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Mount Vernon project

IMH and LAMP (the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum) finished the first Phase 1 underwater reconnaissance at Mount Vernon on Saturday, May 1.  In eight days of work we ran approximately 240 miles of search lanes, and found two definite sites and several possible sites.  One site is an old wooden vessel with stone ballast.  We achieved the initial goal of thoroughly scanning the waters near the estate.  We will need to return for further investigation and assessment of the finds.  We hope to do after the hydrilla dies off in the fall.

A full report of the project will be submitted to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the Maryland Historical Trust, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Profound thanks to Brendan Burke of LAMP for many days of hard work preparing Roper and for maintaining the highest level of professionalism, to Dan Lynberg and Dawn Cheshaek for providing their boats and skills, to John Dowdle and Bill Toti for organizing and managing the project, to all the IMH volunteers who participated — and especially to Dr Esther White and her superb staff for their support, guidance, and the opportunity and means to investigate those historic waters.

 

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Mount Vernon project

We started scanning at Mount Vernon on Saturday, 24 April.  In the first two days we found more wrecks and other anomalies than we can ground-truth and assess in the week remaining on the schedule, so we will just have to go back again.  We also found more than 30 sites in the Potmac on the trip there.

Crew for the first weekend included Brendan Burke of LAMP, Ron Grayson of the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, and the following IMH stalwarts:  Dawn Chesaek, Isabel Mack, John and Cynthia Dowdle, Bill and Karen Toti, Nick Cianflone, Dan Lynberg, Kirk Pierce, and Dave Howe.

Boats include Dan’s 26-foot catamaran “Reflections,” Dawn’s 17-foot Mako, and good old “Roper” sporting new paint, a derrick for handling towfish &c., and a clean fuel tank, thanks to many hours of hard work by Brendan, Dawn, Isabel, Kirk, Kirk Esco, Mike Nowotny,  Erik Rebeck, and others.  Thank you all!!

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Roper haul

She cannot begin to compete with the amount of work Gypsy needs, but Roper has new zincs and new paint from keel to rail, and she is ready to go back in the water, thanks to hard work by Dawn, Brenda, John and Erik.  She will be pretty for the Mount Vernon project.  Chores still to do include cleaning the fuel tank; touching a few rust spots with the weklder; painting the mast, pilothouse, decks, and engine room bilge; installing the new alternator; and checking the engine alignment and valve lash.

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Chipping and Scraping and Sanding, Oh My! – Gypsy 27mar2010

Now that March Madness is over (I’m talking about the annual spree of archaeology conferences– what did you think I meant?) it’s back to work on the boat.


The weather was warm enough to be comfortable, but not warm enough for fiberglass work.  That’s ok– there’s plenty of sanding to do.  Here’s a pic that shows the existing bottom paint, what’s left of it.  The red color is the original gelcoat.


I’ve also got the spot where an old thru-hull was all sanded and ready for glass.  Here it is from the port bow:


 


And closer.  You can see the wood core and the inner glass.  The inner glass is about 3/8″ thick, and the outer more than an inch.


The old green bottom paint just flakes off, and the sander makes it just shower down.  By the time I quit working on Saturday I was covered.  Cap’n Dave said I looked like an “Irish Smurf”.  Didn’t come off too easy in the shower, either.  Nasty stuff.  Glad I’ve got a dust-mask.


 Next weekend is supposed to be nicer– I’ll get my fiberglass supplies and start makin’ plastic!