One in a Million!

From the book "Attempted Escape from Western Civilization", "Bill came up with some remarkable statistics. One in a hundred people in England dream of building their own sailing boat, and of these only one buys the plans to get started. Of those with plans only one in a hundred actually starts building, and of these only one in a hundred actually launch their boat on the water! Finally, of that hardy bunch who get to sail the boat on the sea, only one in a hundred cross the English Channel. The statistical labyrinth sounded daunting." Such a man is Neil Hawkesford. He has documented his progress accurately on his website: http://thegledaproject.com/start-here/  This weekend he launches his boat. If you read his blog in it's entirety you will have an excellent concept of building a boat. You will see the good days, the bad days, the stamina needed, the stops and starts while confronting other aspects of life, and the actual time needed to build this boat. He  started in 2008 and finished in 2014 after 4000 working hours. So, a grand "Huzzah" for Neil, one in a million!!! Being a homebuilt boat, the launch date may slip a few days, so typical of us crazies (cruisers..... same thing). Of course, a tip of the proverbial hat to Gail, willing to chuck it all and give cruising a shot. It has been said that sometimes you have to grab your cojones and jump! We hope to meet Neil and Gail someday anchored off the Islets of Langerhans or some other such nautical sounding place.

Those readers of his blog needing a boatbuilding fix surely can find something better than this site. Published weekly, and weakly, compared to his thorough site, this site will continue on (and on, and on.....) dispensing semi accurate information to people that may or may not care. You will have to put up with my bloviating upon the diurnal habits of the genus Pantherophis obsoletus  on the Texas veldt and my obsessing over cabinetry and methods of work. If you continue, you have my sympathy........................... I'm sorry if you have to look some of this stuff up...........Never take yourself seriously...................

Hey, we need a picture!

Ben, working hard with a piece if tape stuck to his head. Where he picked it up, no one knows. He was working on the  galley preparation, when Budgetboater says "Neil has shelves on both sides of the stove"..............goddam Neil. So Ben put everything aside to make a couple shelves for the galley. I was working on shelves for the master cabin and chart room. It was rainy this work, so epoxy work was minimized.

I cut shelves, recut shelves, cleated shelves, coated shelves, and cursed shelves. Ben helped gluing the cleats (and the cursing).

The weather was hot rainy and humid, three things epoxy doesn't like.  Budge sanded down the  glass he applied last week, a horrendous job! I stuck him with the job of finishing cutting the cowl vents.

I figure to use the piece that we cut off inside the cabin to hold the screen. Yes, there will be dorade boxes.

The Music♫: Stan rogers, "The Mary Ellen Carter"

For Neil and Gail. This got me through the year I was no good. Happy sails, happy trails......................