More Bows are Up

Amazing progress continues on the boat shed behind the Freight Shed.  Will, Rob and the many wonderful volunteers continue getting the bows put together and up.  Five bows are up and the remaining 17 are ready to go up as the weather clears, probably this weekend.  The lofting has begun on the front of the boat.  The shipwrights will then be able to make the front frames for VIRGINIA. 
Rob is working on the stem and Will is crafting the transom. 

We are looking forward to Bath’s Autumn Fest on October 8th where we will be celebrating another fabulous year.

Computers Returned

Two VIRGINIA Frames

Two of VIRGINIA's frames glisten leaning against the historic freight shed in the sun of this beautiful September morning.  How proud the volunteers, students and shipwrights should be when they look at these beautiful frames.

Joel Austin Director of  BRCTC

First Bent Up

Once again we heartily thank the RSU#1 school district for their support for the Maine's First Ship's educational building project of VIRGINIA.   RSU#1 loaned us MLTI laptop computers to use for the blogging, video editing, photo editing, emailing and researching .  Without this help, we would not have been able to succeed with the "high technology" piece of the project.

First Bents Up

It was a big day at the Freight Shed today.  The first two bents went up onto the knee-walls of the boat shed.  With the help of many adult volunteers and Peter (student shipwright), Shipwright, Will West lifted each of the two bents, made up of two bows each and they were screwed to the knee-walls.

The Last Student Day

A knee-wall and a shovel

Part of the ditch

It was the last student day and everybody was very busy. Some of the students were working on digging ditches for the boat shed's knee-walls. The ditches are for the knee-walls, so they can be connected and not bow. Speaking of bow, a few students were trimming the ends of the bows so they will fit on a board on the bottom because some of them were too big. We had a pizza party today to celebrate everyone's hard work and accomplishments.

Courtney working on Maine Memory Network

The media group went to Bath City Hall and worked on the Maine Memory Network online exhibit.

Meggan with her new frame

The first of the patterns for the frames of the shallop was sold today to Meggan Henerlau. There are still patterns for sale for a $25 donation. 

Blog post by Bianca and Courtney

Bents and Knee-Walls

Trimming the ends of the bents

 Today in the shop, we worked on constructing the knee-walls.  The knee-walls are three feet high, and sixty feet long.  They support the bents, which were also worked on today.  The ends of the bents were cut to size, so that they would fit on top of the knee-walls.  Also, the lofting floor was rotated so that we will have enough space to lay out the Virginia on the floor.

First Post Found at Pophan Colony
(image from Maine Maritme Museum)

History: The reason they knew that the Popham colony had ever existed was that they found a posthole where a piece of wood was that had been burned. Burned wood gets preserved better then regular wood.

Vocabulary: Gusset- a bracket strengthening an angle of a structure.
Wesley Blum

Blog update

Transom for VIRGINIA

Blog readers,
Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately.  Patti has been on vacation, many students began fall sports training which takes up part of the morning and we are trying to complete some demanding goals in the shop.  Unfortunately, the progress in the shop has not been posted for a while, but I will try to catch you up to date.

Floor of Two Frames

We have four beautiful mid-ship frames all completed and ready to put on the keel.  Will has been

Bows Piled Ready to Construct Shed

busily working on the transom, which is starting to look like a wooden puzzle on steroids.  It has many bevels and mortise and tendon joints that are beautifully crafted.

Knee-wall

The knee-wall boards have been cut for the boat shed and the students are nailing them together.  These sections will hold up the bows that we have been making for weeks.  We now have all 44 completed.

Courtney and Patti went crazy and got almost all of the twelve descriptions of the Popham artifacts written, which we will be putting on the Maine Memory Network.  Courtney also presented some videos that have been made at the annual meeting on Saturday at the Freight Shed, which will be on upcoming posts.
Thanks for your patience,
Patti

Transom

Trunnels in Frame

Getting the Measurements Correct

Today we had three things going on. One was the making bows. We have 6 more to go before we can set up the shed over the keel. Next was the boat frames. We have about four of them up and ready to go. And the last job was lofting the transom. once the lofting of the transom was done the group went out side and moved some wood to make the transom crown. The measurements were 8ft and 6ft.
    For history today at first 120 people went to the new world. When December came around 70 people left. There were only 50 people by the time the VIRGINIA was built.
    The vocabulary for the day is transom. It means the back of the boat.


Blog by Charles