Bow permanently assembled

Wednesday, Feb. 10: Today was the first day this week I could do any work, and I won't have another until Saturday. Before torturing the chines into place I needed to have the sides firmly epoxied and screwed to the stem, so that was all I did today. It may take until Saturday for the epoxy to cure: 55 degrees max. today.

One followup comment about Howard Chapelle. As respected as he was as a maritime historian, he appears to have deserved less respect personally. Writing in 1936 about Bahama sharpshooters and dinghies, he says, to his disgrace, "The great loss of life that occurs periodically is not due to the poor models of their boats, nor, largely to the weather and water conditions, but to the carlessness and shiftlessness of the negro sailor. The boats are rarely painted, are usually leaky, and invariably have rotten gear; hence they are often in trouble. The Bahama craft were at one time a fine lot, as the early sharpshooters and turtle-schooners still afloat show, but the increasing number of colored builders and sailors has caused the various types to degenerate". You could argue that he was a man of his times and that such garbage was typical, even fashionable, 75 years ago, but I would rather let his words speak for themselves. It seems to me you are responsible for your own character, whenever you live. And if you are writing a history, you need to be aware of the follies of your own times just as much as the follies of the time you are writing about. Or else you deserve what you get. I hope he eventually rethought those words.

Anyway, next step: wrestling with the chines.