...........And After.

And here the deck irons are after a good stripping, sanding and wire brushing. The big deck iron came out unscathed after it's pounding on the anvil to straighten out the lip. As you can tell, I only gave the big one a quick once over. I'll give the new 4" deck iron a much better polishing in a few days.......... but I think I'll give the old hands a little rest for now.

Two for One............untouched.

All of my want ads over the last couple of months have finally paid off! I got an email from a fellow up on Orcas Island in response to one of my "have one, need one" want ads for a bronze deck iron. He said that he had a 4" moat deck iron that he would sell me for $15.00, but I would also have to take a 5" bronze deck iron for free and pay the shipping.............. how could I say "No" to that !
Anyway, they showed up on the doorstep today. They are bronze! The 4" deck iron is in perfect shape, just needs a clean and polish. The 5" is a little tweaked on the edge and will also need a clean and polish. A little anvil and hammer work should straighten up the 5-incher just fine. The 4" iron will be for our new stove installation and the 5" will be for sale or trade, and should bring in enough to cover all the rest of the wood stove materials and pay back the cost for the 4" deck iron! The Law of Attraction and manifestation at work :)

The shot above is an "out of the box" before shot. I'll be cleaning and polishing this week...........

New Lock

I have a new lock for the rear deck, boat doors on the Bernadine. I have had the idea for some time that I would like to replace the modern, silver, Master Lock with something a bit more vintage and "brassy". Well I found one, and it cost me less than a new one at the hardware store! This lock came from an old U.S. Government Ordnance Department facility. It was made by the Wilson Bohannon Company. I don't know exactly how old it actually is, but I would guess 1960's or so. It will be secured to the boat with a brass chain and small bronze pad eye. Another small step in the right direction!

The Final Piece Of The Puzzle!

I finally located a set of deck drains to use for the aft deck remodel. I searched and re-searched all of my sources locally and kept up the search for quite some time without success............. until I spotted these babies on ebay, of course! These came off of an old sailboat that was built in Germany and scrapped in New England. They're pretty unique and, I am guessing, quite old. The base of one is stamped "Hajo", which I am fairly certain is Hungarian. A Google search turns up "Hajo" as meaning boat or ship in Hungarian. That word doesn't seem to come back to any other language, so I'm going with Hungarian for the language on this one. Hungary would also fit for a sailboat built in Germany many years ago. Who knows for sure? At any rate, these are great. I'll install one on each side of the aft well deck and pipe them together in the bilge and then overboard through a through-hull fitting. This was the last bit I was missing for the deck project. Let the deck building begin!

Pieces Of The Puzzle

Two more pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place! I now have a pedestal mount for the salon table / berth....... and a new antenna mount for the VHF radio.



The table mount is made by Garelick and is constructed out of very heavy aluminum. The ends are welded and it has machined grooves that the upper and lower tubes run in. This set up is designed to allow the table to drop down to berth height and support the weight of a person. Tough! After tons of thinking this through, I decided to go "modern" on this part of the remodel. This one, big, moving part, will take a beating and it's got to hold up. This unit will do it.



When I pulled the old VHF antenna and mount off the boat, while it was in the yard last summer, it literally came apart in my hands! Sun rot and plastic.......... never again! This mount is extra heavy duty cast and machined stainless steel and is designed to hold the extra heavy duty sized VHF antennas. I think it'll do!

It's A Small World!

With all my wheeling and dealing and hunting for the perfect treasures, I always wonder where some of this great stuff came from, what the history behind it is. I also wonder where some of the old stuff I've been selling on eBay ends up................ Well here's a little story about that :)

Last month, when I first started selling old boat stuff, and old treasures that I have been carting around forever, on eBay, I wasn't really sure what would sell and who would buy it. One of the very first things that I listed was the old boat ensign that I found in one of the drawers in the Bernadine. This ensign was the same one that appeared in several 20+ year old photos of the boat that we inherited when we bought her. This ensign was old and weathered......faded, and had seen some serious use! Not the kind of ensign that we wanted flying off of the stern today. I decided to list it in the Maritime Antiques category on eBay and see what happened. Well it ended up selling for over $20.00 !!!!! Who in the world would buy an old ensign like that? I assumed that it would be someone who wanted to use it in a nautical display or for that "vintage" look in their home decorating........... I wasn't far off of the mark!

Earlier today I received an email from the woman who bought the ensign, Kolene Spicher. She said that she had not received it. Well, after checking delivery confirmation numbers, and emailing back and forth a few times, she found it. I had mailed it to her in an over sized envelope and she was expecting a box........ well she found it in a stack of magazines that she hadn't sorted. Happy ending!

I sent her a few photos of the Bernadine and gave her the historical specs on the boat. She emailed back and said that she was a professional artist and was going to use the ensign as a studio prop for her newest line of artwork. She thanked me for the photos and history........

A Google search of her name hit on page after page of web sites that sell her artwork! She is a nationally known and well collected artist who paints in the "American Primitive" style and does lots of the old 1700's and 1800's style nautical and "Nantucket" paintings. Now it seems that the Bernadine's old ensign may find it's way into her next wave of paintings! I'll be on the lookout!

Do a Google search and check out the art galleries and on line businesses that sell and show her work! . You'll get a good idea of the art she does and how well known she is :)

Small world......... and it's all interconnected. Who would have known...................

Stove Lid Lifter

After a month of careful hunting and low bids, I scored a great little stove lid lifter off of eBay for the new Sardine Stove. I have no idea about the history behind this piece or anything about the company that made it................ It's just very cool and absolutely perfect for the new stove :)
It's great having all of these little bits of history coming together to make a new story.