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John Addicot of Fairfield, CT. built Davey Lewis for his own use. He and his wife cruised extensively. |
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The present owner, Derck Allard of Merrimack, N.H. has restored the Davey Lewis. |
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September 21, 2016
Davey Lewis is now moored on the river in Warren RI.
I had found the boat on Craig's list back in 2013 when my friend Minnie was looking for a boat to buy. At the time the boat was owned by Darek Allard who had been keeping the boat on a mooring in Newington NH and was looking a little lax on maintenance. Minnie ended up falling in love with it and buying the boat July 2013. She kept the boat in NH and tooled around on the river a bit until we brought the boat down to Boston harbor in September. Minnie had the boat hauled out in the fall and had started to work on It a bit but progress was halted when she had a baby in the spring. Her daughter taking her attention she asked if I wanted the boat. Davey was looking pretty sad when I went up to have a look. Being covered in a couple feet of snow following the Boston blizzards her cover had blown off, the snow finding its way into any place possible. The engine was barely visible beneath the neat cone of snow that had found its way through the slot for the shifter arm. Knowing that there would be a plethora of work ahead but also that Minnie had bought a very classy looking set of brand new sails for the boat, I figured it might be nice to see how it sailed with a the new suit of sails. My goal then became to make the boat look good enough to go under the new sails.
Over the spring and summer I spent weekends up in Quincy working on the boat with pipe dreams of launching her and sailing down to RI. I replaced a broken frame and installed a new aft shoe as the original had been missing for some time. Eventually I came to the realization that it would be a lot easier to work on the boat in RI. Having the boat trucked down to Bristol, lead to a productive fall of sanding, painting, deck repairs, and getting the engine and engine room squared away. The spring was filled with the clanking of hammers as we riveted much of the topside planking. Finally I declared the boat ready enough to go back in the water. Davey relaunched on August 12, 2016 and had a pleasant motor from Bristol up to Warren, then spent the next couple days getting her stepped and rigged in time for a maiden voyage on my mothers 60th birthday. She is not the fastest boat on the river and we haven't quite gotten her to spin easily through a tack but she has proven to be a fun platform for messing about on the water and is frequently complimented by passers by.
Riley |
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