(Turns out I put the donation link in wrong. If you tried to use it, I’m sorry! Please try again if you’re so inclined.)

Comes a time when you finally figure out just what the hell you want to do next…

I say that with a wink and a smile, but in fact, I’m getting an idea that just might be a step in the direction of Soothing this unsettled period I’ve been navigating.

Here in Rockland, Maine, we have a very cool place called The Apprenticeshop
( www.apprenticeshop.org). In operation since 1972, it’s a very well respected school of wooden boat-building, with a long history of strong community, exquisite craftsmanship, and learning by getting your hands dirty – just my cup of tea.

And so I have enrolled in their 12-week training program, beginning October, 2022. The cost is not insignificant, but the potential for the skills and connections gained is limited only by one’s imagination. I’m pretty excited!

Doing the refit on Sionna has revealed to me that there are a lot of skills I lack when it comes to boat carpentry, so this training will be immediately applied to getting our cruising home back in the water where she belongs. Beyond that, I’m thinking that Maine is FULL of old boats forgotten in back yards and barns. Some of them – perhaps many of them – are beyond saving. But many others just need someone with the skills, time, and interest to bring them back. And that someone could be me.

Still, there’s the cost. If you’ve been following this blog fora while, you know we don’t have a trust fund to fall back on, and though we never miss a meal and we have a warm house, there isn’t a lot left in the “career training” pool to draw from.
So I hope you’ll forgive me for mentioning that I’ve set up a “GoFundMe” campaign to help pay for part of my schooling.

The link is: https://tinyurl.com/IveGotBoatsToBuild

If you’re so inclined, please click the link to add a little to the kitty. We would be much obliged.

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Hello? HELLO? Anyone there?

Yeah, we’ve been very quiet. Mostly that’s because Sionna hasn’t been in the water for the last 16 months. And partly because the process of tearing a boat apart so you can put it back together is, frankly, fraught with misgivings and moments (sometimes days) of ”What have I done…” – wide swaths of existential angst, and really, who wants to hear about that?

It started with the paint. The four summers she spent in Florida we not kind to the paint on hull and deck. Sionna looked tired, and nobody likes their boat to look tired. We also were seeing a lot more leaks in the deck, spots where water from above was finding its way below, and aside from being a nuisance, that’s not good for the boat in the long term.

So we made the decision to remove everything that makes a hole in the boat – all the screws and bolts and vents – repaint her properly, then remount everything with proper sealant and attention. And while we’re at it, those chainplates – which hold up the whole rig – have been in there, uninspectable, for close to 60 years. Probably time to replace those too…

And so we find ourselves up to the nostrils in the deep water of a major refit, with more parts of the boat on shelves than on the boat herself.

It’s more than a little scary some days, let me tell you.

The good news is, we have a plan. The bad news is it’s too cold in the boat-shed (loaned by a friend for the duration of this project – Bless you Gordon!) to do much of anything right now unless it’s small enough to take someplace heated. So that’s why there’s 20 pounds of bright, shiny brass on our kitchen counter. I can do the lay-out for shaping and drilling the new chainplates in relative comfort.

But speaking of heat, there’s more good news! Sionna now has heat! One of the jobs I did in December (to take a break from destruction) was to install a diesel forced air heating system. We’re very excited about the possibility of having a warm cabin on those chilly July nights here in Maine!

Meanwhile I’ve also been scraping old paint-

Reinstalling the centerboards which I reconditioned last summer-

Located a couple of damaged deck spots I was looking for. Epoxy to the rescue once it warms up enough to use it.

So that’s about where we are here in the second week of January. With any amount of luck and skill, we should be able to get her back in the water by the end of June.

Keeping fingers crossed, knocking on wood, and saying our prayers.

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