Pirates v/s the Customs Agent and construction updates

Walt Disney is releasing Pirates of the Caribbean 4 this Friday. The Colonial Seaport Foundation, along with Blackbeard's Crew and Hysterically Correct Productions has been asked to participate at the Premier opening at the Virginia Air and Space Center. To help turn the lobby of the Air and Space center into the appropriate background, we have moved His Majesties Custom House, Lower James River District, to Hampton. We are also bringing the Custom Agent Richard Fitz-Williams to ensure the Crown Receives its fair course. This is just one of the many historical educational platforms we create at the Foundation to create a real life history lesson on early colonial history and economics. The Customs Office will remain at the Air and Space Center until the Hampton Blackbeard Festival, June 3-5 where it will be moved to the waterfront for living history presentations.

The construction crew after a mornings work.
The look of surprise on visitors faces as a building formed out of a pile  of lumber is great!

His Majesty's Custom Collector Richard Fitz-Williams and the pirate Garret Gibbons discuss  taxes.

AND NOW FOR LUNA UPDATES

Sunday brought us back to Luna. In the diagram below, the areas marked in red are our construction areas of the day. We worked on bulkheads and the bow, or front of the boat.

Before and Now

Jeff has been hard at work pulling the bow of Luna apart. There is just a little bit more to remove. What can't be seen is the number of nails, screws, and bolts holding the various layers of wood together. There is also a huge amount of chemical filler holding it all together and making it watertight.

Taking this part of Luna apart has been a lesson in patience and persistence.

Back in the cargo hold, Christopher and Jana work on the frames surfaces getting ready for the next section of bulkhead to be fitted.

Looking forward through the cargo hold, the two halves of the forward bulkhead are fitted. A third piece will go between these and then made watertight. We will leave this area open as long as possible to allow passage during construction.  At the bottom of this area is our next work project. We must build the area up with fresh lumber to support the mast. And whats going to go there????????????

These are the templates for the keelson, or the front section of the boat where the mast is going to sit. combined these two piecesare about eighty inches long. the curve of the front of Luna is to the right. the Pieces will be about eight inches wide, six thick and 40 inches long each. This is done in two pieces due to its size and weight. What are we making these next pieces out of?????

Well there ya have it. This week has been busy and well be back at it next weekend. Please visit again to see how our projects are coming along. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a member, please drop us a note. If you have any questions or thoughts about anything that you see in the Blog, please leave us a comment.

Of field trips and education

While we have not had post up recently, we have been hard at work on our Bermuda sloop Luna and working on our education programs.

Most recently, Colonial Seaport Foundation members joined our sister organization, Blackbeard's Crew and headed to the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, NC. to present a program to 168 students and staff from Hawfields Middle School. Our topics of the evening were trade and commerce, engineering, social life, music and of course maritime weapons and tactics.

Stan discussing the arts of trade and commerce
at the tip of a cutlass.

Tornado recovery

Dear friends and family of the Colonial Seaport Foundation,
    
Our little town of Deltaville Virginia, where Luna is being worked on, was recently hit by a tornado. We were not effected directly, but the center of town was hit and many friends lost everything. Miraculously there were no fatalities and only minor injuries in our community. Please keep our town in your thoughts and prayers. We will be back with Foundation news once town is back together.

John Collamore
President, Colonial Seaport Foundation

A look at the hull cross section and work on the deck!

Members of the Colonial Seaport Foundation have been hard at work over the past few weeks. Our shipwright had a conference with the Coast Guard describing the construction techniques and special considerations of Luna's hull design. We were fortunate to have him bring his hull mock up in to a meeting so all could see. The hull goes from bare wood, to epoxied boards, to layers of fiberglass, fairing the hull and finally her finished coat. This display also presented a view of her thickness. Quite impressive!

Colonial Seaport Foundation shipwright, Chip, points out the various layers of  Luna's fiberglass construction. From left to right, we start with bare wood, epoxy treated wood, multiple layers of fiberglass, fairing compound, and final coat.

WE"RE MOVING!!!

AHOY FOLLOWERS! We are moving our blog to a new site. Please follow our progress there and let us know what you think of the site and how we can make it better!



http://www.colonialseaport.org/blog/?p=156  

2/13/ updates

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on the deck beams that will cover the aft, or back cabin, making bulk head templates to seal off the engine compartment and replacing a couple more frames forward, or at the front of the boat. The construction areas are in red.

January 22 & 23

Saturday was a two front day

Our computer Guru, Pern, arranged a computer use class for some of our administrative folks. Now you won’t notice things right away or at all in some cases, but this was done to help streamline several areas of our operations that had gotten a bit big for its britches. Imagine that! CSF has gotten so large that we had to upgrade our data systems! Our updated website should be coming on line shortly. Thank you to Pern for arranging the class and our volunteers for giving their time to learn how to work the new systems.

Sunday

and now a report from our Coast Guard volunteers who joined us for a second work day!

The four of us arrived at 0900 like last weekend and we were eager to get started on the projects from the weekend before. Rob P. began work on installing a new temporary deck aft with marine grade plywood, 3 sheets, after he properly set three deck beams the week before.

January updates

CSF will be hosting its annual membership meeting March 2nd  at 7pm at the Air and Space Center in Hampton Virginia. Please stop in to learn about this amazing project and see how you may be able to help!

Now, onto the boat!

The Luna snow dance

Last year we suffered a setback when Luna's cover collapsed during a snow storm. This year we beefed up the frame and purchased a custom reinforced canopy. So far so good!

Two days ago we all peered out the windows around the Chesapeake Bay and noticed a thick grey cloud bank forming, the temperature was dropping, and the air smelled of snow. Yesterday afternoon our snow plan went into effect as the white stuff started falling. Around six, the shipwright, Cory and I headed for the farm to see how things were holding. The headlights hit Luna's bow and Merry Christmas to us! There was our cover- slightly sagging under the wet snow, but standing it was.

First light, still standing!

Informational video

Thank you to one of our newest members Baran Hill, founder of FundraisCZAR, for putting together the video found at the link below. He braved the cold last weekend to spend the day at the farm shooting video. We hope you enjoy his production! If you are interested in his work or having him produce a video, please subscribe to his video channel through the link provided.

http://www.youtube.com/user/fundraiseCZAR?email=share_video_user

FOUR LETTER WORDS

This weeks conversations around the farm consists of four letter words that we had not heard in a while. The weather has taken a turn i'm afraid. "John, it's cold, put more wood on the fire! Man it looks like its going to snow again. Is there warm food for lunch? You mean we're going out in the cold and WORK!?"

Yes, were still here.

Ahoy friends,

We have been off the web for a bit to let us focus on some administrative and fund raising needs. Rest assured loyal followers, we're still making great progress on Luna, our 18th century Bermuda Sloop is still under construction.

We would like to thank our sister organization, Blackbeard's Crew for their recent contribution to the construction fund. The crew graciously sets aside 10% of their event profits to the construction fund.

Our first corporate fundraiser/ meet and greet, held at Half Moone Terminal was a success. We signed on over a dozen new members and had just as many renew. We welcome The Port of Virginia and Principle Advantage, Ltd as corporate donors as well. Thank you to Ann and Angie for coordinating the efforts.

Corporate sponsorship

Dear CSF friends and family,

On ,December  8th we will be hosting a  reception at Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center  located at the Nauticus Complex in Downtown Norfolk. Tickets are $50.00 and include an annual membership.

We are in need of sponsors for various elements of construction. Our most immediate needs are:
Conex storage container- $1500.00
Fiberglass materials- $30,000.00
Rigging-$40,000.00
Marine grade plywood- $8000.00
Volunteers- Priceless

Please RSVP with Ann Flandermayer at (757) 675 1876 or e-mail annflan@principle-advantage.com. We look forward to seeing you there!

combining new and old

Hmmm- that doesn't look like it belongs in the new plans.
Yup, you guessed it. Out it goes! This is the old engine compartment.

Work has been continuing at a steady pace.  We may not always have masses working at one time, but our dedicated volunteers come and go as they can and as long as there are a couple of people on hand changes are seen weekly!

Treasures lost in time waiting to be discovered.

So what is it?

Continued from last week........ 

Work days and Schooner Appreciation Days

The last couple of weeks have been spent working on more deck beams. This weekend was spent cleaning the shop, stacking wood, and getting ready for winter. Last seasons heavy snow did Luna's vinyl and pvc pipe framed cover in. We added a laminated ridge pole and uprights to the frame so we should be o.k. this season. Then Adam, one of our volunteers, pointed out a very simple observation. "It snowed last year, we're not going to see anything for another ten years." He's probably right, but as the local saying goes. "If you don't like the weather on the Chesapeake Bay, wait an hour, it'll change."

Making Deck Beams

Sigh.... Our problem of the day is this rotting deck beam, which needs to be replaced before we can lay down any new decking. This one is located at the forward end of the engine compartment. Fortunately, there is a solid beam located just forward of this one.

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.

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Well its been eight years since the journalist Dave Berry introduced the world to Ol' Chumbucket and Capn' Slappy who created Talk Like A Pirate Day. This once small gathering has turned into a novelty cult following of sorts celebrated by thousands around the world. No- really, it is! Check out their web site and see for yourself.  http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html.

The Foundation was contacted by the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia to help them celebrate their annual Talk Like A Pirate Day events. Who are we to say no to an offer like that! Sometimes we just need to work an event to remind us why we got into this project to start with. The Mariners Museum is the National Maritime Museum sporting over 60,000 square feet of gallery space! Their collection includes rare ships figureheads, an amazing collection of hand crafted ships models with such detail you would swear they were real. The museum also holds many USS Monitor artifacts. To learn more about the museum visit their web site, http://www.marinersmuseum.org/ . This was our first time working with the Museum and we had a wonderful time!

Hampton Bay Days

Hampton Bay Days celebrated its 28th anniversary promoting stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay this past weekend. This was our second time participating in the bay education area. We actually had two sites as the Custom House was back at the waterfront as well.

Saturday was an almost picture perfect day with low heat and few clouds. Somewhat smaller than last years booth, this year we packed our 10x10 foot space with as much as we could so folks can see the work we are accomplishing on Luna and our education programs.