I decided to go for a convertible this time. I always wanted a sculling wherry but could never justify the price. Lucky for me a university professor purchased a Merry Sea kit from Merry Wherry http://merrywherry.com/merryseatherugge.html and after about 8 years decided he would never get it built. This was one of my first choices for a wherry. About the only thing he had done is coat one side of the wood with epoxy several years ago which led to some serious warping and a pretty lumpy epoxy job it looked like a spray on truck bed liner. Some of the wood had got wet and mildewed, some rowing frame parts were missing but overall it was a workable kit. It came complete with oars and a rowing wing and I got the whole thing for less than the cost of the oars. I was able to get the mildew off. The glass had sat folded for all of those years and there were a few minor folds I couldn’t flatten and some rust stain from bailing wire that had been stored in the same bag. That was OK I had defined this project from the beginning as a project to let a boat feel the water. Boats need to be built like kids need dreams, it is a shame to let a good kit go to waste without ever feeling the water. A few blemishes just tell the story. The biggest challenge was the warped wood. I strapped it tight to the frame and used some wedges but that wouldn’t take all of the warp out. I screwed it into the frame to pull it tight to the frame but that just made dimples. Then I decided to just let it be. It made the boat less flat and more convex and shortened the height by less than half an inch. The warp was pretty consistent and fair so I just filled it the gaps which were about ¼ inch at the frames with thickened epoxy and taped over it. So Saturday was the first trial. The boat performed great, I had about 25 lbs. of fat in the way when I slid forward on the seat. Everyone had a good time. It looked a little funny on top of my Subaru and wasn’t very easy to get up there. So everyone asks if I have a problem seeing where I have been instead of where I am going. To be honest where I have been is not a bad place so I enjoy the view. A lot of you think all I do is build ad paddle boats and take pictures of birds. I like photographing deer also, got out this weekend but only found some little guys.