Who's Out There?

You just never know who may be reading. Sometimes it is amazing to hear from someone who's life has become, in a weird and detached way, part of your own life saga. This happened to me last week. Of course it was during a full moon. Isn't that when that kind of stuff happens?

Anyway, this is the tale. And Paul, this is for you if you are still out there.

On the night of the full moon I checked my email late. I couldn't believe my eyes. There on the screen was an email from an unknown address with the subject matter: Minoan. Paul had found me to tell me that he had purchased the 36 foot, ferro-cement sailboat that my father had built over 30 years ago. He was hoping for some pictures and also the construction dates. Some of the information that Paul gave about himself and the circumstances of his purchase made me suspicious (sorry Paul, the reasons are a very long story that are only barely touched upon in the archives of this blog). I took some time to check out his story. So far so good, therefore I am posting here.

The Internet certainly has a way of making a very small world. Consider the odds of Paul, from England, buying a 30 year old sailboat, in the states, built by my dad, ever being able to find me before the Internet. Not likely.

So for Paul, I would never be able to post (or email) all the photographs that we have of the construction of the Minoan. I'll post a few here with brief descriptions. If you want to see them all, you may get in touch when you arrive at the Minoan in May.

I'll start with the finish! Here's the Minoan sailing out of Rockport Harbor. And now for the start.......

In our backyard the wood lathe mold took shape.
The mold covered with a layer of polyethylene film, four layers of sparrow mesh, a grid of quarter inch steel rod, and another four layers of sparrow mesh. All stitched together with very long basting of wire to be less than 7/8ths of an inch in thickness. The area that would serve as the support for the rudder post included a welded steel channel structure. My dad was a firm believer in over-engineering.
Cementing day it was 90°F, the specialized mixture is completely forced through all the layers to stop at the polyethylene film barrier. It took over 12 hours and many hands - neighbors, friends, relatives, my dad's engineers, strangers. A reporter and photographer from LIFE magazine spent the day and we were featured in the September 1970 issue. They took over two hundred photos that day and presented us with a large (photos too large for my scanner) photo album. In the above photograph, all of the hull and deck have been cemented and the finish surface is being worked on. It 'cured' for 30 days, being kept damp with a perforated hose atop a complete cover of burlap bags under polyethylene. Then all the wood lathe mold was stripped out. Dragon Cement Co. (part of Martin Marietta Corp) came to do an interview and take photos for their company publication.
Time to roll it over! Here's the roll over crew. This was a nerve-racking day. There were some tense moments considering that the hull weighed approximately 5 tons! It was rolled over with a combination of twin wheels, railroad jacks (used to right derailments) and railroad come-alongs traveling through our cellar windows and attached to the support columns of the house.

So, for now, that's a hint at the construction of the Minoan. It was still several years from completion with all the cabin to build and all the essentials of engine, steerage, electrical, plumbing, standing and running rigging, ballast, sail design, and hundreds of details. Upon completion she weighed approximately 10 tons, had a full galley, head, and could sleep five very comfortably.

And how, you ask, does 10 tons of cement float?
Like a teacup..............displacement.

Maybe some more another time.