White Star Returns to Pender

White Star's latest voyage went off without a hitch. Actually, we had to find a 1 7/8 hitch.

The next step will be lowering the trailer and levelling the boat with enough support underneath; I'll need to fill and fair the inside in preparation for keelson, frames, and ribs. Soon I'll actually be able to work on the boat!

Kim Darwin with White Star. Letting Go is Hard to Do.
Please don't count the lug nuts on the trailer.

White Star has Landed on Pender.
This required backing up several hundred meters of
twisty, lumpy driveway. Yay, us.

Why didn't I just buy a Costco wall tent? Good question.

What's a 2x4? Playing the low notes at the back of the band!
Seriously, building a shed around a hull you shouldn't stand
on is a bit of a brain twister.

Mission Mostly Accomplished.
Bryce is enjoying the last Winter Ale of the season.

A possibility...

Tad Roberts designs some nice small displacement boats. Please look at his site to see his designs. I've started sketching out some vague ideas of cabins, and I'm not entirely sold on any one of them. This is an amalgam of a couple of them, inspired by Tad's designs and the White Star's hull shape.

The boat shed is progressing nicely, but I pulled my usual trick of mis-estimating my skills, energy level, and weather. 300 square feet framed in 2 days? No problem. Thank goodness for tarps.

That's Not a Moon....

You know, there are only two types of woodworkers: those that have more than three working hand planes, and those that don't. This isn't a judgement thing - just different goals and values.

Kim Darwin and his angelic wife Miranda (well, she plays the harp...) are most certainly the many-planes types. Their house is hand-made without being finicky; their garden has peace, tranquillity, and bounty even in February; their table is a nexus of acceptance and friendship; their music has authenticity and humour.

Their boats are really cool.

Our mutual friend Patrick Smith brokered a deal in which Kim and Miranda would pass the White Star project on to me. This was all based on a conversation Kim and I had about a billion years ago, concerning the hypothetical notion of the 'perfect boat'. Kim must have an excellent memory because, after all that time, he remembered a 15 minute mutual rant about craftsmanship, seaworthiness, the beauty of efficient displacement cruisers, and electrolysis (boat fastenings, not bikini lines). Then again, this is a guy who can pop out the changes to 'Frim Fram Sauce' in the key of Ab at any moment, then play it as a bossa.

So, here's the White Star. Gobs of history. A very satisfying boat (we hope). A narrative of failures and successes. Some off-topic blather. Some neat-o pictures.

Stay Tuned...