My dad died one month and two days ago.
Dad was a boatbuiler. He worked as a high-end finish carpenter specializing in window and door installation, repair, and weatherstripping but one of his many hobbies was building boats.
The first boat was called a Cosine Wherry, made of 1 inch wide strips of cedar planking, layered one upon another to create a 17 foot long rowboat. He loved it and loved taking people out in it. He made the oars by hand as well, two pairs because the boat could support two rowers.
The second boat is from a kit, from a company called Chesapeake Light Craft. Dad's first boat was built from plans he ordered from this company, but for the kayak he opted for a kit. I am not sure which came first, me buying my kayak or dad ordering his kit, but it was a dream of ours that one day we would go kayaking together, him in the boat he built. We did have an opportunity to go kayaking together once with my sister Caroline on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and he loved it. He really did want to finish the kayak but it seemed something else was always more important. He was involved in so many organizations and had so many different hobbies, and he died young, in my opinion.
72. We knew he had a problem with aortic valve stenosis, and we thought someday he would need to have a valve replacement, but then one day last month he was driving to work and something happened suddenly and his mitral valve stopped working. The doctors did everything they could but it was just too much for his heart to cope with. Now he is gone and one of the first things I thought of after he died is, "I have to finish that kayak for him."
The first month after he died was a whirlwind of visitors, planning the funeral, helping my mom get organized a little bit, and trying to get the garden (one of his other hobbies) under control enough to not overrun the house. I could write a whole blog on the garden but this is about the boat.
Shortly after dad died I looked for the directions for the kayak so I could begin to figure out what to do. I found a folder in his file cabinet labeled, "kayak," and was so optimistic until I opened it and found several out of date Chesapeake Light Craft catalogs, epoxy instructions from 3 different companies, and two envelopes with money in them. One envelope was labeled, "kayak kit," and it still had $140 in it, and the other one was a collection of European money from a variety of trips dad took. No instructions or notes on the present kayak.
I wrote an email to the company and got a very nice response from the owner, maybe I will be able to figure out how to paste it in here. I ordered another copy of the directions and have been studying them. The difficult thing is that I don't really know what step of the directions dad was on when he stopped working on the boat.
These kits come with all the pieces pre cut, by a computer I think, and they are made of 4mm okoume plywood. They have "puzzle joints" which are exactly what they sound like, shaped like a jigsaw puzzle, to make the long sides of the boat. You piece it together and because the wood is very thin to give it strength you cover it with fiberglass cloth and clear epoxy resin. You can see the beautiful wood grain through the epoxy but it is very strong and watertight. After that you varnish it for several coats.
Dad's boat is on a frame he built in the backyard. Most of the pieces have been assembled, the seat is not in and the hatch covers need to be cut, but otherwise it is all put together, You can tell that he has put the epoxy and the fiberglass cloth on most of the boat but it is impossible to tell how many coats of epoxy he has completed. I haven't been able to flip it over to see the cockpit very thoroughly but it looks as if the edges of the cockpit may need some fiberglass cloth and epoxy.
I'd like dad to come back for many reasons but at least one of them is to tell me what to do next on this boat and to help me not screw it up!!!
So today was the first workday. I had to go rummage around in my dad's shop. (horrifyingly disorganized! This is something I didn't really know about my dad. His truck for work was always organized and the shop may have looked a little messy from time to time but he always could place his hands right on what he needed. ) Finding the rest of the kayak parts and what supplies he had left was an essential first step. After sifting through a lot of boxes and sawdust I found the parts and the instruction manual and Voila! he had the book open to the same page I was on so I think I am right about what step is next. He has the pieces I need for the seat and the hatch cover and some fiberglass cloth, but no epoxy or varnish to be found.
Having looked at the boat several times I knew that regardless of what layer was going on the boat next that first I had to sand off the drips of epoxy from the last coat of whatever he put on.
I tried a little bit with a sanding block and sandpaper by hand but that quickly went out the window. I like meditative tasks to a degree but hand sanding wasn't doing it for me. Out came the random orbital sander and the one disc of sandpaper I happened to find in the box. Even with the electric sander after an hour my arms were tired and I had not even finished 1/4 of the bottom of the hull. I can see a long summer of sanding ahead of me.
Sometimes it still seems dad is just around the corner, like he is away working somewhere and will be back any day, and other times he seems so far away. I'm glad for all the times he said, "Come see what I am doing in the shop," and I went and listened with at least half an ear. I wish now that I had listened with the other half. I feel comforted being surrounded by the smell of sawdust but so overwhelmed by the tasks ahead of me. One step I will have to do is to CUT into the top of the hull with a POWER SAW and this seems a certain recipe for disaster but it would be terrible to leave the boat unfinished. I know it will be a great tribute to dad when it hits the water.
