Bits and pieces

Progress has been made, even starting to take some form

Pre-finishing

Mostly the tedious and slow work of pre-finishing during the days I have to work on it.

Did stop and throw together a router table to speed up the process.

So now planks and frame pieces are at least initially coated, and the assembly will begin.

Building of frame pieces beginning

Let the gluing begin

Finally getting started on actually putting the kit together. Had to clear out 1/3 of the barn to create the build space.

Build frame first;

The one piece that was not shipped with the kit form J.O. Woodworks was the bottom. This was because the 8' piece would have added on considerably to the shipping cost.
So I went out and picked up a 9mm sheet. John did send the puzzle joint jig that I need and even sent the router bit to do the job as well as the pattern for the bottom.

I first put the pattern on a couple of door skins in order to feel comfortable with placement on 9mm sheet.

The routing then went off without a hitch;

I now have a lot of gluing to do for the planks and need to use the space to do that so will not be able to start the frames until after. I will post more then.

Reviving this Blog for the Welsford's SEI oar/sail boat build

I still have a ways to go before actually starting to put it together as it is intended to be a Winter's project, but the kit came from J.O. Woodworks, so this is the official beginning.

It is a combination oar or sail double ended boat based on the small boats of Southern Norway.

Named after the SEI, one of the true whales, is also the fastest swimmer of the deep sea, being capable of speeds up to 30miles and hour. 

Lost Petral Found

When it time to go......

This morning we watched the sunrise during a quick trip over to Anacortes from Friday Harbor.

Nearly the only boat we crossed paths with was the early morning ferry.

Though it was nice and calm in the morning when we crossed Rosario Strait, there was going to be a Small Craft Advisory after 2 PM and as I write this snugged safely in Cap Sante Marina it is blowing and raining out there like a stink.

We had planned a couple more days in the Gulf Islands but the impending weather put us on the move. After Nanaimo we spent the night in Conover Cove Wallace Island. We spent the day hiking in beautiful weather out to the northern tip.

                                 
 There are few old buildings still there one of which has turned into a shrine for visiting boaters. Driftwood with boat names (and a few other things) have been attached to the whole outside of the decrepit building.                       

               
             Even the inside was filled, bordering on the bizarre.       
                                         

                                        

 Conover Cove is small and shallow and typically this time of year as few visitors except on the weekend for day trips. We did have this beauty for a dockmate though.

Even though much of there area here has seen a lack of rain recently, one can just look at the mossy hillsides (which are solid rock underneath) to see the kind of climate.

There were numerous picnic setting provided.

After Conover we had planned a stay at Poet's Cove in Bedwell Harbor but weather reports were coming in that did not look good for crossing Haro Strait the next day so in the morning we went all the way to Friday Harbor and checked back into the US. 

That has been the great thing about "Wild Blue", when it was time to "git" you cover some miles quickly.

Finally some wildlife

Fall is not the best time for viewing wildlife up here, and often at it's best Desolation Sound is not abundant with sea life but the last few days have had some.

From the dock at Homfray Lodge I was able to catch some bird life.

This Bonaparte Gull was almost too fast for me

these Mergansers were slightly more cooperative.

And then there was this guy who was downright posing

Our real surprise was yesterday morning when rounding the southern end of West Redonda Island we had a Blue Heron start to go I guess for a fish in the water in front of us when all of a sudden a Sea Lion came shooting up out of the water to get the Heron! Fortunately for the Heron the Sea Lion could only get half its length out of the water which was just not quite enough. This episode was way beyond any chance of catching on the camera.

We ended up staying in Refuge Cove again with limited service as after the 15th they are only around for three half days a week. We did get a great sunset though free of charge.

We had one more very impressive surprise this morning when we went to leave Refuge Cove in the early morning. At a low tide and just after we cleared the docks and were pulling fenders in, a pod of half a dozen Orcas decided to enter the cove and swim around the little island out in front. There was no getting away from them as there was little room in the entrance so we just cut the engine and watched them swim by.

Well that certainly made our day. And to think if we had been 10 minutes later leaving the dock we probably wouldn't have even noticed them out there.

Though we had originally planned on staying tonight at Lasqueti or Jedidiah Island, a front that wasn't supposed to kick winds until Monday was moving faster than anticipated so we decided to make the crossing of the Georgia Strait today. It was a good day for sailing.