Jubilee
Jubilee
Boat Name: Jubilee
Owners: Julian Scott Morris and Kerri Morris, 4 Evans Passway, Morris, Connecticut 06763
Phone: (860) 567-9653 E-mail: softibikr@hotmail.com
Home Port: Bantam Lake, Morris, Connecticut
Hull: 1/4 " steel with a model bow. Single compartment construction, which allows you to sink quickly to the bottom without much listing if breached.
Hull Size: 41 feet long + 10 feet for the wheel with a beam of 10 feet and a guard/gunwale combination of 6 inches.
Paddlewheel: With some technical advice from Gary Morton, I rebuilt and repositioned the wheel in February 2002. I used 2 x 12 pressure treated lumber 77 inches long for the 10 buckets.
Engine: 1957 800 cu/in 40 hp Palmer ZR-4 built in
Cos-Cob Connecticut. It is the last ZR-4 to leave the Palmer Marine
Company and the only ZR-4 to exist running at this time according to Heritage
Engine Collector, Richard A. Day Jr. from Maryland. This gas engine was
purchased new by the father of the builder and sat in his barn un-used until
1994 when the builder asked to use it for the Jubilee. It is a great power
plant turning 600-800 rpm. It has two spark plugs for each cylinder.
One is fired by magneto and the other with the traditional distributor, points
and coil. This massive 4 cylinder has great torque and with the help of
gear reductions, there is barely a loss of rpm between a forward and reverse
change.
With no ring gear or starter, it starts with some finesse of the 19 inch
flywheel. This feature keeps unauthorized starts to a minimum and enhances
my appearance as a brute of a Captain. The motor is cooled via a keel
cooler which was first made of iron pipe but later replaced by large angle
welded to the hull creating two keels. These also assist in keeping the
boat running straight in strong winds and current plus they benefit crisp helm
response.
Drive Train: The engine is coupled to a Palmer reverse gear and the power travels the length of the boat by way of a drive shaft, through two greased bearings to allow for the shear of the deck, and to a Ford 'quick change', 10 inch differential. The axle turns an eight-inch sprocket linked to a forty-inch sprocket via a 'serious' chain.
Builder: While I would like my name here, the Jubilee was built entirely by Dan Blake in his back yard in Apalachicola, Florida. Starting from a hand drawn print and a captain's wheel he 'hand bent' in 1994 and using a homemade wooden bender, he formed twenty sections of the hull and welded them together both inside and out. The remainder of the boat is built from white cedar with great attention to detail and craftsmanship. The upper deck and the roof of the wheelhouse are treated and painted canvas. Dan finished construction in 1997. He launched and used the Jubilee as a tour boat on the Apalachicola River.
Misc: Editors note: Julian has written a complete story on how he found, acquired, transported and how he has used the boat since its purchase. I thought this was best suited for the 'Article Archives'.