A little more work on the transom

Tonight I cut two more holes in the transom. A 1" drain hole, and a square hole for the boomkin.
That makes a grand total of 17 perforations through my transom. Six for the Duckworks motor mount, eight holes for the gudgeons, and three more for the tiller, boomkin and drain!  I hope the boat will still float despite all these holes!

Another challenge was how to trim all the planks flush with the transom. I thought about using a saw but was afraid of scratching the surface of the transom and chipping the planks. Then I thought Id carefully whittle away at them with a sharp chisel. That would have taken forever.  I ended up using the Gain Machine


I set the Gain Machine so that the router bit was flush with the bottom of the base, like this:

Then, holding the base firmly against the transom, I used the Gain Machine to route the protruding planks flush with the transom.

The planks were perfectly flush a few minutes later.

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A little Reminiscing

What a wonderful summer 2011 was! "Ellie" was launched in July and its hard to believe we had so many wonderful adventures in only half a summer.  The sailing season here is over, but as winter approaches we look forward to next spring, and more adventures to come, with great anticipation.  Ive gone through my photo collection and selected my favorites to help me reminisce.  I hope you will join me.

Maiden voyage and my Sons first sail

At anchor in Fossil Bay, Sucia Island State Park

 Beached at Sucia, with engine trouble!
Giant clump of seaweed sucked into the engine.

Moored at Matia Island while we head off to explore

My Daughter Heathers first sail.  Returning from Blake Island

"Ellie" rests at anchor as Mike "Doryman" Bogoger snaps
photos of John Bigelow in the William Garden "Eel" behind her.

On the opposite side, Rick and Judys Welsford Houdini "Gertrude"

Around Sucia "Race"

 

John Welsford at the helm, Port Townsend WA

My wife Cindy and I aboard Ellie.
Howard Rice, Denny and John Welsford aboard Scamp

The "Grand Sail By", Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

 Heres wishing you all Fair Winds and Following Seas.

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A lovely little daysail with my Daughter

Blake Island is a lovely little Marine State Park located 8 miles West of downtown Seattle.  The island has an interesting history.  It was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Indian tribe.  Legend has it that Chief Seattle was born there. Capt George Vancouver noted the small round island in his journal in 1792 during his exploration of the area, but didnt bother naming it. It was later surveyed and named Blake Island in 1841, but local settlers referred to it as Smugglers Island. Shortly thereafter the island was logged until its timber was exhausted, abandoned, and neglected until the banks foreclosed on the loggers.  Around the turn of the century it was sold to the wealthy Trimble family who renamed it Trimble island. They built a mansion and a beautiful estate where they lived until 1923, when Mrs Trimble died in a freak accident. The Trimble family abandoned the estate. Once again, smugglers, this time in the form of bootleggers and rumrunners, used the island during Prohibition.  It was rumored to be used as an ammo dump and a unit of the Coastal Artillery of the US Army was garrisoned in the Trimble mansion.  After they left, the mansion was gradually plundered, vandalized and finally burned down in the 40s by two High School students who camped there in a home-made 16 boat.  The neglected island was traded to an investment company. After the war, developers expressed an interest in building a luxury resort hotel on the island, but it was traded for timber instead to Washington State where it was turned into a State park. Tillicum Village, a popular tourist attraction featuring Indian arts, culture and food , was added in 1962.  Today, about 100,000 people visit this lovely little island every year.

Last Saturday my Daughter Heather and I were two of those visitors.  We launched Ellie and headed for Blake under beautiful blue skies and 5-10kt winds. We knew we couldnt linger long on Blake because the forecast was for bad weather to move in that evening.

Heathers little dog "Spud" was very excited to come along. He enjoyed every minute of the hour long sail across the Sound.

Nearing Blake Island

The Indian longhouse of Tillicum Village behind the breakwater.

We tied up in the marina and went ashore. Blake Island was buzzing with activity. The entire shoreline was covered with dozens of tents belonging to Cub Scout Pack 144, there for a three day campout.  They were having a blast building driftwood forts and fishing off the docks for pile perch.

The tour boat Argosy dropped off tourists at Tillicum Village while we ate lunch and a steady stream of pleasure boaters filled the marina for the weekend.


After lunch we set out to explore the island.

We were only able to stay for a few hours.  Storm clouds were starting to gather so we headed back towards Seattle.  With the wind picking up, this was a great opportunity for Heather to do some sailing.

The Space Needle served as a great navigational aid

Meanwhile, Spud found a nice cozy spot to take a nap.

 

It was a wonderful little daysail to one of our favorite local spots. We hope to do it again soon.

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