Officer quarters curtains

[Mark Sarsfield]

Rick,

  Are there any original curtains laying around for the various officer rooms?  After hours, it would be nice to keep the doors off and use curtains over the openings.  Anybody have an idea as to what the material and color were?  I figure that basic shower curtain hooks could be used on the same pipes that the doors hang from.

[Rick]

You just entered the Curtain delema.  All of the curtains that we have now were porvided by Mary Newkirk.  Unfortunaetly we have not been able to determin what the curtains color or fabric style was.  I am not inclined to remove any of the doors from the OC based on what has happened in the past.  These rooms are excelent areas to try and recreate the living conditions of the crew during the war.  On the negitive side It is vertually impossible to keep people out of these areas without completely eliminating thier ability to access them.

Rick

[Mark Sarsfield]

I agree.  However, the officers will be sleeping in there during the event weekends and since the doors will be open after hours, we may as well lean them in a corner until the next morning and then we'll remount and lock them.  I figured that the curtains could be easily installed and removed.

[Fred Tannenbaum]

Hey guys:

I would shoot a message directly to or leave a message here for Paul Farace, Cod curator, the self-appointed "Martha Stewart" of submarine restoration -- without the federal prison time! LOL!! He'll tell you what color the curtains need to be, what material, what thread-count, and the matching towels and dust ruffles!!

Seriously, he knows his stuff and has been at it longer than anyone else I know.

Fred

[Mark Sarsfield]

Okay.  I'll leave a message on the Cod sub-forum.  Thanks, Tom.

[Mark Sarsfield]

Paul,

  What do you know about the color and material of the curtains that covered the officer doorways?  How about the hook?  Generally, we use wooden doors to keep people at bay (or attempt to), but I would like to see curtains during the reenactment weekends after hours.  Since people are sleeping in those areas, it's a lot easier to get in and out without moving a hanging door every time and you get some privacy - our doors have plexiglass.  Thanks.


Mark S.

[Rick]

BZ.....

[Paul Farace]

Here is a photo of our WWII curtains... there is a color version (not scanned) that confirmed what the guy in the doorway told me (HUNTER GREEN color). I am not sure what they did for hanging them. The surviving hardware was without hooks, so I had the new herringbone patterned hunter green curtains made with a sleeve for the hanging rod to slip through. But I have since seen other boats that used rings!  What is Martha Stewart to do?

We don't do the door/security barrier bit. You're only keeping out the nice people and challenging the bad ones to circumvent your system. Our loss profile is pretty amazing... not perfect as in we did just lose a USN spoon on the crew's mess table (not a fork or knife, because Aunt Ginny doesn't collect them, but she does have a spoon holder in the dining room with souvenir spoons from where she's been -- I am hoping she gets hit by a Greyhound Bus on the way home -- THE BITCH!!!)... OK, I over it now.

Back to your question.
Getting the right brass rods was a major pain. You have to find them at a good old fashioned curtain supply house. The local department store is not going to have what you need, as in forget cafe curtain rods. These are heavy duty brass rods with end brackets the turn 90-deg with a 1-in. standoff.

Good luck!
And remember what Martha Stewart said about the hot colors for fleetboats this seaons:  Taupe and Terracotta!!!
Smashing!

-- Paul

[Mark Sarsfield]

Paul,

  When you get a chance, take a picture of your repro curtains that you made.  Also, what material did you use?

  That's interesting about using reverse psychology with potential thieves.  Maybe they figure that nothing valuable is on display, if you leave it out in the open.  It seems that what gets stolen on our boat is usually behind a locked door, bolted down, screwed in, etc.  I don't think any of the fake food or crew mess displays have gone missing - sometimes the fake peas end up on the floor.

[Paul Farace]

BINGO!

only stuff inside a "protected" area get stolen!  Leaving stuff in the open dosen't make it look less valuable...no, but what it does do is tell your visitors: "Look, we trust you to act like a good visitor and not a crook."  That is a big part of the equation. Not the only part though. It also helps that wehave only vertical ladders (can't really climb up with a torpedo under your arm) and a general look of an operational ship helps too!
IF your boat looks like its ready for the scrap yard, the subliminal message to certain visitors will be "Get your souvenir NOW BEFORE THIS BOAT DISSAPPEARS FOREVER!!!   We lost lots of stuff before the restoration program really took hold. Then it trailed off to almost nothing (almost).

When you think you've gotten to that point test your waters -- Start by putting out non-historial replicas or nearly-correct stuff. When that doesn't walk, and you feel emboldened, then move to the real deal.

Again, it isn't perfect. We lost a USN spoon the first month of our season. But to my knowledge, it is the first such loss in several years. In the eight years we have had a mess table set with knives, spoons, forks, plates, handless cups, and soup bowls, we have lost maybe two or three implements (I buy replacements in thrift stores (YES THRIFT STORES SHOULD BE CHECKED FOR USN flatware) and ebay.

Good luck!

 

[Mark Sarsfield]

I'll run the idea by Rick.  We are working on the boat coming back to life internally and externally.  We're putting down a new deck and a fresh paint job will go a long way, too.  We'll probably wait until at least those two have been accomplished before using the reverse psychology.

[Paul Farace]

Here are pictures of COD's current FB curtains. I know from a color photo that they were hunter green (dark green) and the material was textured. Have not seen a good shot of the mounts, only that they used beadchain (large balls) as tiebacks. There is evidence of several different curtain rod hardware types being used and only one curtain rod still in place from WW II (not photographed because I'm stupid and forgetful, but identical to what I am including from the wardroom that I installed back in 1989. Hope these help.

PF

[Mark Sarsfield]

Thanks, Paul!  We might still have those rods in place.  The wooden doors that we have installed hang from rods or poles that run across the insides of the doorways.  I have never looked at them, but I am sure that they have been painted over like everything else.

[Paul Farace]

We don't drill new holes unless GOD OKs it personally...  so mounting the new curtains was a challenge. The rods and hardware I picked were identical to the single original mount in the Bosun's locker in the ATR. And they fit most of the holes in the FB with the exception of the after door in the wardroom and the Goat Locker.

Picture of wardroom aft door hardware mount showing two hole patterns. Note I had to redrill the new bracket mount (non-historial) to fit the hole pattern on the bulkhead (historical).

[Lance Dean]

No heavier than those curtain are, could you use a magnetic rod mount?