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Boat Birthing

Extracting Aeon 

 

(to start of project)

Wow. This is turning into quite a week.

The boats came out on Sunday. Now the first hurricane of the season is headed this way. This week we’re closing down the company where I have worked for over 20 years. I’ve had to beg, borrow and steal time for 2 1/2 years to work on these boats; now starting Friday I’ll have all the time I need. Bizarrely, the largest earthquake I’ve every experienced, 5.9, felt all up and down the East Coast, struck only moments ago as I write this. It was centered right here in the little town of Mineral. Funny how turning points and transitions can ripple out through a life. Weird.

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Well Done

 

It’s done. The boats are out of the basement. A great evening, good friends, good food.
Sent by phone from the backyard. More soon

 

Barry

 

 

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Names

 

(to start of project)

Got the raggedy stems trimmed and sanded finally, which made Terri very happy. Had been saving that until I could see how tall the bow chocks would be and get a feel for proportions. The Rudder rods were cut, too,  so I could finally try out the Tillers. This critical testing process required a pleasant half hour of sitting in the boats daydreaming. They work quite well.

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Floored

Floorboards ready for varnish 

 

(to start of project)

Wow. That was hard.

Several people told me that this part was going to be a challenge. They were right.

The problem is there are no straight lines. Geometry – even tape measures – are of no use whatsoever. A terribly complex, odd shaped, 3D object has to fit snugly into another very complex, odd shaped, 3D object, and there’s just no easy way to accomplish that.

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Christmas in August

It’s Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It hasn’t snowed in Wellington, New Zealand, for 30 years. The average age of a New Zeallander is 26. So that was before most of the current population was alive.

It did today, just a few hours ago.

Someone caught it on film rather nicely.

 

 

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199

No, not bottles of beer on the wall.

Pounds.

That’s how much the boats weigh now. Just the hulls with floorboards inside – no rudders or centerboards or other furnishings. No real effort was made to keep them light, but I hoped they would come in under 200 pounds each, and they did, just.

Don’t think I’ll be toting them up over a shoulder like before:

 

 

 

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