Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Faith-Based Navigation
For most of my driving life, I've found my way around using gas-station maps (a thing of the past) and the old faithful from Rand McNally. (current version pictured above) I've even done without. I took a short vacation when I was single and living in Vermont that I referred to as my "turn left" vaction - when in doubt, I'd simply turn left. It was an interesting way to see the area and I'm sure that I saw some things that I never would have found otherwise. It wasn't always an effective way to find my way around, but it was fun and I really didn't care where I was.
Since we've gotten married, DW and I have tended to go on vacation in the UK to go visit family and to see some of the tourist sites. Because we're on a relatively tight schedule, we need good maps to be able to get to the places we want to go to. More importantly, we need to be able to get to the places "on time" so that we can make the best use of our limited time. For the last few visits, we've used either borrowed UK road atlases or used our Ordinance Survey Maps. For finding specific attractions, we've downloaded directions from online mapping services like Google or Mapquest - a big change from the past.
On our visit to the UK this summer, we seemed to have more difficulty than usual navigating by map. Two things seemed to contribute to this - one was probably the age of the maps, the other was the resolution of the maps - it wasn't good enough for us to actually navigate in the city of Bath. Ironically, before we left my BIL's house, he had offered us the use of his GPS. We had turned down the offer based on our previous (successful) experience navigating with our maps. Instead, we carried on the family tradition of disagreeing on how to get there and the navigator's competence.
When we got to my MIL and FIL's house, we navigated based on DW's knowledge of the immediate area. One day we were planning to head to North Wales and my FIL offered us the use of his GPS. We accepted his kind offer and used it to good effect. It got us out of a few missed turns and in difficult streets around Caernarfon. The only issue that we seemed to have with the GPS was on our trip back to my MIL and FIL's house - there was a long stretch of stone wall on the left and the GPS kept insisting, "TURN LEFT. TURN LEFT NOW."
I think not.
We were planning to visit family in Southeastern, Pennsylvania at a new house. I know from a visit we took to the area that navigating there was fairly difficult. Roads are narrow and bend up, down and sideways. There also isn't much of a view to let you see where you're going, where you've been or to get landmarks. This fact along with an outstanding sale at a local electronics retailer led me to purchase a TomTom XL350T GPS.
The GPS is pretty neat - it will allow you to find gas stations, restaurants and the like along your way and has traffic updates to help you avoid back-ups. It does way more than I really need it to and will let me load UK maps for future travel.
We left early in the morning with a plan to visit a friend of DW and her family in New Jersey on our way to Pennsylvania for a lunchtime stop. Along the way, we studiously ignored the directions provided by the GPS because "she" wanted to take us though New York City on Route 95 - where we didn't want to go. When we finally left DW's friend's house, it was about 3 PM. We figured it would be another 2 hours to our final destination.
The New Jersey Turnpike had other ideas.
There was a significant traffic back-up on the Turnpike that delayed us for about 45 minutes or more. For whatever reason (probably pay-back for ignoring "her" earlier), we didn't get a warning about the back-up or didn't know how to interpret what we were seeing on the GPS display at the time. For us, the problem was that it was going to get dark before we reached our destination. We finally got out of the back-up and on to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and it was looking like things were going to be fine. When we were nearly at the exit we wanted, the GPS warned us that there was a delay on the planned route and suggested an alternate. We took it.
This was the beginning of the faith-based navigation. It was dark and we were on unfamiliar roads - we followed "her" instructions as they came. It felt like we were careening through the dark on some strange GPS driven roller-coaster as the roads we were on had few signs and fewer indications that we were on the correct path. The GPS told us that there was only 3 miles to our destination, but until we actually made the turn into my family's development, we had no clue that we were anywhere close.
Ain't technology wonderful?
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Bunch of Rocks
The next day we departed from my London and headed west. We had basically two things planned for the day. One was a visit here. (or as DS referred to it, "a bunch of rocks".)
Along the way we stopped for lunch at a nice pub called The Bath Arms in Crockerton. First, I need to mention that we generally don't just drop in on the first pub that we find when we travel in the UK. We carry the bible, but in hardcopy:
DW got a new copy for us as the most recent one we'd had was a 2004 edition and it is well updated from year-to-year. If you like good food and drink and might be looking for a nice room to boot, this is the book to have. Very recently, it has become available online. I suppose that if I had a nice smartphone in the UK, I'd have used the guide online, but this was not the case. If you harbor any illusions of traveling in the UK and eating and drinking in the pubs you must have a copy of this book.
After a fantastic meal of massive proportion - I had the Sticky Beef and a pint of ale served with braised red cabbage and onion, mashed potatoes and broccoli, we headed out to find our hotel in Bath. (It was such a memorable meal that DW even deigned to take a picture of it!)
After about 30 minutes of (somewhat desperate) searching, we finally found our hotel for the evening - the Travelodge Waterside (Waterside = along the Avon Canal). Not fancy, but fine for our purposes. After we got settled in our room, we decided that we'd walk into town and see what we could see. It was late in the afternoon and we wondered what we might find to be open. We needn't have worried. We found Bath Abbey open and took a quick look around. Certainly a beautiful building, no?
One of the things that the Abbey is famous for is it's facade - there are Jacob's Ladders on the front of the building with souls climbing to Heaven as well as falling to Hell and being tormented by demons as they fall. My photo doesn't do it justice:
We then walked up through town past the Queen's Square and obelisk to the Circus and over to the Cresent. Most of present day bath seems to consist of Victorian Era buildings of fairly new construction, but this belies the true age of the place - it was a Celtic settlement and then a thriving Roman one.
The Circus
The Circus was a round development of houses around a circular park and the Crescent was a semi-circular development which overlooked the Avon River valley and the hills beyond - the view was spectacular.
Signs of this early Roman work are plainly evident at the Roman baths which were the heart of the city since about 43 AD. We took the audio-guided tour of the baths and finally finished up at nearly 9:00 PM. To be honest, I can't do justice to the place - you need to visit or read up about it. It is incredible. When you realize that the original lead lining of the pools is still intact after all this time and that the system of plumbing and drains that was built by the Romans is still functioning!
Our tour finish time was a bit too late for a meal at the Pump Room that we had planned. Fortunately for us, we weren't very hungry and Ben & Jerry's was open for some late night ice cream cones and a quick drink at the bar in the Travelodge before bed.
Along the way we stopped for lunch at a nice pub called The Bath Arms in Crockerton. First, I need to mention that we generally don't just drop in on the first pub that we find when we travel in the UK. We carry the bible, but in hardcopy:
DW got a new copy for us as the most recent one we'd had was a 2004 edition and it is well updated from year-to-year. If you like good food and drink and might be looking for a nice room to boot, this is the book to have. Very recently, it has become available online. I suppose that if I had a nice smartphone in the UK, I'd have used the guide online, but this was not the case. If you harbor any illusions of traveling in the UK and eating and drinking in the pubs you must have a copy of this book.
After a fantastic meal of massive proportion - I had the Sticky Beef and a pint of ale served with braised red cabbage and onion, mashed potatoes and broccoli, we headed out to find our hotel in Bath. (It was such a memorable meal that DW even deigned to take a picture of it!)
After about 30 minutes of (somewhat desperate) searching, we finally found our hotel for the evening - the Travelodge Waterside (Waterside = along the Avon Canal). Not fancy, but fine for our purposes. After we got settled in our room, we decided that we'd walk into town and see what we could see. It was late in the afternoon and we wondered what we might find to be open. We needn't have worried. We found Bath Abbey open and took a quick look around. Certainly a beautiful building, no?
One of the things that the Abbey is famous for is it's facade - there are Jacob's Ladders on the front of the building with souls climbing to Heaven as well as falling to Hell and being tormented by demons as they fall. My photo doesn't do it justice:
We then walked up through town past the Queen's Square and obelisk to the Circus and over to the Cresent. Most of present day bath seems to consist of Victorian Era buildings of fairly new construction, but this belies the true age of the place - it was a Celtic settlement and then a thriving Roman one.
The Circus
The Crescent
The Circus was a round development of houses around a circular park and the Crescent was a semi-circular development which overlooked the Avon River valley and the hills beyond - the view was spectacular.
Signs of this early Roman work are plainly evident at the Roman baths which were the heart of the city since about 43 AD. We took the audio-guided tour of the baths and finally finished up at nearly 9:00 PM. To be honest, I can't do justice to the place - you need to visit or read up about it. It is incredible. When you realize that the original lead lining of the pools is still intact after all this time and that the system of plumbing and drains that was built by the Romans is still functioning!
The Main Bath
Roman Lead Pipe
The Sacred Spring and Windows of the Pump Room, Above
The original baths included a vaulted roof made from masonry and coated with cement and probably painted white. There was also an adjacent Temple and healing center which have been unearthed under the modern city's streets since my last visit. The bath was originally clear but because of the contamination from air and rain-borne algae has turned green. The so-called Sacred Spring was at least known since Celtic times and this pool of warm water must have been viewed as a gift from the Gods.
Our tour finish time was a bit too late for a meal at the Pump Room that we had planned. Fortunately for us, we weren't very hungry and Ben & Jerry's was open for some late night ice cream cones and a quick drink at the bar in the Travelodge before bed.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
A 36 Hour Day
The first day of our vacation found us getting up at about 8:00 AM on Saturday morning and doing rather mundane things to prepare for our departure including cleaning out the fridge, heading to the dump and picking up a rental car to drive to the airport. Finally leaving after lunch, we headed to the airport and were winging our way across the Atlantic just after 6:00 PM. As I typically do, I try to sleep on the plane, but never seem to be able to - just a series of small cat-naps. DS and DD were entranced by the 747's in-flight entertainment system and continuous flow of food and drink brought by the crew.
We arrived in London at about 6:00 AM local time and proceeded to work our way through immigration and customs before an interminable wait for a rental car and the drive to my BIL's house arriving around 8:30 AM. We were greeted with a light breakfast and the words, "We have a big day planned."
Oh. No nap?
It seems to be tradition in the family to keep guests awake on the day of arrival until a normal bed-time to get them on local time in the (faint) hopes that jet-lag will be overcome.
We piled back into the rental car and a brief look around Hampton Court Palace which is most famous for it's association with King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, from whom Henry acquired the place after Wolsey fell from favor. It is an impressive place:
Hampton Court is located in Richmond and the palace has ornate gilt gates which open onto the River Thames:
The River Thames is really remarkable - it is the second longest river in England and it is tidal as far upstream as Teddington Lock at Ham in West London. London is still a port (As evidenced by a crane and shipping containers we saw in Central London from the river later in our trip.) and experiences a tidal rise and fall of up to 7 meters. The river remains navigable from Lechlade in the Cotswolds all the way to the North Sea. It is a very busy river.
After our trip to the Palace, we had a nice lunch out - basically across the street and overlooking the river. DS's jet-lag and lack of sleep overcame him as he fell asleep while eating his hamburger!
We had a unique trip to a nearby place where train enthusiasts had built a model railway with small working steam, electric and diesel trains which were being run to give visitors rides - it was quite a set-up with working signals , bridges and stations! The large trains were maybe about 6 feet long and the small ones only about 2-3 feet, but they still hauled cars with about 8 passengers, the engineer and a conductor. Here's one of the coal-fired steam engines on a test bed - train and tender are about 4 feet long.
I was also reminded of how inviolable "tea-time" is. Here is a "conductor" sitting on the "caboose" of a moving train with what is probably a scalding cuppa:
While we were at the railway, my BIL called to see if he could make a reservation for a motorboat. We were lucky enough to be able to get one for an hour at the end of the day. The place we rented it was a combination marina/pub in Kingston and we made our way over. Arriving in the car park we were greeted with the sad sight of a punt pressed into service as a planter:
Things did begin to look up:
And while our boat was the red and white one in the background, we could have rented Em - a bright-finished river "party" barge of sorts - glassware and brass taps inclusive!
We set out along the river just as two tourist boats passed by. They were somewhat odd copies of what I would describe as faux stern and side-wheel boats that would look at home in the deep American South - perhaps on the Mississippi.
As I mentioned before, the river is a very busy place and we passed numerous boats, marinas, and a sailing club. Canal boats (pleasure cruisers...) were in evidence:
There were working-boats, barges and wrecks along the shores, as well.
People were out in all kinds of boats - power, paddle and oar:
While most of the boats were of fiberglass and steel construction, there were a smattering of traditional wooden boats - mostly rowboats. Still, I could get used to living along the river like this...
We got a nice view of Hampton Court's gates from the waterside as well as the myriad chimneys in the roofline!
Just past the bridge, we even got a nice view of the restaurant where we had eaten lunch earlier:
On our trip back downstream to the marina it was plain to see that people had shifted from tea-time to cocktail hour - there were quite a few gatherings with plates and glasses in the cockpits of the canal boats.
We returned for dinner at my BIL's and I amazed myself by staying up until nearly 9:30 PM. The fact that it is light until that hour certainly helped!
We arrived in London at about 6:00 AM local time and proceeded to work our way through immigration and customs before an interminable wait for a rental car and the drive to my BIL's house arriving around 8:30 AM. We were greeted with a light breakfast and the words, "We have a big day planned."
Oh. No nap?
It seems to be tradition in the family to keep guests awake on the day of arrival until a normal bed-time to get them on local time in the (faint) hopes that jet-lag will be overcome.
We piled back into the rental car and a brief look around Hampton Court Palace which is most famous for it's association with King Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, from whom Henry acquired the place after Wolsey fell from favor. It is an impressive place:
Hampton Court is located in Richmond and the palace has ornate gilt gates which open onto the River Thames:
The River Thames is really remarkable - it is the second longest river in England and it is tidal as far upstream as Teddington Lock at Ham in West London. London is still a port (As evidenced by a crane and shipping containers we saw in Central London from the river later in our trip.) and experiences a tidal rise and fall of up to 7 meters. The river remains navigable from Lechlade in the Cotswolds all the way to the North Sea. It is a very busy river.
After our trip to the Palace, we had a nice lunch out - basically across the street and overlooking the river. DS's jet-lag and lack of sleep overcame him as he fell asleep while eating his hamburger!
We had a unique trip to a nearby place where train enthusiasts had built a model railway with small working steam, electric and diesel trains which were being run to give visitors rides - it was quite a set-up with working signals , bridges and stations! The large trains were maybe about 6 feet long and the small ones only about 2-3 feet, but they still hauled cars with about 8 passengers, the engineer and a conductor. Here's one of the coal-fired steam engines on a test bed - train and tender are about 4 feet long.
I was also reminded of how inviolable "tea-time" is. Here is a "conductor" sitting on the "caboose" of a moving train with what is probably a scalding cuppa:
While we were at the railway, my BIL called to see if he could make a reservation for a motorboat. We were lucky enough to be able to get one for an hour at the end of the day. The place we rented it was a combination marina/pub in Kingston and we made our way over. Arriving in the car park we were greeted with the sad sight of a punt pressed into service as a planter:
Things did begin to look up:
And while our boat was the red and white one in the background, we could have rented Em - a bright-finished river "party" barge of sorts - glassware and brass taps inclusive!
We set out along the river just as two tourist boats passed by. They were somewhat odd copies of what I would describe as faux stern and side-wheel boats that would look at home in the deep American South - perhaps on the Mississippi.
As I mentioned before, the river is a very busy place and we passed numerous boats, marinas, and a sailing club. Canal boats (pleasure cruisers...) were in evidence:
There were working-boats, barges and wrecks along the shores, as well.
People were out in all kinds of boats - power, paddle and oar:
While most of the boats were of fiberglass and steel construction, there were a smattering of traditional wooden boats - mostly rowboats. Still, I could get used to living along the river like this...
We got a nice view of Hampton Court's gates from the waterside as well as the myriad chimneys in the roofline!
Just past the bridge, we even got a nice view of the restaurant where we had eaten lunch earlier:
On our trip back downstream to the marina it was plain to see that people had shifted from tea-time to cocktail hour - there were quite a few gatherings with plates and glasses in the cockpits of the canal boats.
We returned for dinner at my BIL's and I amazed myself by staying up until nearly 9:30 PM. The fact that it is light until that hour certainly helped!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Back!
With questionable sanity, DW and I made the decision earlier this year that we'd take DS and DD to go and visit family in the UK. With some trepidation about Icelandic volcanoes and British Airways labor disputes, we booked the trip just the same. With all of those thoughts still hanging over our heads, we managed to have a great (relaxing?) trip. We spent lots of time visiting with family and friends and seeing the sights. We even managed to get in a few pub lunches along the way.
Still, no trip could be complete without some boaty things:
Still, no trip could be complete without some boaty things:
- The day we arrived we had a trip in a rented motorboat on the Thames.
- We saw some nice boat related things along the coast in North Wales.
- A trip to the Liverpool Maritime Museum (Via the Mersey Ferry)
- We had a ride on the Anderton Boat Lift.
- A slightly sad visit was had to the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum...
- Viking boats...
- The second boat trip on the Thames - a high speed catamaran.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Three Generations in a Canoe
This past Sunday, we had my father and my great-aunt over for lunch and during lunch, both my father and I were looking out the window at the beautiful weather and discussing what a nice day it would be to go for a paddle. It was looking a bit breezy and cool, but after the rain that we've had of late, it was looking like a fantastic day by comparison.After lunch and the clean-up that followed, I asked DS if he'd like to go for a padde with his Grampa. The response was wordless bouncing up and down in the kitchen. We grabbed paddles, life jackets and headed out the door.
Paddling with my dad can be an adventure - you have to decide which canoe from the livery that you're going to bring and where you want to go. Because it was nearly three in the afternoon, we opted for the easiest canoe to get at (A Wabnaki to Gil Gilpatrick's design) and the nearest destination - a pond in a local conservation area. This particular trip was planned with DS in mind - it's an easy walk in on a paved path and a boardwalk to a dock. (These are intended to give access to people visiting in a wheelchair.) We take advantage of the path and boardwalk by using a canoe cart to wheel the boat in - only about a 1/4 mile, but it beats portaging.
There are usually lots of things to see at this pond. There are usually frogs and turtles along the bank, dragonflies, beaver, red-winged blackbirds, herons and on occasion, hawks. Cat-tails grow in abundance along with lily pads, pickrel weed and water shield. In the spring, there are wild iris growing along the edges which are quite spectacular.
I hadn't been paddling at this particular place in two years and was astonished at how overgrown it was with vegetation and algae. Nearly 1/2 of the acreage of the pond was covered. There were spots you felt that you could just get out of the canoe and walk across the surface of the pond weeds to get to shore. It made for some difficult paddling in areas, but it was well worth it. The breeze kept the mosquitoes at bay and wasn't too strong for paddling. We did see a beaver making a hasty exit and some type of large bird of prey (osprey?) but no herons or hawks. Candian geese and mallard ducks were playing hide-and-seek in the tall grass along the water's edge.
It was a wonderful day and DS had a blast, although he didn't stop talking and asking questions the entire time. I'm sure we missed a bit of the more timid wildlife because of it, but it was OK. Next time , it'll be DD's turn for a three-generation paddle!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Blast From the Past - A Canoe Earns a Name
When I was a kid, my father never had a canoe of his own - they were always borrowed from someone else when we used them. My mother decided one year to get my father his first canoe. She went down to the local sporting center and picked one out. It was a bright yellow 16' Lincoln fiberglass canoe with a black interior much like the one in the picture below. My mom was very happy with the color, mostly, and my dad was very happy with the canoe itself. As a matter of fact, my father still has the canoe although sadly, we haven't paddled it in years as there are too many other canoes in his livery to choose from. This past winter, we moved it out of the basement of my grandparent's old house for the installation of a new furnace and put it back a few weeks ago.
I remember several things from the first time I paddled the canoe. It was:
- Fast (Hot rod fast - for a canoe.)
- HOT! (The interior is black, like the one above.)
- 'Slippery'
We belonged to a Boy Scout troop and had planned a canoe trip to the Grand Lake Stream area in Maine. One of the parents of a fellow Scout has a cabin at the south end of Third Machias Lake and we were to start the trip there. After dinner at the cabin, my father and one of the other Assistant Scout Masters decided to go for a little paddle. With the bow of the canoe in the sand of the beach, this fellow made his way to the back of the empty canoe, crouched low, paddle in hand making his way along the center of the canoe to the stern. He managed to turn and sit down on the seat. He made one sudden move to adjust himself on the seat and the next thing we knew he was in Third Lake's frosty water and came up spluttering.
"THAT @#*$&! KEEL-LESS WONDER IS A HAZARD!!!"
And, keel or no, the name was cast in stone.
The Keel-less Wonder.
I should point out the fact that the Overboard Brothers happened to be paddling the Keel-less Wonder on the day they went into the drink.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Fungus Tour of Central Vermont.
As the weather has proceeded to get colder, I was rooting around looking at some pictures stored on my computer. My family went on a camping trip to central Vermont this summer, and I was looking over pictures from the trip and enjoying the thoughts of the warm weather that we enjoyed.
Suddenly, as I looked at the pictures more closely, I was reminded that not only was it much warmer this summer, it was also much wetter as well.
How so?
Well, it seems as though every third picture was of some type of mushroom. That isn't to say that they weren't photogenic mushrooms, tho'.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Building a Cedar and Canvas Canoe : Saturday
On Saturday morning, our task was to fit out the boat with the trim that we manufactured earlier in the week. This included the grab handles, thwarts, yoke, seats and the outwale.
In the picture below, you can see the grab handles, thwarts and yoke. The handles, thwarts, yoke and rail were all cut from mahogany. The thwarts, yoke and grab handles have tapers on the ends to mate up with the inwale and are first radiused using a router and then made oval in cross-section using spokeshaves.
The decks were cherry (as were the seats - brought pre-manufactured and finished) and were cut from a steam-bent blank of cherry. The bend matches the sheer. We shaped and tapered the decks to fit between the spruce inwale and once the deck was installed, we rounded it over. The back of the deck is also thinned to make the boat a bit more elegant. I'll see if I can find a picture of that as we back up.
On the floor to the right of the canoe are the outwales still in the jig after steam bending. (they have the clamps on) These were cut and beveled to go over the planking and canvas and then soaked overnight in the pond behind the shop. Let's just say they had some interesting color and new occupants when picked out of the pond for steaming. In this picture you can see that there are temporary thwarts and handles installed to keep the canoe's shape while we plank and canvas the canoe. These are used to keep from damaging the finish trim.
Here is the canoe with the outwales installed and screwed in place. They've been tapered at the ends to reduce their width and would be sanded with a belt sander to enhance the taper a bit later.
Here are the finished products from the class - all beautiful work, indeed.
On the left is an Atkinson Traveler (17') , in the middle is the Model 1889 (16') and on the right is the Sojourner (13')
In the picture below, you can see the grab handles, thwarts and yoke. The handles, thwarts, yoke and rail were all cut from mahogany. The thwarts, yoke and grab handles have tapers on the ends to mate up with the inwale and are first radiused using a router and then made oval in cross-section using spokeshaves.
The decks were cherry (as were the seats - brought pre-manufactured and finished) and were cut from a steam-bent blank of cherry. The bend matches the sheer. We shaped and tapered the decks to fit between the spruce inwale and once the deck was installed, we rounded it over. The back of the deck is also thinned to make the boat a bit more elegant. I'll see if I can find a picture of that as we back up.
On the floor to the right of the canoe are the outwales still in the jig after steam bending. (they have the clamps on) These were cut and beveled to go over the planking and canvas and then soaked overnight in the pond behind the shop. Let's just say they had some interesting color and new occupants when picked out of the pond for steaming. In this picture you can see that there are temporary thwarts and handles installed to keep the canoe's shape while we plank and canvas the canoe. These are used to keep from damaging the finish trim.
Here is the canoe with the outwales installed and screwed in place. They've been tapered at the ends to reduce their width and would be sanded with a belt sander to enhance the taper a bit later.
Here are the finished products from the class - all beautiful work, indeed.
On the left is an Atkinson Traveler (17') , in the middle is the Model 1889 (16') and on the right is the Sojourner (13')
Building a Cedar and Canvas Canoe : Thursday
The first thing that happend on Thursday morning was that we removed the canoe from the forms. This is done before the ends are closed up so that you can actually remove the canoe from the forms. I was a bit apprehensive about this step, but it was really pretty easy. The wires on the stems are released, you push gently down on the hull and voila, the inwales spread away from the mold under the tension from the ribs.
Temporary braces are seen in place to keep the canoe from spreading fully open.
The stems are then dovetailed by hand to receive the inwales:
The deck is then notched to fit over the top of the stem:
The deck's location is marked on the inwale and the stem is pulled up to an appropriate location. This is done by feel - you don't want to put too much strain on the stem by pulling it up too hard. At this point, the deck is mounted with some bronze screws to one of the inwales:
At this point, a highly technical piece of hardware is used. It's called the "standy-uppy" :
The "standy-uppy" is screwed to the floor and is simply there to help hold the canoe in position while the level is placed on the thwart. This is critical to getting a canoe that is straight. Once this is in place, the deck and stem are slid back and forth until the stems are plumb. Once this adjustment is made, the deck is screwed to the other inwale to keep it in place:
Temporary braces are seen in place to keep the canoe from spreading fully open.
The stems are then dovetailed by hand to receive the inwales:
The deck is then notched to fit over the top of the stem:
The deck's location is marked on the inwale and the stem is pulled up to an appropriate location. This is done by feel - you don't want to put too much strain on the stem by pulling it up too hard. At this point, the deck is mounted with some bronze screws to one of the inwales:
At this point, a highly technical piece of hardware is used. It's called the "standy-uppy" :
The "standy-uppy" is screwed to the floor and is simply there to help hold the canoe in position while the level is placed on the thwart. This is critical to getting a canoe that is straight. Once this is in place, the deck and stem are slid back and forth until the stems are plumb. Once this adjustment is made, the deck is screwed to the other inwale to keep it in place:
Once the deck is installed, it was time to shape and steam the cant ribs. Cant ribs are not like any of the other ribs in that they don't bend over the top of the boat. They are shaped to slide into position alongside the stem in the bow and stern of the canoe. These are cut from standard ribs that are left over from the steaming process. They are shaped by hand when hot and then clenched in place:
The top of the cant rib is then notched to fit up agains the deck. Sometimes these are thinned as well.
After the top of the cant rib is shaped, they are nailed to the inwale using bronze ring shank nails. The end of the stems and the deck have a screw installed to keep them together as well.
Now that all of the ribs and decks are in place, it is time to install the temporary thwarts by screwing them in place. The temporary thwarts were simply rough copies of the finished parts in terms of lenght and angle. Once these were in place, the last of the planking was installed. (WHISKEY PLANK!)
Once the last of this planking is installed, it is time to mark it and trim it. Here is the marking gage in action. It makes a line just above the bottom of the inwale so that when the canvas is cut flush, the outwale will cover the edge of the canvas and wood.
The planking is then cut down to the line using a utility knife to score and then cut. This planking is only 5/32" thick, so it isn't much work.
Once the planking is cut down, it is time to make certain that all of the tacks have been properly clenched and that there are no missing tacks. While in most areas, the steel bands did a good job of clenching the tacks, in some areas they aren't clenched at all. You simply get in the boat using a clenching iron (seen in top photo in this post) and back up the tacks on the inside of the rib. Then you give a good sharp rap with a hammer on the tacks on the outside. It is at this point that you realize that there are literally thousands of brass tacks used to build one of these canoes.
Thousands.
After all of the tacks have been set, the last step for the day is to take a swab and some boiling water and wipe down the whole hull to get rid of any "hammer blossoms"
After we completed this task, we retreived our mahogany outwales that had been soaking in the pond and steam bent them over the forms seen in Friday's post. After that we called it a day.
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