| "I should build a boat!" is what I decided after Marsha | | | | moved in. |
| and I moved to the beach in 2000. I wanted a way | | | | Our ceiling beams were boxed in what turned out to |
| to be on the water quickly (nothing in a marina 20 | | | | be clear, wide long lengths of southern yellow pine |
| minutes away, done that, thank you), that I could | | | | lumber from the 60's-way too good to consign to |
| put in the water by myself, and that was obviously | | | | the trash. You really can't find wood like this any |
| one of a kind-distinctive enough that I didn't need to | | | | more without going to specialty suppliers and paying |
| put my name on it for it to be obviously mine. | | | | a high price. So I saved it, and I use it. |
| The result was a 25 lb. skin-on-frame | | | | (This recycled wood has made it into other boasts, |
| Greenland-Eskimo kayak. It's my "testosterone boat". | | | | too. Since we moved here, I have built or rebuilt five |
| My neighbors see me carrying it to the beach or | | | | boats-a Starcraft aluminum ski boat from the early |
| maybe recognize me paddling this white, slim, | | | | 70's, a 13' sailing dinghy and a 17' racing sailboat were |
| lightweight kayak with varnished wood trim. | | | | re-build projects; the Greenland kayak, a plywood |
| This boat demands attention, balance, and ideally, the | | | | fishing kayak and a fast, slim rowboat built for one |
| ability to "Eskimo" roll it back upright after it turns | | | | of my neighbors have been the building projects. |
| over. Because it does turn over if you're not | | | | Each boat has had some recycled lumber, though not |
| attentive to water conditions. But it's a gas. | | | | just pine. |
| Paddle this boat through a surf from the beach, and | | | | The rowboat has thwarts from the pine, and a stem |
| out into the chop on the Lake on a breezy day, and | | | | from a naturally-curved piece of black walnut from a |
| you realize what 'man against the elements' is about. | | | | tree knocked down by a storm at a friend's house. |
| I've paddled into a wind so strong that in twenty | | | | The plywood kayak has internal beams from |
| minutes I only went 100 yards, and on the beach the | | | | recycled pine, the ski boat a mahogany dash from a |
| wind caught the boat and tumbled it away, but as | | | | plank found at an old farm, and the dinghy thwarts |
| long as you don't drown, it's super! (By the way, I | | | | are from the same plank.) |
| wear a full wetsuit, and sometimes even a drysuit | | | | Howard Chapelle, a noted chronicler of ships and the |
| with booties, and a PFD, plus a spray skirt. | | | | sea, once wrote: "There has always been a great |
| Hypothermia kills!) | | | | satisfaction-a justified feeling of |
| Dimensions of this little kayak are 21" in maximum | | | | accomplishment-related to making things with one's |
| beam, by 17 feet in length. It was built from a | | | | own hands. In this age of specialization I believe |
| compilation of several plans, not from a kit. The "skin" | | | | boatbuilding can offer even more satisfaction, as well |
| is a high tech Dacron heat shrink aircraft fabric, held | | | | as relaxation and a challenge to individual ability and |
| together by heat-applied bonding tape, and | | | | ingenuity. Few things involve the many skills required |
| waterproofed with (surprisingly) latex paint. The | | | | in building a boat, each essential for its successful |
| frame is southern yellow pine, straight-grained and | | | | completion. Possibly nothing else is as rewarding." |
| free of knots. The wood, in fact, was salvaged from | | | | I agree. |
| the remodel we did in 1999 and 2000 before we | | | | |