The many factory differences between our tugs, when put in context, give a glimpse into the builder’s mindset. For example, imagine a phone call between Loren Hart, president of Lord Nelson Yachts, and Tommy Chen, owner of the yard, discussing how to put Dutch doors on hull #2. Or another phone call where they ponder the tradeoffs between having six or two lowering pilothouse windows. Speculating on the 'whys' of a change can be fun and we're fortunate to have Tommy, Lani Hart, and Jim Backus to help inform the conversation. But I get ahead of myself, because before we can figure out why changes came about, we need to discover and document the changes themselves. This, it turns out, is a big undertaking.
There's no shortcut to finding tug differences. It's all about time and eyes; the more of each, the better. Very helpful too are the thousands of LNVT photos available in our Picasa Web Album. As I write this we're up to 95 documented differences. Knowing a difference exists can sometimes tell us when it came into being--but not always. As expected, the Mehrkens Galley (which is located on the starboard side) is first found on the Mehrkens' tug Perseverance #32. The Smith Access (removable stateroom stairs to the engine room) was also an owner request, but the Smiths’ Rose Bud #34 wasn't the first to get it; Sally W. #42 was. The lesson learned from this is that the only way to really know when a change occurred is to identify the first tug that got the change.
With a sincere apology to anthropologists everywhere, we've shamelessly borrowed one of their terms: Lucy. Our Lucy will be the first tug to incorporate a change. For the Dutch door, Bob Allnutt's Victory #2 is Lucy. For the two lowering pilothouse windows, the Payne's Hiaqua #3 is Lucy. While many Lucys occurred early in the production run, some occurred much later. The galley cabinetry above the Tommy door went from 'offset' to ' aligned' between hulls #36 and #37, thus making Patrick Mitch- ell's Elnora #37 our Lucy. Is your tug a Lucy? To find out we need your help. Please take a few moments to do the on line survey.
Together we'll piece together this part of the LNVT story. I'd like to thank Bob Allnutt, Victory #2, Peter Reich, Teddy Bear #15, Sally Seymour, Sally W. #42, Ed McChain, Thistle #47 and Jay Sterling, Cruz-In #74, for all their help.
No comments:
Post a Comment