A STEADFAST REPAIR

The Ancient Art of Shipbuilding

Boatbuilder Duncan Macfarlane has an old soul. Alive for just under four decades, he prefers music recorded prior to his birth and reveres vessels built long before that. His passion for wooden boats is so strong, in fact, that he’s made it his life’s work to bring them back to what they once were. Back to what they should be. Back to what their designers wanted them to be, and maybe, just maybe, one shade better. On his first day I said to him, “My father always told me, ‘Measure twice, cut once.’ Is that your Mantra?” He looked at me steadily and replied with just a touch of levity. “Oh no. We measure many times.”

In this photographic essay, Duncan fits the knee, (which you can see being shaped in the post MORE PRECIOUS COMMODITIES), recreates the stem, (or very front) of STEADFAST, and attaches the two together, preparing for installation. The new Purpleheart is a stark and startling contrast to the century-old materials it is replacing and supporting.

This is the knee, which attaches the stem to the forekeel, or bottom, of the vessel. What a contrast to the original oak. We want it to last another 90 years! The final photo is the view from inside.

Duncan trims our PRECIOUS COMMODITIES down to size prior to the final shaping of the larger new component, the stem.

Patterns were created from the removed damaged stem as well as from the original 1934 William Hand Jr. designs, which we obtained from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's collection.

The rectangular inlay is called a Dutchman and is used to eliminate an unwanted quality in the lumber. Everything Duncan does has that level of detail.

When the Purpleheart is cut, the color comes alive. I call this Duncan’s Purple World.

He spent hours lofting, which is laying out the plans to scale, and he spends more hours making sure the new fit is perfect, adjusting as he goes.

Tools of the trade range from the rudimentary to the advanced, and it is the attention to detail that will pay off in the end.

STEADFAST’S two new components are fit together for the first time and holes are drilled for the long custom bronze bolts that will hold them together. You can see the seam where the knee and the stem come together.

This precise work requires a bit of guidance, a bit of strength and a hell of a drill bit. The curve that you see here will eventually be what is commonly referred to as the bow.

The holes drilled are precisely the same size as the bronze bolts and it takes some brawn to pound them through the tough tropical hardwood. Tar seals the seam, and there is a ‘key’ (the small block of wood between the stem and the knee) ensuring that everything fits just as it should.

This may be the last week we can see outside from the inside. It is truly a disconcerting view.

The apparatus is in place to install the half-ton of meticulously recreated replacement components, giving STEADFAST back her shape. Progress indeed! Duncan is on the right, owner Steve Uhthoff is on the left.

The ancient art of shipbuilding is, like many ancient arts, becoming more and more rare, as are boatbuilders themselves. It was determined a few decades ago that other materials lasted longer and were far easier to maintain. Progress? That, of course, is a matter of opinion. Regardless, what an opportunity it is to see how complex, intricate, interdependent and STEADFAST vessels such as this one really are. Thanks for following along as we complete the painstaking and joyful repair and refit of our floating home. There are many more steps to come!!

Your input is appreciated and welcome! Love wooden boats? Build them? Never seen one? People certainly fall into all these categories. Like our Boatbuilder himself, STEADFAST most certainly has an old soul, in more ways than one.

*** I will always keep the articles I have written available for free to my readers. If you see value and possess the means, it’s great encouragement to have paid subscribers. If not, simply ‘liking,’ commenting, restacking and sharing these tales helps spread the word about me and what I have chosen to do. There should be someone on your email list that would be intrigued! Sharing is caring.

Most importantly, YOU, MY READERS, ARE TREMENDOUSLY APPRECIATED!

And lastly: our weekly sunrise. These can be seen on Facebook YACHTING STEADFAST each and every morning until 2025.

A Deadrise Workboat goes out at dawn in the last month of the Blue Crab Season here on the Chesapeake Bay. Miss STEADFAST is the two masts on the right, hauled out at Yacht Maintenance Co. in Cambridge, Maryland.