You're
crazy, man! he said
[Read
the original, tone-setting
post to this log]
24
July 03:
Last summer, while I was finishing the Harmonica, there
was a guy who stopped by a time or two to talk. He was
enthusiastic about my project. This spring, when he walked
by, and saw that I was building yet another boat, his
comment was different: You're crazy, man! he said.
Nevertheless,
despite occasional negativity from a generally supportive
stream of neighbors and other strangers, I'm starting
another boat, a quick build called the Flats Rat.
The
plans are free from the website of David
Routh, a Texan who sells a number
of interesting boat designs; his site also has a narrative
and lots of pix of the Flats Rat. Flats Rat, technically
speaking, is a kayak, simply because one uses a double
paddle to propel it. Any other resemblances to the usual
idea of Kayak
are largely absent. Still, it's an able craft, and will
carry an adult and a bunch of gear without strain.
Flats
Rat is the 10th or 20th permutation of a single-sheet
plywood boat called Mouse, originally design, then released
Open Source-like, to boatbuilders on the Internet. Mouse
is the child of an English guy named Gavin Atkin. His
website is a treasure trove of free
stuff having to do with building boats, computer programs
-- free -- for designing boats, and links to a Yahoo club
concerning the Mouse:
The
original Mouse is a single sheet of plywood in a vee-bottom
hull. The original purpose was to give novices a way to
experience stitch-and-glue building techniques without
much expense. I like the Flats Rate, because I'm building
it as a surprise for
the
Reverend, and because I don't have
any interest in stitch-and-glue techniques. Flats Rat
is meant to be a nail-and-glue boat. You may wonder how
I will keep this a secret, but the truth is, it'll go
together in about two days of work.
