Author: Dave Cliff

Tuesday 27th September The big question of the day was whether the rowlock pins would come free from their glued up state wrapped in cling film and so the first thing I did was to give all 8 a good twist and confirmed they would all come free. Harry watched this process and then we…

Monday 26 September The Queen’s birthday holiday in WA today but the shed was open for business as usual. Not that there were many takers. JP and I were it, Mark was playing safe with Covid like symptoms. The day started with drilling holes in boat 1 for the bungs. JP made a trip over…

Thursday 22 September A trip to Supa IGA for morning tea supplies proved unwarranted today as Ted arrived with scones, jam and cream from Mrs Jones and then Kay dropped in with a cinnamon twist. Both of which went down well at morning tea, so well that I hardly had any photographic evidence left to…

Wednesday 21 September JP and I had agreed to don masks and give the inside of boat 1 its first coat of paint. I arrived before JP and gave the inside a final dust. When JP arrived he insisted on going to Thorntons for measuring jugs so that we could measure out the 3 to…

Tuesday 20 September Another quiet day in the shed to start off with, just me and my friend Ted. But it was quality work time. I started by shaping the cox’s floorboard supports so that the floorboard would stay flat and support the cox . I then went back to the rudder yoke. I recessed…

Thursday 15th September The intention today was to possibly glue in the first inwale batten on boat 2. When I arrived with the unopened box containing the glue sent from Boatcraft Pacific I was very disappointed to find that instead of Bote Cote E-Epoxy there was a two part pouring foam kit in the box….

Tuesday 13 September JP and I went back into the shed late yesterday afternoon to do the primer coat of varnish on boat 1 gunwales. We used foam brushes for this very runny coat which worked well until they failed and broke up. The progress was good and we got it done by 6 when…

Monday 12 September The extracurricular activities this weekend included cleaning up the shed and putting the rubbish out and cutting battens into gunwale blocks for boat 2. This time we are using Queensland’s Hoop pine for contrast to Oregon. The Hoop pine is timber leftover from the hog we replaced. Roger and Dr John had…

Friday 9 September Another extra day in the shed for JP and I. We have set ourselves the task of having boat 1 weather proof for next Saturday so that we can display her at the Supa IGA during our sausage sizzle and raffle there in the morning. I want to have 3 coats of…

Thursday 8 September I have an admission to make, this should really be day 90 as JP, Paul H and I snuck in here yesterday and sanded boat 1 again and again. Still not happy this morning everybody who came through the door was press-ganged into more sanding. This included Adrian, back from his holiday…

Tuesday 6 September Stuart was first on the scene this morning and started by finishing off the stem heads with a file and sand paper. He was joined later by Veronica and continued the sanding of boat 1 interior and gunwales. I also had a turn as did Paul H much later in the day….

Monday 5 September A hectic day in the shed today with lots going on and lots of visitors. Mark, JP, Geoff were the main stayers with Dr John and his neighbour Brian dropping in for an hour. JP got into boat 2 with a rocky start until I added some more support clamps. He attacked…

Thursday 1 September The first day of spring down here at the southern end of the world and a glorious day it is too. In the shed we are trying to get to the point of glueing in all the fiddly bits in boat 1. Paul is finishing the seat supports while Veronica is finishing…

Tuesday 30 August Russell was at the shed when I arrived this morning keen for a cup of coffee and a look at the progress we had made. He likes the power tools so I got him set up with boat 2’s rudder blade and the belt sander. JP arrived with new plans for the…