9/26/10 Luna updates

Most of us have been away for the past few weekends working events. Today we returned to Luna to continue work and see what the shipwright has been up to. The last sets of pictures showed her completed outer hull and beginnings of the new quarter deck located at the aft, or back end, of the hull. Work has now shifted in two directions. The deck is beginning to be worked on and the bow is continuing to be stripped down to solid wood.

In order to work on the decks inside the hull, we need to mark the trim on the outside. Starting on the right side of the photo above, you see green painted wood. That is Luna's original hull. Just to the left is an opening where you can see inside. That is a cannon port. The bare wood to the left of the port is the new structure. The two parallel pieces of pipe show where the trim will be. The lower one follows the contour of the deck. Refer to the artists rendering at the top of the page to see how it will look from the outside.

Here is a view we haven't seen in a while. Looking aft, or towards the back of the ship, the temporary decking has been lifted and the old engine room hatch is exposed. The new bulkhead can be seen rising from the hull and the crown, or curve, of the deck is beginning to be worked out.

 Adam, in the foreground, and our shipwright, chip, work on the deck placement. Remember- measure twice, cut once. Temporary strips of wood and cardboard templates are used to determine placement before the old deck and beams are torn out and replaced with new material.

Jeff joined us again today. He is removing wood from the bow of the ship. We stopped the rotting process long ago and now its time to replace the damage sun and water created. These pieces were determined to be cosmetic and will not be replaced. Instead, the area will be reinforced with fiberglass and epoxy and fabricated directly to the deck to create an impenetrable bond.

Onto the field trip of the day. Deltaville always has unique visitors and projects under way. The brigantine  Peacemaker visited over the weekend. We got to spend a few minuted aboard enjoying others handywork for a while. They are off to Maryland next.

Thanks to Grace and Adam for capturing this weeks photos. And thank you for visiting our corner of the world. Please visit again next week as construction continues. If you would like to become a member of the Colonial Seaport Foundation or are interested to learn more about us, please visit our website, www.colonialseaport.org. We also have shirts, hats, A great sea chantey CD, and soon to be available stoneware Luna mugs for sale through our web site as well.