Category: 1925 Smith Island Skiff

Feb 25, 2025 | Priming & painting two skiffs

Warm enough to paint this morning – 48 degrees. But the temps had dipped to 28 overnight. We warmed up the topsides paint and primer in buckets of hot water.

Bob and Mike sanded the filler epoxy, then taped the waterline and primed the 1920 (white) skiff. Tom and Willem taped the waterline of the 1925 (green) skiff and put on another coat of topsides paint.

While the paint dried, Tom and Willem did another coat on the 1925’s centerboard. Bob and Mike prepped a boat exhibit cradle for new paint next week.

Jan 14, 2025 | 1925 Smith Island Skiff: Taking off the lines

We used the shipyard forklift to raise the boat and position its keel above the edge of our plywood floor. The edge served as centerline for our half-breadth measurements.

We used a plumb line and framing square to transfer the centerline to the plywood lofting floor below the boat. Then we transferred keel, chine, and sheer half-breadth measurements from the centerline at 8 stations, plus stem and rudder post, to the lofting floor. We measured the height of each of these points above the plywood baseline. We transcribed these measurements to a table of offsets.

Nov 12, 2024 | Scraping and painting two Smith Island skiffs

Strong winds from the NW blew up whitecaps on the Miles River. We were protected in the lee of the small boat shed and warm in the morning sunshine on the porch.

A small cruise ship was at the CBMM quayside. A few travelers stopped by to ask about our work.

We finished scraping and sanding the deck and washboards of the 1920 Smith Island Skiff. Today we got started on the sides. Encountered wood rot at the bottom plank fastenings along the chine. This is due to “iron sickness” from interaction between the nails and the wood.

And we learned to use the heat gun with more care to avoid igniting the very dry and soft wood.

Tom and Jenn put final another coat of paint on the deck, coaming, and stern-interior of the 1925 Skiff.