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Blake
Boatworks

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P.O. Box 91
Gloucester, North Carolina
(252) 729-8021
blake@blakeboatworks.com
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Weekly Update

Notes from the Field - "Cherokee" Huckins Restoration Project
March 31, 2002 Great swirls of yellow pine pollen float in
every puddle and creek, a sure indicator of spring. The Cherokee crew is fighting off
hay fever and working at a feverish pace. "Everything's popping," said Blake. "We're at that
stage where everything seem's to be happening at once." But some things never change - below
Bill Davis is shown board-sanding the hull.
Board Sanding the Hull
Catherine Williams, the interior decorator, has been planning interior color schemes and fabrics.
Kitchen appliances are arriving, including the microwave and stove.
Domestic Business: The Stove, Bryan and Catherine
Tom Kirmeyer still finds himself in tight places, fitting the plumbing
for the forward heads. Walls are going up in the forward area, adding to the "bee hive"
feel of the work areas. But there is a method to the madness here! Tom Parker is working on shelving and drawers.
Tom in a Tight Spot next to Forward Portside Head, Modelling Starboard Head next to Shelves and Counter
The insides of the vanities have been top-coated.
This is the last step in the process, and the priming and sanding was done before the
vanities were put together. This is the most time consuming part of painting a piece of
furniture like this, due to many corners and tight spaces.
Painting the outside is a breeze in comparison - the outsides will be painted with the rest of
the room.
A Pretty Vanity
Pictured below is the through-hull and ball valve for the forward
drain manifold. Everything in the forward part in the vessel that needs to discharge
to the outside will discharge through this manifold. This is located right beside the
washer/drier combination.
The Way-Out for Grey Water
Jeff Heyland is preparing to glue mahogany to the transom. This will be sanded and
varnished. Then the name will be painted in place, and everyone will be awestruck at the
beauty of Cherokee.
Jeff Preparing Transom for
the Big M
Gloucester Community Club is already gearing up for its summer barbecue schedule,
a tradition that stretches back to 1956, when men sat around a pot-bellied stove at
the INS grocery store grouching about Gloucester not getting it's fair share of
county services. Neighbors
got together with the help of extension agents and planned the barbecue to raise money
for community beautification.
They first met people's homes, then in Bill Pigott's potato-grading shed, and finally
built their own building.
Clubmembers cleaned up the roadways, petitioned for better trash disposal, insisted on
improved roads with road signs, and even managed to get Gloucester on state maps by 1961.
The telephone company declined requests to run service into Gloucester until right-of-way
access was provided. Club members not only secured the okay of property owners; they
cut the access route themselves with bush axes! By 1962, a public telephone booth was
installed next to the Gloucester INS grocery store. Today the chicken barbecues help
fund an annual scholarship that the club awards to college-bound Down East residents.
Quite a legacy baked into those chickens... Signing off for now, Barbara "Fish Doctor" Blake
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