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Not for nuthin'…. But….. 58 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 22 towns.
Top towns: Beverly leads the pack with 11; Salem and Lynn had 5 each; Gloucester, Rowley, and Saugus had 4 each; Merrimac had 3; Swampscott, Boxford, Danvers, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Georgetown, and Newburyport had 2 each; and West Newbury, Wenham, Hamilton, Peabody, Manchester, Salisbury, Amesbury, and Middleton had 1 apiece.
By property type: Residential 34 · Residential Lease (rentals) 14 · Land 4 · Residential Income (multi-families) 4 · Commercial Lease 2.
The MOAM's take: Beverly alone brought nearly 1 in 5 of today's new listings, and with 14 rentals and 4 multi-families in the mix, it's a good day for investors as well as buyers.
Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516 jnestor@nanepashemet.com
MOAM Out.
Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. it's a two-fer Thursday. The B's are back on Causeway Street at 7, and the Pats kick off under the lights in Chicago at 8:15. Grab the remote, grab the clicker for the other TV, and tell the family dinner's at 6:30 sharp.
Short version: nobody played last night, the Bruins host Nashville tonight still sitting on top of the Atlantic, the Pats are at the Bears on Thursday Night Football, the Celts lick their wounds before Friday's home opener, and the Sox are home for the winter.
Boston Bruins
Yesterday: No game (last game: L 3-2 in OT at Dallas, Tuesday)
Today: 7:00 PM ET, vs Nashville Predators (home, NESN)
Next: Sat., Oct. 24, 7:00 PM ET, vs San Jose Sharks (home, NESN)
Standings: 7-2-1, 15 points, 1st in the Atlantic, No. 2 in the East
Rantanen had to go and get a hat trick in overtime to snap the five-game streak, but the boys still banked a point and came home 3-0-1 off the western swing. That's a road trip I'll take every time. Now let's take care of business at home.
New England Patriots
Yesterday: No game (last game: W 26-19 vs New York Jets, Sunday)
Standings: 4-2, 2nd in the AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (5-1), No. 5 seed in the AFC right now
Short week, prime time at Soldier Field, and both teams come in 4-2. Win this one and the mini-bye heading into Miami tastes a whole lot better.
Boston Celtics
Yesterday: No game (last game: L 121-113 at Detroit, Tuesday's season opener)
Today: No game
Next: Fri., Oct. 23, 7:00 PM ET, vs New York Knicks (home opener, Prime Video)
Standings: 0-1, 1 game back in the Atlantic
Up 22 in the third and the Pistons ran off 23 straight. Ouch. Paul George dropped 38 in his Celtics debut, though, so there's something to build on. Friday night at the Garden against the Knicks is a fine place to get the first W.
Boston Red Sox
Yesterday / Today: No games, season over
Next: Sat., Feb. 20, 2027, @ Tampa Bay Rays (Grapefruit League opener; time TBA)
Final standings: 87-75, 3rd in the AL East, swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round
Hot stove season. Somebody wake me when the equipment truck leaves Fenway.
That's the Thursday board. B's at 7, Pats at 8:15, Celts tomorrow night. Enjoy the double dip, everybody.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. Thursday came in soft and pastel. A pink-and-lavender sky over the coast, a clear sunrise glow on the summits, and a frosty, still morning in the Vermont valleys. Partly sunny and near 58 in Marblehead with a brisk north wind, sunny and upper 50s over in the Mad River Valley. Here's how three corners of New England looked around 7:34 this morning.
Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — Streaks of pink and lavender cloud over a calm, silvery harbor, with the moorings mostly empty now and the last few boats riding quiet off the float. Partly sunny with a high near 58, but a north wind gusting near 30 says hang onto your hat.
Mount Washington North View — A peach-and-blue sunrise band along the horizon, the northern Presidentials sharp and clear, and patches of snow scattered through the summit rocks. Mostly sunny with a high near 37, but a north wind of 35 to 50 mph with gusts to 65 makes it a summit day for the brave only.
Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — Frost on the grass and a glassy, dark eddy under the old bridge. The trees are just about bare, with one stubborn gold maple and a few rusty holdouts by the farmhouse. Sunny with a high near 59 and barely a breath of wind.
Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, and Mad River Valley Television. (The Bartlett Forest PhenoCam was unreachable this morning.)
Two tubs of powder on the shelf, and they are not the same thing….. It's an easy grab to get wrong. Fill a gappy plank lap with fairing compound because it "spreads so nice" and you've got a weak joint. Fair a whole topside with colloidal silica and you'll spend two weekends sanding it like you're trying to wear through a granite curb. Both mixes start as epoxy and a white-ish powder. What they turn into is completely different. On a boat like the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory I'm building, it pays to keep the two families on separate shelves. Here's the rule: strength goes in the joint, fairing goes on the skin.
Why it matters: WEST SYSTEM sorts its fillers into two camps. Adhesive (high-density) fillers, 404, 406, 403 and 405, cure to "a strong, hard-to-sand cured epoxy plastic" for bonding, fillets and hardware. Fairing (low-density) fillers, 407 and 410, cure to a "light, easily sandable material" for cosmetic work: shaping, filling and fairing. On WEST's own selection chart, 410 gets no stars at all for general bonding or fillets. System Three says the same thing from the other side of the street: microballoons and microspheres "should not be used in adhesive formulations as they reduce tensile strength." So a fairing putty in a structural joint is a weak joint, and an adhesive filler on the topsides is a hard lump that won't sand at the same rate as the wood and fairing around it. Pick the powder for the job, not for whichever tub is closest.
What goes where on a hull
Plank laps, scarfs, chine and bottom seams, transom and stem bonds: an adhesive filler. 406 colloidal silica or 403 microfibers at mayonnaise consistency for general bonding (WEST). 403 is the one WEST singles out for wood.
Fillets (bulkheads, frames, inside corners): 406 or 405 at peanut butter consistency. 405 is WEST's wood-toned choice for fillets and glue joints on bright-finished wood. (Full fillet how-to is in my Sept. 25 tip.)
Bolts and hardware under load (oarlock sockets, a towing eye): 404 High-Density, which WEST rates highest for hardware bonding where cyclic loads are expected.
Low spots, dings, staple and fastener holes, glass-tape edges on a painted hull: a fairing filler. 410 Microlight is the lightest and easiest to sand; WEST says it's about 25% easier to sand than 407 and about three times lighter.
Under dark paint, on sun-baked topsides, decks and thwarts that get walked on, or a thicker fill: 407 Low-Density. WEST doesn't recommend 410 under dark paint or on surfaces that get hot, and calls 407 the better choice for thicker fills or where you need impact or abrasion resistance.
Bright (varnished) work: leave the fairing fillers on the shelf. 407 cures dark red-brown and 410 cures light tan (WEST), so they're for painted surfaces. Fair bright wood with a plane and a scraper.
Materials
Epoxy resin and hardener (WEST 105 with 205 Fast or 206 Slow; pick by shop temperature, see the shop note)
Adhesive filler for joints: 406 colloidal silica and/or 403 microfibers (404 for hardware)
Fairing filler: 410 Microlight for big, light-colored or underwater areas; 407 Low-Density under dark paint or where it'll take a beating
Carpenter's chalk or a soft pencil for finding highs and lows
Release fabric or plastic (optional, for batten guides)
Aluminum oxide sandpaper, 50/60 and 80 grit (WEST prefers aluminum oxide for cured fairing material)
Tools
A long, knot-free batten (wood, plastic or metal)
A longboard: a flexible fairing board with handles, long enough to bridge the lows (on a 40-foot hull that's 3 to 6 feet; on the dory, a couple of feet for the planks)
Plastic spreaders, one with notches cut in it, and a wide smooth knife
Mixing pots, sticks, and a scrap of plywood to spread the batch out on
A card scraper for drips and ridges
A real dust mask or respirator and eye protection (WEST calls fairing dust one of the most hazardous parts of the job)
Steps: fairing a low spot the right way
Find the lows before you mix anything. Rub a chalked batten over the area; the chalk lands on the high spots. Or scribble pencil all over it in a few directions and take a pass with the longboard: what's left of the pencil is low (Epoxyworks). Decide whether you're filling the lows, knocking down the highs, or both. Then sand the whole area with 80 grit so the compound has something to grab.
Clean it and wet it out. If you're going over cured epoxy, wash off the amine blush first with water and a Scotch-Brite-type pad, dry it with plain paper towels, and sand any shiny spots (WEST). Bare wood gets a coat of neat epoxy so the wood doesn't suck the resin out of the fairing mix. Sanded epoxy doesn't need a wet-out. On the topsides, let the wet-out go tacky or gel before you trowel, or the compound slides right off (WEST).
Mix resin and hardener first, then the powder. Fill your pot no more than a quarter full of mixed epoxy to leave room (WEST). 407 roughly doubles the volume of the batch and 410 makes it about two and a half times bigger (Epoxyworks). Stir in filler until it's a stiff, non-sagging peanut butter. The more filler, the easier it sands; too thin and it sags and sands harder (WEST). Spread the batch on a scrap of plywood to buy working time.
Trowel it on a little proud. Work it into the low with a plastic spreader and leave it slightly above the surrounding surface, so you sand down to fair instead of filling twice. On a big area, drag a batten across the fill with a slight Z motion. For whole topsides, one pro shop uses a notched trowel ground to leave ribbons about 1/8" deep and 1/4" wide, then fills the valleys later (WoodenBoat). Anything deeper than 1/2" goes on in two or more layers, the second after the first has partly cured, so it doesn't cook itself (WEST).
Let it cure all the way. Sand when it's solid: you can't dent it with your thumbnail (WEST). At 72°F, thin films of 105/205 get there in about 6 to 8 hours and 105/206 in 10 to 15 hours. In a cold shop it's longer, so wait for the thumbnail test, not the clock. Wash off any blush before you sand, because it clogs paper.
Longboard it fair. Start with 50 or 60 grit on the longboard to take down the fill over a broad area, then go to 80 when you're close (WEST). Change direction often, swinging the board through about 0°, 45° and 90° so you don't sand a valley in. No finer than 80 at this stage. Check with the batten: it should touch everywhere with no gaps. Fill the leftover lows and repeat. You don't need another wet-out unless you sanded through into the original surface.
Seal it before paint. Fairing compound is full of broken microballoons, and paint will soak into them and look ragged (System Three). WEST says an epoxy barrier coat is required over sanded 410 before any solvent-based paint (solvents can cause print-through) and recommended over 407. For a moisture barrier on exterior surfaces, WEST's fairing manual calls for at least three coats, about 10 mils, and up to six coats, about 20 mils, for more protection. Recoat when the last coat still takes a fingerprint but doesn't come off on your finger. After the last coat cures, wash and sand it for the paint you're using.
MOAM's shop note: On a lapstrake boat like the dory, the laps are the look. Fairing compound is for dings, hollows and fastener holes inside a plank, not for filling the landings flush. And where a hole sits in a structural spot, like an old screw hole through a lap, fill it most of the way with a 406 bonding mix and put only the last skin of 410 on top, so the strength is underneath and the easy sanding is on the surface. The other thing that bites New England builders this time of year: WEST lists a 60°F minimum for 206 Slow hardener, while 205 Fast works down to 40°F. In an unheated shop in late October, that's the difference between fairing that's ready to sand Saturday morning and a tacky mess you're still poking at on Sunday.
Numbers here come from WEST SYSTEM / Epoxyworks, System Three and WoodenBoat; where a figure is one shop's practice, I've said whose.
Well, would ya look at this….. 54 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 19 towns.
Top towns: Lynn leads the pack with 13; Peabody had 9; Saugus had 5; Salem had 3; Ipswich, Manchester, Newbury, Topsfield, Rockport, Newburyport, Marblehead, Gloucester, and Beverly had 2 each; and Nahant, Lynnfield, Amesbury, Boxford, Groveland, and Middleton had 1 apiece.
By property type: Residential 35 · Residential Lease (rentals) 13 · Commercial Lease 3 · Land 2 · Commercial Sale 1.
The MOAM's take: Lynn and Peabody together brought 22 of today's 54, about 4 in 10, and nearly two-thirds of everything was homes for sale. A busy midweek for buyers who've been waiting.
Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516 jnestor@nanepashemet.com
MOAM Out.
Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. Wednesday's a tale of two New Englands. The coast woke up under a gray lid with a raw northeast breeze, while the mountains got another clear, sunny morning. Mostly cloudy and about 52 in Marblehead, sunny and mid-50s in the valleys up north. Here's how four corners of New England looked around 7:36 this morning.
Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — A heavy blanket of cloud over the harbor this morning, with just a sliver of peach light squeezing through along the far shore. The water's a steely gray, the boats are riding it out on their moorings, and a northeast wind around 18 mph says jacket weather.
Mount Washington North View — Not a cloud up top. Low sun is lighting up the northern Presidentials in warm gold, there's still a scattering of snow between the summit rocks, and the haze rolls out range after range to the horizon. Sunny with a high near 37.
Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — A calm, pale start in the Mad River Valley. The old bridge and the farmhouse sit quiet by the dark eddy, the trees are mostly bare now with a few last hangers-on of red and gold, and somebody's already out walking the dog across the bridge. Sunny with a high near 57.
Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH — From the NEON tower, a soft rosy light is just touching the ridgetops, while the forest below has gone mostly to rust and bare branches, with the evergreens standing out darker than ever. Sunny and near 55 today.
Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, Mad River Valley Television, and NEON/PhenoCam.
This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. the scarf that slid. You butter up a beautiful 8:1 scarf, set it down, crank on a couple of clamps, and the top panel skates right off the bevel like a skiff off a greasy launching ramp. Then you're out of clamps, out of open time, and out of patience. Here's the thing nobody tells you when you start building with epoxy: it doesn't need the muscle. WEST SYSTEM says to clamp only hard enough to squeeze a small amount of epoxy out of the joint, about the force of a firm hand grip. That means a roll of tape, a box of brads, a staple gun and a few cleats will hold most scarfs and plank laps just fine. It's the kind of holding I'm up against on the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory: long planks to scarf, laps to keep shut, and never enough clamps in a New England shop.
Why it matters: Glue-ups with yellow glue want real pressure. Epoxy doesn't. Epoxyworks puts it plainly: there's no need for the excessive clamping force you'd use with yellow glue, and too much pressure can squeeze out so much epoxy that you're left with a glue-starved joint. WEST's own troubleshooting list has "too much clamping pressure squeezed epoxy out of the joint" as a cause of failed bonds. What epoxy does need is for nothing to move while it cures. A scarf's slanted faces want to slide apart under pressure; Small Boats Monthly's Passagemaker review notes the scarfed plank pieces "slid against one another when pressure was applied by weights or clamps" (that's why CLC went to puzzle joints). So the job isn't squeezing. It's pinning, then pressing lightly and evenly. That's what tape, pins and cleats do best.
Materials
Epoxy resin and hardener, plus a thickener for the bonding mix (colloidal silica or microfibers; WEST recommends wetting out with neat epoxy first, then a thickened mix on one face)
Polyethylene sheet (3-mil works; one builder uses 12" strips under and over each scarf) or wax paper, so nothing gets glued to the bench or the caul
Clear, shiny packaging tape for wrapping cauls and spacer strips (Epoxyworks) and nylon-reinforced packaging tape (strapping tape) to use as a clamp
Small brads or finish nails: 20-gauge wire brads 7/8" long (Epoxyworks), or 1" finish nails for 3/8" plywood
Drywall screws and washers, with wax on the screws so they back out after cure (Epoxyworks)
Straight, flat cauls (a 1x4 or 1x8 a little longer than the panel is wide) and some scrap for spacer strips
Bronze or other non-corroding fasteners for anything you plan to leave in (WEST)
Tools
A long straightedge and a pencil for the centerline
Staple gun or brad nailer
Cordless driver and a pilot bit
Hammer, end nippers or tile nippers for pulling pins
A few one-handed clamps, pads covered with duct tape or plastic (WEST)
Plastic spreader or notched spreader, and a sharpened mixing stick for cleaning up squeeze-out
Optional: a soldering iron with a flat tip, for backing out a stuck screw
Steps: the scarf
Lay out on a flat, covered bench. Strike a centerline down the table and a matching line on both panels. Lay plastic or wax paper under the scarf. Set the first panel feather edge down, line it up, and pin its far end to the table with a small brad so pressure on the bevel can't push it away (Small Trimaran Design). Plywood scarfs run at least 8 to 1 (WEST), so 3/8" plywood gives you a 3" bevel and 1/4" gives you 2".
Wet out, then butter. Brush neat epoxy on both scarf faces. End grain drinks it, so go back and give the thirsty spots more. Then thicken a batch and spread it on one face, enough that a little squeezes out when you press the joint with about a firm hand grip (WEST).
Drop the top panel and pin the scarf. Lay the second panel feather edge up on the first, line it up on your marks, and press it down. Now the trick: drive a brad straight through the scarf near each edge. One drift boat builder puts a 1" finish nail about 2" in from each edge, right through the middle of the scarf, and then screws each panel to the table so nothing creeps (Fly Fishing Traditions). Those two pins are what keep the bevel from skating when the pressure goes on.
Press it with a cleat, not a clamp rack. Plastic over the joint, then a straight caul across it. Weight the caul (buckets of sand, paint cans, a car battery, whatever you've got) or screw it down. Epoxyworks' version: drill pilot holes through the clamping strip and the scarf into what's underneath, drive waxed screws with washers, and cover the strip with poly sheet or shiny packaging tape so it lets go later. Snug, not cranked. You want a bead of squeeze-out, not a dry joint.
Clean it up while it's soft. Scrape off the squeeze-out and fill any little voids with it, then leave it alone until cure. Ten minutes of cleanup now saves an hour with the sander.
Steps: planks, laps and everything else
Staple through a spacer. Brad nailers and staplers don't have much drawing power, and the fastener won't pull the plank in by itself. Hold the part in position, then drive the staple or brad through a wooden or plastic spacer strip so it seats against the strip and pulls out easily later (Epoxyworks). Wrap the strip in packaging tape and it won't get glued on.
Use screws where you need pull. For heavier parts or a lap that won't close, drywall screws through a pad. WoodenBoat's glued-lapstrake article says it straight: temporary screws through the laps typically hold the planks while the glue cures, then come out and the holes get filled. Driving them at a slight angle on strip planks nests one plank against the last (Epoxyworks).
Tape is a clamp too. WEST lists nylon-reinforced packaging tape right alongside C-clamps and bar clamps. Stretch it across a small part, a glued-up cleat, or a fillet joint, and it pulls with surprising force. Clear packing tape also makes a release surface on any caul, block, or spacer that touches wet epoxy.
No holes allowed? Wedge clamps. For a bright-finished interior, WoodenBoat showed slot-and-wedge plank clamps: U-shaped pieces of 1/2" plywood with 7/8" slots that reach around the plank, wedges cut about 1 in 15, and 1/4" polyurethane tubing set in a groove at the tips so they grip. Make a pile of them, space them close, tap the wedges home.
Pull the hardware. Back out screws and pull pins once the epoxy has cured. If the epoxy has grabbed a screw, one builder (Ross Lillistone, DIY Boat Plans) heats the head with a flat-tipped soldering iron for about 45 seconds before backing it out, so it doesn't snap off in the plank. Fill the holes with thickened epoxy, sand flush, and carry on. Anything you leave in should be bronze or another non-corroding alloy (WEST).
MOAM's shop note: The most common mistake I see is treating epoxy like yellow glue: six bar clamps on a scarf, every one cranked till the jaws groan. Two things happen. The bevel slides, because a slanted joint under pressure wants to move. And you squeeze the joint dry. Pin first, press second, and stop when you see a small, even bead. If you don't get squeeze-out, take it apart and add more thickened epoxy. And the pro trick? Wrap every caul and spacer in clear packing tape before you mix the first squirt. Once the clock's running, you won't have time to go find the roll.
Numbers here come from WEST SYSTEM / Epoxyworks, WoodenBoat and Small Boats Monthly; where a figure is one builder's practice, I've said whose.
This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. 38 new listings hit the North Shore market in the last 24 hours, across 16 towns.
Top towns: Marblehead leads the pack with 9; Newburyport and Lynn had 4 each; Peabody, Middleton, and Salem had 3 each; Georgetown and Manchester had 2 each; and Amesbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Danvers, Saugus, Nahant, Beverly, and Boxford had 1 apiece.
By property type: Residential 17 · Residential Lease (rentals) 15 · Residential Income (multi-families) 3 · Commercial Lease 2 · Commercial Sale 1.
The MOAM's take: Marblehead alone brought nearly a quarter of today's new listings, a big Tuesday for the home town. If you've been waiting on a Marblehead option, this is the week to look.
Contact Nanepashemet to view these.
Nanepashemet Real Estate Services
Call or text 781-727-6516 jnestor@nanepashemet.com
MOAM Out.
Listing data courtesy of MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN); listings shown are held by various brokerages. Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. 136995-RE-B.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. it's opening day for the Celtics, and they're not making us wait for prime time. 3 o'clock tip in Detroit this afternoon, then the B's go for six straight in Dallas tonight. Two games on a Tuesday in October. Pass the coffee.
Short version: the Celts open the season this afternoon at Detroit, the Bruins are in Dallas tonight sitting on top of the Atlantic, the Pats are resting up for Thursday night in Chicago, and the Sox are home for the winter.
Boston Celtics
Yesterday: No game
Today: Season opener, 3:00 PM ET, @ Detroit Pistons (NBC, Peacock)
Next: Fri., Oct. 23, 7:00 PM ET, vs New York Knicks (home opener, Prime Video)
Standings: 0-0, season starts today (preseason finished 4-0)
Top two seeds in the East from last spring, right out of the gate. Tatum and the new-look Celts against Cade and the Pistons. A 3 PM start on a Tuesday, so if the boss asks, you're "on a call."
Boston Bruins
Yesterday: No game
Today: 8:00 PM ET, @ Dallas Stars (ESPN)
Next: Thu., Oct. 22, 7:00 PM ET, vs Nashville Predators (home, NESN)
Standings: 7-2-0, 14 points, 1st in the Atlantic, No. 3 in the East, won 5 straight
Still first in the division after the California sweep. The Rangers slid past them in the conference with a win last night, so let's go get those two points back in Dallas.
New England Patriots
Yesterday: No game (last game: W 26-19 vs New York Jets, Sunday)
Today: No game
Next: Thu., Oct. 22, 8:15 PM ET, @ Chicago Bears (Prime Video)
Standings: 4-2, 2nd in the AFC East, 1 game behind Buffalo (5-1), No. 5 seed in the AFC right now
Short week, so the fellas are cramming for Thursday night. Win at Soldier Field and the Bills will be looking in the mirror.
Boston Red Sox
Yesterday / Today: No games, season over
Next: Sat., Feb. 20, 2027, @ Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte (Grapefruit League opener; time TBA). Exhibition vs Northeastern the day before, Feb. 19.
Final standings: 87-75, 3rd in the AL East, swept by the Yankees in the AL Wild Card round
Hot stove season. Four months till somebody says "pitchers and catchers," and I'm already counting.
That's the Tuesday board. Celts at 3, B's at 8, Pats Thursday night. Enjoy the double dip, everybody.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. Tuesday's another bluebird day. Sunshine from the coast to the mountains, a high near 58 in Marblehead with a brisk north wind, and low 60s in the valleys up north. Here's how four corners of New England looked around 7:39 this morning.
Marblehead Harbor (BYC Oceanfront) — The sun is just peeking up over the far shore, painting long gold and pink streaks of cloud across the sky and a shimmering path across the harbor, with the boats swinging easy on their moorings.
Mount Washington North View — Crystal clear again up top. Early sun is lighting up the northern Presidentials, there's still a dusting of snow and rime between the summit rocks, and you can see range after range out to the horizon. Sunny with a high near 41, but a north wind howling at 25 to 40 mph.
Great Eddy Covered Bridge, Waitsfield — A quiet dawn in the Mad River Valley. The old bridge and farmhouse sit under a pale morning sky, the river is calm and dark, and the trees are mostly bare now with a few last splashes of red and gold. Sunny with a high near 62.
Bartlett Experimental Forest, NH — From the NEON tower, the first sun is warming the ridgetops with a rosy glow, while the forest below holds on to its rust, copper and gold among the dark evergreens. Sunny and near 60 in the White Mountains valleys today.
Webcam views courtesy of the Boston Yacht Club, the Mount Washington Observatory, Mad River Valley Television, and NEON/PhenoCam.
Not for nuthin'…. But….. if you've ever laid down a gorgeous coat of varnish on a tiller or a tabletop, gone in for supper, and come back to find it peppered with dust, lint and one dead fly, this one's for you. Brushed varnish sits there wet for hours, collecting everything that floats by. Wiping varnish goes on thin, skins over fast, and gives the dust a lot less time to land. Here's the schedule I use, coat by coat, for brightwork on a boat (tiller, thwarts, coamings, oars) and for shop furniture. It's the same routine for thwarts and oars on a boat like the Chamberlain Marblehead gunning dory I'm building as for a shop cabinet, and it's tuned for a New England shop in the fall and winter, when it's cold, it's damp, and the dust never really settles.
Why it matters: A full brushed coat of marine varnish is thick. Epifanes calls for 30 to 35 microns dry per coat (about 1.2 to 1.4 mils) and says it's only dust-dry after 3 hours at 68°F, 5 hours at 50°F. That's hours of open time for nibs. A wiped coat is a fraction of that (Minwax rates its Wipe-On Poly at 0.25 mil dry per coat), and Fine Woodworking's Michael Pekovich says thin coats "dry quickly enough to avoid dust nibs." Small Boats Monthly's editor said the same after wiping varnish on a lapstrake Whitehall: it "greatly reduced the time during which dust and bugs could get caught on the surface," and the sags dropped off too. The catch? Thin coats mean more coats. Don Aupperle figures three wiped coats in a day come to about one brushed coat. So you trade one big, dusty coat for several small, clean ones. Get the schedule right and that's a good deal.
Materials
Shop furniture (indoors): gloss oil-based polyurethane or alkyd varnish, cut about 1:1 with mineral spirits. That's all a "wiping varnish" is (Bob Flexner, Popular Woodworking). Or a store-bought one like Minwax Wipe-On Poly or General Finishes Arm-R-Seal. Note the Minwax can says interior surfaces only, except floors.
Boat brightwork (outdoors): a real marine spar varnish with UV absorbers (Epifanes Clear, Pettit Captain's and the like), thinned 50/50 with its own brushing thinner for the wiped coats (Aupperle, Small Boats Monthly). Interior poly isn't built for a tiller that lives in the sun.
Use gloss for the build coats. Satin's flatting agents settle out and streak, especially in a thinned mix (Flexner, General Finishes). If you want satin, make it the last coat.
Lint-free cotton: old non-ribbed T-shirt material, plus plain or blue shop paper towels for the pad core (Aupperle)
Abrasives: 220 and 320 paper, 400 and 600 wet/dry, and white Scotch-Brite 7445 pads
Tack cloths, mineral spirits for the solvent wipe, paint strainers, and a couple of wide-mouth containers or bowls
Nitrile gloves, and a metal can with a tight lid for the rags (more on that below; it's not optional)
Tools
Shop vac with a clean brush attachment
A lamp you can set low for raking, reflected light. You can't fix what you can't see (Flexner, Woodcraft).
An infrared surface thermometer and a cheap hygrometer. The air temperature lies; the wood temperature is what counts (TotalBoat).
A couple of foam brushes, for tipping out the ends of strokes
Work supports (triangle sticks, screw boards, or padded horses) so every face can be reached without touching wet finish
A sanding block, or a block of blue foam shaped to the part. WoodenBoat's trick for long rounds like oar looms and handrails.
Steps
Check the shop, not the calendar. General Finishes builds its dry times around 70°F and 50% humidity; Woodcraft's Paul Anthony wants the shop between 65 and 80°F with moderate humidity. Then there are the hard floors. TotalBoat says don't apply when the air, the wood or the varnish is below 45°F. Pettit's minimum for Captain's is 40°F. Epifanes lists 41 to 86°F (5 to 30°C) and 50 to 85 percent relative humidity. Interlux says never paint above about 85 percent. Bring the can into the house so it's at least 60°F before you open it (TotalBoat). And shoot the wood with the IR thermometer. A tiller that spent the night in an unheated barn lags the air by hours. Heat the shop for a few hours before you start, and wipe while the temperature is holding or falling, not climbing; rising heat makes the wood expand and can blister the film (Interlux). Out here in the fall, finish early. Your last coat needs to skin over before the evening damp comes in (TotalBoat, WoodenBoat). One more thing for a winter shop: the label says keep it away from heat and open flame. If you heat with a woodstove, propane or kerosene, warm the place up first, then shut the flame down and get some fresh air moving while the solvent's out.
Prep the wood, then get the dust out. Bare wood: sand to 180 for most species (WoodenBoat) or 220 (Minwax, Epifanes). Pekovich takes furniture to P320 because a thin film shows every scratch. Softwood thwarts? Raise the grain first; see my Oct. 13 tip. Over cured epoxy, wash off the amine blush and sand before any varnish; Epifanes says its Clear isn't suited for direct use on epoxy. Then the WoodenBoat three-step, every single time: vacuum, wipe with a rag dampened (not soaked) with thinner, then tack.
Set up for dust before you open the can. Finish in a corner away from the saw, or at least a day after the heavy sanding. Clean clothes (Woodcraft). Wet the floor down if your shop allows it (WoodenBoat). Shut off anything that blows: the dust collector, box fans, a forced-air heater pointed at the bench. Strain the varnish through a paint strainer into a clean container; never work out of the can (WoodenBoat). Set the lamp low so the light bounces off the surface toward your eye.
Mix it. One part gloss varnish to one part mineral spirits, stirred well (Flexner). Want faster build? Flexner says try three parts varnish to one of thinner; it's still easy to wipe. For brightwork, spar varnish 50/50 with its brushing thinner (Aupperle). If it's grabbing and tacking up too fast, add a little more thinner.
Coat 1, the seal coat: flood it, then wipe it off. Brush or rag on a wet coat and keep feeding the thirsty spots. Pekovich wipes the whole surface dry after about 10 minutes; Anthony waits until it just starts to get tacky. Wipe with the grain. Let it dry overnight. On a bare-wood boat part, you can instead build the base the way the can says. Epifanes brushes three penetrating coats at 50, 25 and 15 percent thinner, 24 hours apart at 68°F, then switches to full-strength coats; you can wipe your build coats on over that base.
Scuff the seal coat. It's ready when the paper turns it to fine powder instead of gumming up (WoodenBoat). Scuff with 220 dry (WoodenBoat), or wet-sand with 400 lubricated with mineral spirits (Anthony). Just knock down the fuzz. Vacuum, solvent wipe, tack.
Build coats with a pad. Wad up a couple of paper towels, smooth one more over the face, and wrap it in a square of T-shirt cotton with the edges gathered into a handle (Aupperle), or fold a rag back on itself until the face is smooth (Anthony). Load it, then press out the excess until the face looks evenly wet with no drips. Work one "panel" at a time (a thwart, one side of a coaming, an oar loom) in long straight strokes with the grain, overlapping a little to keep a wet edge. Use a nearly dry foam brush to tip out the ends of strokes and any drips. Then look it over in that raking light and walk away.
Respect the recoat window. Shop furniture, homemade 1:1: overnight, or at least 6 hours in a warm room (Flexner). Minwax Wipe-On Poly says 2 to 3 hours, but that's at 77°F and 50 percent humidity, thin coats, good air. Arm-R-Seal says 12 to 24 hours or more between coats on raw wood at 70°F. Brightwork, 50/50 spar varnish: Aupperle recoats when the first area he did isn't sticky anymore, sometimes only another half hour, and gets three coats a day. Between same-day coats he skips sandpaper: a light touch with the white Scotch-Brite pad knocks off lint and bugs (if it drags, it's not dry enough), then tack. Next day he keeps going without sanding unless there are runs to fix. Cold changes all the math. TotalBoat's Gleam goes from a 1-hour recoat at 80°F to 3 hours at 65°F and 8 hours at 50°F; Epifanes' full coats go from 24 hours at 68°F to 40 hours at 50°F. In a 50-degree November shop, figure one coat a day and be glad of it.
Sand between days, lightly. Furniture: 320 or 400, with just your hand backing the paper, to take off the nibs (Flexner), or wet 400 then 600 with mineral spirits (Anthony). Minwax's own instructions say 220 or fine steel wool, which is fine for their product. Brightwork: 320 if the film is fair, 220 if it needs leveling (WoodenBoat). Then vacuum, solvent wipe, tack. Every time.
Count coats by the job. Wiped-off coats on furniture: Flexner says four, five or six, maybe more; three or four at a minimum. Outdoor brightwork needs real film thickness to hold up to the sun: Aupperle builds 8 to 12 wiped coats over two or three days, and WoodenBoat puts five to seven brushed coats as the minimum for a finish that lasts the season. Epifanes wants at least 4 full-bodied coats over its sealer coats, and more in strong sun. After that, a light wet-sand with 320 and about three wiped coats each year should carry you through a season (Aupperle).
Final coat and the last of the nibs. Sand the next-to-last coat with 400 (Pettit). Make the last coat the thinnest and cleanest: a still day, fresh pad, the full vacuum, wipe and tack routine. Let it cure for several days, then rub any stray nibs off with a folded brown paper bag (Flexner). For a satin look on furniture, rub out with 0000 steel wool and wipe on a very thin last coat, buffing it off almost right away (Anthony). Wait a week before wax (Pekovich). On the boat, use the white Scotch-Brite pad instead of steel wool; Epifanes calls for P400 or Scotch-Brite between coats, and stray steel crumbs rust right where you don't want them.
Deal with the rags the minute you're done. This is the step that burns down garages. Oil-based finishes give off heat as they cure, and a balled-up rag holds that heat until it lights itself (NFPA). NFPA counts about 900 home fires a year started by oily rags. So: never pile them, never toss them in the trash or a plastic bucket (Mass.gov, Chubb). Either hang them outside or lay them out flat on the ground, weighted down, away from the building, until they're dry, then put them in a metal can with a tight lid and fill it with water and a little detergent (NFPA, Mass.gov). Or drop them straight into a sealed, water-filled metal can, which is what the Minwax safety sheet says. That goes for the pad cores, paper towels, steel wool, and even the sanding residue (Minwax). Keep the can somewhere cool and out of the sun, and take it to your town's household hazardous waste day (Mass.gov). If you finish every week, get a listed oily waste can (Mass.gov) and empty it.
MOAM's shop note: The most common mistake I see is chasing a coat that's already started to tack. You spot a missed patch or a streak, you go back in with the pad, and now you've got drag marks. Aupperle's warning on this is "under penalty of endless frustration," and he's right. Leave the holiday alone; the next coat gets it, and with wiped varnish the next coat is only an hour or a day away. Pro trick, also from Aupperle: set out three bowls on the bench. One is your "do" bowl with the thinned varnish, one is the "undo" bowl with straight thinner, and one stays empty for pressing out the pad. If a panel goes bad while it's still wet, wipe the whole panel down with the undo pad and recoat it right then. Second mistake: building in satin. Build in gloss and go satin on the last coat only. And for the record, Flexner will tell you thinning the first coat isn't needed for adhesion, and that's fair. With wiping varnish you thin it so it wipes on and off easy, not for some magic bond.
Sources: Bob Flexner, "Wiping Varnish," "Wiping Varnish – What is it?," "Applying Wiping Varnish" and "Thinning Oil and Varnish," Popular Woodworking; Michael Pekovich, "How to Apply Wiping Varnish," Fine Woodworking #218; Paul Anthony, "Bodybuilding With Wiping Varnish," Woodcraft; Don Aupperle, "Wiping Varnish," Small Boats Monthly (WoodenBoat Publications); Matthew P. Murphy, "Varnishing Basics," WoodenBoat; Epifanes Clear Varnish technical data sheet EN-001 and Epifanes NA "Painting Wood"; Pettit Captain's Varnish 1015 product data sheet; Minwax Wipe-On Poly product data sheet, label directions and safety data sheet; General Finishes Arm-R-Seal application instructions and TDS; TotalBoat, "How to Apply Varnish in Cold Weather"; Interlux, "Always check the weather"; NFPA, "Oily Rags" safety tip sheet; Mass.gov, "Disposing of oily rags"; Chubb, "Spontaneous Combustion" homeowner tip sheet.
MOAM Out.
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This is catching the MOAM's attention today….. the 30-year mortgage rate held at 7.40% for a second week, still the highest Freddie Mac weekly average since mid-November 2023. Here's this week's short video with the real numbers for Marblehead and Lynnfield, plus one practical tip from a guy who sells houses and builds things. No hype, no made-up stats. If I can't source a number, you won't see it.
This week's numbers
Mortgage rates (Freddie Mac PMMS®, U.S. weekly averages as of Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026)
30-year fixed: 7.40%, unchanged from last week. A year ago it was 6.27%.
15-year fixed: 6.71%, down from 6.73%. A year ago it was 5.52%.
That's the highest 30-year PMMS reading since November 16, 2023 (when it was 7.44%), per Freddie Mac's historical data — and now two weeks in a row at 7.40%.
A quick reality check: on a $600,000 30-year loan, principal and interest runs about $3,702 a month at 6.27% and about $4,154 at 7.40%. That's roughly $452 more a month than a year ago, before taxes and insurance. (That's my own arithmetic at the Freddie Mac average rates. Your actual rate depends on your lender and your loan.)
Marblehead, single-family, September 2026 (Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®)
Median sale price: $1,127,500, up 15.6% from $975,000 in September 2025
Closed sales: 14 (20 a year ago). Small sample, so one month can look extreme.
Homes for sale: 28 (down 15.2% from a year ago)
Months of supply: 2.0
Cumulative days on market: 53 (36 a year ago)
Sellers received 93.0% of original list price (99.3% a year ago)
So what does it mean? Both towns are still tight at about two months of supply. Marblehead homes are taking longer to sell than a year ago, and sellers there are giving up more off their original asking price. Lynnfield's nine closings are too few to hang a trend on, but sellers there were still getting over list. With rates stuck at 7.40%, buyers have a little more room to negotiate than they did last fall — especially on homes that have been sitting.
The broker-who-builds tip: read the roof
Before you buy — or list — take a hard look at the roof. Check the shingle age and granule loss, peek at the flashing around chimneys and valleys, and look for ice-dam stains on the fascia in winter. A worn roof isn't a deal-killer, but it should be priced in.
This tip is general information, not a substitute for a home inspection, and it doesn't replace advice from your listing agent or a licensed home inspector. If you're planning repairs before a sale, I hold MA Construction Supervisor License CS-047636 and can talk through what's worth fixing.
Or call or text me at 781-727-6516. I'm available seven days a week.
John Nestor, Nanepashemet Real Estate Services, MA Broker Lic. #136995-RE-B · 328 West Shore Drive, Marblehead, MA 01945 · 781-727-6516 · nanepashemet.com. Renovations: John Nestor, MA Construction Supervisor License CS-047636. Equal Housing Opportunity.
