Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Well, the demise of the (very satisfying) gunning seasons and the sub-zero cold have kept me in the shop, making good progress on the Scooter. As you will see, the exterior is pretty much done. My next efforts will be sewing some canvas and repairing a few floor frames. The full step-by-step - with many more photos - is on my website at:
http://stevenjaysanford.com/great-south-bay-scooter/
BTW: If you go to the site, be sure to click on the first photo in each Gallery. That will give you a much larger image and will advance like a slide show with captions on each.
*********
She sat outside with a newly 'glassed bottom for most of the fall and gunning seasons. So, first job was to grind and sand the bottom and get some paint on her:
The runners are faired into the hull fore and aft. The brass was "resurfaced" with 150 grit on my belt sander.
Once I flipped her rightside up, the decks needed some fairing compound and some 6-ounce 'glass set in epoxy. (Actually, I would have preferred 4-ounce but I only had the 6 on hand.) Of course, lots more grinding and sanding - with 60-grit on my orbital hooked up to my good shop vac.
A friend - and new duckboat.net member - Mark Mahoney - helped me make a new fairlead for the bow. First we flattened some bronze rod.
Then we bent it around a solid steel bar. (Actually, I did a lot of watching and picture-taking.)
I had made a template for the bow angle.
Here it is installed. We used round head screws to avoid weakening the bronze stock with countersinks. And, it is set in 3M 5200 for sealing and strength.
This flange was re-set - I think my Dad may have fabricated it back in '54 - at the mast partners. It has had a heavy pipe cap on it as a cover. I will be turning a plug from cypress - to be more in keeping with the tradition.
I also replaced a larger pad eye at the stern. It serves as a fairlead for the stern anchor.
The stool rack needed a re-build. I believe my Dad designed and built it. It is a 6-sided box that sits on the rear deck with no hardware - and folds accordion-like to stow under the rear deck while gunning. I stripped most of the paint, reinforced the ends with epoxy, and used larger machine screws to reinstall the brass piano hinges - which, of course, were bedded in 3M 5200.
The 10-32 machine screws were backed with washers.
The nuts were ground down so the rack would fold on itself - at least most of the way.
Once reassembled, inside corners were marked on the deck - to receive chocks to keep it from sliding. The rack usually slides - when filled with decoys - only when rolling it over the beach or getting the Scooter through/over pressure ridges.
The front and rear bevels are different - and so the chocks were made in pairs.
The chocks were sawn and routed and drilled before being cut from the stock.
One chock in each corner does the trick. It takes just seconds to rig or remove the rack.
This bow - to support the canvas cowling that hides your head and keeps the wind out of the cockpit - was made from oak and Weldwood glue about 45 years ago. (Which was why my earliest coffin boxes used wooden bows and not the conduit I use now.) The paper wasps had nibbled some of the existing canvas cowling - so I have ordered more. This time I'm using Sunbrella instead of cotton canvas.
The "ridge pole" keys into place fore and aft - and "tents" the cockpit cover (also "to be sewn".....)
I reinstalled these oarlock stanchions about 20 years ago - and they are still sound. I also bored the scupper holes at that time - to drain out rainwater. More than once, I found the sockets plugged with ice - and no ice pick at hand a half-mile offshore. In fact, I thought I "invented" the idea - until I saw the same scuppers in another Scooter at the Long Island Maritime Museum (in West Sayville) a few weeks ago - nothing new under the sun. Also, although some do not like pinned oars, I learned to row with these and appreciate that they will never slip out and that the blades are always upright - even in the dark!
Here is one of the stool rack chocks.
Here are just some of the "accessories" needed for the fully-equipped Scooter. This is from "The Hunter's Encyclopedia".
I put off the interior work to get this gear in shape. I sewed the flag new - as well as one for White-Wing - and put it on the existing staff. I like the black-and-white because it seems to show better under different light conditions. The oars are ash; the floorboards and stool rack are white cedar. The rowing stool gets you up off the floorboards - much more comfortable for me - and also doubles as the headrest when gunning.
This pickup stick - for decoys and anchor lines - began life opening upper windows.
I put Turk's Heads on almost everything I have that looks like a pole. They do keep wet and icy handles from slipping through wet and icy gloves - and they sure do look salty.....
This Scooter was white during my youth, grey "striped" during my teens, and pale grey under my custodianship. I have decided - after much fretting - to restore it to its traditional white. Again, my recent visit to the Museum showed me nothing but white in the older Scooters. And, even though pale grey is much closer to the color of salt ice and certainly is closer to open bay waters - many. many thousands of Broadbill and Whistler have been shot from white gunning boats on Great South Bay.
I actually like the way the individual planks are visible - even though the ideal carvel hull should be smooth. With all of my duckboats, I strive for a "workboat finish" - not a "yacht finish" - and I could not justify filling and fairing and adding weight - just so it might look smooth-skinned.
Here's another reason it is once again white - this is my Dad dragging this boat - off Nicoll's Poiint - in the early 60s.
Stay tuned. With any luck, I may - in a couple of weeks - get her out on some ice for some "sea trial" photos.
All the best,
SJS
http://stevenjaysanford.com/great-south-bay-scooter/
BTW: If you go to the site, be sure to click on the first photo in each Gallery. That will give you a much larger image and will advance like a slide show with captions on each.
*********
She sat outside with a newly 'glassed bottom for most of the fall and gunning seasons. So, first job was to grind and sand the bottom and get some paint on her:
The runners are faired into the hull fore and aft. The brass was "resurfaced" with 150 grit on my belt sander.
Once I flipped her rightside up, the decks needed some fairing compound and some 6-ounce 'glass set in epoxy. (Actually, I would have preferred 4-ounce but I only had the 6 on hand.) Of course, lots more grinding and sanding - with 60-grit on my orbital hooked up to my good shop vac.
A friend - and new duckboat.net member - Mark Mahoney - helped me make a new fairlead for the bow. First we flattened some bronze rod.
Then we bent it around a solid steel bar. (Actually, I did a lot of watching and picture-taking.)
I had made a template for the bow angle.
Here it is installed. We used round head screws to avoid weakening the bronze stock with countersinks. And, it is set in 3M 5200 for sealing and strength.
This flange was re-set - I think my Dad may have fabricated it back in '54 - at the mast partners. It has had a heavy pipe cap on it as a cover. I will be turning a plug from cypress - to be more in keeping with the tradition.
I also replaced a larger pad eye at the stern. It serves as a fairlead for the stern anchor.
The stool rack needed a re-build. I believe my Dad designed and built it. It is a 6-sided box that sits on the rear deck with no hardware - and folds accordion-like to stow under the rear deck while gunning. I stripped most of the paint, reinforced the ends with epoxy, and used larger machine screws to reinstall the brass piano hinges - which, of course, were bedded in 3M 5200.
The 10-32 machine screws were backed with washers.
The nuts were ground down so the rack would fold on itself - at least most of the way.
Once reassembled, inside corners were marked on the deck - to receive chocks to keep it from sliding. The rack usually slides - when filled with decoys - only when rolling it over the beach or getting the Scooter through/over pressure ridges.
The front and rear bevels are different - and so the chocks were made in pairs.
The chocks were sawn and routed and drilled before being cut from the stock.
One chock in each corner does the trick. It takes just seconds to rig or remove the rack.
This bow - to support the canvas cowling that hides your head and keeps the wind out of the cockpit - was made from oak and Weldwood glue about 45 years ago. (Which was why my earliest coffin boxes used wooden bows and not the conduit I use now.) The paper wasps had nibbled some of the existing canvas cowling - so I have ordered more. This time I'm using Sunbrella instead of cotton canvas.
The "ridge pole" keys into place fore and aft - and "tents" the cockpit cover (also "to be sewn".....)
I reinstalled these oarlock stanchions about 20 years ago - and they are still sound. I also bored the scupper holes at that time - to drain out rainwater. More than once, I found the sockets plugged with ice - and no ice pick at hand a half-mile offshore. In fact, I thought I "invented" the idea - until I saw the same scuppers in another Scooter at the Long Island Maritime Museum (in West Sayville) a few weeks ago - nothing new under the sun. Also, although some do not like pinned oars, I learned to row with these and appreciate that they will never slip out and that the blades are always upright - even in the dark!
Here is one of the stool rack chocks.
Here are just some of the "accessories" needed for the fully-equipped Scooter. This is from "The Hunter's Encyclopedia".
I put off the interior work to get this gear in shape. I sewed the flag new - as well as one for White-Wing - and put it on the existing staff. I like the black-and-white because it seems to show better under different light conditions. The oars are ash; the floorboards and stool rack are white cedar. The rowing stool gets you up off the floorboards - much more comfortable for me - and also doubles as the headrest when gunning.
This pickup stick - for decoys and anchor lines - began life opening upper windows.
I put Turk's Heads on almost everything I have that looks like a pole. They do keep wet and icy handles from slipping through wet and icy gloves - and they sure do look salty.....
This Scooter was white during my youth, grey "striped" during my teens, and pale grey under my custodianship. I have decided - after much fretting - to restore it to its traditional white. Again, my recent visit to the Museum showed me nothing but white in the older Scooters. And, even though pale grey is much closer to the color of salt ice and certainly is closer to open bay waters - many. many thousands of Broadbill and Whistler have been shot from white gunning boats on Great South Bay.
I actually like the way the individual planks are visible - even though the ideal carvel hull should be smooth. With all of my duckboats, I strive for a "workboat finish" - not a "yacht finish" - and I could not justify filling and fairing and adding weight - just so it might look smooth-skinned.
Here's another reason it is once again white - this is my Dad dragging this boat - off Nicoll's Poiint - in the early 60s.
Stay tuned. With any luck, I may - in a couple of weeks - get her out on some ice for some "sea trial" photos.
All the best,
SJS
