Saturday, November 9, 2013

Painting the Boat Cradle









The only thing left to finish is the bedding.

Boat Cradle for Grand baby

My stepdaughter, Kendra gave birth to a little baby boy, Maxton.  For a birthday present I decided to make a baby cradle.  It was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit.  It was also a good excuse to by a bandsaw.  Here are a couple of pics from the build.




The "boat" was built upside down over a jig.




I used the stitch and glue method with fillets same as the Blue Heron.






Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival.

One cool trip this fall was a whirl-wind day trip up to St. Michaels Maryland to the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival MASCF.  This year I didn't have the time nor the money to go for a multi-day trip so I just drove up for the day.  It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive to St. Michaels from Richmond.

Next year I hope to plan better and campout at the Festival.  Since it was just a quick trip I didn't take The Blue Heron next year I will.












Sunday, November 3, 2013

Trip to B & B Yachts 2013 Mess-About

We took a little Trip down to Maribel, NC to stop in for a visit at B&B Yachts.  Graham  Brynes was having his annual open house event.

I love the Blue Heron but once bitten by the boat building bug it's hard to get cured.  So, I'm looking toward the future for my next build.  I don't think it will be this Winter I have a few other projects, but I know I will build another boat at some point.

One of the designs I'm interested in id B&B's Core Sound Series.  With this in mind we headed down to Graham's home/shop for a visit.

Here are a couple of pics of the Core Sound 17:





What a great boat!! And here are a couple of her big sister Core Sound 20:


And here are a few more of Graham's other designs.







Back Creek Park, Seaford VA. (York Co)

I really love launching at this ramp!  There is a huge parking lot and two ramps with floating docks.  The best part is there is no fee for launching.

The free part is not really the best part, the best part is the location.

Back Creek Park, Goodwin Neck Road, Seaford, VA
google map above address.

This ramp is on a tidal creek that empties into the Chesapeake Bay just to the south of the Mouth of the York River.  As you exit the creek the channel splits in two, one will take you straight into the bay south of Goodwin Island (Tues Marsh) and the other channel will bring you into the York a few hundred yards up river from Tues Marsh Light.








The creek isn't very long and it is a no wake zone so there isn't too much worry about powerboat wakes.  You will notice there is a small fleet of scallop boats moored at Seaford Scallop Company.  Just at the end of the creek there is a small sheltered bay before you have to choose which channel to take.

I spent a couple of afternoons this summer sailing from here.

When I owned my Seahunt Escape I would often leave from here to go fishing.  In that boat on a nice day it would take a little over an hour to make the run across the Chesapeake bay to the northern  end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.


Fishing from Northeaster Dory.

On several trips I've taken a couple of fishing rods and thrown in a line or two while taking a break from sailing or grabbing a beer and a snack.