A NEW ADVENTURE
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Find us in the Washburn public marina, located in the far north of Wisconsin, beyond the great Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, on the shore of Chequamegon Bay.
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CHARTERS & DAY RATES
Contact us for rate and availability.
ROSEMARY RUTH'S HISTORY
Rosemary Ruth's Beginning
Rosemary Ruth is one of Tom Colvin's Yin Yang pinky schooner designs. The bare steel hull was built by McConnell Marine on Parry Sound Island, Ontario, about 1977. Doug Gillis, who owned a boat repair yard in Port Credit, Ontario, was the first owner and did the rest of the construction, then sailed her on Lake Ontario until about 1985, when she was sold to Guy Clarkson, who kept her on Vancouver Island. She went to Hawaii after that. Dr. Steven Fox lived aboard her in Seattle while in college, and was then bought from Wally Wickham many years later.
Rosemary Ruth was ashore for seven years during an unfinished refit, then purcahsed in St. Helens, Oregon in October, 2004. The boat was exceptionally well-built, which justified putting all the work that would be required into a refit of such an old boat. A great deal of labor went into the construction of this boat. The forepeak (forward-most part of the interior) had been removed in preparation for modifying the chain locker and adding an anchor winch. Since the chain locker had not been built, the galley was converted into a temporary chain locker, and a full barrel of 3/8" (8mm) chain was carefully laid down into the galley area and blocked off by old plywood. Everything was tied down thoroughly, and well padded at chafe points. The spars were all left uncovered because their varnish was already in need of replacement. Rosemary Ruth was loaded and trucked across the country with no damage. If you are a boat owner thinking of trucking your boat, click here for a description of the process. Rosemary Ruth was unloaded at Garpo Marine Services in Staten Island, NY, which is a great boatyard specializing in small and medium sized commercial boats, tugs and barges. |
2004 Refit
The hull had the bottom paint removed in many places which were then audioguaged to confirm the plating was not significantly rusted. After audioguaging, grey epoxy paint was put on the bare steel to prevent rust.
The numbers chalked on are the thickness at those spots, in thousandths of an inch. The hull plating is 10 gauge, which is at least .1345 inches. Steel plate is sold by weight, not thickness, which varies, so a given thickness spec for plate is "at least", not "exactly". The area shown had visible pitting, so it was chosen to be audioguaged. The audiogauge results, of .135 and .136 inches, for 10 gauge plate (which originally was at least .1345 inches), are considered quite acceptable (USCG definition of acceptable here means less than 20% loss of thickness). Old zincs were replaced, and a new zinc was added to the rudder. Several times during the work of putting Rosemary Ruth back together, urgent emails went out to the previous owner, along the lines of: "Wally, do remember how this worked?", or "do you remember where we put ...?". Being able to ask the questions, and getting good answers greatly helped the refit job. |
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2005 Refit
Rosemary Ruth froze in quite happily in late January, 2005. Bowsprit, gaffs and booms (except main boom, which was too big) were taken below and varnished (Helmsman Spar Polyurethane, mixed with turpentine, Japan Drier and black paint).
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