The start of something beautiful.

Most people who know me know that I get obsessed. Addicted. Chemically bonded to ideas and soft drinks. Mostly ideas. Well, as usual, it's happened again.

Last year I decided to learn Cello and while I can't say that this was entirely a success story, I had a go. It turns out that it is much harder to learn as an adult. Who knew? I didn't and now I do. I'm not entirely giving up on it but it is definitely taking a back seat for the next little while while I do something that sounds less like cats having their claws pulled. Enter, building a boat!

Yeah, I sure do pick them. You heard right. Learn a damn tricky musical instrument? Nah. That's a bit tricky. I know! Build a hunk of wood and metal that goes to sea where sharks live; where they watch their snacks move around before nibbles like so many diners in a fancy oriental restaurant. Surely I can accomplish this and not give them a time delay sinky-snack, right? Not tricky at all.

Anyway, the prattling long story short is, I'm building a Hartley TS 16. For those of you who don't know what this looks like the design looks like this:
At least, that's what the design sketch looks like. More accurately it looks something like this:


The photographs are pretty vintage as the boat was originally designed somewhere in the mid '50s, but the design is simple, straight-forward and largely achievable for someone with moderate skill. At this point in my research after getting my bug bitten my brain did this:

"achievable by the average handyman with moderate skill....."
"Wait!! I HAVE MODERATE SKILLS! AT LOTS OF THINGS"

Then went an impulse purchase of plans and tools, followed by the dawning of a pretty important realisation. My moderate skills are NOT RELATED to boat-making. At all. I'm moderately good at eating chips. I think the advertisement should have been more specific. That said, I learn fast and when I'm obsessed by something as I surely am, I learn a lot very quickly. There is also a wonderful group of people who adore the design and have been a great help with starting questions and tips.

I will keep this blog updated with the progress of the boat, or lack thereof, as I go. I'll also pop in some random other things I seem to do to pass the time when I pass some. I'll try to avoid showing you the things I pass though as I honestly don't know you all that well.

Till then.
Ciao