Some of the detail work continues and we are drilling holes for the keel bolts. We await final word on our strategy for bolting plan and other work after presenting the plan to Coast Guard. It was very helpful to have Nat Benjamin aboard to give advice and to confirm the plan we have.

We also talked to other professionals such as Chris Mello, a Naval Architect from Dartmouth, and Harold Burnham, a shipbuilder from Essex who recently built the schooner Thomas Lannon and is in the midst of another schooner project.

Keel bolts will start in later this week.

Captains: Sophie Morse

Schooner Ernestina on the ways at Kelley Shipyard.

The crew from Tony Marques Shipwrights sledge hammer in a 3/4" drift into a 5/8" diameter hole. The clench ring temporarily taped up out of the way.

Nat Benjamin of Gannon & Benjamin Shipyard in Vineyard Haven on Marthas Vineyard stops by to chat with Sophie Morse, Fred Sterner and Carl Moberg from US Coast Guard. We appreciate his advice! Look for the Schooner When & If out in Vineyard waters... Gannon & Benjamin restored General George Patton's beautiful schooner after severe damage in a 1991 Nor'easter.

House jacks help close the joint at the forward end of the keel in preparation for keel bolts and drifts.

The zincs in the sea water intake (sea chest) that supplies cooling water to the main engine are welded in place.

Four large zincs are mounted on either side of the prick post to protect the propellor and shaft.

Twenty-eight pound zincs.

Mate Fred Sterner prepares some graving pieces for the false keel where we had removed wood to look for keel bolt heads. The oak blocks are epoxied into place.