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Swinging the paintbrush.
The big day has come. Well, a slightly bigger day than some! Its been a bit warmer of late, about 17 deg C here this afernoon and with primer paint on and sanded it seemed like a good idea to paint...
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Progress on SEI, and a really good evening out
I've been working away in the shop, fitting the seat tops and filleting them, turning the offcuts into doublers under the edges and sanding out the odd dribbles of epoxy, read on.Blog 4 SeptemberIts...
View ArticleHiding from the spring weather
But its not a complete loss of time.Its Thursday evening, I'm still house sitting my sisters house up in the bush at the top of the hill. This ia a very peaceful place, and I’ve been able to spend some...
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More paint.
I usually try for Thursday or Friday for each weeks post, but I’m a day or two early this week.Painting is happening. Yeehah! Not far to go now.When painting, the undercoat tends to show up all the...
View ArticleSome really good reading about a seriously good cruise in a pair of open boats
There are days when being an “armchair admiral” is not such a bad thing. To sit warm and comfortable, listening to the wind shrieking and laughing at you as it tears through the trees with the driving...
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Buying the rope for the new boat.
Well, we’re past the spring equinox, so its autumn for a lot of my friends in the northern hemisphere, the best time of year many tell me. We’re into spring here, warmer, more sun, and the orchards...
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Some nice pics from the past
It’s a beautiful day here, I’ve just had lunch, am sitting in the main cabin looking out over the river at the water sliding past. Its heading for the open sea, a space full of wide horizons, islands...
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Shaping up a set of store bought oars.
OARS FOR SEI.Lets get the jokes out of the way, the one about this being a “two oars-power cruiser” and the one about “keeping things on board oar-derly “. Oh, and the one about the Greek Bireme that...
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SEI, afloat.
Left to right. Blair, Paul and I about to pick her up and drop her in the water. The designer is always a bit nervous on launching day. Float would be good, up the right way even better. It was a...
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Saturday Night Special
Saturday Night Special buildThere are several builders of this design aiming at next years Texs 200, we’re hoping for a fleet of them, some to be available as fundraiser charters to raise money for...
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A good day today.
Today I had a small job to do in Whangarei, I knew it was only about a 10 minute job, had tried to talk the owner through the procedure but he just could not get it right. He was frustrated enough to...
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The new boat, the design and the first piece of ply cut.
Long Steps, the build has begun.I’ve four frames drawn, the stem, and the spine for the forward section, the mast box and some of the detail around the “cabin”.The drawing is progressing in my “spare...
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Something a little different from my normal work
Alistair Riddle is a rower, not in the usual sense that we small boat cruisers know, but in the competitive sit on a toothpick with monster oars out on outriggers and blast down a laned course kind of...
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Readership, a thank you.
I’ve been running this blog now since January 8th2011. For a while it was an on and off thing, not regular, or much of a priority, but of late I try to find something of interest about Thursday each...
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Annie Hill, "Voyaging on a small income" revisited
I called on Annie last week, she'd sent me the email and pics below, and I had other reasons to go north to Whangarei where she is at the moment. She's taken over my friend Marcus Raimons shed, and is...
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Old tools, but good ones.
Tools.I’m not really a tool freak, not a collector in the sense of lovingly restoring old woodworking hand tools and putting them on display in glass fronted shelving but I do enjoy getting my hands on...
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Another new launching, this one is the 6 Metre Whaler.
6 Metre Whaler.I orginally drew this design for use as a sort of “Outward Bound” education center boat, one that would carry 6 trainees and an instructor, all their gear for overnight camping and...
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A tiller for SEI
Laminating a curved item such as a tiller is one of the more rewarding jobs. A gracefully curved and very strong tiller with the gluelines accentuating the curves can add a nice touch to the boat, and...
View ArticleA new magazine and you wont even have to look in your letterbox!
This time of year is a busy one on the engineering side of my life, and with Christmas coming up family deserve special attention as well. So Denny, Sarina, Brendan and their families all get visits...
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Below 40 South, an adventure to be shared
Life is full of adventures, you can share this one.For as long as I’ve known him, and that’s a good 25 years or so, Howard Rice has been working on setting out on an adventure that would define his...
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