Weekly Update
November 8, 2001 Halloween has come and gone, but by looking at some of the crew, you'd never know it! The week began with Leonard giving Norm a mohawk, and ended with Norm's self-shaved bald head - just in time for winter. But in the style department, nobody can compete with Ms. Cherokee, looking sleek and ship-shape. Tom Parker has made much headway with the sewer system, installing the two vents for the blackwater tank.
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Depicted above, Jim finds himself living beneath the stairs these days as he panels the underside of the stairwell. He's also been building all the bunks. Below, Stuart is shown securing bolts for the port water jet. On the right, the blue fuel lines are shown coming through the bulkhead of the engine room. The other ends are connected to the fuel tanks.
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Bill Brown has sanded the main motor mounts in preparation for paint. He is priming bare spots on the second engine, and is assembling the Centiflex shafts. The other engine is finished and ready for installation.
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Fish Doc's parents, Nat and Don, were visiting last week, and were quite impressed with the Huckins project. Here Norm points out the various woods used in the restoration - mahogany, teak, Spanish cedar, juniper, and a little heart pine. Norm also showed them the process of bending wood over a form, such as the bunk corner below. The master bunk has a corner made out of a piece of the mahogany quarter-round salvaged from the original roof of the pilot house.
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Jeanette has been sketching the interior rooms. "A light finish on wood gives the impression of space," she pointed out, "whereas a dark room appears smaller. We want to get an idea of how the finished rooms will look relative to the floor, cushions, and walls."
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Pam Morris, educator at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and wife of a commercial fisherman, gave Fish Doc and several university students a tour of the museum's new Harkers Island facility. "Where is Down East?" one student asked. "You're in it," said Pam. "It's from the North River bridge east of Beaufort clear to Cedar Island." A native of the area, Pam explained that the term came from pre-bridge days when islanders sailed their sharpies and skiffs to Beaufort for groceries and then set sail for home into the east...down wind. "Even now Down Easterners center their lives around survival," she mused. "Old timers survived weather and hard times. Today we're struggling to survive as a culture. More and more of our children leave the area for college and then can't find work back home. It's getting harder to hold on to our heritage, our dialect." "Do you want your son to become a fisherman?" a student asked. Pam sighed. "I'd be proud if he became a fisherman, but I wouldn't wish the stress on him. It's gotten so we're nervous all the time - we can barely keep up with all the changing regulations. And buddy, there is no work harder than commercial fishing." May the future be good for all Down East kids - whether they decide to pull nets or push pencils! Signing off for now, Barbara "Fish Doctor" Blake
