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Friday 16 March 2018

No more gaps

A lot has happened I swear!
The seasons change, time moves on and the wheel of fate continues it inevitable turn. Occasionally, incremental progress on a simple plywood boat (now two!) is also made. The past week, it was necessary to travel to several destinations around the South Island which somewhat slowed me down. South to Invercargill then up into central Otago and the lakes around Wanaka and Queenstown. Followed by a trip through Haast Pass into the West Coast, Hokitika and Greymouth. Finally back across the mountains onto the Canterbury plains and Christchurch. Some of the best scenery New Zealand has to offer was on display and I feel very privileged to be able to see these fantastic destinations during work hours!

Deep, blue, glacial fed lakes dot the region of Central Otago
Rivers like this one criss-cross the valleys beneath glacier capped mountains
You can drive hours surrounded by steep mountains with mist shrouded waterfalls
Rob Roy Glacier
Rain-soaked hikers looked with envy at our umbrellas after a two hour hike
On the west coast, old mine workings can be explored
Birds come so close a wide angle lens is no problem
Safe to eat?
Despite all this time away from home, I did make a small amount of progress on the boat. Seams and cracks in the plywood were sealed with expanding foam glue. My thoughts here is that it is probably a good idea to keep water out rather than in, thus holes and cracks in a boat may not be helpful.



All four side pieces on boat number one now have the chines attached. By clamping them together I can sand back any rough edges and ensure they line up true and straight.

Two pieces that will make up the starboard hull are clamped together

Then sanded true and straight
A flush, clean surface will make it easier to attached the bottom

In other news, I discovered what the strange knife-saw device found at an op-shop is meant to do..

This is a knife
Made by a japanese company a long time ago, this type of knife is used for sawing up frozen items and large pieces of meat. So there you go!

6 comments:

  1. Ahh. Frozen meat. That's one puzzle i can delete from my soft drive.

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    1. Yep, it was keeping us all up at night!

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  2. Hi Damo,

    Awe inspiring scenery - and so much water that in parched Victoria I've sort of forgotten what that wet stuff looks like.

    That makes sense about the knife and it is good not to have to carry these small mysteries around with us.

    The boat is looking good too. Are you intending to seal the plywood against the water with paint or some other oil product?

    Chris

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    1. Hi Chris,

      The photos don't do justice to the scenery - or the sheer volume of water flowing from those glaicers. It boggles my mind they can be melting for over 6 months straight and are still huge (although sadly shrinking on a longer time scale). The rivers are all a milky colour as a result, except when it hasn't rained for a few weeks they go clear blue, which is a contradiction but true nonetheless.

      The boat will be sealed with a rubber based paint. At least that is the plan - I have not checked out pricing yet. Sadly, the plywood is such low quality it will take more than a few coats of oil to keep the water out. Honestly, I was picking sheets for nearly half an hour and still had to take ones with large knots in them.

      Damo

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  3. good to see boat progress... What is that blue mushroom?!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, I think it was called an Electric Blue. There was a sign nearby but I could be remembering it incorrectly :-) Safe to eat I am sure!

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