Hiawatha Gets Some TLC, With A Chisel.
Digging into some rotten wood. Like pulling BBQ
Yesterday was spent cleaning Hiawatha’s bottom, and checking for rot. The good news is she was built like a battleship. 8 inch chines, and the planks are 12 inches tall, 2 inches thick and 40 feet long! Mother of god! The two areas we did find, were cleaned out and will be treated with CPES, and then patched. The other good news is under the rot is strong and isnt that big of a deal.
Rot gone!
Thats gonna need some attention
Scraped. Sanding next, some fairing and go!
Lots of discussing things
This of course brought some comparisons to mind with our speed boats. Or even Chris Craft cruisers. Built with weight and speed in mind. These Butler boats were built for safety and durability and it shows. Man oh man. It’s a joy to lean new things with George’s brain around. And in the end everyone wins, Hiawatha keeps going, the Railway has a purpose, and life continues. With the use of a mallet and chisel, and some grinding. Hey, sometimes it gets ugly…before is is beautiful.
Hiawatha in her glory!
“Matt Smith” and his marine railway….
I smell a kids book.
Glad to see that old girl is getting some much deserved attention. Is that a donut box on the bench in the discussion photo? Glad to see the boys are getting a little brain food to make the right decisions!
If that painting is of Hiawatha: When was the flybridge added?
It must have been very early in her life.
Picture must have been too big.
would like to hear some more about Hiawatha’s trips to fla.?
How many, what ports of call…how far down did she get.
Great old boat.
John in Va
🙏❤️
Seeing Hiawatha being worked on, reminds me of another boat we all knew and loved. What could George and the crew have done with this one.
Very nice boat, what year was it built?
Hiawatha was built in the early 1960’s by Georges Father.
Love Cliffs idea. Matt and Mister B’s Marine Railway.
This would make wonderful kids books and Matt is just the guy to write them. I see a whole series. Idea of the week!
Sweet Pea could have eyes and long eyelashes too.
What’s it planked with? Cedar?
milk this…folks want more info on this cool old boat.
John in Va
I would like to see a time lapse video on loading a boat onto the railway.
Nice to see her being fixed up. But I keep getting dropped off the emails??. I guess you don’t want me to read this great literary masterpiece.
She is planked in Douglas Fir, We got a wood patch in and she is ready for some smoothing out. Stay tuned.