Judy P's Tickle Trunk

…or how I’ve completely lost track of how long I have been building a boat.

We returned from our trip to Virginia to find it was autumn on the river. The colours this year were at their best. I was keen to get back to boatbuilding.

These were the real colours; the soft evening light the only enhancement.

Before we left I epoxied the puzzle joints of the deck pieces and then laid the whole deck on the hull. There was scarce little room in my work-space to flip the whole assembly with any care or accuracy onto the wet epoxy mud so I contrived a way to have it ready to be gently lowered without too much need for adjustment. It involved a cat litter box, some pool noodles and the temporary cradles I used earlier in the process. It all worked remarkably well. Once placed it was secured with packing tape and I left it to cure while we were away.

The raw decks, not yet glued. There are no pictures of the gluing process as by then I was ready collapse with fatigue and the stress of getting it all tied down tightly.

The first chance I had after I got home, I removed the packing tape and examined my work. Some flaws, the hull wasn’t fastened as tightly to the bulkheads as I would have wished but it will do. The next step was to cut away the over-hang making the deck close to flush with the hull. I started out with a Japanese hand-saw but quickly switched to a jigsaw. This was where I repeated the mistake of working when I was too tired and I managed to gouge a big chunk from the hull before I realized I really should take a rest. I now have a rocking chair installed in the room for just this purpose.

This little wooden jig was used to help scribe the cutting line around the edge.

My rocker covered in a 1970s throw which came with my sailboat and a 5 gallon pail for a foot-stool ensures that I will never let fatigue get the better of me again.

Trimming.

The autumn colours on the river made it a very pleasant environment and it was quite distracting at times. Can you see the old crag in the middle of the large pine across the river? It hosted a pair of eagles for most of that day and I stopped several times to look at them with the binoculars and to take some pictures.

View at the stern of the boat.

The whole project went back on hold while I spent days emptying the Prospect house. That was a chore which I hope never to have to repeat but it is all done and I no longer own a house on the salt water. I’m a river girl now.

Today I spread the fibreglass cloth on the deck, trimmed it to size and applied the first coat of resin.

Looks more like an overgrown kayak than a rowboat, don’t you think?

The scene outside was in no way distracting as we are in the second day of a N’oreaster and tonight I wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t be building an ark instead of a small rowboat. The river must be up a foot and there is only the tip of one rock showing right now. Earlier I watched a muskrat go by and I wondered if he was flooded out of his home. Tonight the rain shows no sign of letting up and the wind is lashing the house with hearty gusts that make me want to shiver. I just heated a sweatshirt in the dryer to try and warm my aching bones.

High water on the Mersey today.

Click on any photo for a larger view.

© Judy Parsons 2014