10/23/10: Stem and Bowsprit

[ida may]

Gordon, Elbert, and David Gladden, along with Frank Antes and Tom Evans, work on the Ida May on a cool but comfortable fall Saturday. Everybody works on a different part of the boat. Frank and Gordon tackle the starboard sides and Tom paints the starboard rails that will go back on the boat once the sides are complete. Elbert and David, to their dismay, find that the stem piece in the bow is rotten. The stem is (at the bow of a vessel) an upright into which the sidetimbers or plates are jointed. Notice David taking the trailboards off the Ida May in preparation of working on the bow. Now that the trailboards are off her, the Ida May has no name plate to distinguish her from the other skipjacks. It was symbolic and sad, but in the meantime, we will spruce up the old trailboard with a new paintjob and get ready for when the boat returns to the water. Gordon, Elbert, David, Frank, and Tom also take the bowsprit off, or more accurately, pull it back onto the deck. Gordon remarks that she looked like a buy boat now; Wesley says a pungy. Oftentimes, the buy boat had no bowsprit and no real shape to her. The Ida May isn't at her prettiest without her trailboards and bowsprit, but the work had to be done. Watch family dynamics in action as David gets upset with Gordon for standing on an unsafe ladder.