January 2017 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. Andros Kypragoras Build New Foremast for BOWDOIN
CASTINE – Last month when I visited the waterfront at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, I watched Andros Kypragoras of Whitefi eld and some of the waterfront crew just begin to set up to build a new foremast for the schooner BOWDOIN. To the side was a number of wide, thick
milled out lumber and they were setting up blocking so they could begin laminating the layers of wood together. Andros said, “This is the foremast for the BOWDOIN. We did the mainmast two summers ago and that was a little bit of a rush job, because they were in the middle of their sailing season when it was discovered that it had a problem. This one we had the luxury of time. We were doing the deck project last winter and the funds became available to do this project as well. I ordered the lumber six months ago, and I was able to get it cut, milled and dried. After the sailing season was done we pulled the mast and I came up here to build the new one.”
The foremast had been repaired several
times before and they were not comfortable with repairing it again. After three weeks I returned, and all the
layers were together and Andros had begun shaping it and putting the hardware on. He added, “I’m hoping to be done by Friday or early next week. This mast is Douglas fi r laminated with West Systems epoxy. Everything is kiln dried down to like 12 percent moisture content. The layers are scarphed together with a 12 to 1 scarph, so it is a pretty solid piece of wood. It is seven layers so it took seven days to glue up, one laminate every day.” Once the laminates are all together, you
draw the shape the spar is going to be on the mast and then make a series of cuts and turn it over 90 degrees. You lay out the mast again directly on top of your fi rst cut, make another series of cuts and those should line up fairly closely. Then turn the mast again 90 degrees and clean up your cut face, lay the mast out again, make a series of cuts, roll it over 180 and do the same thing. Now you’ve got basically a square tapered mast. While it is square it is easy to cut the tennons or drill
any holes for pins and hardware because it is easier to line them up when it is square. Once all of that is done, you eight side the lower part of the mast so you can roll it a little bit easier. Now on this mast Andros had to glue on pieces of wood for the fl are, just before the hounds to make a little spot for the cross trees to sit on. Presently he was working on rounding the top and fi tting the hardware. Once all this is done he will start working on the lower section. There are not many who know how
to do this type of construction as there are not many large wooden vessels left. Andros learned how to do this on the job. He said, “My mom is from Vermont
and my dad is from Cyprus. They met over here, I was born over here, then we moved to Cyprus when I was like eight months old and I grew up over there. My parents split up and my mom moved back to the States and I was planning to go to college here anyway. I was looking at schools that had a good ocean studies program. After I got to Maine Mari- time Academy, I realized that marine biolo- gy or writing extensive papers wasn’t really my gig. My fi rst class in marine biology the professor says that for every 15 minutes you spend in the lab you are going to spend two hours writing a paper. I walked out of there and said that’s not going to happen. So I went and found my freshman orientation guy and asked what other majors the school had and he said you could do nautical science. I said, ‘is there a lot of writing involved?’ and he said, ‘no, but are you good at math?’ I did that for three semesters. I left to go work on the containership, because, I was getting a lot of hands-on, but I really didn’t have any oceangoing experience, understanding the industry. My plan was to leave and go work for a year and come back.” “When the job on the container ship fell
through and I ended up in Milwaukee work- ing on this 95-foot lumber schooner, which was being built, the DENNIS SULLIVAN,” said Andros. They were taking apprentices and I went out for a three month appren- ticeship and I ended up staying for almost 3 years. When I got there, they were almost
Looking to Publish a Maritime or History Book?
We at Maine Coastal News have the experience and know how to keep the costs in check. We are presently working on a project and you could be next.
For more information: (207) 223-8846
done with framing up the boat so I got to see the whole process from lofting to cutting the frames, putting on planking, putting in the ceiling, the whole nine yards.” After that I did like this journeyman
thing,” continued Andros, “I went and worked with a bunch of other people that were doing big boats. I worked with Dave Short down in Boothbay. They had just fi nished up with the tugboat LUNA and we did the BOUNTY’s fi rst big rebuild. Right after that we did the schooner ROSEWAY. Then I went off with Dave and we worked on a railroad barge out in Albany, New York. We did a bunch of other little jobs here and there, but eventually I just started taking jobs on my own on.” The fi rst major job Andros got involved
with on his own was HIGHLANDER SEA out in Port Huron, Michigan. He said, “She is a 1924 I think, Starling Burgess design, meant to look like a Gloucester fi shing schooner, but never actually fi shed. She was built as a pilot boat for the Boston pilots. This outfi t out in Port Huron had their hands on it and I had gone out there to make them a topmast and then they asked me to oversee a yard period with them. When we started to take the boat apart we learned it was a disaster in there. The more you took apart the more the Coast Guard wanted you to do. We put almost an entirely new bottom on her. Almost all new frames below the waterline, a bunch of deadwood, new engine logs, new part of the keelson, new gripe, new rudder trunk, we replaced the horn timber I mean it was huge. I was 26 and the youngest guy on the job.” When Andros returned to Maine he
came back and worked on BOUNTY. This time they replaced her topsides.
Andros Kypragoras
Last year Andros headed the first phase of the project to rebuild the schooner BOWDOIN. He said, “The BOWDOIN has always been one of my favorite boats in the fl eet. The deck was leaking pretty bad so the idea was let’s fi rst put a deck on the boat and stop the freshwater from getting in; put a good cover back on and that should buy however much time they need to fund raise to get ready for the second part as the bottom still needs to be done. “It is fun to do the big jobs like BOW-
DOIN,” said Andros. “I really like the guys that I work with and we really have a fun time doing it. Everybody is just super-talented and does an awesome job.” What is next, Andros added, “I’m not
really sure. I am bidding on some work for the winter and spring. I am putting in an estimate right now for a topmast for the AMISTAD and maybe that will happen.”
Bring your boat to New England’s most capable yacht yard for the care she deserves. Repairs, refi ts, storage and dockage available for vessels up to 200 feet and 480 tons.
Belfast,Maine 207-930-3740
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31