| When I was a kid, I used to talk to my dad about | | | | plans among them. There were several different |
| building boats. Every winter, we would decide that we | | | | blueprints, designs that we had bought back when I |
| would get boat plans during the summer and build | | | | was in high school. I called him up and we met up for |
| something, and every summer we would forget about | | | | coffee. When I mentioned the boat plans, he was |
| it. Part of it had to do with me, I will admit. I was a kid, | | | | interested. He looked them over and looked up at me. |
| and my attention was pretty flighty. For the most part, I | | | | That is when we decided to build a boat together. |
| enjoyed spending time with my friends more than with | | | | We decided to start with something simple. We found |
| my father. Nevertheless, even if I had been there | | | | some boat plans for a 16' wooden Dory, and figured |
| every day, I doubt we would have been able to put | | | | we would go with those. A Dory is a small, stable boat. |
| our wooden boat building plan into action. My dad | | | | We would be able to build it in the garage and it could |
| worked so much that he scarcely had time to look at | | | | be easily transported by car. Working with the boat |
| a boat plan, much less build it. So between the two of | | | | plans was harder than I anticipated, however. My dad |
| us, my childhood drifted away with no boat building. | | | | had a good bit of woodworking equipment in his |
| As a matter of fact, we never got around to building a | | | | garage, but neither of us had used it in years. There |
| boat until I had moved out on my own. We hadn't gone | | | | were definitely a few frustrating evenings before we |
| sailing together in several years. When I was a kid, we | | | | really started to make some progress. When we |
| used to go sailing all the time, but once I moved away, | | | | finally got that boat together, however, it was worth all |
| my dad gave it up. He didn't have the time, or so he | | | | the effort. It really was quite a beauty sitting there, |
| said. One day, however, I was looking through my old | | | | freshly painted and ready to put to sea. It made me |
| books that had been sitting in a box since I first moved | | | | want to build more boats! |
| away. Boy was I surprised when I found some boat | | | | |