No matter what the capricious and almost unpredictable Chesapeake weather is doing at the moment, there are two signs that spring has arrived at last: the ospreys’ return and disappearing white shrink wrap from area boatyards. Winter projects are being pushed to completion, and the spring commissioning rush is on. Peter Bell of Hartge Yacht Yard in Galesville, MD, tells us about two major projects scheduled to be back on the water this spring. The first is a 1930 30-foot Elco Marinette which, in addition to repair and refurbishing, is being re-powered with an Elco electric motor. Peter says the removal of the fuel tank and some major reconstruction under the cabin sole were necessary to accommodate the six 12-volt batteries that power the 72-volt electric motor. The motor is rated at approximately 22 horsepower. A full charge will provide four hours’ endurance at cruising speed. The second project is a 1963 40-foot Wylie custom cruiser in for some repairs and painting and a complete replacement of her 12 volt wiring. Scott Anderson reports that his crew at Harbour Cove Marina in Deale, MD, is re-powering Freedom II, a classic 1996 ZX 33 Donzi with new twin 502 Mercruisers. The repower required a redesign and complete replacement of the exhaust with a new all stainless steel system as well. Scott plans to have her back in the water early in the spring. [gallery type="rectangular" link="file" ids="8018,8019,8020,8021" orderby="rand"] Joe Reid of Mast and Mallet in Mayo, MD, is glad the cold winter is over. “I’m keeping the shop warm enough to paint a cabin, cockpit, and deck on a Niagara 31 sailboat with AWLGRIP Stark white. I’ve also flipped over a 1940s 16-foot Garwood runabout after removing the windshield, engine, fuel tank, and more. I’ve stripped the bottom paint off, and I’m now refastening the bottom as needed. Next step is to epoxy saturate the bottom and fiberglass to the waterline. A new fuel tank is to be ordered, and the engine (original Chrysler Crown) is being checked over by Keith Gunther, next door at GPS marine. My crew has also begun work on a Markley 46. She’s receiving increased water storage and a larger holding tank. All the plumbing is being improved. We’re also building a new swim platform to accommodate a DinghyRamp system for storing the tender. And lastly, since the local architect Mike Kaufman eased into semi-retirement, I’m currently working with Iver Franzen on a new style Chesapeake 22. Not to be forgotten, Mike and his wife Nancy are surely missed. Mike and I built quite a few boats over the years.” David Evans, Jr. of Evans Boats in Crisfield, MD, sends us this update, “As of now, we are still in the beginning phases of construction for our catamaran. We will be pulling the second hull from the mold this week and should be getting started on the deck directly. As for the 36-footer that we discussed, the boat is almost complete and ready for customer pickup. He is hoping to have it ready for boat docking competitions this summer with what he has to do to it. We’re ready for winter to end and spring to move in! We have a few boats on the railway in preparation for spring now, but are ready for more. We also have a few large boat restoration jobs lined up that will carry into spring/summer. Thankfully, all is busy, which means all is well.” Nancy Bray reports, “Hartge Yacht Harbor in Galesville has just completed spraying the hull of a custom Chesapeake 46 powerboat. The paint building has been very busy this winter with a Grand Banks East Bay 42, now outside, the black hull shining in the sun. Up next is a Hatteras 42-foot Sportfish which will not only be painted, but some interior work is in progress. The customer requested the removal of a head to be transformed into a small stateroom with bunks. In addition, all of the windows will be removed, replaced, and reinstalled. The boat is currently being prepped indoors and will be moved to the paint bay for spraying. Hartge Yacht Harbor is looking forward to a busy spring commissioning and launching all the boats on land.” George Surgent brings us up to date on the latest project of the Patuxent Small Craft Guild at Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD, a reproduction of a 1939 Ped–L-Craft. “These boats were built by M.M. Davis in Solomons, MD, for the 1939 New York World’s Fair and other locations including Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. Between 170 and 180 were built within a six month period. A good number of these boats were still in service as rental fleets into the 1960s and 70s. Because no plans have been uncovered, we have developed plans from photos, shop notes, sketches, and letters between M.M. Davis and the Ped-L-Craft Co. This past week we began cutting and assembling the first few pieces of the reproduction in the Patuxent Small Craft Center at CMM. Visitors are welcome and can view the project on Tuesdays and Saturdays.” [gallery type="rectangular" link="file" ids="8026,8025,8024,8023,8022" orderby="rand"] Smokey Glover of Willard Marine in Virginia Beach, VA, reports “… working on boats one and two of a 10-boat repair contract being performed on USCG Response Boat Medium Craft. The multi-boat contract involves performing a complete routine maintenance, replacing the entire 12v wiring system, and performing additional repairs as discovered upon inspection of each boat. These are aluminum RIBs powered by Yanmar diesels with Hamilton water jets. Work is being performed at the Willard Marine facility in Virginia Beach.” Nancy Noyes reports that some creative builders of Annapolis’s Chesapeake Light Craft’s Kaholo stand-up paddleboards have substituted cedar strips for the standard marine plywood decks. This gives their boards an absolutely unique deck design with classic “woodie” appeal. The cedar-stripped deck approach has been so popular with the Kaholos that the crew at CLC is making that an official option for plans and kit builders. This winter they’re building and photographing examples for instruction manuals. The combination of strip-planking and plywood construction is an easy way to build a beautiful boat. This “hybrid” construction method has already been used to build hundreds of CLC’s kayak designs. Hulls are plywood for rapid assembly, but strip-planked decks offer builders with a little more skill broad latitude for customized natural-wood color schemes. Mathews Brothers in Denton, MD, is staying busy according to Meg Roney. “We just pulled a second Mathews 29 out of the paint booth from a new paint job to the hull. Next up for paint will be an older Eastport 32 that’s come to us for new paint as well as a twin engine repower and a galley reconfiguration. Dave and Pete have been busy scheduling boat deliveries with the first being April 1! With that in mind, our varnish crew is still working on maintenance coats as they have been all winter, and we’re double checking our work lists for each storage boat to be sure they’re ready for spring. On the new build front, we’re in the process of installing the deck on a new Eastport. We’ve also had the electrician in working on the wiring, and the rest of the crew is working on installing systems.” And, last but not least, here is the latest from Tracy Munson at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD. “Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum boatshop manager Michael Gorman reports the 1889 nine-log bottom bugeye Edna E. Lockwood was hauled out this winter to make room for the National Park Service to laser scan and photograph her log hull. The information is being put together by NPS’s Heritage Documentation Programs to document the different parts of the hull and how they come together as a greater whole. The project is part of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Maritime Documentation Program, with the produced measured drawings added to the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection in The Library of Congress to document the last working oyster boat of her kind. For CBMM, the information gained will be turned into a 3D model to aid museum shipwrights and apprentices in the restoration of Edna Lockwood. The nine logs making up the historic bugeye’s hull are in need of replacement, with the restoration project planned to begin in late 2015. Just as Native American dugout canoes were formed by carving out one log, this bugeye’s hull is constructed of a series of pinned logs shaped and hollowed out as a unit. Recognized as the last working oyster boat of her kind, the Edna E. Lockwood was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1994.”