BlueJacket blue sailor logo

November 2013
Vol 3, Issue 10

ShipShape

News,Tips and Happenings



Dear Shipmate:
It's fall, and the air is getting crisp here in Maine!  Most of the leaves are off the trees now, and the little ones are getting ready to dress up and scour the neighborhood for candy handouts.  At Bluejacket, we also got into the spirit, and had a real fun celebration here for Halloween. 
 
Here's how the Deckhands dressed up!

And without the masks:

Front row: Kristyn, Jamie, Lee Anne, Lisa, Ruthie, Al.
Back row: Evan, Nic, Billy, Josh.
Missing: Fred, Charlie.


In This Issue
Model of the Month
Tip of the Month
final message
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Model of the Month  -  Yankee Hero
With the holiday season coming up soon, Why not think about introducing your friends, children, nieces/nephews, or grandchildren to the wonderful hobby of wooden model boat construction?  BlueJacket has several models well-suited to the first-time builder, like the Yankee Hero here.  She was a real boat, and a model of her is in the Watercraft Collection at the Smithsonian.  She was used to transport sardines to the processing plants of Eastern Maine.  This style of boat is also called a "Quoddy boat", or "Eastport Pinkie.'
 


The kit comes with everything needed.  It starts with a well-written and specific instruction manual, complete with many actual pictures of the construction steps as you can see below:


The hull comes pre-carved, and only needs some finishing shaping, saving the first-timer the frustration of planking on bulkheads or frames.  Here's an actual hull from a kit on the shelf. Even the mast step (hole) is pre-done.



What makes this kit such a good gift is that all the tools, glue, paint, and even sandpaper are included.  The kit also includes a handsome display stand.  The following 2 photos shows the tools, glue, paint and all the parts.




Our files have many happy testimonials to this kit and its successful completion by new modelers.  So go ahead, start someone on a lifetime hobby.
Something fun
I just watched my dog chase its tail for 5 minutes and I thought "Dogs are easily entertained" Then I realized that I was watching my dog chase its tail for 5 minutes
Tip of the Month  -  The Bowline knot
There are four basic marine knots. The figure-eight knot, reef knot, clove hitch, and the bowline, which is sometimes referred to as "The King of Knots" because of its importance.  Its purpose is to make a loop at the end of a rope.  It is easy to tie, and more importantly, easy to untie, even after it has had considerable force applied. 

The earliest possible finding of this knot is in the rigging of the excavated Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu's solar ship.  In written text, it might be in John Smith's 1627 work "A Sea Grammar" where he speaks of a "Boling knot."

Square rigged ships use this knot to connect the edge of a sail to the bow of the ship (hence bow-line.)

On models, this knot can be used to attach smaller anchors, or to the eyes on the ends of yawls and other small craft.  Of course, it would be used if doing sails on a square-rig.  The diagram below show how easy this knot is to make.

(Diagram courtesy of 5th City Normacot Scout Group)


Other variations are the Double bowline, the Water bowline, and the Yosemite bowline.
Thanks for your support

 

My final message in this newsletter will always be the same because it is what BlueJacket has done for 108 years, and we're not about to stop.

 

We appreciate our customers, we exist for our customers, and we listen to our customers. What we do is fun, just as I will try to make this newsletter. If you have any suggestions or comments, still, as always, please just give us a shout!

 

There's nothing I'd rather do than work on, or talk about model boats. Have fun!  

   

Sincerely,

   

Nic Damuck

BlueJacket Shipcrafters, Inc.