Hi all--

I tossed out a teaser a while back about this boat, and to be honest, I
really haven't made a single chip yet, although I have been obsessing about
it, spending money, and working on the shop.  Today I got a call from the
lumber store, who has the material on hand now, and will deliver it to the
barge port on Monday.

I may have made a mistake already.  The wood for the boat is essentially 14
sheets of marine plywood of various thickness (6, 9, and 12 mm), plus some
clear vertical grain (CVG) Douglas fir planks for the framing. The plans
call for 4 pieces, nominal 2" x 8"- 20'.  I decided to order some extra
lumber, so I went with 2 x12's just to be sure, and hence the back order.
When the guy from Superior Hardwoods called, he told me that they had
gotten the boards as full-dimension 2 x 12's rather than planed to the
nominal dimensions.  He gushed at me a little bit about how pretty the
boards are, and asked if I really wanted them planed.  After agonizing
briefly, I said to leave them rough.  So, that increased the thickness from
1.5" to 2".  The big framing members are either 1-1/2" or 1-1/4".   I'm
starting to wonder how much work I just got myself into.  I shudder at the
thought of turning about 25% of my nice, very expensive lumber into chips
and shavings, but better me than a stranger, I guess.

Anyway, I should get to finally put my hands on the materials in about a
week or two.  Pretty exciting.  Not sure where I will store them, but
that's a problem for another day.

The shop space is still a long way from being ready.  I have milled some
lumber for the floor and walls of a 12' x 16' extension to the shop that
will be heated through most of the winter, but the actual boat assembly
will be in the larger part of the shop, which is heated with a wood stove,
and frequently gets cold.  Let's emphasize that a bit.  It gets COLD in
there.

So, anyway, my proposed schedule is to finish up the shop expansion and
organize the tools and work space, then cut out all of the wood pieces and
see if we still have weather that's suitable for working with epoxy.  If
not, it will probably languish until spring.  We have a nice breakup season
when it either floods here (rarely--), or we have nice sunny spring weather
while the river ice breaks up and goes out.  I see that as the most likely
season for the epoxy, trim, and painting stages of the project.

TTFN from Galena, Alaska

PK