Scuppers, Keels and Pouring Lead

DougCasting, Keels, Scuppers, Steel Boat

    The last of the lead; I think.  About 1200 pounds, a surprising amount went into the leading and trailing ends of the keels.  On the leading edge it will do an excellent job of reinforcing the keel against collision damage.  There is already a 2 inch solid round bar with a 1/2 inch by 5 inch wide flat … Read More

Rainy Day and Building Anyway

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

Started off nice but then the rain moved in.  Our plans for rain paid off.  While Paul was here, he and I build a rain cover for the temporary burnout kiln and its doing it’s job now.  Hopefully we will get a break in the rain tomorrow afternoon and pour our second bronze anchor winch capstan.  Tom and Coen have done … Read More

Boat Dreams and Lead Ballast

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

Coen Van Wyk and his beautiful wife Shahnaz  are in from South Africa and Tom Carroll from Chicago.  I spend the day at the office, but they spent the day moving thousands of pounds of lead for the keels.  Coen and Shahnaz are also building a boat and keeping a blog: To dream of the ocean    

Chinese Junk Sailboat – Catwalks and Keels and Engine

DougCatwalks, Keels, Steel Boat

We say goodbye to Marc Hofmann our new crew member from Vienna Austria who is continuing his tour of the USA.   He wisely picked Fort Lauderdale, Florida as his next port of call.  I love this project because I get to meet and be inspired by people like Marc.   I wish more young people had Marc’s insight into the world, … Read More

River of Lead

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

We had a awesome weekend.  Two more more 1000 pound pours and we are getting our process down.    And pouring it is amazing to watch.   I am almost delighted that we have 17 more of these to do.   🙂              

Lead Lead Everywhere

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

1000 pounds, the first of 20,000 pounds.  Besides a small leak in the old melting pot our Harbor Freight dual burner propane stove converted to lead smelter was doing good.  1000 pounds ready in 5 1/2 hours having burner 14 pounds of propane.   So now we know we are going to need 280 pounds or about 66 gallons .   … Read More

Keels and Casting

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

I finally got the keel patched and put the crew to work doing the nastiest job of the year.  During the last few years of construction the keels have been collecting inches of grinding dust, plasma dust, weld spatter, tools, leaves and other assorted trash.  Just add water and you get the picture.  Now we wait for them to dry … Read More