Jersey Girl

Houseboat update, Thursday, January 17, 2019... It's still a little too cold to venture out into the driveway to work on Jersey Girl, so I thought I'd go where it's a little hotter, or colder, or hotter, or... Hot off the easel: "In the Beginning," watercolor, 14 x 20 inches. No, it's not abstract. It's the third in my continuing series of paintings based on photographs sent back by Hubble. So, it's just another landscape. covering a little more ground, is all.

Houseboat update, Thursday, February 21, 2019 -- With the temperature in the 50s and the snow and ice melting, I had a chance to do a little work on Jersey Girl in the driveway today. It felt good to be back at work, especially since I was knocked off the rails last week by a bit of thankfully minor man-part surgery. It wasn't enough to stop me, but it did serve as a reminder of mortality, and the undeniable fact that I really should not dawdle if I want to be able to finish this project and still have time left to enjoy the result! So, here's what I did. First, the roofbeam lamination layups were left with gobs of hardened epoxy, so I used a belt sander with 40-grit sandpaper to dress the flat faces of the arched beams. Then, I used a random orbital disk sander with 60-grit sandpaper to dress the tops and bottoms of the beams. The tops need to be free of any lumps so that the roofing planks will lay flat and even upon them. The curved inner surfaces of the bottoms will be visible from inside the cabin, so I want them to be free of any gobs of epoxy as well, and I also want to round over the edges, just because it'll look nicer. In addition, I want to significantly reduce the circular marks left by the saw blade when I cut the strips that went into these laminations. But I want to leave a subtle suggestion of these marks as a reminder of the honest work that went into them. Call it a craftsman aesthetic or whatever you want, but I think they will add to the visual interest when the job is finished and they are covered with the warm amber glow of marine varnish.

Houseboat update, Friday, March 15, 2019 -- 71 degrees in Northern New Jersey today, so of course an old man's thoughts turn to...his boat! I took a ride over the the local marina to see what was going on there, and it was a great big nothing. It's in a public park, the Palisades Interstate Park, but the parking lot was filled with coccooned boats, and no one seemed too interested in unwrapping them just yet. So I returned to my garage to do some more work on the arched, laminated roof beams that I will install on Jersey Girl, the 20-foot mini-houseboat I have been building for the last three and a half years. Six of these beams are already coated with three layers of epoxy, and today I sanded down five more to prepare them for the epoxy treatment. Soon, when I am sure there will be no more snow, I will bring Jersey Girl back to the driveway. As for tonight's weather, every couple of seconds there's a flash of typical summertime "heat lightning." Quite uncharacteristic for this time of the year.

Houseboat update, Wednesday, March 20, 2019 – It’s officially Spring! And Jersey Girl is officially back in her own driveway, ready for another building season. More to follow; stay tuned.

Houseboat update, Monday, March 25, 2019 -- I spent the entire day plumbing Jersey Girl's forward deck drainage system. I started by cutting 2-inch PVC pipe and laying it out in the space under the deck, then putting the deck into place to make sure the drain holes corresponded with the plumbing as I cut it. Naturally, it did not, so it was cut and fit, add and fit, cut and fit, all day long. Finally, I got the pipes to go where they need to, to carry deck water under the seats and storage compartments and out out through scuppers in the port and starboard sides.By the way, that large hole amidships up in the bow is an inspection port, so I can check for any water and also to make sure the fastenings that hold the U-bolt for trailer winching stay good and tight. Now that Jersey Girl is officially named, I feel she deserves proper nautical nomenclature, So it's port and starboard now, not left and right. And it's forward and aft, or bow and stern, not front and back. Makes me feel properly salty. (Remind me to tell you the story of the old sea captain's life-long secret, told to me by the first mate aboard a Swedish freighter I worked on in my youth...)