I don't often discuss my boat club activities, partly because I feel it's of at best small interest to many readers who would prefer I discuss the curing time of various rust conversion paints and the proper lubrication regime of 40-year-old winches...as I
do...but the truth of the matter is that almost all of the work done on
Alchemy is done at my club in Toronto and it has been by their indulgence with my dilatory methods of boat refitting to which I owe a great deal.
So...today, the long-awaited New Work Boat was splashed.
Hooking up: This 22 footer, which resembles a flamboyant landing craft fit for the invasion of Munchkinland, is pretty light and that hull is sealed...it's basically a giant metal air bubble. So even a light wind can get 'er moving. The old boat was steel, increasingly thin steel, true, but ran about 2.5 tons in weight. This boat is lighter by far.
The fellow in the boat is Don Weston, our club's Vice-Commodore of Marine Operations. This project of
vale to the old rustbucket and
bienvenue to the new was headed by him. He's got every right to be pleased with the outcome.
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| Yeah, clearly we skew Boomer. What of it? |
The action shots involved a bottle of champagne that proved reluctant....at first.
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| And this guy works out! |
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| Mazeltov! |
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| Where's that whisky now? |
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| Nice, ain't it? |
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| A tentative tickle of the throttle tests "touchy". |
Gratifyingly swift at igniting, the 90 HP outboard (complete with prop shield to reduce prop walk and protect against the large, blade-bending objects this vessel will occasionally retrieve) ran swimmingly.
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| The usual gang of workplace hazards. |
It wasn't long before a number of the Mooring Committee's previous workboat drivers were "certified" (i.e. unlikely to drive it into a wall or another boat) on the new vessel, and mooring servicing began immediately as the club launch approaches.
As for the new name, it's the old name. I'm kicking around a few logos:
I think I like "Safety Orange" the best, even though the club colours are red, black and white.
Anyway, that's the part of the club for whom I volunteer. Gets me out of the paint pots.
4 comments:
SO, did you get re-certified ? LOL
Bill Kelleher
Yes, indeed I did. Hardly anyone lost their footing!
Storm King is an excellent name, long live the tradition.
Don's choice of boat is excellent. He and the Committee put in a lot of hard work to find the right beast at the right price. I also admire his careful handling of the champagne, it's a smart idea to wrap the bottle in a plastic bag before you're about to break it.
Well done, all of you!
Thanks, John.
Hard work and plenty of tweaking at the factory. Listing all the customizations aboard would be truly of limited interest, but Don and company took the cleverness of the old boat and replicated it in the new.
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