Monday, June 2, 2008

JD Leaves, Drew Sweeps Up and Makes Coffee


Today was my first day in the boat shop since JD flew south. During the intervening period I took a week off from boat related things, saw my sisters, went camping, and visited JD's ancestral homeland as well as the eventual site of his burial at Mold, WA.

I tried to emulate the pattern of work that JD and I developed while he was here. I stayed a little long at the coffee shop and worked the crossword. I made more coffee at the boat shop. I went to the hardware store and bought garbage bags, a dustpan and a small broom for sweeping up an enormous pile of wood shavings, the "fire hazard" Tim joked about last week.

While I worked I listened to Beowulf, translated and read by Seamus Heany. I couldn't help but think of the future, looking a little like a Spear-Dane myself, rowing into some distant fjord. I didn't have any sword to brandish so I sharpened a hand plane and set to work on the shims that JD and I glued to frames 3 and 5 before he left.

I think the fairing of the frames is about as good as it's going to get, given the flaws we've made permanent so far. Tomorrow I'll work on the stem and transom, and then... planking begins!