Alex Gets on the water

Well, the summer flew by, but we did get our little guy out on the boat. We attended the Wooden Boatshow at Mystic Seaport. Thistle fit right in. Alex was a little hesitant at first and hung on to Marie with a tight grip, but after a while he loosened up and really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful wooden boats.

CT River Trip Nott Island

Marie and Alex were on a trip to Rangely, Maine so I took Thistle to Essex to row around the harbor. I packed a sandwich and a couple of beers(Cottrell Old Yankee Ale, picture of fisherman stand-up rowing a dory with a basket of fish). I rowed around the harbor, got sweaty, and needed a swim, so I headed over to Nott Island. I ran Thistle up on the beach; she was the only wood boat out there. The rest, Clorox bottles all, stared at me as I pulled up.

I finished lunch and beer and headed back, 'till next time.

Out of the Basement Boatyard

Well, it is done. The work to the interior is finished and I freed her from the dank basement. We took Thistle for a 4th of July row on Bashan Lake in East Haddam. She took on about 2 cups of water before she swelled. Now I need to re do the bottom. Last year for seam compound I used Davis Slick Seam and found that no primer or bottom paint stuck to it. So I want to do a quick fix this year so I can enjoy the rest of the summer. Next year I'll dig out the slick seam and put in some proper seam compound. Live and learn, none of the cheesy boat shops in my area carried the compound, so I got the Davis stuff.

Jimmy Steele's Passing

I just learned from reading Chip Angell's post that Jim Steele passed away this year. I knew from the locals in Brooklin that he had bone cancer. When I met with him while searching for my boat, he said he couldn't build due to the pain but he hoped to start a Peapod in the fall of 2006 with help from a friend. I wonder if that ever happened.

When I told JImmy that I would be honored to own one of his boats, he seemed almost embarassed at the attention. From my brief meeting with him he seemed like a stand-up-guy. His Peapods are true works of art. They row like a dream and they are even better to look at. I'm so sad to hear of his passing. I hoped to send him new pictures of Thistle for his records. He tried to keep track of all of the boats he built as they transferred from owner-to-owner.

Well Jimmy, if you are able to read Blogs up there, just know that you were a true artist. I love my boat. Maybe I can work on setting up a Jimmy Steele Peapod rendezvous and have the proceedes benefit cancer patients in his name.

I plan on passing this boat on to my son and with hope, it will stay in our family for a good long time.

Current Work

Right now I'm working on the interior of the boat. I wanted to get it done in time for the John Gardner small boat weekend at Mystic Seaport, but she wasn't ready and I didn't want to rush the job. I have half of the gray painted. I'm using George Kirby light gray. And for the varnish Epiphanes gloss.

I should have her in the water in a couple of weeks....