Canoe Update
Apr. 28th, 2011 07:46 pmI've hit some milestones so far this week--I got the fiberglass on the outside and am in the process of the subsequent epoxy coats that fill the weave so the outside of the boat can be smooth.
This is complicated by the fact that my back has not been cooperating since, well, really noticeably since yesterday morning. So I am trying to be as careful with it as is consistent with 1) not giving up and resting too much, which can actually make things worse in the back department and 2) still keeping working on the canoe. There has been a certain amount of moaning and groaning (especially in the morning) but I'm feeling kind of proud of myself for getting things done in the face of this difficulty.
The third coat should go on this evening (the epoxy can still take a thumb print so I am dawdling for an hour to see if it gets better) and then, if my back is up for it, tomorrow morning the sanding begins. If I can get it sanded smooth by the end of the weekend I will consider myself on track for finishing on time.
And then comes the moment of truth when we find out if Cat can get the hot-glued stations out of the half-finished hull without tearing the hull (still rather fragile without the fiberglass on the inside) to pieces.
In other news, my friend Marie donated a workbench for Martin (whose shop burned down, you may recall) and I brought it up from Atlanta last weekend. Yesterday I managed to hook up with Martin and drove it down to Maryville for him. He was most appreciative (it really is quite a nice workbench) and he says fixing the crack will be no problem at all--squirt some epoxy in there with a syringe and then plane it flat. So that was Marie's and my good deed for the day!
Also I am working on entering a new song for Alice day. However my dratted back makes it hard to sit at the computer for very long. My eventual hope is for the Alice day posts to include lyrics, chords, a pdf of the sheet music, and an mp3 of the song--thus accomodating pretty much every learning style (I guess I could throw in a MIDI file of the tune for completeness, but really, if you've got an mp3...) I have eventual daydreams of having them all gathered together at one web site. We'll see.
This is complicated by the fact that my back has not been cooperating since, well, really noticeably since yesterday morning. So I am trying to be as careful with it as is consistent with 1) not giving up and resting too much, which can actually make things worse in the back department and 2) still keeping working on the canoe. There has been a certain amount of moaning and groaning (especially in the morning) but I'm feeling kind of proud of myself for getting things done in the face of this difficulty.
The third coat should go on this evening (the epoxy can still take a thumb print so I am dawdling for an hour to see if it gets better) and then, if my back is up for it, tomorrow morning the sanding begins. If I can get it sanded smooth by the end of the weekend I will consider myself on track for finishing on time.
And then comes the moment of truth when we find out if Cat can get the hot-glued stations out of the half-finished hull without tearing the hull (still rather fragile without the fiberglass on the inside) to pieces.
In other news, my friend Marie donated a workbench for Martin (whose shop burned down, you may recall) and I brought it up from Atlanta last weekend. Yesterday I managed to hook up with Martin and drove it down to Maryville for him. He was most appreciative (it really is quite a nice workbench) and he says fixing the crack will be no problem at all--squirt some epoxy in there with a syringe and then plane it flat. So that was Marie's and my good deed for the day!
Also I am working on entering a new song for Alice day. However my dratted back makes it hard to sit at the computer for very long. My eventual hope is for the Alice day posts to include lyrics, chords, a pdf of the sheet music, and an mp3 of the song--thus accomodating pretty much every learning style (I guess I could throw in a MIDI file of the tune for completeness, but really, if you've got an mp3...) I have eventual daydreams of having them all gathered together at one web site. We'll see.