Varnished Transoms

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More details from boats from the Classic Boat Festival. Like many of their owners, the boats are often highly varnished. These transoms are things of beauty, as are the boats they are attached to.

For other images in this boat festival series, check out this link.

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Canon EOS 5Dmkii, SMC Takumar 35mm/f3.5 lens, ISO100, top 1/1000th, ~f-3.5, middle 1/40th, ~f11 and bottom 1/200th, ~f-8

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13 thoughts on “Varnished Transoms

  1. Pingback: Portholes, Windows and Varnish | burnt embers

  2. Classy lettering. Rich golden colours, and interesting reflections. Seeing the first image only on the Reader I thought of the disconnect between Zanzibar and Seattle. But I was headed off on a tangent! Well spotted Ehpem

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      • What a tragic story. So, is your thinking that the boat might have been named in remembrance of that tragic event, or is it one of those extraordinary coincidences of life?

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      • It is tragic indeed, but when I looked further into it, there have been a string of such disasters on that route in the past ~15 years, with one taking more than 2000 lives. It seems like a dangerous crossing and not necessarily due to the sea conditions.

        I think the name is purely a coincidence; I found the following blurb about this vessel on a boat show listing for 2010, well before the ferry sinking. I include it partly also because I expect David (dhphotosite) will be dropping by and appreciate the vessel information.

        “ZANZIBAR – 48′ – owned by David Huchthausen – Zanzibar was built by the Stephens Brothers yard in Stockton, California in 1957. Stephens was renowned for its quality, producing only 1246 vessels in its 84 year history. Originally commissioned as the “Gaylee” for well known Portland marine dealer John Trellinger, the $70,000 cost was equivalent to three custom homes at the time. Zanzibar is powered with a pair of balanced and blue-printed 392 CI Chrysler Marine Hemis producing 580 total horsepower. The sweeping exterior lines arc from the cabin top to the transom, following an original 1948 design by Theo Stephens. The house and decks are constructed of thick Burmese teak. Hull planking is inch and a half Honduran mahogany over oak frames and fir stringers. Zanzibar retains her original hand oiled teak interior and has been immaculately maintained by four owners over the past 45 years.”

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  3. Woodwork on boats is way more challenging and labor intensive than most other fine woodworking projects, but beside functionality, the appearance of the finished product make the time effort and money spent on the project well worth it. The gloss, the lines, and the detail that shows on wooden boats constantly beg for camera attention and you have a handsome batch of transoms here ehpem.

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    • Hi Joseph. I grew up near a marina and spent a lot of time cleaning the bottoms of boats, a job suitable for a teenager. And then I sailed a lot on fibreglass boats. Thus I always managed to avoid all that brightwork maintenance. But I did see people hard at it, year in and year out. The new coatings make it less frequent of a job, but no less demanding at the time of doing. This boat festival was full of perfect brightwork, just like car shows with everything so exquisite you are surprised to learn that they did trailer them to the show.

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      • Someone refinishes a boat at any given time all summer long and, at least in Cowichan Bay, the marina sound is defined by the sound of orbital sanders, lol. Love the way the fine finishing with all its details is brought out in these photographs.

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      • There was one boat at the show which the owner was soooo proud of. But sadly, his bright work had deep orbital-sander shaped scallops all over the wood. Looked a lot like my bathroom floor that I did a lousy job on, only more severe. It takes a lot away from the appearance, and must have made a lot of noise getting there.

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    • HI Ken, well, I must admit to enhancing that effect a bit by sliding in a few more shadows in the water. But it did not require any masking or anything, it is a real difference.

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