Blog — Monday , 20 July, 2020

Sunday, July 19 , 2020

Today was a rare day with moments of sunshine. This year’s rainy season has been ferocious, with many downpours, and few sunny days, so it has been hard to squeeze in work on the deck.

Paul took advantage of the weather and taught Cynara’s crew members how to fair in the screws that hold the brass strips so that there are no sharp edges for the ropes to snag on.

Sometimes it seems like the painting will never end. A sponge brush is used for the final coat so the paint will go on evenly.

Some of the cupboard doors are so thin and weak that just handling them can result in their falling apart. The frames are all usable, but Tatsumi is restoring the glazing bars and replacing when necessary. There are no drawings for these pieces, but even when there are, the dimensions can be different for each fixture, so its necessary to measure and reassemble everything to get to the final stage.

Monday, July 20, 2020

NHK, Japan’s national broadcaster, featured the Cynara restoration project on one of its most popular daytime shows this morning. It brought home how much has been done with the boat and all the time and energy that has gone into this project.

More brushwork, this time varnishing the ceiling of the deckhouse.

Toshi is working on restoring the display cabinets that go in the main saloon.

Masa is making new panels that will help make up the hanging locker interior in the guest cabins. These are all made of Canadian cedar using traditional joinery.  No glue. No nails. No screws.

Kawashima is making the panels that will close off the hull from the cabin and hide the wiring and cables.

Toshi is repairing the glazed display cabinet door frames for the main saloon. Because water from previous deck leaks damaged the frame ends, he is having to make new pieces from the original mahogany pieces that were discarded and grafting them in. The original mahogany is a closer color match, and the repair will be less visible after being shellacked.

We’re using a mortice machine to cut the mortices for the panels.

Kawashima is laying out one of the panels on his bench. These are very complicated: they’re not always square and they have port holes and other pieces that affect their shape.