We did not haul the Gyrfalcon last year. We felt like we needed a break from big wood projects. In the meantime, we had the anchor winch rebuilt, so it wasn’t like we were ignoring the boat’s needs. There are a couple of large wood projects left on the boat, and we decided to begin addressing them this haul out.

There’s a lot going on with the Gyrfalcon, so the story of this year’s projects will be reported in several blog entries.

First, a bit of boat anatomy.  Here is a cross section through the boat where the deck meets the hull.  We’ll be telling you about our bulwarks, covering board, sponson, guard, and sheerstrake in this and subsequent blogs.

Every year at the two big boat shows that we attend (Seattle Boat Show and Pacific Marine Expo), there is a lottery to win a free haul-out at Port Townsend. Nancy has a special technique that involves folding the entry/business card in a special way (which according to her makes the card more attractive to the fingers of the person drawing the winning entry. I have snorted at this “magical” approach in the past, but two years ago, she won the free haul out donated by the Port of Port Townsend. And although she does not normally win prizes, a few weeks before we pulled out, we found out that Nancy won a free haul-out from the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op.  We met Tim Lee of the Co-op and thanked him for the haul-out, and he gave us a fantastic tour of their facility–very impressive!

We arrived in Port Townsend on the afternoon of January 1.  We had spent Saturday hosting the annual Seattle Audubon Pelagic Christmas Bird Count.  We dropped the birders off at Shilshole about 3:30 or 4 pm, and headed across the Sound to Port Orchard.

Being winter in the northwest, it was starting to get dark when we left Shilshole.  We’ve been out to Port Orchard several times, and felt comfortable navigating at night and anchoring in a familiar place.

The next day, we headed up to Port Ludlow for New Years Eve, and then spent the next night at anchor just outside Haven Marina.

We were scheduled to be hauled out first thing on January 2. After a fairly uneventful trip in the 300 ton hoist (Do you remember how frightening it was the first time you bought a house – spending hours reviewing at every piece of paper you had to sign? And the next time, it was, “Oh yeah, let’s sign these things and get out of here; I have an appointment at the barber’s?” Having the boat hauled is a lot like that – progressing from terrifying to banal in just a few years.

 

 

Captain Nancy and Zolly, one of our new workers from Haven

 

Here’s a video if you’d like to see (in time lapse) how a boat gets hauled out using the 300 ton lift.

 

Two years ago, we had the portside sponson and guard replaced. This year we were going to tackle the starboard side, which, although it was not quite as bad as the port side, had issues. We also planned to address the non-functional, sonar unit that hung off the starboard side of the hull near the keel (we didn’t know the vintage, but have since found out more from Dan T–see below), and which we thought was probably responsible for the water in the associated bilges.  Erica S. will know the location of the bilges–right underneath underboard.

Like all big boat projects, this one began with destruction. The old starboard guard and sponson were removed. This year we had a number of shipwrights working on the Gyrfalcon projects. Blaise is the yard foreman, and oversaw the entire project, with a very hands-on approach. Griffin was the lead shipwright – he worked on the port sponson two years ago. He was joined by several of the newer shipwrights – Zolly and Claire. Chris and Arthur joined in when needed. And when it came to really heavy lfiting, everyone in the yard came out.

 

The sheerstrake (the upper most plank on the hull just below the deck) was examined. As we expected (based on port side), most of the sheerstrake was rotten as well, and had to be replaced.

The most forward section of the sheerstrake was solid, so we were able to reuse it. The rounded stern section of the boat (fantail) has a series of boards just under the decking that extend deep into the hull, called the rim log. When we replaced the port sponson, we did not go as far aft as the rim log so we were concerned about the integrity of the remaining rim log wood. We were lucky – almost all of it was sound, with just a small bad area that will need a Dutchman (a short section of replacement wood). In addition to the sheerstrake, the plank below it also needed to be replaced for most of the length of the hull.

After the sponson/guard/sheerstrake destruction came the reconstruction. The new sponson was constructed with two layers of thick yellow cedar, which were shaped and steamed so that they would bend to conform to the shape of the hull. The planks were then clamped, glued and screwed with heavy bronze lag screws that are made especially for the Gyrfalcon (as you might guess, “especially made” does not mean inexpensive).

In order to get the angles perfect, the two shipwrights – Griffin and Zolly – built an 88-foot pattern on sawhorses that had all the various turns patterned.

 

After the sheeerstrake came the sponson:

 

After the sponson was attached and faired (planed and sanded so that all the angles and turns are prefect), they fashioned the guard (the outermost section of sponson – the part that actually rubs against docks and pilings) out of purpleheart – a very hard wood.

And finally, we were ready for painting!

For those of you that are interested in boat construction, here are the specs for the original construction from HC Hanson in 1941.