: Hey Rob,

: Given the weather we've had lately (I expect yours is similar), it feels like
: those ice pans will be floating downriver soon! It's supposed to get a bit
: warmer & drier later this week so let's keep our fingers crossed that
: you don't get to test the RP Sport in ice just yet.

You don't want to know this but I will tell you anyway: I turned on the furnace two days ago. Yep! I spent the week prior to F-Day freezing my butt off trying NOT to turn it on. I didn't want to accept the possibility that I missed most of summer season's paddling because I was working way too much. Sadly, it had to be done. I barely got to sit in front of the firepit as well. Too tired after a long day of work: an all too common scenario this summer. That said, I am doing my epoxy work outside so I absolutely need the weather to hold. I've spent most of this summer in a lab or in someone's basement doing renovations and am somewhat desperate to get out of doors. I figure that because August was so cold and wet that we absolutely MUST have a warmer September. That is hopeful wishing and I am not against such thinking. I really want to get those brass stem bands on the edges of the hull before I hit the ice pans - I know a glassed edge won't last one day.

On a side note, I am not going to wait for an independantly wealthy woman to sweep the dust off my basement floor and send me packing into a fully stocked and tooled boat building shop: I'm buying a lottery ticket this week.

Robert N Pruden