June 15, 2001
Photos Page 1
[TO NARRATIVES AND PHOTOS LIST]
"Sam" is launched! I built "Sam" in two months in a rented garage space. I had only hand tools except for my
father's fifty year old electric saber saw, a battery powered drill, a hand sander and my home made, fold-up table saw. A couple of years ago, when we
were aboard the schooner in Maine, I walked past a boatyard on our daily trip to the grocery store. The yard frequently threw away, what I considered
to be, good boat lumber. I scavenged pieces, bit by bit, and rowed those small pieces of mahogany, oak and teak out to "Silver Heels" for storage on
the forward bunk. We sailed south, we moved off the schooner, we travelled across country and (two times) we travelled up and down the West Coast -- like nomadic Indians with our
lumber pieces in tow. I said, appeasing Ellen, that teak, pound for pound, is more expensive than beefsteak. I was going to use it -- someday. I did! It's in the tiller, knees, belaying pin and
centerboard of the little dinghy. I enjoyed every day building this little boat, and I felt bad closing down the
small shop where she was created. With the sail Ellen sewed, "Sam" moves like the wind.
This contraption holds the mast in position. I just guessed at the design when I built this, since there was no plan for a sail
in the boat's original design. I estimated the size and position of the sail, spars, rudder
and daggerboard, ... and it worked! The spars, the rudder and centerboard are removable
and can be stowed inside the dinghy when the big boat is underway. George, a retired carpenter who built a boat with
me a long time ago, showed me how to make half round moldings that were commonly used in house
construction -- in the old days. I used that technique to turn square sawn spruce wood into a round mast,
round boom and round gaff for the dinghy - all of it done by hand, with a plane and
sandpaper and the joy of working with wood.
"Sam's" easy to beach. She's so light (60 pounds) that I can lift the whole boat with one hand.
She'll easily accelerate with a slight pull on the oars or a puff of wind brushing the sail .