Lake Champlain Chapter January 2006 Sounding Last year the Chapter transitioned to using email to get the word out on current

Lake Champlain Chapter

January 2006 Sounding

Last year the Chapter transitioned to using email to get the word
out on current events and information that could not wait for the next
Port & Starboard newsletter. This year we are upgrading the program
with a monthly Sounding to compliment the three issues of Port &
Starboard. This is the inaugural issue of the monthly Sounding... The
Sounding needs your input. Share your ideas, things that worked (or
did not work?), jpeg photos, projects, trips, articles et al. This
will be fun. Myndy

Upcoming Events:

January 15 deadline for membership renewals to be included in the
2006 Directory

January 21 Workshop @ Melrose Marine (details below)

January 19 - 21 Winter ACBS Board Meeting Ft. Myers, FL **

February 8 LC Directors Meeting @ 5 PM @ Jan Dean’s, Cumberland
Head NY

February 18 Workshop @ Jodi Lapham’s shop, Bridport, VT

March 24 - 26 Sunnyland ACBS Show @ Mt. Dora, FL **

** Jet Blue has $69 tickets through Jan 19 for Burlington -
Florida flights!

January Technical Workshop Saturday, January 21 10:00 until noon

Melrose Marine, 17 Lake George Avenue, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
518-585-2759

Refreshments will be served.

Melrose Marine (Bob & Cookie Melrose) will host its 2nd annual
technical workshop. We plan to cover a broad range of subjects,
including:

- Running Gear - shafts, struts, and stuffing boxes

- Deck Seams - cleaning, filling and striping

- Basic Electrical Systems and troubleshooting them

Boats currently in the shop include a 22 ft. Hacker-craft, a 26 ft
Albany runabout,
a 22 ft Lyman and an 18 ft Thistle sailboat.

After the workshop, members will gather for an informal luncheon at the
Wagon Wheel, a local restaurant. Plans for this will be finalized
during the workshop. Ed Bombard, workshops chair, will coordinate
this part of the activity.

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The BIG NEWS is the 2006 Boat Show in Burlington. Show chairs
Mike O’Brien and Keith Gaylord have been working hard and this promises
to be unlike anything here to fore. We had a brain storming session in
October with Mike Giorgio of the LCMM and came up with the Maritime
Festival idea. About the same time, the Air Guard signed up the USAF
Thunderbirds for a waterfront Air Show. This will be awesome! We can
only take fifty five boats in the water and you are herewith advised to
register your boat early for the ringside seats. As in past years, we
have reserved the second floor of the Boathouse for dinner (and Air
Show viewing). We will be getting registration stuff out earlier than
usual. There will be more about this in the February Sounding.

Mike has updated the original news release:

2006 Maritime Festival Weekend Coincides With
Vermont Air National Guard 60th Anniversary
Air Show
The Lake Champlain Waterfront is going to be a very busy place the
weekend of August 18th-20th. The Lake Champlain Antique And Classic
Boat Society has partnered with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum for
the First Annual Maritime Festival and at the same time The Vermont Air
National Guard will be celebrating their 60th Anniversary with a
Charity Air Show featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performing
over the Burlington Waterfront.

The Maritime Festival will celebrate the many attractions and
activities that line The Lake Champlain Burlington Waterfront. The
attractions and activities will include exhibits, demonstrations, boat
building, long boat racing just to name a few. The festival will
showcase The Lake Champlain: Community Sailing Center, U.S. Coast Guard
Station, Antique And Classic Boat Show, Echo Center, Maritime Museum,
Ferryboat Company and Lois McClure.

The Vermont Air National Guard will be celebrating their 60th
Anniversary with a Charity Air Show featuring the U.S. Air Force
Thunderbirds as well as an open house at the Vermont Air National Guard
Base. A practice show is planned for Friday afternoon with the main
event scheduled for Saturday at 4:30. Following the Air Show The Air
Force Band will perform during which time The Thunderbirds will be
available for autographs. Tentatively Fireworks are planned to
conclude the evening.

If you ever planned on attending The Lake Champlain ACBS Boat Show or
visiting Lake Champlain this is the weekend and is not to be missed!

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The well attended pot luck Holiday Party at Hans Pfisters was a
great success. The house was beautifully decorated with generations of
Swiss ornaments. Hans’ fondue was a real hit. This was a neat
conclusion to the Chapter’s 2005 season.

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New Chapter member Joel Smith, proud owner of a very nice 1955 20
ft. Lyman, had a good tip. Joel pointed out that traditional chain
fall hoists are difficult to work because you have to lean far over
the boat to pull the chain down. Then the chain makes a mess of the
new varnish. He recommended a chain lever hoist. I bought a 1 1/2
ton lever hoist from Northerntool.com for $99. The lever is in the
right spot. It is user friendly and the chain is much more manageable.
Thank you Joel.*

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On the Importance of Humor in Wooden Boat Restoration

A while back I read a book called “The Raven and I, Confessions of a
Wooden Boat Lover”, by Gordon Greene. I think Helene recommended it,
This book is a hilarious description of a couple of guy’s adventures in
a Century Raven in the greater St Lawrence region. If I were producing
a movie version, I would demand that Walter Mathau and Jack Lemon be
the stars. Sadly the book is now out of out of print, but there is
one copy circulating among chapter members.

Turns out the Century Raven had a peculiar steerage problem. When
making a port turn, the bottom started to slide, then the boat heeled
partly to starboard, the bow dropped and further port rudder and
throttle made matter worse. This usually happened when the bow was
headed for shore, and it wasn’t very far away either.

We restored 58 Continental. Many of you worked on various parts of
the restoration.

After the restoration, our boat did the SAME THING! Don Danemberg
never heard of such a problem, and kindly posted it on his web site

I heard Henry Jordan speak at a chapter workshop last winter at
Melrose Marine. After listening to Henry for five minutes, I glommed
on to the notion that Henry and Bob Melrose could find out what was
wrong.

First they measured the boat, checking it against the lines drawings
from the Mariners Museum. After Henry was satisfied that the hull
conformed, we launched in nearby Lake George. Practically every port
turn became a starboard lunge. Henry looked at the wake and pronounced
the problem to be rudder stall, cavitation at the rudder. While I
was talking with Henry, Bob opened up the throttle during one of these
errant turns and I think the bow must have gone under – a huge wave
came over the deck and drenched us all.

Henry dropped the rudder _ of an inch and this greatly reduced the
incidence of scary turns. Later he implemented a bunch of little
changes. Afterward Bob and I went for a water trial. We did
everything we could think of to make it misbehave. It didn’t; all
perfect port turns.

Bob maintains that antique boating should be fun. I agree, so have
a good laugh and move that book around…and learn the Century fix for
this problem.

Jody Lapham