Spring Is Here in the Boatyard

                                           The Canadian flagship Bluenose II under sail..

Harold has been gearing up for a busy month of late and is in the midst of both finishing up work, starting new jobs, and giving a lot of time, thought, sweat and tears (?)..OK, not tears but a good deal of mental and physical preparation is going in to his gearing up to build the pinky ARDELLE. Yeah!

Things are beginning to fall into place..time is a major factor as he does not have enough in the course of the day to do it all but basically a year from now life could be very different, and very, very much the place to be for anyone who is interested in learning about wooden schooner construction. And, for the rest of us, it is an opportunity to photograph, write about, and join in a great project.

White Oak Logs - A Good Sign for 2010

A batch of beautiful white oak logs arrived just as the old year ended and 2010 may prove to be a promising one as these particular logs may be used to build a schooner. The delivery process is quick and efficient and soon enough Harold will be at the sawmill cutting them up into planks and storing them in the nearby drying shed. Currently, white oak is the preferred wood for boatbuilders so Harold was particularly pleased when this wood arrived. Anyone interested in learning more about Harold you can also go to his website at http://www.burnhamboatbuilding.com/.

Schooner Ernestina - what a ship!

It's hard to believe how much time has gone by since early May when the summer was ahead of us instead of behind us. But, May was a big month for Harold and the schooner Ernestina which was brought from Boothbay Harbor Maine to New Bedford after nearly a year long restoration of the front end of the schooner. The delivery from Maine to Massachusetts was made by employees of the Boothbay Harbor shipyard and Harold Burnham, who had been hired under contract by the State of Massachusetts to oversee the restoration of the schooner and had spent nearly one year on the project living part of the week in Boothbay Harbor. Paul Brawley of the Department of Conservation and Recreation was Harold's boss and Harold served as the owner's representative overseeing the restoration of the bow end of Ernestina. Harold based himself in Boothbay for one year, coming home for part of the week but spending most of it sleeping right aboard the Ernestina in the captain's quarters as the work went on. It was an amazing year for Harold and for all involved in the project. The restoration work on the first part of the boat was absolutely first rate. Harold was part of something really, really fantastic and he has said it more than once "it was the best job I have ever had" in part because he could be on site during an historic restoration, all his skills were called upon and he became an essential part of the success of the restoration.

Boatbuilding with Burnham

This blog was launched on Sept. 1 which always symbolizes new beginnings So as we wind down the charter business for summer and begin working on boat building projects for fall., it seemed like a perfect chance to reach out to more people and connect with new and old friends. There is a lot in the air for me as we are hoping to build a brand new schooner in the spring of 2010 which I plan to detail on this blog in full. For now, we are lining up projects and wrapping up others. In May, Harold completed a year long contract assignment on the schooner Ernestina. That is a story we would like to talk about more fully and Harold is scheduled to speak this month in Salem at St. Joseph's Hall.