Sounds like you are really enjoying the process and will end up with a great boat at the end of a couple of really fun months.

Next we'll hear about how you are sitting in the garage with a cup of coffee admiring a partially completed hull.

Keep having fun!!

Ben Staley

: I've tentatively picked out the first boat I want to build and am now saving
: my dollars so I can buy the kit. In the meantime, I'm working at learning
: all I can. I bought Nick's book and am having a great time working my way
: through it. I especially enjoy all the pictures showing him doing things
: wrong with the captions saying, "Don't do it this way!"

: I'm making lists of things I need to buy, borrow, make, do, etc. before my
: kit arrives. I'm practicing planing and sharpening my blade. And I'm
: amazed at how fun all this mundane stuff is! Can't imagine how much fun
: I'm going to have when I actually get to build my boat.

: While kayaking last Friday at a local lake, I stopped for lunch on an island
: and spent some time reading Nick's book. Then I walked around the entire
: island and picked up trash to take back with me. There was more than I
: could fit into the bags I had available. (Why are people such pigs?) Along
: with the trash, I found a 15' fairly straight and thin trunk of a cedar or
: cypress tree. I broke it into two pieces so I could transport it home and
: have made two walking sticks. Planing them down was so much fun! The smell
: was heavenly and revealing the purplish/red of the inside of the wood was
: like a treasure hunt. Now I have a paper bag full of wood shavings that I
: don't want to throw away because they're so pretty and smell so good.
: (This is not a good sign, is it?)

: So I've built my first boats! (I'm sure those walking sticks will float.)

: Oh yeah, I also did an experiment. My plastic boat weathercocks terribly and
: has no rudder and it was a very windy day. So I took my float out of the
: bow and stuffed my dry bag with extra clothes, lunch, book, etc. up there.
: The extra weight in the bow made a HUGE difference! Good lesson learned.

: OK, I'll stop now. Just feeling chatty today and have really enjoyed this
: bulletin board.

: Patsy