Marginalia

On the left, my offsets lofted; on the right, Chapelle’s

 

(to start of project)

Winter is surely boat building season, or at least boat dreaming season. Over the last few days I’ve heard from three people making plans to start their own Melonseed projects: Guiseppe in Bari, Italy; Kirk in Colorado; and Bob in Hobe Sound, Florida. I completely sympathize, as I’ve been reading a lot about boats lately, too, while Winter makes itself at home. This is what it looks like here today (note how disturbingly diminished the wood pile is):

Continue reading “Correcting Errors”

Aeon gets coaming trim

 

(to start of project)

Rain and cold, freezing mist. A long lazy weekend, spent mostly by the fire with a good book. Been reading a lot lately, I’ve missed it, and have quite a backlog of good stuff to last all winter. It’s rather nice to spend a morning drifting in a story where boats play some part – a little history, some adventure, or just plain good storytelling – then take a hot mug of coffee downstairs to do a little work on one. Adds a little spice to the process, like a gumbo versus plain soup.

Continue reading “Fit and Trim”

Side coamings clamped up

 

(to start of project)

Between holidays, Terri’s role in a local theatre production, both of us getting nasty colds, and such as that, the boat building pace has eased a bit lately. Besides feeling under the weather, we’ve already started to get some weather, too – snow flurries coming over the mountain Friday, and a light dusting covered everything by Sunday morning. Epoxy has started to thicken in the jugs again, and with the cold it now takes a week or more for a batch to cure. No point in rushing now, I suppose.

Continue reading “Wood and Weather and Such”

Old Walnut Planed Out 

 

(to start of project)

Work finally resumed in earnest this weekend, but it will take a while to get back in the groove. Take a few weeks off and, when you return, you spend a lot of time wandering around scratching your head.

Continue reading “Old Wood”

Insertion

(to start of project)

With goblins and other mischief makers approaching for Halloween, it seemed prudent to get Caesura off the front porch and back safely in the shop. Four buddies came by on Sunday morning, and the process went almost as smoothly as getting it out, but with a lot less trepidation. Continue reading “Back to the Cave”