The best $2.40 I have ever spent.

For those of you who have been paying attention, you will remember that some time after the dinosaurs we got hung up on the foot stretcher fittings. Fitting the cleats (or sharks fins as they came to be known) required carpentry in three dimensions. A couple more than Chris and I had in our arsenal. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, captain cockup snuck into the garage and chopped the ends off our foot stretchers. 

So, to complete the complicated three dimensional cleat arrangement, we first needed foot stretchers that fit. I made the visit to City Timber to buy a couple of metres of foot stretcher, only to be told it would be $60 and ready in a couple of days. I explained the problem and it was suggested I scarf a bit of mahogany on the ends and call it a feature. Not wanting to back down in the face of a woody challenge, I agreed. We chose a length of mahogany and the friendly assistant offered it to me for $5. I offered him the contents of my pockets, $2.40, we agreed I'd make up the difference on my next visit.  

Testing our scarph angles on about 35c
worth of Mahogany 

So, we are back to glueing scarf joints,  a bit of a problem when the temperature in the garage is slightly below freezing. I will be sending Chris an electricity bill having run a fan heater overnight. 

The bits of mahogany extending the foot stretcher
That's clingfilm, not ice.

  

After a morning of sanding, planing, sawing and routing, we now have two foot stretchers that we can offer up to the new fittings. Given it took us two years to solve the problem, you'll thank me for not describing the solution in this post. Trust me, each element has been finely crafted to a precise angle.




The stroke seat foot stretcher slotted into it's cleats can be seen in the last picture. We need to fit the remaining cleats for normal sized rowers, this first setting is for people more my size. We also noted that when we move the foot stretcher into the furthest position, the coxswain will lose his or her toes. Given the effort we put into this part of the boat, I am more inclined to learn toe surgery than to sort this little "feature" out.

Does the protractor on the deck convince you that this was tricky.

Wellington harbour

Excuses, Excuses

Really, we haven't many good ones (excuses for not finishing this boat, that is). Both Joe and I have been heavily involved in coaching at Wellington Rowing Club and we have had all sorts of other demands on our time (the boxed set of Dr. Who springs to mind and Breaking Bad was a must-see).

The real truth is that we were stuck on the problem of the foot stretchers. Pathetic, really, since all it needed was some thought, but this was possibly the trickiest challenge for us, since we both had a fear that the things would break on our first outing.

I am going to let Joe talk about this fascinating subject and to post some photos of bits of wood.


However, despite the smoke screen that the coaching gave us, it wasn't entirely a wasted effort:

Here's Joe, with some medals:

And I managed to get on the podium, too:

My legs have been heavily edited.

Lake Taupo

Does my face look bothered

Welcome back Joe I hear you say.

Last night we spent another session preparing the inside of the boat for its finishing coats of paint... I mean varnish.. I think we will just keep sanding until one of us has worked out a robust solution to the foot-stretcher problem. Or until we get to the other side of the boat. 

Anyway, one picture that I took last night confirmed a couple of things. 

It's noisy work this sanding

Firstly, if there were any doubts about the cat's hearing, they can be cast aside, she is very deaf. She sat happily in the boat while Chris and I sanded away with rather noisy electrical tools. You will note the ear-muffs that Chris is wearing.

Secondly, the cat is a darn sight bigger than in a photo included in a 'recent' blog. Yes it has been a long time between drinks, but we're back into it. Unless of course the boat is shrinking and cat is the same size.

Note - the cat is only ever referred to as cat. She's deaf as a post so it seemed a bit of a waste to use up a name on her and "Give the cat a kick up the arse to get her attention" is a bit wordy.

(No cats were injured in the making of this boat)

Wellington Harbour

Back to it.

 So, aided by the absence of Owen and Daniel during the second week of the school holidays, we made a fresh start on the build. After Harry and I had spent half a day clearing a path to the boat.

This is what greeted us: a very similar sight to the one we had left in early 2013….

The worst thing was the realisation that we are indeed only days away from completion: varnish, fit the stretchers, fit the seats, stick the rudder on…Why on earth did we just get distracted? I’d tell you, but I think that was the doorbell…

The best thing, though, was that it is still beautiful, elegant and deeply satisfying.

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