BlueJay Restoration

Chuck,

It's been some time since I provided an update about our long suffering blue jay restoration so I figured it's about time I brought everyone up to date.

Our progress remains slow but steady. February 2003 marked one year since this poor neglected little blue jay came into our lives. We've taken some false steps and blind alleys along the way but we're proud to say that we're finally at the point where we are putting more things together than we are tearing apart. All along the way, we've continued to receive much appreciated notes of support and encouragement from Duckworks readers.
Thanks to everyone who's helped keep us motivated!

Since the new year, we have made significant progress. Our delaminating centerboard trunk has been reassembled and reinstalled. We have removed and replaced delaminating bottom hull panels and replaced our rotten chine logs. In April 2003 we finished fairing the hull. There's even a rumor going around that a coat of 4oz fiberglass has been applied on the outside. (And that news is so hot that it doesn't even show up on our official website yet!) See: www.geocities.com/bluejay2718

Another important development in our project is that we finally decided upon a name. For the first 40 years of her life, our little blue jay apparently remained nameless. For most of the past year, we simply referred to her by her hull # 2718. We kept hoping that she'd eventually tell us what her name should be. It was late last year when it finally came to me. As it turns out, dear ol' 2718 is not the first little wooden boat to come into my life. That honor belongs to the USS Fearless, MSO 442, a vietnam era U.S. Navy minesweeper. The Fearless was decommissioned in 1990 and scrapped in 1993. After all that our little blue jay has been through, the name "Fearless" just seemed to fit. And was there ever a bird more "fearless" than a blue jay? In the end, we simply asked her what she thought of the name... I swear that you could see her smile.

"Fearless" it is!!! We're seriously hoping to return Fearless to "active duty" this year! In the meantime we'll keep posting progress updates to the website.

Thanks again for everything!

Shawn Payment

P.S. I have attached a few recent pix (and one golden oldie)

Fairing - filling all the dents/divots prior to glassing

More sanding - Does this step ever end?

Spy Photo - An advance peek at what's in store for the near future!

An old pic just to remind you where we started!