Judy P's Tickle Trunk

 ♬ Tis the last rose of summer, Left bloomin’ all alone ♪

I love these late summer days. On Friday I was ever so tempted to take the kayak and the Hennessy Hammock tent and make a run for Keji.  It is a good thing that I am totally smitten with my new boat project – that and craft fair preparations trumped paddling and I spent the day organizing and the evening doing some of the smaller jobs for the boat. I had to spend a good hour with the heat gun and a scraper removing the remainder of the fillets I accidentally installed early on. I had thought I had them cleaned up but when I placed the deck and knees for a trial fit it was obvious that I had done a poor job of it. Saturday was the craft fair and I was tired but after supper I cranked up the heater, donned my mask and went about installing the cockpit decks and later the knees. And that’s how she still sits. Today I will organize some floor space and start on the main deck.

No, these aren’t my winter coat buttons. They are toggles for the fore and aft hatch covers.

These beams give extra support for the sliding seat. I love these little painter’s pyramids from Lee Valley Tools – they get a lot of use in my workshop.

The cockpit decks are now installed.

The decks are a different colour as I sanded them before I installed them. They will be varnished later. For heaven’s sake, don’t look too closely at anything as the whole job is amateurish and kind of chunky, kind of like those crafts we made at church camp where the glue outweighed the macaroni. But I’m as proud of her so far as are any of those expert craftsmen could be of their own boats and after a good day off I am ready to get right back at it.

© Judy Parsons 2014