pictures are worth 1000 words

We begin this weeks blog with a visit from Scott Watts who was in town delivering a boat and came by to see Luna. Scott and his family generously donated Luna to the Foundation and have been following along in her construction. This is his first time seeing her in almost three years- Geez, has it really been that long? Here is Scott enjoying the view from the stern. Thank you for making this possible! 

The shipwright spent the weekend working on the transom windows. Looking at the picture, the four vertical slats at the top of the boat show the approximate size of each framed area. The major concern is obviously keeping water out. The challenge though is being able to open them when needed and keeping the structure strong enough to take on crashing waves over the stern while keeping her historical appearance. While we don't plan on doing bluewater cruising, rogue storms on the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound have knocked down more than one ship, so safety is foremost in our thoughts.

Our Custom House made quite a splash at its debut in Hampton at this years Hunt for Hampton History and Blackbeard Festival. Local photographer Anthony Prater captured this picture at the Blackbeard Festival and did a little photo-shop magic to turn it into a painting. Anthony is a freelance photographer and has been working on a few photo projects in the downtown area focusing on the city's architecture. Thanks for allowing us to use the picture Anthony! In the background is the Kalmar Nykel, Delawares state ship.

Of Workdays and Pictures

We returned to the workshop after being driven off by the heat for a couple of weeks and darned if we didn't make some progress! In the meantime, I learned how to add pictures to the blog- there's no stopping me now!


Today was busy with six of us on site through the day. Our money shot for the day is the roughing in of the first two new quarter deck beams! Despite the rest of our absence, the shipwright has almost completed the stern and we surprised ourselves today by being able to set the new beams in place as the final job of the day. This puts a whole new perspective on the size of the cabin. Pictured are the shipwright and Larry, who has been out to several events with us and joined us for the first time on the farm today.