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by Dave Lucas – Bradenton, Florida – USA
 

Cedar Key and Motorcycles


The weather at Cedar Key this year was absolutely perfect, I couldn't have arraigned any better if I were in charge of that sort of thing. The first weekend in May is usually good, right between too cool and too hot.

If you drive around the island you won't see all of the boats but on Saturday they seem to come out of the woodwork to fill the beaches. There are always lots of interesting boats but two were stand outs for me. This black Melonseed is the Cortez melon that Kevin from Georgia finished last week. I sent him the basic plans and some key patterns and he did a nice job of it. It's #14 in the series.

Crazy Steve was there with his custom boat. It has the same sail at our melonseeds, a Beetle Cat sail without the battens. Here I am in my sun hat. We took little Laylah again, it's the perfect boat for this location, the water is shallow and well protected. I can't send pictures of all the boats there, these are just a few pictures we took to show you why I think this is the best event of it's kind there is. There is no organization of any kind; no one in charge, no sign up, no planned events. It's just a whole lot of people in small boats showing up at the same place at the same time. I thought I had a good picture of Doug Engh in his Penobscot 17 but can't find it. Doug makes his big complicated two mast boat move like a freight train and he's usually by himself.

Lots of Sea Pearl's usually show up, this is Tosh from north Georgia with his brand new sails. Every encounter of any two boats is a race of sorts but it's also a good way to meet and get to know people. They come from all over the country, the couple next door to us are from Northern Michigan. Helen likes to stand up and hold on to the mast after she's been sitting for a while. Our little boat is pretty stable. I got the most questions about the boat I didn't bring, my foam kayak. Sorry guys, you'll just have to make one for yourself.

Here's the oldest and youngest Cortez melonseeds. Laylah was the first one built about ten years ago and Kevin's the last. The boats are just about exactly the same size and shape but the looks are a little different. I believe in filler and paint and Kevin, well he takes a slightly different approach, this is a cherry deck. I don't know if it has a name or not but he flies a rum flag and has a built in rum dispenser under the foredeck that's a gallon pump up jug with a hose going back to the cockpit, I know it works cause I tried it. It also has under deck LED lighting and stereo system. And notice the uniforms he and crew have, 14 on sleeve. They're typical of everyone who's here, there are no strangers among this bunch, show a little interest and you'll get the whole story.

This is the other extra special new build, Rex and Cathy Paine managed to finish their latest, a Caledonia Yawl in time for this. The paint was still wet I think, it had that new boat smell. Even the motor boats are cool looking.

Here's Simon looking at the new boat. It's up to their usual exceptional workmanship standards. They say that they'll keep this one for a while but I'll give it six months before it's up for sale and another build is under way. They don't have a huge yard like I do so there's a limit on how many boats they can keep. When it comes up I'll let you know. How many boats were here this year? I have no idea but it was hard finding a place to slip into on the beach.

Things got so tight at lunch time that we had to put bumpers between boats to keep them apart on this mile long beach, that's a lot of boats. I'm not even showing all of the kayaks and canoes, they were stacked up like cordwood down at the far end. The little sailing canoe is Whalen trying to sneak in with "Wanda".

Meade Gougeon of WEST epoxy systems is always here is his latest custom build. This time it was really his hat that was custom, cut off back and epoxy coated. I'd say that at least half of the boats are home built, and show some real art work. If you think you're a hot shot boat builder you can get humbled real fast here among this bunch. There's a lot of "why didn't I think of that" going on.

Three of our "Cortez" melonseeds were here this time; Kevin, Steven and Summer and me and Helen. These are of course the cream of the crop that all the others aspire to but we don't like brag about it. These three are true one designs and were perfectly matched in speed. It's strictly up to the skipper to make them go faster than the others. All three were well handled. These two pictures show the difference that the camber in the deck makes. Camber is how much the deck humps from side to side. Mine and Kevin's have a 1 1/5 inch camber which makes the deck look almost flat and the boat has a swoop down "saddle" look. #3 here has a 3 inch camber which makes the boat look larger and the deck flatter. The hulls themselves are exactly the same, it's just the curve of the deck that's different.

Tuck was in heaven, he discovered fiddler crabs; even better to hunt than lizards. They make a satisfying crunch when he chomps down on them. This last one is Pat and Reesa's very old Sea Pearl. It has wooden masts and a centerboard instead of lee boards. This was the 32nd year for this gathering and as usual I recommend for all of you to try to make it one day. You don't have to come and go in one weekend, many long distance folks stay a week or so.

Here's a lot more pictures from Cedar Key that Crazy Steve took. He walked the entire beach to get these. As I said last time this was an amazing number of boaters. Every inch of beach space was full and there were still dozens out in the water. If you were there you may find yourself in one of these.

 

I've noticed something you guys seem to have in common other than boats. Motorcycles. If one of you mentions bikes all of a sudden there's a whole new direction in the conversion. As you know, the grand master of "Messing About In Boats" Bob Hicks published motorcycle magazines for a hundred years, hell he may have invented the things. His son is a big BMW dealer. Even I once had one till Helen told me that I was going to end up brain dead in a nursing home. John Binns shared a beer or two with us this weekend and he has a site about playing with them. Check it out if you're into broken heads and legs.

 

 

Just when you think you you've seen it all this jumps out at you. Washington Dan from AlmostCanada not only plays with boats but also does his own road work. I love the helper he has snuggled under his jacket. Dan has the right attitude about things, get far enough out in the boonies and you can do what the hell ever you want to.

Brook's boat "Fred" going to a fine and fitting ending. When a wooden boat gets old and develops problems and a bad bottom it takes a massive amount of effort to restore it back to it's former glory. We've all heard guys tell us that they're going to get a cool old wooden boat that needs a "little" fixing up. That expression does not apply to wooden boats, EVER. Unless there's some special reason to restore it this is the way to dispose of old woodies if you can. Sandy is going through this same process right now here at the shop. He came across a strange old boat that looked "good" but the more he exposes the more rot he finds. It hit the tipping point last week so it's off to the burn pile with his also.

I had another glue question yesterday so I did another test to show you. I keep saying that this stuff is like magic and we keep saying "what the hell is this stuff" when it holds like steel. Well try this. This is a piece of 3/8 inch plywood that I cut and glued back together to see what happens. I'm making the sides of my fast commuter using 3/8 and need to add on to make it the right size. Usually you'd scarf the pieces together but since I'm going to glass it I just stuck the edges together hoping that it would hold till I got it glassed. I needn't have worried. I wondered just how strong this connection was going to be. I made up a dozen of these little pieces to see how it holds and we were all shocked at the results. None of us could break them apart by hand, we had to put it in the vice and knock it really hard to break it and the wood broke not the glue joint. I think it's stronger than the original, what the hell is this stuff?

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