Post Partum

Such emptiness!

It has been just a little over a month since I launched Solitude III.  In the rush to get the boat together in time for the Wooden Boat Festival, many things were left undone.  I had the best intentions of pulling things back apart and finishing things right.  At the pace that I had been working, there was probably less than two weeks of work to do.

Of course, this is not what happened.  The first hiccup was the weather...it just stayed nice! This highly unusual meteorological happening allowed me to actually use the boat instead of work on it.  Sanding and varnish could wait.

The real problem though has been motivation.  I just haven't felt like getting home from work, changing clothes, going outside, and laboring away for an hour or two every night.  After that big, sustained push to get the boat where it is, I'm tired.

There is also something about not having the boat in the garage that is creating both mental and practical hurdles.  On the practical side, it means that some tasks are more complicated. To varnish the dropboard retainers of companionway hatch, I would have to construct some sort of tent to protect the wet varnish from dust, bugs, and dew.  Coating the dropboards with epoxy would necessitate creating a second set of temporary dropboards so that the cabin can be secure and weathertight while the originals are drying on the bench.  And so on.

But there is a mental aspect to it too.  The boat was built in the garage. That's where work on the boat has always been done, where it should be done.  Not just that, but there has always been a boat under construction in this garage since I moved in!  Now the nest is empty.  How can I work on the boat if it is not there?

This is not to say that I haven't done any work on the boat in the past month.  The boom gallows finally got sanded and recieved its first coat of epoxy. The radio is now wired and functional.  I've made some rigging tweeks.  But seem like pretty small accomplishments compared to what yet remains.   It is true that continuing to take polite nibbles will eventually complete a large number of tasks, there are some tasks that will require concerted effort, like unbending the sails, removing and adding several more coats of varnish to the spars.  I guess that is what winter is for.