Swiss Bank Account

It shames me to say it, but things have being a bit quiet on the boat building front the past month. "Have you finished your boat yet?" is a question I hear all too often. But, this time at least, I have a valid excuse absent as I was from the country for several weeks on a fact finding and cultural exchange visit to Europe, including Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, The Low Countries and, our favourite, Switzerland.

Small, privately owned cable cars dot the landscape. There is currently some debate about what level of government imposed safety regulations should apply to small operations the general public cannot use. Owners fear they will be forced to shut down an essential transport tool.

Public cable cars are on almost every peak. This one took about 10 minutes and cost 20 CHF return ($30 NZD)

Elevator on the side of a mountain. Why not?

In Switzerland, we were lucky enough to stay with friends met when working in Laos last year. We got a locals tour of the Alpine region just south of Lucerne and discovered the Swiss love of all things chocolate, cheese and cable cars. It is a rural area, and the sound of ringing cow-bells is a constant background to the fantastic rolling, green views and snow-capped Alps.

In Spring, the cows are out of their winter sheds and grazing the valley fields

A Swiss dairy farm

Spectacular views at every turn

We were told that in a few weeks the cows would begin to be moved up into the Alps to graze on freshly exposed grass after the snow melts. This is a lot of work for a small single family operation. Fence wire has to be restrung (it is taken down in winter) and many posts repaired. The family typically live up on the mountain with the herd over Summer making cheese and keeping an ear out for the ever present ringing cow-bell.

The Summer farm house and dairy (Alp)

The snow has just melted. The fence will be repaired before the cows are bought up

The author of a favourite blog of mine, Fernglade Farm, often refers to chopped and stacked firewood as 'better than money in the bank'. Considering the wood can be used for home heating, hot water and cooking, plus it appreciates in value over time (aged firewood burns cleaner and hotter) this statement makes a lot of sense. The Swiss are famous bankers, and they seem to be also aware of this analogy.

Unfortunately, we eventually had to leave Switzerland, although not before finding an actual Swiss Army knife on a trail that had been lost months earlier in the snow! All is not lost though, once home I did manage to perform a minor task on the boat. Behold the beveled bow, now ready to receive the large piece of plywood that will make the floor:

Not long after we moved to New Zealand I purchased a very good TV panel for a great price. The only problem was it had no stand, the previous owners had it mounted to the wall of their gypsy van. After six months I was finally tired of it leaning against a cardboard box and decided to make a stand (get it?).

Fantastic progress for six weeks I think :-)

Move into the next dimension

There is a wise saying that suggests you should measure twice and cut once. Taking this to heart, I have taken my time on the next stage of the boat build - going 3D!

A cheeky Kea (Alpine parrot)

Before I could do that though, I needed to finish a work trip to the West Coast. On the way, near Arthurs Pass is a well known spot for seeing the Kea, or Alpine Parrot. These cheeky birds will help themselves to any bag, open car or food lying around. The one shown above even tried to sneak around me when I was looking elsewhere and start chewing on my camera strap!

Bow and Stern

Once back on the shed, it was time to create the bow and stern pieces. These are made in the same way as the four sides.

Clamped for extra straightness!

There was a slight bend after assembly, so I clamped them for a few days to get them straight again.

Cutting grooves for the bow and stern pieces

Like a glove

Small grooves needed to be cut to make room for the bow and stern pieces to fit. I then needed to think very carefully about how to glue everything together straight and square. The main problem being I have no straight edges or true, level floor to reference against.

Custom framing jig

I started with setting parallel planks for the twin hulls to fit against. By using the single piece of plywood which makes up the boat floor I ensured the outer edges would align with the actual floor.

I used the future boat floor as a reference

I then clamped the hull pieces into this frame, and checked for parallel with a rule and more clamps (you always need more clamps!).

Getting all four sides parallel

Finally, I used plywood wedges and blocks to make the bottom (actually the top) of each hull piece perpendicular to the floor.

Add wedges to keep everything on the straight and narrow

Then I could attach the bow and stern in a slightly stressful single run. Eight joins and twenty-four screws to complete before the glue begins to cure!

Almost looking like a box boat!

Stay tuned for the next exciting edition when the floor is attached and the boat is flipped the right way up!

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!

That's not a knife

In this weeks exciting edition of 'excuses for why I haven't done much with the boat', our hero travels to Nelson, has some lunch and is given a knife!

Ex-Cyclone Gita closed the coast road, so I was forced to take the inland route

These enterprising folk bough some land on a popular tourist road and opened a 'permanent' food van. The council closed them down a couple of years back, now they are open again in mysterious circumstances

One day my boat will look as good as this... (cough)

Is it a saw? A knife? What should I cut with it? So many questions...

Exciting news, I have started on the side pieces for boat number two! That's right, one boat is clearly not taking enough time, so I have upped the stakes!

Finally, I have some exciting news. A short story I completed a few weeks back has been accepted into an anthology of stories set in the solar system of yesteryear. Think jungles on Venus, dusty taverns on Mars and strange cloud like beings on Neptune. For more information and a full list of authors check out the Solar System Heritage website.