Gary has been in England all week and I cannot wait to share his experiences with you! He spoke at the surveying conference on Tuesday and is due back next week. Jack, Nicholas, and I have been holding down the fort in his absence.
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This week, Nicholas prepped planks for the Lyman, including making scarfs.

​He also worked on the stem for the Int-12, gluing and shaping it.

​Nicholas also worked on fitting bungs onto the side planks of the Continental.

​Jack resumed work on the Whirlwind this week. He wired the engine to the ignition switch and electronic choke button.

​For the 26’ Sea Skiff, he selected and milled wood for the windshield frames and started fabricating individual pieces. He also did some minor deck repair.

Linda worked on repairing, sanding, and varnishing all the non-attached pieces of the 18’ Sea Skiff this week.

Thanks for reading, hope your week was as productive as ours! :)

​Our first week without our leader! Good thing he trained us well. Gary’s off to London this week to speak at a surveying conference. Apparently he really knows what he’s talking about!
Nicholas has been swinging between projects this week. For the Int-12, he milled wood for the new stem, soaked it overnight, and clamped into place to pre-bend it before fitting into place.

​He came in this weekend to add another coat of varnish to the Grand Craft. He also began the process of tank installation.

​Nicholas has been working on a design for the deck construction for the Continental. He’s been spending some time looking at old photos and reworking them with the new design.

​The majority of his time this week has been with the Celebrity. He varnished and mostly installed the combings, refitted the interior shelves, and did significant bilge work including caulking, sanding, and painting. He also started dry-fitting the floorboards.

For the Lyman, he spent some time going through our massive wood inventory and carefully selecting pieces to mill for new wooden parts.

Jack has been dedicated to the Ski Boat. He installed the ski platform lights, moved it onto the new trailer, and aligned the engine. He also leveled the floorboards, which involves planing, painting, and reinstalling the supports underneath.

​I filled in for Gary at the office and worked on varnishing and painting some pieces for the 18 Sea Skiff. I really love that Electric Sapphire Blue!

​Our in-house sculpture has been busily sculpting away at his Billy Graham statue. Check out Jim Barnhill’s beautiful work when you get a chance!

​I hope the Double Ender and the Barrel Back will get to swim this weekend! We miss those beauties in the shop already.

This week has just flown by, so in that spirit I'll keep this update brief! Anyone else have a short week? Must be the cooler weather following last week's heat wave.

This week we've started sanding pieces (windshield, seats, etc) for the 18' Sea Skiff. We've also finished wet sanding and buffing the deck and started refitting the ceiling boards. We've also reattached ceiling boards to the Grand Craft, installed hardware, and aligned the engine. Nicholas and Gary dropped off the Double Ender in Roaring Gap and picked up a beautiful new project, which I will refer to as Caroline.  We also attached the fin to the keel of the Ski Boat, bedded the platforms to the brackets, and oiled the swim platform. The Barrel Back has had a nice bath, finishing touches, and a freshly washed canvas cover. 

​At Lowell Boats we take great care ensure quality and to avoid waste of time and resources. Plank removal is a slow and arduous process, but saving a plank and keeping it in good condition is significant. It saves us from needing to purchase a brand new plank, which would need to be milled, measured at every nail, cut to exact shape, steam bent, and dry-fit, costing immense time and expense. Sometimes a board is too rotted to save, but when it's good, solid condition, we use this process to slowly and carefully remove it, so it can simply be replaced later.