A Fun Get Together In The Heart Of the Northern Neck.

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Scarlet made an appearance

It’s raining, been raining forever it seems. I have noticed some wild animals waiting on the dock in pairs with Sweet Pea. mmmm It is not an arch! A huge thanks to Eric Zellman for putting together a fun get together in him ZelMan Cave.

Amazing space. Climate controlled. You could live in this place. No need for a dining room table, just off the floor.

Around 25 great folks showed up to meet and talk about lights, and anything, other than rain or politics. This is what it’s all about. And great to know you are part of a universe of caring people that all share the same illness. Like a leper colony I suppose. Hey! Just say’n here…. Don’t get all worked up… I liked it, but for gods sake if I asked anyone on the street, or at home, “Hey want to hang out in a workshop with a bunch of guys talking about lite rays and transom binding compounds?” Ya, SEE! Leper colony.

Eric’s Chris Craft Lake N Sea is almost finished. Its insane perfect and far far far better than original. The only thing that will sink it is an Ice Berg!

He has painstakingly rebuilt each part and painted with this special paint that is used on the space shuttle or something like that.

LOVE the colors – The way the Sea Foam contrasts with the vintage Cadmium Yellow in a Tan and burgundy setting, accented by metal finish ceiling and a soft grey concrete floor. Don’t make me get all decorator on your ass’s! I can go there!

Fenders!

On the garage Door is a series of photos showing the restoration journey.

With the Hydrodyne is a soft shade of Pink sand complimented by…. Okay..

Woody Boater Frank at Falmouth hang’n under the colors

All hail the Sons Of Varnish!

Pink and SeaFoam, Like being in Bermuda

Restored Tanks!

Fill her up sir?

It was fun and very informative. Gary Van Tussal talked about Chapman’s Piloting books from 1910 and 1940’s and how little changed. It was an amazing talk. WOW!  Gary is part of the ABYC and went deep into the luminescence of lights and how they are supposed to work. We will be talking about this later.

Preaching from the podium and “Arc of the Gantry”! Ya, it’s a thing!

Can we all have an amen!

Clif  Aimes was feeling the spirit.. Or maybe the fumes from the mixture of  transom compound. But does it really matter when you are on a Boat Trip!

Eric Zelman focusing on something.

Oh brother, Woody Boater is here! Hide all the ACBS stuff.

WARNING, This next part is why our wives don’t come to these events. And NEVER, and I MEAN NEVER talk about this at parties. NEVER.

Now the fun stuff. Let’s talk Transom replacement! That’s it on the end.

On the right. I think.. Hope this helps communicate how its done. Eric is now a master at this

Got to use the Macro lens! Woohoo

This is the product. And the website for SEACAST

By the way. SEACAST is a family owned business! And if you really want to go full geek today, here is a YOUTUBE video. WE WARNED YOU!

Samples.

It got even more thrilling talking about Anti Siphoning – YIKES! make sure your boat has this stuff!

Oh no! we have lost Scarlet. SOMEONE! Move on! Move on!

Okay, it’s safe again to read.

As a reference, we are right here. That’s the Chesapeake Bay. We are in an area kinda called Middle Bay.. Clever? Ya.. This is Virginia, and an area called the Northern Neck of Virginia. This is major Capt John Smith turf, and home of the first county in America. Northumberland County where Reedville is.

Group shot! Me cup of coffee varnish, Jimmy, John Rothert from VA in the hat, Gary, Eric and Jill Zelman. BTW, Eric and Jill are AMAZING HOST’s Jill actually stayed most of the time..

I don’t know how to end this story, so I will let Eric do it. CAPTION PLEASE!

9 replies
  1. FrankatFalmouth
    FrankatFalmouth says:

    No caption, just comments..

    It was a great event at an INCREADIBLE “Boat Shop”… Im not sure however, what was more impressive, the shop or the people.. it was the people… Eric and Jill were terriffic hosts who I met for the first time, but they treated everyone like old friends. More importantly I was able to connect to fellow addicts who Ill followup with on various topics and issues….Everyone I talked to was helpful and willing to offer advice and further assistance. I guess Ive been doing this wood boat thing solo for too long! If you have the chance, GO TO your local (or not so local) chapter meeting of your ACBS or CCABC or whatever classic boating group is near…. I drove 3+ hours in the rain and it was worth every minute….AND I discovered one can go to a boat event and NOT come home with another boat! I cant say enough about the Zellmans and suspect they are not alone in their generousity and hospitality in the WB community…

    BTW it WAS a genuine event in we had to TOW a couple of trucks off Eric and Jills beautiful lawn where everyone parked.. SORRY ERIC for the ruts in your landscaping!!! and sorry Matt for NOT getting a photo of the TOW!

  2. Eric Z
    Eric Z says:

    It was a great workshop! Thanks to all the participants! It’s not a boat gathering, officially, until someone gets towed (these just happened to be on land). Big thanks to Frank for pulling a couple of vehicles to the gravel!

    Also thanks to Gary Van Tassel for sharing his expertise. I think he will be a return speaker in the future. Thank you as well to Sabine Corinna Unger, from Seacast for providing demo product, samples and all of your tech support through the process.

    Summer swim parties in the works, boat show Saturday, Sept. 7th and a fall workshop TBD.

    oh and caption…”I swear…..that’s what she said”!

  3. John Rothert
    John Rothert says:

    capation, by the time I finish the transom it will be this thick…
    Great meeting, host and hostess, friends, dogs, eats, info and mud…what could be better?
    Not many going to Tavares from this group….?? Matt and I will have to carry the load since Troy is out….

    thanks to all, John in Va.

  4. Dave Nau
    Dave Nau says:

    Good to see an article on fiberglass restoration. You can use wood to replace the wood-cored transom on a boat, but today, doing a poured transom with Seacast or Carbon-Core CarbonBond is the way to go. Seacast is resin with chopped fiberglass, while CarbonBond is resin with ceramic bits. On our MFG Edinboro boats, my brother used the former while I used the latter, Both work well, but CarbonBond is easier to pour and has less chance for voids. Done right, it’s can be just as expensive to restore a fiberglass boat as a wood one, having done one now. I’ll only do one, but the results are worth it. For guys like me who like the look of a lapstrake, and have gel coat in their blood rather than varnish, it’s the way to go. No disrespect to wood boats – a Lyman is still the most beautiful to my eyes – but I grew up with fiberglass and that’s what I’m sticking with for now. Besides, I also like bright colors on a deck.

  5. Matt
    Matt says:

    Thanks Dave, after meeting a bunch of Fiberglass guys, I have come to the conclusion that they are actually harder to restore. And the forms are it! As in no re-decking or making stuff. Parts are harder to find sometimes and its not nuts to spend over 50K doing on.. And dont even get me started on a Silver Arrow, which has the joy of being both wood and fiberglass. I am sticking with wood. If all else fails I can go chop down a tree and fix my boat. There are no fiberglass tree’s! HA

  6. Dave Nau
    Dave Nau says:

    Matt, you are right, they can be harder and more expensive, particularly if you are a purist like me, and insist on gel coat and not paint for the finish coat. Gel coat sprays on like mud and takes a lot of matching and finishing to get it to blend with the rest of the boat when spotting it for repairs. Fortunately for me, Jeremy Goldstein at Custom Marine in Sandusky can restore a Lyman or an MFG equally well, and he did a great job on Big Red. Still, maybe someday, I’ll get that 1960’s newer style 16 foot Lyman I love, and dock it side-by-side with Big Red. That was the transition period. I’ve owned tri-hulls and deep-Vs, but you still can’t beat a lapstrake-style boat. Special note: Jeremy used a wood rib as a form from a bigger Lyman that perfectly matched the curved transom of my red MFG, and thus got the curve just right when rebuilding that transom. I know these old MFGs were kind-of Lyman knock-offs, but I like to think there was more Lyman in them than I thought, even if there are no fiberglass trees. HA! See you in Tavares.

    • Dennis Mykols
      Dennis Mykols says:

      David, I want to personally invite you to our June 1st Spring Lake Classic Boat Show, where this year we will feature all Lapstrake boats. I would love to see Big Red on display, on land or in the water. I will be your weekend host.

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