Complete with a Project Update!
February, 2022
Spontaneous Gathering Makes Bilge Pump Headlines!

 

 

When it was time to flip the Hallams' Trigger on Saturday, January 29, we reached out to some of our Lucas shop regulars with strong backs to lend a hand. Nearly everyone showed up at the shop for the flip (see project report below) and many went to the Allen Café for lunch afterward. During lunch, three more members, Bill and Jill Kimball and Ray Harvey, joined the festivities. It felt like a mini-banquet!

The Allen Café has become our favorite lunch spot after our shop work sessions. If you'd like to be a part of our shop team, there's plenty of work for you in the coming months. Just let David Kanally know.

(Clockwise from left) Ray Harvey, David Kanally, Carl Lapiska, Ann and John Hallam, Bill Mott, Steve McCune, Jim Donovan, Jill and Bill Kimball.
2022 Schedule Subject of January Meeting

More than twenty members joined the January 20 WBA meeting Zoom call for a lively discussion of the coming year. Led by President Scott Myers and new VP Jeff Dils, the meeting focused on plans for the coming year, including WBA meetings, programs, shows and rendezvous.

Our Calendar of Events page contains the information that has so far been confirmed, including all our monthly meetings and shows sponsored by various ACBS chapters and clubs in the region. The calendar will updated as other dates are confirmed. Jeff Dils reported that there are still openings for programs and presentations during our monthly meetings. Contact Jeff to let him know if you would like to present, or know of a good program topic.

 

 

Project Updates from the Lucas Shop!

(Above) The flip team poses for a pre-flip photo: (l-r) John and Ann Hallam, Carl Lapiska, Robin McGeorge, Jim Donovan, David Kanally, Dennis Cheatham, Chris Sterlacci, Bill Mott. Photographer: Seb Borrello.

(Above) With limited space available, the team slides the boat to one side of the stall before continuing the flip. Don't worry, there are a couple of guys behind the boat holding it up!

(Above) Once the boat is inverted, it gives us good access to the bottom and the flared hull. The red bottom had been fiberglassed decades ago, so we'll just sand it smooth and gel coat it and repaint it to the original cream color. Here, Seb Borrello is sanding the residue of varnish from the hull after it had been scraped with the help of a heat gun.

 

(Above) Using old tires to protect the boat, the team first rolls the boat to a vertical position on its side. Here, Chris Sterlacci makes good use of his wingspan to slide a tire under the bow of the boat.

(Above) With full respect for the role of gravity in any boat flip (check with Seb Borrello for as much detail as you want on gravity), the team carefully lowers the boat to the bottoms-up position.

(Above) Meanwhile, Robin McGeorge carefully salvages the solid mahogany pieces of the seatback compartments from the boat. The pieces are grooved for a 1/4" plywood bottom, which was completely deteriorated. The grooves contained glue residue and pieces of laminate, which Robin cleaned out with a Dremel tool. Robin will use leftover decking plywood to create new compartment bottoms.

Next WBA Monthly Meeting February 17 on Zoom!

Our next meeting will be Thursday, February 17th, 2022, at 7 p.m. Given the recent increase in the Dallas County Covid alert to red, this meeting will be held virtually via Zoom. You'll receive an email invitation to the meeting a few days prior, including the link to join on your computer, smart phone or land line. We'll be continuing our door prize tradition, giving out an e-book of the lucky winner's choice, or a complimentary design of a boat show placard. Should Covid conditions improve significantly and we decide on an in-person meeting, we will send an announcement via email several days before the meeting.

The meeting will take place on line, using the Zoom application for your cell phone or your home computer. To make things easier at meeting time, it would be a good idea for you to go to your normal smart phone app store to download Zoom Cloud Meetings, or go to Zoom.us on your home computer and sign up. Prior to the meeting, you will be sent an email with a link to join the meeting, and further instructions. Those who wait to download Zoom will also receive a link to do that just before the meeting starts. If you are among those who need a few attempts to be successful with technology, you may want to get the downloading taken care of ahead of time.

Our meetings are a great opportunity to socialize with fellow WBA members and to talk shop on questions on everything from paint and varnish to carburetor kits. Please join us on Zoom to be a part of our monthly fellowship!

Shop Talk and Musings: Hallam Trigger May Be Last McDerby Survivor

When Yellow Jacket Boats fell victim to the fiberglass revolution in 1959, founder Mac McDerby began making molded hull boats on his own in the back shop of his marine store in Denison. Labeled "McDerby Boats", these boats used the same Theakston hulls that Yellow Jacket did, along with many other YJ components, assembled in the Trigger configuration of a walk-through center deck and sweeping fins. But their side graphics were very different, incorporating a full-length stripe on the hull sides. See black and white photo below right, from Marty Franz' book, "Mac and His Yellow Jacket Boats" showing a 1961 McDerby Trigger outside the Denison Marine Center. In late 1961, Mac moved his family back to the New Orleans area and opened up West End Marine on the shores of Lake Ponchartrain. Here, with the support of a business partner, Vernon Garber, Mac made a couple more molded plywood Trigger boats, one of which Vernon kept. That boat was purchased by Vernon's nephew, also named Vernon, in the '70s. Vernon the younger kept the Trigger for several decades until last year, when Vernon's sister, the WBA's own Ann Hallam and her husband John, bought the Trigger from Vernon and brought it to Lucas. That Trigger is pictured above left in its Lucas stall. We are THRILLED to be restoring what is likely the last surviving molded plywood boat built by Mac McDerby. What a rare find...and a true family heirloom! Special thanks to Mac's son, Cllifton McDerby for filling in this little-known chapter in his father's remarkable life, and to the Garber/Hallam family for hanging on to this very rare boat.

And finally, please take a look in the shed or garage for leftover parts or other salable items you can spray with Lysol, then donate to the Club. Contact David Kanally at david@historywithheart.com for more info.