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And thus the work proceeds;
the two tackles hoisting and lowering simultaneously;
both whale and windlass heaving, the heavers singing,
the blubber-room gentlemen coiling, the mates scarfing,
the ship straining, and all hands swearing occasionally,
by way of assuaging the general friction. —Herman Melville

Ahoy,

Ever since our mooring bitt overheard a passing comment, calling him a Samson post, we have had more problems. I had suspected that our bitt was closer to a Samson post rather than a true mooring bitt. After all a Samson post is attached to the keel, and our mooring bitt certainly is attached to the stem, and therefore, I suppose, attached to the keel since the stem is attached to the keel. Our mooring bitt is structural and is strong and sound, so Samson post seems nautically accurate.

We just did not want to tell him that. Our mooring bitt is unmanageable enough as it is, but the bitt overhead Bill Olney's comment, calling him a Samson post. The comment was innocent enough and certainly accurate enough, but we have had little rest since.



All of this ultimately led to the decision to make a true mooring bitt. In fact, we would need two, one for port and one for starboard— both to be placed near the stern and bolted to our lazarette bulkhead.

We already had some bloodwood stock. We would need some brass for the bitts proper or arms. We went shopping at our local equivalent Home Depot store. This is the kind of place you need to watch your hat, your coat, and your back.



I had been here before, and believe me, it's always an adventure coming here. Today a drug user walked into the metal yard, apparently just looking around. The manager of the salvage yard pulled out a baseball bat, warning the drug user that unless he was there for business, the bat would be there for business. The drug user promptly left. Nothing succeeds like good customer service.

'What did I do?" you ask. I immediately announced out loud that I was there for official business. I was there to buy some brass. I quickly found what I needed, some 1" round stock, and a workman cut off two segments, each 7 inches long. I paid for my stock, looked over my shoulder as I left and drove away nervously. Adventure had just begun.

Because I would need to mill the brass further, I went to Kenny Mann's. I also brought along my bloodwood. While at Kenny's, I would mill the bloodwood and convert the stock into columns. At least, that was the plan.



Kenny set up the lathe, making the initial cuts. Free form on a metal lathe is quite different from free form on a wood lathe and considerably more difficult. With a metal lathe, you have to turn two differnt wheels simultaneously and at different speeds. It is a little like trying to walk and chew gum at the same time, but a whole lot more difficult.



In no time, however, we had the beginnings of our mooring bitt. We needed to round the end of the brass stock first, and then cut concave curves into the bar. The profile of each of the four arms would have to be identical. Otherwise, when your friends learn that you made the mooring bitts yourself, they will closely scrutinize each bitt for any semblance of variation, any whisper of mistake, "What happened here?"



Now, you know what kind of friends I have. Even without friends like that, I wanted our mooring bitts to stand proud with brass bitts fully shinning in the sun. In the meantime, though, I needed to complete the columns. We milled our bloodwood stock, and made our glue-ups. You couldn't tell it, but the results looked promising.



That bloodwood is dense, incrediably hard. Indeed, I have seen steel that is softer and easier to work. Well, almost. Eventually, though, we finished our columns and our brass bitts. Just to see how everything might look, we placed everything on the ground—



Not too bad, not too bad. Tomorrow we will need to drill the holes for the brass arms, and radius the edges of the columns. After that, we can install our mooring bitts on the boat (near the cockpit), and call the mooring bitt at the bow a Samson post. That should help end some confusion. That should help quiet things around here.

The brass arms of our mooring bitts may look a little too straight in the photo. Here, then, is a close-up of one of the arms being milled. The photo is out of focus, but at least, you should be able to make out the nice, gentle curve—



Our mooring bitts measure 3 x 3 each, with a length of some 18 inches. Each bitt will extend some 8 inches above deck.


Today a Samson post near the bow.
Tomorrow, mooring bitts near the stern.

Very nice JIm. Those will look swell.

Now thats a mooring bit! You're making a fine yacht there Jim, you need to stop doing such a good job though. Everytime I look at your posts I feel like I need to get out and do something to my boat in order to keep up with you. There are some things I need to do but for now I just want to get out on the water again and enjoy sailing. Keep up the good work and I'll try to avoid looking at the pictures of what your working on.

Keith

Hey Jim,

I must say, you'll definitely hold the title for most beautiful boat on the water ... that is to say, if you ever get there. When are you planning on completing this masterpiece so we can all see her on the water?

I know, I know, you can't rush art, but we're drooling enough when she's on the lawn. We're likely to be stunned silly when she's on the water.

Seriously though, looks fantastic.

Ahoy,

Thanks for the nice comments. Hopefully, everything will turn out OK. So far, everything has. I did some more work today, routing a radius on the corners, and even drilling one of the columns. The stock is beginning to look much more like a nautical mooring bitt.



Frankly, I was quite surprised at how easily the wood drilled. Bloodwood is quite dense, and difficult to cut, but the Forstner bit did not seem to have any trouble. But trouble of sorts did lay ahead. Nothing serious. Nothing that cannot be corrected. Our hole is simply not large enough. Oops!



The Forstner bit and our brass stock are exactly the same diameter. We knew the fit would be tight, but I had thought that maybe the wood might give a little. It did not. I was wrong.

It seems that when we return from our trip, I will need to go to Kenny Mann's once again and use his milling machine. That way we will have exact control over the size of the hole. We should be able to mill within 1000's of an inch. We want the brass bitt to fit with precision. Such as it is. Even so, the above photo does give some idea how the mooring bitt should look, once finished.

Ahoy,

A few days in the mountains with cooler temperatures were time well spent. Memories are made of this, and so is life. In a few days our semester will begin.

Upon returning we began work once again on our boat. Not much work, you understand, but a beginning. We were able to insert the brass bitt into our bloodwood stock and cut a hole in our deck. We had hoped to use a router and template to cut our hole, but the sweeping curves of deck and hull would not allow us to do so. Instead, we made the cut by hand. Here is how the mooring bitt now stands—



Indeed, the mooring bit may be a little high, standing 8 inches above deck. Yet, the bitt may not appear all that high once the deck planking has been added, along with our toerail. We may even have some semblance of a bulwark. At the moment we are undecided.

The coloring though looks far too brown, far too neutral. We took another photograph, this time a close-up, and with the sun at our back. In this photo, the true beauty of the wood becomes quite striking. The brass bitts do not look too bad, either—



We may have approached too closely. Suddenly and without warning, a sentry appears out of nowhere, barking out her warnings. The profile is unmistakably that of the famous and fearless seadog, Sheba Girl. No Marine ever stood guard more nobly—



We still have more work to do. The other mooring bitt must be positioned, and a hole cut in the deck. Our plan is to attach both mooring bitts to the lazarette bulkhead. Later when we begin work on our steeing system, we will attach pulleys to the sectors of the mooring bitts which are below deck. The hefty post should be enough stock to keep the pulleys and cables in check. Such is our thinking. Such as it is today.