day.
The following morning, at sunrise, we were on board Emma, a 58’ Trumpy built in 1963, helping the owner bring her to Palm Beach County from Palmetto. The crew also included owner Bill Jenkin’s brother, Eric and pro golfer and nice guy Jeff Leak. We picked a tough weekend to head east. The Weather Channel chatter predicted 2 to 5 feet seas with wind gusts up to 25 knots. As we cleared the point at Tampa Bay, we hit a 2 to 3 beam sea and something we forgot to stow flew about. It hit the glass on the table on the aft deck, making the glass slide off its table base. It didn’t break but it hit the deck loud enough to knock the sleep from our eyes. I have never traveled the west coast of Florida so this was a treat. The movement of the sea and wood decks under my feet reminded me that it has been too long. Coming down the dark green water in Sarasota, porpoises followed us down the waterway. When we came out of Venice’s inlet, our porpoise friends followed us out to sea and there, they left us behind.
So what is the occasion for the latest adventure? Ocean Reef Vintage Weekend, Nov. 30 through 3. Bill and I have been thinking and planning the trip for a while but now that it was getting close, although we’re both very busy, we want to make sure to make time. I know I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Emma will be at Singer Island, getting varnish and paint, a little here and there, in time for the show.
Heading in shore, the sunset and full moon rising, we are running on GPS and search lights. We slow our speed down. The throb of the diesels ringing in unison. I headed down to the main saloon and as my eyes started to close, we hit something submerged. Was it a log or sunken boat left over the Hurricane Ivan? We don’t know but from the ring of the metal, we know it has hit the prop, and hard. We tied up at the Fort Myers dock. In the morning, as we filled her fuel tanks, we stood on the dock looking down at the root beer water felt the wind out of the north. We decided to run on one engine. Leaving the dock at 1500 RPM, we are making 8 knots with the wind at our nose.
As we proceed up the Okeechobee waterway, it started to narrow. The water got deeper and Emma picked up speed at the same RPMs. We were cruising at 9.3 knots, still on one engine. Breakfast was served by Jeff: potato salad, ham sandwiches and cola. Obviously, this is a guys-on-an-adventure breakfast.
We decided to cross Lake Okeechobee at night. By the light of the full moon, we reached the eastern shore, Port Mayaca lock. The lock was closed so we set anchor for the night. As we motored along, our gauges read 24 to 22 on the charger. Those were supposed to be volts, not amps, meaning our batteries were going dead! I was at the wheel most of the day and I thought I was reading the gauges wrong. The engine shut down. That was it. The alternator was dead. The batteries were dead.
About 1-1/2 years ago, we had taken out an old Sentry charger because it cooked the batteries. We installed a modern type that could sense the amps needed to maintain the batteries. Well, with that said, we were all stuck in Lake Okeechobee. But, it was a simple problem. We needed a 32v charger. For a dead battery with a 120 amp system, we would need to charge for four days at 16 amps. The hero in this story is Capt. Jim Twaddle for cleaning out his carport, giving me his old broken Sentry 32-volt charger.
Arie, our electrician, fixed it and turned it into a portable charger and Janel, from the marine store, drove the contraption to the lake. The old Trumpy charger brought our system back on line in less than 2 hours. It wasn’t a bad two hours. We watched movies, “Clear and Present Danger” and “Bedazzled.” If there were no low points in an adventure, how would you judge the highs? We had some good times such as when Bill tried to land the dinghy and needed to get a 12 foot sleeping alligator to move off a small beach. The gator was bigger than the dinghy.
The adventures are over. I’m back at the shop. Stargazer III is in full swing. We should be getting close to painting her this week. She’s gone through a total topside refit. We’re making new rub rails and spray rails for her to go with it.
Later this week, Capt. Twaddle will be here with Stately Lady. He’s bringing her down from St. Michael’s in Maryland. We’ve also got 102-foot Alden schooner coming in from Majorca, Spain and we’re supposed to work on a mine sweeper from the Korean War. My plate is full.
I’m sure by the time Ocean Reef weekend comes around, I’ll be ready for another little adventure. I hope to see you there. If you want to come down on Saturday, give my office a call and I’ll get your name on the day list. My office number is 561-841-2235. Ask for Janel. Let me know as soon as you can.
Hope to see you there,
Jim Moores
October 2006
Dear friends,
I was recently asked to consult on a problem on a large Trumpy. Climbing under her bottom in the aft area, the outer planking seemed to be coming unfastened. Grabbing the bottom of the rudder, one had worn out the packing bearing surface. As I walked to the back of the boat, the rudder looked straight, too straight to be exact. In the last few months, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about rudders and we just finished reworking Wishing Star’s rudder systems, so I’ll go into the subject with this letter.
I was discussing the problem with an old friend and incredible boat builder Michael Rybovich. You’re probably familiar with his family’s line of legendary sports fishing boats. I told him about a rudder problem that I had seen and his response was that with hydraulic steering, you can’t feel the vibration. They don’t train people to work on these old boats any more. Mike knows because his family has been building boats with cable and chain steering for a long, long time. Old sports fish captains swear by chain and cable because “You can feel the rudders.” I personally have only owned boats with chain and cable so that’s what I know first-hand. I would like to share it with you.
First, check the system. Vibrations at the helm could mean that the rudders are not tuned or they’re not “toed.” Next time when you are out of the water, grab the bottom of the rudder and try to move it from side to side. If there’s a fair amount of movement, it means the bearings are worn. There are two: one on top of the rudder table inside and the packing gland bearing. These bearings are made of an oil-impregnated bronze known as Bunsen Bronze or called bearing bronze. If most of the wear is on the top bearing, it is relatively easy to remove them. There are only four small bolts holding it in place. The rudders and bearings will need to be marked and kept together, with all the parts per side together. Any good shaft & prop shop should be able to do this work. Hopefully, you’re going to have this removed and installed by a professional. As for how much toe, each rudder should be toed in 5° each.
Let’s move on to servicing the steering system. What I love about these systems is they are simply oil and grease, pack and that’s it. Really. There are bronze cable blocks in the lazarette, engine room and under the steering station. Buy a can of dry graphite film lubricant and spray into the shivs. It is not a grease so it will stay. Graphite, pencil lead, is a great lubricant and it won’t drip. It works great on locks. You can find it at automotive stores, lock shops or most hardware stores.
Steering chains do wear out. They get longer and longer and can create sloppy steering. Edison Co. in Massachusetts has chain. It’s good to have a spare on board so don’t throw the old one out. Chains should get cleaned and greased once a season.
Now, let’s talk about play in the steering. The cables could need to be tightened. When doing so, make sure to not over tighten. When you turn the wheel, there should be a little slack on the opposite cable. If it is too tight, there will be no slack and this will put undue stress on pulleys and chain.
If the cable is set right, but there is slop at the wheel, that means that the chain has stretched out and should be replaced. I have been on many a Trumpy with a 30 to 60 year old chain so they last a long time.
On cables, I replaced one once after cutting it in half by mistake. If you ever do need to replace one, call me and I will walk you through it. Now, let’s head to the lazarette. The packing gland, every year or two, when the boat is hauled out, unbolt the top packing glands with two pipe wrenches, one for the lock nut the other for the packing nut. Lift the packing nut up, smear some grease onto the rudder shaft, drop the packing nut back down. Take your time to make sure that the threads line up and tighten down. The grease will come out the top so keep lots of rags handy. Then have someone turn the wheel to make sure it moves with ease. Set the lock nut. Smile. We have only one more thing to oil: the bearing and stop collars on the top of the table. Grease, oil or graphite will work well here.
I was recently asked to consult on a problem on a large Trumpy. Climbing under her bottom in the aft area, the outer planking seemed to be coming unfastened. Grabbing the bottom of the rudder, one had worn out the packing bearing surface. As I walked to the back of the boat, the rudder looked straight, too straight to be exact. In the last few months, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about rudders and we just finished reworking Wishing Star’s rudder systems, so I’ll go into the subject with this letter.
I was discussing the problem with an old friend and incredible boat builder Michael Rybovich. You’re probably familiar with his family’s line of legendary sports fishing boats. I told him about a rudder problem that I had seen and his response was that with hydraulic steering, you can’t feel the vibration. They don’t train people to work on these old boats any more. Mike knows because his family has been building boats with cable and chain steering for a long, long time. Old sports fish captains swear by chain and cable because “You can feel the rudders.” I personally have only owned boats with chain and cable so that’s what I know first-hand. I would like to share it with you.
First, check the system. Vibrations at the helm could mean that the rudders are not tuned or they’re not “toed.” Next time when you are out of the water, grab the bottom of the rudder and try to move it from side to side. If there’s a fair amount of movement, it means the bearings are worn. There are two: one on top of the rudder table inside and the packing gland bearing. These bearings are made of an oil-impregnated bronze known as Bunsen Bronze or called bearing bronze. If most of the wear is on the top bearing, it is relatively easy to remove them. There are only four small bolts holding it in place. The rudders and bearings will need to be marked and kept together, with all the parts per side together. Any good shaft & prop shop should be able to do this work. Hopefully, you’re going to have this removed and installed by a professional. As for how much toe, each rudder should be toed in 5° each.
Let’s move on to servicing the steering system. What I love about these systems is they are simply oil and grease, pack and that’s it. Really. There are bronze cable blocks in the lazarette, engine room and under the steering station. Buy a can of dry graphite film lubricant and spray into the shivs. It is not a grease so it will stay. Graphite, pencil lead, is a great lubricant and it won’t drip. It works great on locks. You can find it at automotive stores, lock shops or most hardware stores.
Steering chains do wear out. They get longer and longer and can create sloppy steering. Edison Co. in Massachusetts has chain. It’s good to have a spare on board so don’t throw the old one out. Chains should get cleaned and greased once a season.
Now, let’s talk about play in the steering. The cables could need to be tightened. When doing so, make sure to not over tighten. When you turn the wheel, there should be a little slack on the opposite cable. If it is too tight, there will be no slack and this will put undue stress on pulleys and chain.
If the cable is set right, but there is slop at the wheel, that means that the chain has stretched out and should be replaced. I have been on many a Trumpy with a 30 to 60 year old chain so they last a long time.
On cables, I replaced one once after cutting it in half by mistake. If you ever do need to replace one, call me and I will walk you through it. Now, let’s head to the lazarette. The packing gland, every year or two, when the boat is hauled out, unbolt the top packing glands with two pipe wrenches, one for the lock nut the other for the packing nut. Lift the packing nut up, smear some grease onto the rudder shaft, drop the packing nut back down. Take your time to make sure that the threads line up and tighten down. The grease will come out the top so keep lots of rags handy. Then have someone turn the wheel to make sure it moves with ease. Set the lock nut. Smile. We have only one more thing to oil: the bearing and stop collars on the top of the table. Grease, oil or graphite will work well here.
September 2006
Dear Friends,
Wishing Star is moving ahead with my partner Nathan Smith running the project. The guest stateroom has been disassembled and new ribs are being installed through this area. She is also getting full paint and varnish and will be a stunner when she heads home to Hampton Island, Georgia.
I was in Beaufort, N.C., for three weeks, to watch construction of our new boat yard with an old friend Jimmy Berkeley, who lives in North Carolina. Jimmy is keeping on top of the project with our engineer Myron Meadows and project supervisor Eddie Grant.
The project seemed to take forever to get started, with easements, permits, drawings, changes and more changes, but that’s all over.
We’ve dumped over 500 loads of dirt. Now, we’re building the most important parts of the project, the infrastructure for drainage and utilities and a Travellift road. The road is 60 feet wide and compressed to support a 220-ton Travellift carrying boats and yachts from 25 feet to 125 feet. This is a great accomplishment. IF it wasn’t for my wife Stephanie keeping me focused, we would have never made it.
Our first building, will be the Myron building, named after the young engineer who has stepped up to the plate in designing our boatyard. (Naming rights for other buildings are available for a small fee).
That old Maine saying “You can’t get there from here,” keeps ringing in my ears. The 60-foot wide road, the wetlands, the store location and the first building – it just didn’t seem it was ever going to be possible. We had to overcome so many obstacles. But finally, we sprayed and staked and walked with a long tape measure. Myron said in his soft Southern accent, “Jim, it just fits. It’s a tight fit but it does fit.”
We also had some help from Dave Inscoe, Carteret County’s Economic Development Director and changing water mains and moving light poles. Thank you, guys.
We plan on building the first building in the next month. We still have a ways to go, setting up equipment, and completing phase 1. Our plan is to open in the Summer of 2007 or sooner, if we can get it done faster.
My dreams aren’t about fast cars or expensive houses. My dream was to have a boat yard for our projects for many years to come. This might sound kind of grand but I’m hoping to build a legacy, a boat yard that will be in my family long after I’m gone. My dream is to build a boat yard designed to restore antique and classic wooden American yachts, to attract the best craftsmen in the south east together and to make magic happen. Boat builders are an odd lot. The task requires patience, focus and knowledge. But most importantly, you truly have to love what you do.
We have been very fortunate to attract great craftsmen and keep them. I think mostly because there is a great deal of satisfaction and sense of personal achievement in what we do. I have many men I consider much smarter than myself, who could easily go out on their own, but they stay a part of our team because we can achieve more together than individually.
And Beaufort is the place to do it. This city built in the early 1700s has genuine southern charm and hospitality. Let me tell you a story, even if it’s a bit embarrassing to me personally. There’s this great wine bar in downtown Beaufort. One night, a buddy and I drank a bit too much and decided it was best to keep our cars parked and walk back. A fellow we met at the wine bar, a professional chef, wouldn’t hear of it. He insisted we spend the night at his house. Never met the man before in my life. Now that is some serious Southern hospitality.
I love the great coastal towns like Newport, Nantucket, Annapolis and Charleston. Each place has it special magic, but Beaufort, N.C. needs to be on that list. I liked those towns a lot more before they got “discovered.” So let’s keep Beaufort between us.
As part of my extensive research, I’ve been trying all of the restaurants in town, from oyster houses to sandwich shops to finer dining. I had lunch at a place called Sharpies. I had an Angus steak with a light salad and a tart for dessert. It was exquisite, a word I don’t use very often. The owner had dreamed of opening her own restaurant for 20 years and thought out every detail from the service to the tablecloths to the décor. Next time you pass through here, I highly recommend it.
As of this writing, bulldozers, backhoes and dump trucks are unloading sand and rock. From where I am sitting, I can see an Eldridge McGinnis motor yacht. She was built in the 1950s or early 60s. She’s 60 feet plus and doesn’t have a name on her transom, but I know this boat from Florida. This boat lived in North Palm Beach for many years. A father and son had her and they would haul her out at Cracker Boy Boat Works in Riviera Beach, Florida and we sold them lumber every year when they made repairs.
Then one day, I was watching the news and there was the owner. I remembered what he said,” I was in the channel, moving at about 6 knots and I must have slipped to the side of the channel and hit the stabilizer fin. As I pulled back in the channel, she sunk.” The boat was floated, hauled out and the insurance company totaled her. She sat in the yard for a long while. Many times, I walked over and studied her damage. It looked like a cartoon hole, something out of Popeye. It was 3 feet by 4 feet with jagged edges. I never went inside but from looking in the hole, I could see vertical cracks in pretty straight lines. The damage was clear. The problem was simple. The stress was too concentrated in a small area. The block spanned three ribs and the one in the middle was cut out. I looked at the stabilizer and the inside support block, the ribs had been broken way before the sinking. We have repaired many boats with these problems. Usually, the stabilizer was installed after market and the companies that installed them are used to fiberglass and metal boats so their calculation for compression is designed for those boats. But an antique or classic boat is whole different world. Then there is the price point. If the installer said, “We need to disassemble two cabins, remove and replace all the ribs in that area,” he probably won’t sell many stabilizer systems.
To put it in perspective, look at how rudders are installed on your boat. First, there are two floor timbers 10 inches tall. A block inside two ribs, keel bolts, rudder table made of steel and lots of outer white oak surrounding it. Then look at the size of the stabilizer fin. I have seen many damaged rudders bent, folded over, but rarely cause a hole in the bottom.
When I was on Sinbad, 63”, contract no. 439, built in 1970 for Fred H. Gordon Jr., this was an area of concern so I took a long hard look. Hers look like they were installed at the Trumpy yard originally. The block in the side looked solid. All the planking was in really great shape, no movement. This year, S.S. Sophie’s stabilizer area was restored. They had a block that spanned 6 ribs. The only problem was the ribs they installed over were installed in 1947 and it was time to renew them. Nathan Smith, the project manager for that refit, installed laminated ribs, not sisters. All the filler block were hand fit for snugness. Once completed, it was a work of art. Then we installed the interior over it, and the area will never to be seen again. But it’s not about seeing it. It’s the peace of mind.
Along with the letter, I am enclosing some newspaper clips. I know that I have written about Georgjan before and I found her original ad and have enclosed a copy.
The summer is almost over again. Are the years getting shorter? I know I’m getting older in every way. This summer flew by but it was a good and memorable one. I hope it was the same for you.
Sincerely,
Jim Moores
Wishing Star is moving ahead with my partner Nathan Smith running the project. The guest stateroom has been disassembled and new ribs are being installed through this area. She is also getting full paint and varnish and will be a stunner when she heads home to Hampton Island, Georgia.
I was in Beaufort, N.C., for three weeks, to watch construction of our new boat yard with an old friend Jimmy Berkeley, who lives in North Carolina. Jimmy is keeping on top of the project with our engineer Myron Meadows and project supervisor Eddie Grant.
The project seemed to take forever to get started, with easements, permits, drawings, changes and more changes, but that’s all over.
We’ve dumped over 500 loads of dirt. Now, we’re building the most important parts of the project, the infrastructure for drainage and utilities and a Travellift road. The road is 60 feet wide and compressed to support a 220-ton Travellift carrying boats and yachts from 25 feet to 125 feet. This is a great accomplishment. IF it wasn’t for my wife Stephanie keeping me focused, we would have never made it.
Our first building, will be the Myron building, named after the young engineer who has stepped up to the plate in designing our boatyard. (Naming rights for other buildings are available for a small fee).
That old Maine saying “You can’t get there from here,” keeps ringing in my ears. The 60-foot wide road, the wetlands, the store location and the first building – it just didn’t seem it was ever going to be possible. We had to overcome so many obstacles. But finally, we sprayed and staked and walked with a long tape measure. Myron said in his soft Southern accent, “Jim, it just fits. It’s a tight fit but it does fit.”
We also had some help from Dave Inscoe, Carteret County’s Economic Development Director and changing water mains and moving light poles. Thank you, guys.
We plan on building the first building in the next month. We still have a ways to go, setting up equipment, and completing phase 1. Our plan is to open in the Summer of 2007 or sooner, if we can get it done faster.
My dreams aren’t about fast cars or expensive houses. My dream was to have a boat yard for our projects for many years to come. This might sound kind of grand but I’m hoping to build a legacy, a boat yard that will be in my family long after I’m gone. My dream is to build a boat yard designed to restore antique and classic wooden American yachts, to attract the best craftsmen in the south east together and to make magic happen. Boat builders are an odd lot. The task requires patience, focus and knowledge. But most importantly, you truly have to love what you do.
We have been very fortunate to attract great craftsmen and keep them. I think mostly because there is a great deal of satisfaction and sense of personal achievement in what we do. I have many men I consider much smarter than myself, who could easily go out on their own, but they stay a part of our team because we can achieve more together than individually.
And Beaufort is the place to do it. This city built in the early 1700s has genuine southern charm and hospitality. Let me tell you a story, even if it’s a bit embarrassing to me personally. There’s this great wine bar in downtown Beaufort. One night, a buddy and I drank a bit too much and decided it was best to keep our cars parked and walk back. A fellow we met at the wine bar, a professional chef, wouldn’t hear of it. He insisted we spend the night at his house. Never met the man before in my life. Now that is some serious Southern hospitality.
I love the great coastal towns like Newport, Nantucket, Annapolis and Charleston. Each place has it special magic, but Beaufort, N.C. needs to be on that list. I liked those towns a lot more before they got “discovered.” So let’s keep Beaufort between us.
As part of my extensive research, I’ve been trying all of the restaurants in town, from oyster houses to sandwich shops to finer dining. I had lunch at a place called Sharpies. I had an Angus steak with a light salad and a tart for dessert. It was exquisite, a word I don’t use very often. The owner had dreamed of opening her own restaurant for 20 years and thought out every detail from the service to the tablecloths to the décor. Next time you pass through here, I highly recommend it.
As of this writing, bulldozers, backhoes and dump trucks are unloading sand and rock. From where I am sitting, I can see an Eldridge McGinnis motor yacht. She was built in the 1950s or early 60s. She’s 60 feet plus and doesn’t have a name on her transom, but I know this boat from Florida. This boat lived in North Palm Beach for many years. A father and son had her and they would haul her out at Cracker Boy Boat Works in Riviera Beach, Florida and we sold them lumber every year when they made repairs.
Then one day, I was watching the news and there was the owner. I remembered what he said,” I was in the channel, moving at about 6 knots and I must have slipped to the side of the channel and hit the stabilizer fin. As I pulled back in the channel, she sunk.” The boat was floated, hauled out and the insurance company totaled her. She sat in the yard for a long while. Many times, I walked over and studied her damage. It looked like a cartoon hole, something out of Popeye. It was 3 feet by 4 feet with jagged edges. I never went inside but from looking in the hole, I could see vertical cracks in pretty straight lines. The damage was clear. The problem was simple. The stress was too concentrated in a small area. The block spanned three ribs and the one in the middle was cut out. I looked at the stabilizer and the inside support block, the ribs had been broken way before the sinking. We have repaired many boats with these problems. Usually, the stabilizer was installed after market and the companies that installed them are used to fiberglass and metal boats so their calculation for compression is designed for those boats. But an antique or classic boat is whole different world. Then there is the price point. If the installer said, “We need to disassemble two cabins, remove and replace all the ribs in that area,” he probably won’t sell many stabilizer systems.
To put it in perspective, look at how rudders are installed on your boat. First, there are two floor timbers 10 inches tall. A block inside two ribs, keel bolts, rudder table made of steel and lots of outer white oak surrounding it. Then look at the size of the stabilizer fin. I have seen many damaged rudders bent, folded over, but rarely cause a hole in the bottom.
When I was on Sinbad, 63”, contract no. 439, built in 1970 for Fred H. Gordon Jr., this was an area of concern so I took a long hard look. Hers look like they were installed at the Trumpy yard originally. The block in the side looked solid. All the planking was in really great shape, no movement. This year, S.S. Sophie’s stabilizer area was restored. They had a block that spanned 6 ribs. The only problem was the ribs they installed over were installed in 1947 and it was time to renew them. Nathan Smith, the project manager for that refit, installed laminated ribs, not sisters. All the filler block were hand fit for snugness. Once completed, it was a work of art. Then we installed the interior over it, and the area will never to be seen again. But it’s not about seeing it. It’s the peace of mind.
Along with the letter, I am enclosing some newspaper clips. I know that I have written about Georgjan before and I found her original ad and have enclosed a copy.
The summer is almost over again. Are the years getting shorter? I know I’m getting older in every way. This summer flew by but it was a good and memorable one. I hope it was the same for you.
Sincerely,
Jim Moores
April 2006
Dear friends, April 12, 2006
We are about to embark on a new venture, one we are very proud to announce: Moores Marine just purchased 18 acres at Jarrett Bay Marine Industrial Park in Beaufort, N.C.
As a member of the park, we have 220-ton, 75-ton and 30-ton Travelifts at our disposal.
Our Beaufort property will be designed to cater to American-built wooden yachts, offering wooden boat supplies, craftsmen and tradesmen.
Why Beaufort? By the way, it’s pronounced Bofort with a long O, I got yelled more than a few times for pronouncing it Buford, which is in South Carolina.
This historic area is steeped in maritime history, from whalers to wooden boats. The area has a great lineage of wooden boat builders with Harkers Island, where people built boats in their yards and neighbors pushed them into the water to Jarrett Bay, famous for their fine sports fishing boats.
This summer, Beaufort will be hosting tall ships. There’s also a wonderful maritime museum, grand historic homes, sunken ships, pirate history, an island where wild ponies roam, and more. In other words, it’s a great place to visit for our clients and a wonderful place for our business.
Enclosed is a map to our future site and home.
As for Moores Marine of the Palm Beaches, or “Moores Marine South,” we’ll be here for a long time to come although we will be moving major projects to our North Carolina site as the property comes online, starting in 2007.
A lot of people helped us with this venture to find and acquire our new facility, including Dew Forbes and Jeff Fuller with Jarrett Bay, our new neighbor Rick McGough with Coastal Yacht Hangars LLC., our very patient realtor Walter Compton, our engineer Carl Huddle and especially Dave Inscoe, Carteret County’s economic development director and Mike Bradley, North Carolina’s marine industry recruitment chief.
We have never felt so wanted and welcomed. Thank you.
Enclosed is a limited edition license-plate to celebrate our new venture.
Sincerely,
James P. Moores
We are about to embark on a new venture, one we are very proud to announce: Moores Marine just purchased 18 acres at Jarrett Bay Marine Industrial Park in Beaufort, N.C.
As a member of the park, we have 220-ton, 75-ton and 30-ton Travelifts at our disposal.
Our Beaufort property will be designed to cater to American-built wooden yachts, offering wooden boat supplies, craftsmen and tradesmen.
Why Beaufort? By the way, it’s pronounced Bofort with a long O, I got yelled more than a few times for pronouncing it Buford, which is in South Carolina.
This historic area is steeped in maritime history, from whalers to wooden boats. The area has a great lineage of wooden boat builders with Harkers Island, where people built boats in their yards and neighbors pushed them into the water to Jarrett Bay, famous for their fine sports fishing boats.
This summer, Beaufort will be hosting tall ships. There’s also a wonderful maritime museum, grand historic homes, sunken ships, pirate history, an island where wild ponies roam, and more. In other words, it’s a great place to visit for our clients and a wonderful place for our business.
Enclosed is a map to our future site and home.
As for Moores Marine of the Palm Beaches, or “Moores Marine South,” we’ll be here for a long time to come although we will be moving major projects to our North Carolina site as the property comes online, starting in 2007.
A lot of people helped us with this venture to find and acquire our new facility, including Dew Forbes and Jeff Fuller with Jarrett Bay, our new neighbor Rick McGough with Coastal Yacht Hangars LLC., our very patient realtor Walter Compton, our engineer Carl Huddle and especially Dave Inscoe, Carteret County’s economic development director and Mike Bradley, North Carolina’s marine industry recruitment chief.
We have never felt so wanted and welcomed. Thank you.
Enclosed is a limited edition license-plate to celebrate our new venture.
Sincerely,
James P. Moores
March 2006
Dear friends,
There’s been a lot going on both with us and in other news elsewhere. Earl McMillan’s Freedom project, restoration of a 108 footer is in full swing. We have posted the latest photos on Trumpyyachts.com. We have been working on our own web site, woodenboatrepair.com and we’ve posted some of our older projects when all of us looked a lot younger. Yesterday was a grand day. We launched S.S. Sophie on March 8 after a major engine room refit that required pulling the stack off, and pulling out the muffler, motor and fuel tanks.
My partner, Nathan Smith and S.S. Sophie’s Capt. John Russell teamed up to run this ambitious project. The guest stateroom was disassembled, we removed the stabilizers, put in new ribs (not sisters), installed backing blocks, keel cheeks, garboard and floor joists. The bottom of the steel engine room bulkheads were cut and replaced with 316 stainless built by Richard Ramsay. The motors were taken to John Wheatley’s Florida Marine Tech and Doc, John’s partner, personally rebuilt them. Two large fuel tanks were cut into chunks small enough to pull out of the stack hole and four new ones constructed out of aluminum were dropped in. Capt. John and Capt. Aimee reinsulated and painted the engine room. Cory Belschner installed the wiring and plumbing. This is a project that all of us will be proud of for a long time to come. S.S. Sophie now has an engine room worthy of her.
At the same time we launched S.S. Sophie, we were in the process of hauling out Blue Moon. We are repainting her hull and doing minor repairs here and there. Wind Rush is getting some interior upgrades with a makeover of the guest cabin and head with new closet doors and much more.
I recently spent time on the phone with Sean Simmons, the old owner of Carousel. He’s got Trumpy yachts on his mind again. In our conversation, we talked about a Trumpy in a boat shed for the last 10 years, up in the St. John’s River, just outside of Jacksonville. I am still trying to find more information about her. We also talked about Mariah/Gitana and he mentioned an article in Yachting magazine, back in 1974. Well, Joe, at our shop, searched the Internet and found and ordered a copy. In that issue, there’s an article on another Trumpy named Abadab written in 1923 by Capt. Blair. I have enclosed a copy. The story is in two parts and I will send the second part next month. It’s a great adventure story and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Because of the Miami boat show, I had a lot of visitors and it’s been a blast. I met with the owners of the Washingtonian, who made a special trip over from Tampa, where the boat is wintering. I took them over to see various projects we had underway and I think they had a good time. They are doing great things with Washingtonian. Also stopping by was Bill Andrews, the owner of Broadview. I asked him if he planned on being at the Volvo Cup/Trumpy meet in Annapolis during the 5-7 of May and Bill said “You better believe it.”
Bob Libby, owner/captain of Sea Tabby stopped in and dispelled the rumor that his Trumpy and Gitana are sister ships.
Last but not least, I got a call from James Fitzgerald, owner of Star Gazer. Last summer, he had her painted and kept in a shed in Fort Lauderdale, up the New River.
Then Hurricane Wilma hit two parts of the concrete that covered the shed and it came down, landing on two boats next to Star Gazer, sinking both! But Star Gazer was pretty much unscathed, just minor damage.
I hope many of you will be able to make the Trumpy meet in Annapolis in May. Make your plans now, by plane, car or sea. I hope to see you there.
Until next time,
Jim
There’s been a lot going on both with us and in other news elsewhere. Earl McMillan’s Freedom project, restoration of a 108 footer is in full swing. We have posted the latest photos on Trumpyyachts.com. We have been working on our own web site, woodenboatrepair.com and we’ve posted some of our older projects when all of us looked a lot younger. Yesterday was a grand day. We launched S.S. Sophie on March 8 after a major engine room refit that required pulling the stack off, and pulling out the muffler, motor and fuel tanks.
My partner, Nathan Smith and S.S. Sophie’s Capt. John Russell teamed up to run this ambitious project. The guest stateroom was disassembled, we removed the stabilizers, put in new ribs (not sisters), installed backing blocks, keel cheeks, garboard and floor joists. The bottom of the steel engine room bulkheads were cut and replaced with 316 stainless built by Richard Ramsay. The motors were taken to John Wheatley’s Florida Marine Tech and Doc, John’s partner, personally rebuilt them. Two large fuel tanks were cut into chunks small enough to pull out of the stack hole and four new ones constructed out of aluminum were dropped in. Capt. John and Capt. Aimee reinsulated and painted the engine room. Cory Belschner installed the wiring and plumbing. This is a project that all of us will be proud of for a long time to come. S.S. Sophie now has an engine room worthy of her.
At the same time we launched S.S. Sophie, we were in the process of hauling out Blue Moon. We are repainting her hull and doing minor repairs here and there. Wind Rush is getting some interior upgrades with a makeover of the guest cabin and head with new closet doors and much more.
I recently spent time on the phone with Sean Simmons, the old owner of Carousel. He’s got Trumpy yachts on his mind again. In our conversation, we talked about a Trumpy in a boat shed for the last 10 years, up in the St. John’s River, just outside of Jacksonville. I am still trying to find more information about her. We also talked about Mariah/Gitana and he mentioned an article in Yachting magazine, back in 1974. Well, Joe, at our shop, searched the Internet and found and ordered a copy. In that issue, there’s an article on another Trumpy named Abadab written in 1923 by Capt. Blair. I have enclosed a copy. The story is in two parts and I will send the second part next month. It’s a great adventure story and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Because of the Miami boat show, I had a lot of visitors and it’s been a blast. I met with the owners of the Washingtonian, who made a special trip over from Tampa, where the boat is wintering. I took them over to see various projects we had underway and I think they had a good time. They are doing great things with Washingtonian. Also stopping by was Bill Andrews, the owner of Broadview. I asked him if he planned on being at the Volvo Cup/Trumpy meet in Annapolis during the 5-7 of May and Bill said “You better believe it.”
Bob Libby, owner/captain of Sea Tabby stopped in and dispelled the rumor that his Trumpy and Gitana are sister ships.
Last but not least, I got a call from James Fitzgerald, owner of Star Gazer. Last summer, he had her painted and kept in a shed in Fort Lauderdale, up the New River.
Then Hurricane Wilma hit two parts of the concrete that covered the shed and it came down, landing on two boats next to Star Gazer, sinking both! But Star Gazer was pretty much unscathed, just minor damage.
I hope many of you will be able to make the Trumpy meet in Annapolis in May. Make your plans now, by plane, car or sea. I hope to see you there.
Until next time,
Jim
September 2005
Dear friends,
I have some Trumpy news I would like to share with you:
- Jerry Foster, our resident Trumpy historian, stopped at the Antique and Classic Boat Museum in New York to check on Sinbad and says she looks beautiful. He took some photos, which have been added to the directory under Sinbad. Thanks, Jerry.
- I want to thank Susanne Max for correcting me. She pointed out it’s Trumpy Yacht Association instead of Yachting as I was about to have stitched into the blazer patches. I was able to catch the embroidery company in the nick of time. They are hand stitched and came out beautifully. I’ll post pictures on the web site. Now I have to figure out the rest.
-Carl Vesper, former TYA president and Trumpy owner stopped by my shop the other day and loaned me his extensive collection of Trumpy photos, articles and reunion photos over the years and I’ve posted some of them on the site. Those get togethers looked like a lot of fun and I hope we can have more of those.
-Mike Miron, a writer, will be giving a lecture this fall on Eastport, Maryland, and the Annapolis Trumpy yard. I’ve read his articles, some of which are posted on the site, and I’m sure his lecture will be worth attending. I don’t have specifics but you can e-mail him at spacreek@aol.com or call 410-268-2689.
-We’ve received a number of calls and e-mails on whether any Trumpy yachts were lost through Hurricane Katrina. The short answer is not to my knowledge. I received a call from Jacob Deegan in Houston, where his yacht Aurora and another yacht owned by Richard and Donna Reiling, Flying Lady, reside. Jacob said they had unusually high tides from the storm but that was about it. While we were talking, Jacob expressed an interest in running for a post on the board of the TYA. He wants to roll up his sleeves and get things going. He has my vote.
- As to the specifics of the TYA election process, all I know is what John Patmore mentioned at the last meeting, that the annual meeting will be held at Ocean Reef, during Vintage Weekend in December. As to how members will vote absentee or by proxy, run for a post, who exactly will be on the ballot, etc., I’ll let you know more as I know it.
- I just received the invitation to Ocean Reef’s Vintage Week, which included a brochure filled with lots of Trumpy yacht photos. Whether you plan to attend by boat or car, get there if you can. The weekend starts on Dec. 1 and runs through the 4th. It’s a great time with wonderful food and events.
- We finally got the message board up and running. After three attempts of setting up other programs, we ended up using one from Google. Unfortunately, it has ads on top of it. I know, I know. We’re trying to get the ads off in the next couple of weeks. I don’t like to make hollow promises and I promised to keep this site commercial free. Enclosed is information on how to use the bulletin board. I hope that this will help people connect in the Trumpy community. I can’t wait to read everyone’s postings.
One final item, we are catching up on getting photos on the web site. We have added a lot, and are now ready for more. This project is to document surviving Trumpy yachts has generated a lot of interest. We’ve had more than 2,300 visitors to the site since we started. I get upwards of 10 e-mails a week from people looking for their father’s and grandfather’s old Trumpy yachts or grandchildren of people who worked in the Trumpy yard. They share photos but most importantly, memories. It’s amazing how a single boat can touch so many lives, from the people who built her to the owners and their descendents. We appreciate everyone’s contributions so far and need to get information on some of the other boats on the site that have little or nothing on them.
As far as misspellings or corrections on the web site, point them out to us and we’ll correct them as soon as we can. Spell check doesn’t work on proper names.
As for what’s happening at our shop, we have made significant progress on Patience II. As boat builders, we find work on structural sections of the boats such as ribs and planks, satisfying because it helps ensure survival of the boats, but we know what excites owners is the interiors. And we have been going great guns on Patience’s interior.
We have built custom mahogany doors with white inset panels and had custom molding heads made that are modeled from trim on another Trumpy to match the style. And, Bernard, our lead painter, has sprayed white Sterling in the guest and owner staterooms. We’ve pulled down the old headliner and refaired the ceiling. Patience’s owner, Joe Bartram, brought in his long-time designer Rosemary Stein in and it’s been enjoyable working with her because she is willing to look, listen and take into consideration the logistical requirements of a working yacht.
With that said, we have removed the aft deck ceiling panels for the cleaner look of open beam with trim and varnished battens. However, upon removing the plywood, we discovered aluminum plates on some of them. We did a little calculating and decided to use carbon fiber and epoxy to replace the plates. Today, with the fairing sanded and the primer brushed, you see what we’re going for: the traditional Trumpy style open beamed ceiling with all the little trim details.
Also, we will be building a custom swim platform and air conditioning the back deck so the back seat will be remade to the same style as the existing one but a little shorter with two teak end tables that will house the air handlers. The dining table is going to be modeled off a Trumpy cocktail table built for Fairlee (1960s). It’s a very sleek and elegant design. The table will be constructed out of single plank of teak, butterfly cut to line up the grain. I could go on forever, but you get the idea. I’ll post pictures eventually.
Until next time,
Jim
I have some Trumpy news I would like to share with you:
- Jerry Foster, our resident Trumpy historian, stopped at the Antique and Classic Boat Museum in New York to check on Sinbad and says she looks beautiful. He took some photos, which have been added to the directory under Sinbad. Thanks, Jerry.
- I want to thank Susanne Max for correcting me. She pointed out it’s Trumpy Yacht Association instead of Yachting as I was about to have stitched into the blazer patches. I was able to catch the embroidery company in the nick of time. They are hand stitched and came out beautifully. I’ll post pictures on the web site. Now I have to figure out the rest.
-Carl Vesper, former TYA president and Trumpy owner stopped by my shop the other day and loaned me his extensive collection of Trumpy photos, articles and reunion photos over the years and I’ve posted some of them on the site. Those get togethers looked like a lot of fun and I hope we can have more of those.
-Mike Miron, a writer, will be giving a lecture this fall on Eastport, Maryland, and the Annapolis Trumpy yard. I’ve read his articles, some of which are posted on the site, and I’m sure his lecture will be worth attending. I don’t have specifics but you can e-mail him at spacreek@aol.com or call 410-268-2689.
-We’ve received a number of calls and e-mails on whether any Trumpy yachts were lost through Hurricane Katrina. The short answer is not to my knowledge. I received a call from Jacob Deegan in Houston, where his yacht Aurora and another yacht owned by Richard and Donna Reiling, Flying Lady, reside. Jacob said they had unusually high tides from the storm but that was about it. While we were talking, Jacob expressed an interest in running for a post on the board of the TYA. He wants to roll up his sleeves and get things going. He has my vote.
- As to the specifics of the TYA election process, all I know is what John Patmore mentioned at the last meeting, that the annual meeting will be held at Ocean Reef, during Vintage Weekend in December. As to how members will vote absentee or by proxy, run for a post, who exactly will be on the ballot, etc., I’ll let you know more as I know it.
- I just received the invitation to Ocean Reef’s Vintage Week, which included a brochure filled with lots of Trumpy yacht photos. Whether you plan to attend by boat or car, get there if you can. The weekend starts on Dec. 1 and runs through the 4th. It’s a great time with wonderful food and events.
- We finally got the message board up and running. After three attempts of setting up other programs, we ended up using one from Google. Unfortunately, it has ads on top of it. I know, I know. We’re trying to get the ads off in the next couple of weeks. I don’t like to make hollow promises and I promised to keep this site commercial free. Enclosed is information on how to use the bulletin board. I hope that this will help people connect in the Trumpy community. I can’t wait to read everyone’s postings.
One final item, we are catching up on getting photos on the web site. We have added a lot, and are now ready for more. This project is to document surviving Trumpy yachts has generated a lot of interest. We’ve had more than 2,300 visitors to the site since we started. I get upwards of 10 e-mails a week from people looking for their father’s and grandfather’s old Trumpy yachts or grandchildren of people who worked in the Trumpy yard. They share photos but most importantly, memories. It’s amazing how a single boat can touch so many lives, from the people who built her to the owners and their descendents. We appreciate everyone’s contributions so far and need to get information on some of the other boats on the site that have little or nothing on them.
As far as misspellings or corrections on the web site, point them out to us and we’ll correct them as soon as we can. Spell check doesn’t work on proper names.
As for what’s happening at our shop, we have made significant progress on Patience II. As boat builders, we find work on structural sections of the boats such as ribs and planks, satisfying because it helps ensure survival of the boats, but we know what excites owners is the interiors. And we have been going great guns on Patience’s interior.
We have built custom mahogany doors with white inset panels and had custom molding heads made that are modeled from trim on another Trumpy to match the style. And, Bernard, our lead painter, has sprayed white Sterling in the guest and owner staterooms. We’ve pulled down the old headliner and refaired the ceiling. Patience’s owner, Joe Bartram, brought in his long-time designer Rosemary Stein in and it’s been enjoyable working with her because she is willing to look, listen and take into consideration the logistical requirements of a working yacht.
With that said, we have removed the aft deck ceiling panels for the cleaner look of open beam with trim and varnished battens. However, upon removing the plywood, we discovered aluminum plates on some of them. We did a little calculating and decided to use carbon fiber and epoxy to replace the plates. Today, with the fairing sanded and the primer brushed, you see what we’re going for: the traditional Trumpy style open beamed ceiling with all the little trim details.
Also, we will be building a custom swim platform and air conditioning the back deck so the back seat will be remade to the same style as the existing one but a little shorter with two teak end tables that will house the air handlers. The dining table is going to be modeled off a Trumpy cocktail table built for Fairlee (1960s). It’s a very sleek and elegant design. The table will be constructed out of single plank of teak, butterfly cut to line up the grain. I could go on forever, but you get the idea. I’ll post pictures eventually.
Until next time,
Jim
July 2005
July 2005
Dear friends,
We have got a lot going on down here in Florida. Emma is out for a bottom job and a little topside touch-up. We painted her with Sterling Paint. We love this paint for wooden boats. The main reason is you can fix it. A small tree or maybe a big branch drifted up against Emma’s bow and rubbed a section down to bare wood. We repaired the paint and because Sterling blends so well, you can’t tell where the scratch was on the boat.
Like a couple of sisters Emma is sitting next to Wind Rush, a 55’ 1965 cruiser.
The great thing is these beauties are both similar and at the same time different, just like sisters. Wind Rush is really coming along. The last plank was installed yesterday. We ordered and used quarter-sawn African Mahogany for her garboards. It's tough as nails and so pretty, it could have been a varnished transom. However, the African made the best garboards. Too bad that they will be covered with bottom pain.
We are also taking out some extra ribs and floor timbers. They were made out of Honduras Mahogany, which is a beautiful wood but not for this use. The backbone of these boats are white oak, which has a compression strength of 8200 to 8600 PSI, where Honduras mahogany runs from 900 to 1200 PSI, a huge difference.
We are replacing the old plumbing. The old copper lines made mist because of pinholes. But for 40 years the old copper plumbing worked pretty well, especially when you consider how boats move while under way.
We are putting copper back. Why? It's personal preference. Who wants to bathe in water that smells and taste like plastic? Besides the cost difference between copper and plastic is about $600. Copper last longer. I doubt I'll be around to replace it the next time around. I'll be 90 by then.
While I'm at it, I want to mention to you a misuse of a product that we have been running into more frequently as we go into re-fix previous repairs on some of these boats. It's 5200. We have worked on many Trumpy yachts that were built with the use of this product from 1969 to the last few boats. They were bedded between the double planking with the rubberized glue. However the older boats (pre 5200) were bedded with white lead between inner and outer planks. Dolfinite is the replacement product today.
As for the antique Mathis Trumpy yacht they were single planked, these were caulked with cotton, primed, and puttied with the underwater seam compound.
In recent years we have run across many repairs where boats have been slathered with 5200 used as gap filler. This product was not designed to be used like this. It's just an excuse for poor craftsmanship and knocks down the value of the boat and compromises safety.
It is especially bad when you have pay to have the job done twice and it's much more time consuming and costly to take apart sections gobbed together with 5200. As you can tell I’m a little passionate about the subject.
By the way, I hope you get the chance to meet the new owners of Wind Rush.
Bill & Connie Iler are a great addition to the Trumpy community. Bill and Steve Kneipp, our artist in residence, have teamed up to make the Trumpy Yacht Association's participation awards, with Steve providing the art and Bill having the prototype made with Steve's design laser cut into the wood. We will post the prototype on the web site trumpyyachts.com once done.
While I'm on the Trumpy Yacht Association, I hope you got the voting ballot and letter sent by John Patmore. If you didn't and you're a member, please let him know. His address and email are P.O. Box 4247, Annapolis, Maryland, 21403, or mpatmore@starpower.net. Thank you John for your hard work.
For those of you who haven't joined, this is a great association, which to be a part of. Moving on to the Trumpy directory. I hope that you have been checking our progress. My father used to say if you want to learn something, jump in feet first. I truly did not know how ambitious this project was going to be until it started to take a life of its own.
I am deeply grateful to our web master Andrew Peeling. He's a young man in his early 20’s, who is a full-time college student, works at The Palm Beach Post 10 to 40 hours a week on the paper's site, interns at a Christian radio station. And, he still makes time to work with me at Moores Marine on our sites.
His fingers furiously fly on the keyboard with page after page of pictures, code and text flipping one over the other. To keep up with Andrew, we are on our third upgraded computer in two years and added a DSL line.
I remember as a boy, I would stand and watch a construction site for hours. I get that same feeling watching Andrew build a site that starts out with 200 to 300 pictures. Now, he has designed the site to hold 10,000 photos and documents. It’s all designed for Trumpy yachts and once this site is built, it will be an important source of information on these yachts.
We want you to be a part of this. We will credit you by name for your contributions. Photos of you on your boat and dates will be much appreciated.
On a final note, I have enclosed a copy of a September 1946 ad for Makaira, a 62' built for Charles Johnson of Palm Beach. Take a close look at the shape of the hull. The neat thing about this boat is it has a clipper bow and a modern style hull, but it was built back in 1946 when Trumpy yachts still have plumb bows. She was definitely ahead of her time. All she is missing are the scrolls and the varnish stripe down the hull to look like a boat out of the 1960s.
All the best, and will write again soon,
Jim
Dear friends,
We have got a lot going on down here in Florida. Emma is out for a bottom job and a little topside touch-up. We painted her with Sterling Paint. We love this paint for wooden boats. The main reason is you can fix it. A small tree or maybe a big branch drifted up against Emma’s bow and rubbed a section down to bare wood. We repaired the paint and because Sterling blends so well, you can’t tell where the scratch was on the boat.
Like a couple of sisters Emma is sitting next to Wind Rush, a 55’ 1965 cruiser.
The great thing is these beauties are both similar and at the same time different, just like sisters. Wind Rush is really coming along. The last plank was installed yesterday. We ordered and used quarter-sawn African Mahogany for her garboards. It's tough as nails and so pretty, it could have been a varnished transom. However, the African made the best garboards. Too bad that they will be covered with bottom pain.
We are also taking out some extra ribs and floor timbers. They were made out of Honduras Mahogany, which is a beautiful wood but not for this use. The backbone of these boats are white oak, which has a compression strength of 8200 to 8600 PSI, where Honduras mahogany runs from 900 to 1200 PSI, a huge difference.
We are replacing the old plumbing. The old copper lines made mist because of pinholes. But for 40 years the old copper plumbing worked pretty well, especially when you consider how boats move while under way.
We are putting copper back. Why? It's personal preference. Who wants to bathe in water that smells and taste like plastic? Besides the cost difference between copper and plastic is about $600. Copper last longer. I doubt I'll be around to replace it the next time around. I'll be 90 by then.
While I'm at it, I want to mention to you a misuse of a product that we have been running into more frequently as we go into re-fix previous repairs on some of these boats. It's 5200. We have worked on many Trumpy yachts that were built with the use of this product from 1969 to the last few boats. They were bedded between the double planking with the rubberized glue. However the older boats (pre 5200) were bedded with white lead between inner and outer planks. Dolfinite is the replacement product today.
As for the antique Mathis Trumpy yacht they were single planked, these were caulked with cotton, primed, and puttied with the underwater seam compound.
In recent years we have run across many repairs where boats have been slathered with 5200 used as gap filler. This product was not designed to be used like this. It's just an excuse for poor craftsmanship and knocks down the value of the boat and compromises safety.
It is especially bad when you have pay to have the job done twice and it's much more time consuming and costly to take apart sections gobbed together with 5200. As you can tell I’m a little passionate about the subject.
By the way, I hope you get the chance to meet the new owners of Wind Rush.
Bill & Connie Iler are a great addition to the Trumpy community. Bill and Steve Kneipp, our artist in residence, have teamed up to make the Trumpy Yacht Association's participation awards, with Steve providing the art and Bill having the prototype made with Steve's design laser cut into the wood. We will post the prototype on the web site trumpyyachts.com once done.
While I'm on the Trumpy Yacht Association, I hope you got the voting ballot and letter sent by John Patmore. If you didn't and you're a member, please let him know. His address and email are P.O. Box 4247, Annapolis, Maryland, 21403, or mpatmore@starpower.net. Thank you John for your hard work.
For those of you who haven't joined, this is a great association, which to be a part of. Moving on to the Trumpy directory. I hope that you have been checking our progress. My father used to say if you want to learn something, jump in feet first. I truly did not know how ambitious this project was going to be until it started to take a life of its own.
I am deeply grateful to our web master Andrew Peeling. He's a young man in his early 20’s, who is a full-time college student, works at The Palm Beach Post 10 to 40 hours a week on the paper's site, interns at a Christian radio station. And, he still makes time to work with me at Moores Marine on our sites.
His fingers furiously fly on the keyboard with page after page of pictures, code and text flipping one over the other. To keep up with Andrew, we are on our third upgraded computer in two years and added a DSL line.
I remember as a boy, I would stand and watch a construction site for hours. I get that same feeling watching Andrew build a site that starts out with 200 to 300 pictures. Now, he has designed the site to hold 10,000 photos and documents. It’s all designed for Trumpy yachts and once this site is built, it will be an important source of information on these yachts.
We want you to be a part of this. We will credit you by name for your contributions. Photos of you on your boat and dates will be much appreciated.
On a final note, I have enclosed a copy of a September 1946 ad for Makaira, a 62' built for Charles Johnson of Palm Beach. Take a close look at the shape of the hull. The neat thing about this boat is it has a clipper bow and a modern style hull, but it was built back in 1946 when Trumpy yachts still have plumb bows. She was definitely ahead of her time. All she is missing are the scrolls and the varnish stripe down the hull to look like a boat out of the 1960s.
All the best, and will write again soon,
Jim
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