an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
building a pair of 19th century gunning skiffs
Caesura on the beach.
Finally getting around to playing with the photos and video from last weekend. Every year, John and Vera England host the Urbanna Small Boat Meet. Great people, and we see them often in St. Michaels at the festival. I don’t know if John has a title, but he’s been a driving force behind the Deltaville Maritime Museum, leading many boat restoration and construction projects.
Piankatank River
postcards from the road
Fits well on the first try.
Coming up quickly, the first weekend in June, is the annual Chesapeake Float. A bunch of fine boating chaps I know, mostly from up in Baltimore/Delaware/Philadelphia area, get together for a three day boat camping weekend on the Bay somewhere. Most of them are the usual suspects you heard of here. Most have many years of experience sailing and camping in remote areas on the Chesapeake, and beyond. A good group of folks to know.
Hibernating for the Winter
The hoist took quite a bit of pondering. It needs to be easy to use, but strong enough to hang a boat for months at a time. Old problems tend to have many solutions, and lifting heavy objects is about as old as problems get. Often each method will create a new problem for every one it solves, so settling on the right combination required some thought. It can get complicated. Like friend Steve Early, I confess to a preference for simple tools. Well, in my case, it’s an actual need, a handicap, and I believe I go a bit further than even he does.
Door widened
Here’s a little project that’s been put off for awhile: making the old shed into a boat shed. This shed has already been enlarged once. Originally it was built for a Model T and not much else. Then extended. Then sort of sealed and insulated by someone for some reason, which failed miserably. It was also wired to make an excellent electrical fire hazard, which I quickly removed. It’s falling down already – the floor collapsing, the foundation crumbling. It does have a newish roof. Perfect for a boat shed, right?
Caught thinking. Frame grab from the video.
By request, here’s an extended version of the time lapse video of the building process. I made the short one first, knowing it would be easier to hold everyone’s attention for five minutes, but it does move too fast to see very much.
Moonrise on Totier Creek Reservoir
Every autumn, for the last few years, I’ve posted photos of the fall foliage here for friends and family who don’t get any. Did something a little different this time.
A couple of weeks ago, I took a row in the small local reservoir in the late afternoon, going from the dam all the way back up the creek that feeds it. The low sun set the trees on fire. These boats draw less than three inches, and it was a wonder to glide over water so shallow, well back into areas I had never been before.