Thought some of you (Lew?) might be interested in an article on repairs to a 50+ year old Chesapeake Bay skipjack. Skipjacks are working sailboats, first built in the mid to late 1800s, used for dredging oysters on the bay. The article is at:
This quote about the size of the timbers used and implying a scarf joint got my attention:
"In the most difficult phase of the restoration, volunteer workers replaced the chine log, a 50 foot piece of oak that runs the length of the starboard side. Unable to find a single piece as long as the original chine, workers coupled two oak boards - each 8 inches wide and 2 inches thick - at a slanted joint that spreads the stress over a longer distance, Shinn said."
It's even more remarkable when you consider that one of the reasons the skipjack was developed was that timbers large enough to build an earlier design (the bugeye) had become too hard to find.
There's a website with more info for those interested:
"They thought it was safe to name the ship after mother," said Cindi Beane, executive director of the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, a Harford County nonprofit that owns the Martha Lewis. "Wives could come and go but you always have your mother."