January 2007

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! The Trumpy M/Y Stargazer III is back in the water after a major topsides refit, planking around portholes, transom and top transom skirt, with teak covering boards with combings. We T-splined her sides and transom. We was stripped by long board, faired and painted. She has come out beautifully. I think even Mr. Trumpy would be proud. Bernard Smith led the paint crew and Don Thibeault handled the carpentry and they both did a great job. Stargazer’s owner and captain have been wonderful to work with. While in the water, she is now getting paint and varnish with a few woodworking projects. Stargazer and Emma are sitting side by side and look like a photo op.

On to the next story, people who have seen our lumber room know I have some huge, beautiful boards. Some are 4 feet wide and several hundred years old. Six years ago, I got a call from one of our lumber suppliers, Kelly. “I just uncovered something you might be interested in. Three 2-1/2” x 18” x 27’ matched Honduras mahogany boards,” she said. Kelly didn’t know when or where they came from but she knew I was the customer who was sure to say yes.

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November 2006

Dear friends,

I would like to share with you a tale of adventure and even magic. Maybe it’s getting to be that time of year, just luck, or just opening my eyes wider but I started writing this on the plane flying back from North Carolina.

I went to Beaufort to meet with engineers about Phase II at Moores Marine Yacht Center. I brought a friend, Jon Dunn, of Dunn Marine, to help me with my electrical requirements. Some dear friends offered me their house on the water in Beaufort while they were away, actually in South Florida while I went up there.

As the sun rose in the morning, I sat on their second-story porch overlooking the water and boats. The sky filled with pink and yellow as the sun drenched everything it touched. The smell of the sea filled my senses. It was like standing in a postcard.

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October 2006

Dear friends,

I was recently asked to consult on a problem on a large Trumpy. Climbing under her bottom in the aft area, the outer planking seemed to be coming unfastened. Grabbing the bottom of the rudder, one had worn out the packing bearing surface. As I walked to the back of the boat, the rudder looked straight, too straight to be exact. In the last few months, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about rudders and we just finished reworking Wishing Star’s rudder systems, so I’ll go into the subject with this letter.

I was discussing the problem with an old friend and incredible boat builder Michael Rybovich. You’re probably familiar with his family’s line of legendary sports fishing boats. I told him about a rudder problem that I had seen and his response was that with hydraulic steering, you can’t feel the vibration. They don’t train people to work on these old boats any more. Mike knows because his family has been building boats with cable and chain steering for a long, long time. Old sports fish captains swear by chain and cable because “You can feel the rudders.” I personally have only owned boats with chain and cable so that’s what I know first-hand. I would like to share it with you.

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September 2006

Dear Friends,

Wishing Star is moving ahead with my partner Nathan Smith running the project. The guest stateroom has been disassembled and new ribs are being installed through this area. She is also getting full paint and varnish and will be a stunner when she heads home to Hampton Island, Georgia.

I was in Beaufort, N.C., for three weeks, to watch construction of our new boat yard with an old friend Jimmy Berkeley, who lives in North Carolina. Jimmy is keeping on top of the project with our engineer Myron Meadows and project supervisor Eddie Grant.

The project seemed to take forever to get started, with easements, permits, drawings, changes and more changes, but that’s all over.

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April 2006

Dear friends,

We are about to embark on a new venture, one we are very proud to announce: Moores Marine just purchased 18 acres at Jarrett Bay Marine Industrial Park in Beaufort, N.C.

As a member of the park, we have 220-ton, 75-ton and 30-ton Travelifts at our disposal.

Our Beaufort property will be designed to cater to American-built wooden yachts, offering wooden boat supplies, craftsmen and tradesmen.

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March 2006

Dear friends,

There’s been a lot going on both with us and in other news elsewhere. Earl McMillan’s Freedom project, restoration of a 108 footer is in full swing. We have posted the latest photos on Trumpyyachts.com. We have been working on our own web site, woodenboatrepair.com and we’ve posted some of our older projects when all of us looked a lot younger. Yesterday was a grand day. We launched S.S. Sophie on March 8 after a major engine room refit that required pulling the stack off, and pulling out the muffler, motor and fuel tanks.

My partner, Nathan Smith and S.S. Sophie’s Capt. John Russell teamed up to run this ambitious project. The guest stateroom was disassembled, we removed the stabilizers, put in new ribs (not sisters), installed backing blocks, keel cheeks, garboard and floor joists. The bottom of the steel engine room bulkheads were cut and replaced with 316 stainless built by Richard Ramsay.

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