Starting up again

So...I am finally back to building again.   I have been catching up with other folks' blogs and I'm impressed with the progress (way to go Menno and Tor).   Me though...I am in my sixth year of building.   I kept hoping for the boat building fairies to show up and finish the job, but no joy.   Bottom line, these projects don't get finished by themselves and so it's well past time to get my rear back in gear.   Some good building advice I have heard in the past:  "just get on with it already".  

It has been so long that I went back and re-read the plans, and looked the boat over carefully, to make sure I knew where I was.   I decided to start off doing a little bit each day on the exterior beam mounts.   These are tricky laminations and I am glad I am doing them in warm weather.    Here's the boat rolled on its side to make it easier to work on the mounts:

Here's an exterior mount all nicely shaped and ready to laminate:

This was the first beam mount I did, and it was all laid up in one go:

It actually turned out great, but the other mounts I have been doing piece-by-piece...less stressful that way, easier to peel-ply, and I want to be sure these are done right.   Port side mounts are now completely done, and starboard is a few days away from being done.  

In a week I will be on vacation and plan to spend it at home on the boat (intermingled with a few day trips with my wife).   I don't want to make any predictions, but I would really like to have the boat faired and painted before vacation is over.   I may not get it in the water this year, but hopefully it will be lacking only a trailer, mast, and rigging.  

P.S. In the personal news department, my daughter got married last year, and one year later, gave us our first granddaughter (easily the world's cutest - trust me).   I get to see her quite a bit and she is a joy...life is just too short sometimes.   Of course, now I really need to finish the boat so she can go sailing with her grandpa.   We also became foster-parents a little over a year ago, and that too has been an incredible difficult and fulfilling experience (all at the same time).   So this has definitely a busy year - but as I said above, it's time to finish the boat. :-)