Institute of Maritime History

Ballena Blanca launched today!  all wet

We did decided on a red stripe for the boot-top... here she is a with a little bling last month:red stripe

The weather has finally broken in Southern Maryland and it was warm enough this weekend to get some work done!

The ice in the bilges finally melted completely, letting me pump out all the water.  Unfortunately, two out of three old pumps didn't survive the winter ice.  The important engine-room pump made it, though!

BlizzardNo work on the boat this week-- you may have heard we had a touch of "wintry-mix" in these parts. I've gotten down to the point where things need to melt before I can go further.

So what does a boat restorer do when he's not restoring the boat? He thinks about restoring the boat!

snowonthebowThe beautiful weather last weekend made it an absolute joy to work on the boat... NOT! More like an scene from Ice Station Zebra. By Sunday morning, we had almost a foot of snow in the boatyard, with 2 foot drifts here and there. True to form, they're predicting a second foot-plus snowfall for this coming weekend. More fun!

The Boat:  "Gypsy", a 41' fiberglass motorsailer, built sometime in the 1970s.  Currently "on the hard" at Tall Timbers Marina in Maryland, and has been for the better part of 20 years.  This picture was taken in August, 2009.