Day Nine

Date: 5/18/22

Current Time: 8:30

Today’s Time: 7:10 hrs

Overall Time: 56:00 hrs

I still can’t decide if today was productive or not. As you can see, I put in a ton of hours, but I feel like most of the things I did were aesthetic rather than functional. I started the day by doing some thinking. My original plan was to make two sets of oars for this boat. When I first got the boat it had three oarlock sockets (one had apparently rotted away with the rail) so I figured I would make four oars. Then, when I started making the oars, Greg recommended that I start with one set just in case I couldn’t finish all the sets. It made sense at the moment, but now I wish that I had started with the two sets. I am almost done with this set but now I am worried that if I start another set I won’t have enough time (because it is much faster to produce them all at the same time). Anyway, I think my plan now is to stick with the one set but work on another project or two to make the boat look stunning! 

I put my first coat of spar varnish on my oars! I will ideally do five to six to get max protection, but I’m not sure if time will allow for that. I also added some varnish to the underside of the rails of the boat.

After that, I looked on the internet for some ideas to add to my boat. I might try to make floorboards or at least something to push off of with your feet while rowing. I have a few ideas brewing.

 

After lunch, I when back to the woodshop to get bronze cleaner, a rag, and the two oarlocks Greg happened to have that were very tarnished. Then I went to watch the Boy Varsity Lacrosse game (one of my friends from home was on the other team) while I polished my bronze, it turned out really good!

Lastly, after the game, I used a wire brush attached to an angle grinder to make the oarlock sockets and brass screws look nice and shiny!

I wanted to add another coat of varnish to my oars but they didn’t dry enough.