The planets align!

I was preparing another post on writing tools, but have some news to report on the pirate ship instead.

I blogged last week about things co-incidentally going right all at once, but yesterday was an exceptional example of this.

Things didn't start off too promising. Weekly grocery shop OK, except for duck breasts. Nothing on the shelf at my usual store. Popped over to the butcher at Brentwood. Nope. Came home and unloaded, then set off in the other direction to Sidney. First attempt, no luck.

Oh dear!

But on the off-chance (and on a totally unrelated mission) I stopped in at a boating store nearby. This is the kind of place where you have to rummage through heaps of odds & ends to find what you want. And I found a ship's wheel. Right size (although I was worried it might be a few inches too big) and reasonably priced.

Flushed with that success, I tried one more store for duck and found exactly what I was looking for.

Now I'm on a roll!

Got home and started building a pedestal to mount the wheel on. Finished that in record time, and realised I still had time to get to the builders yard for some hardware to attach it. While there, lo and behold, they had the rope back in stock that I've been looking for since October.

So today I finished off the rigging and the wheel. The last two planned items on my list. Anything else now is just incidental. The ship is officially finished!

Oh, and to round off a beautiful day (yes, it was sunny as well) we all drove downtown to Boston Pizza and had a delicious meal. Ali and I shared Thai chicken bites to start - sweet and hot - then both chose the most meltingly mouth-watering pork ribs, with fries and salad. Mmmmm.

Nearly there!

With the sun finally out this unseasonally cold Spring, I was able to get out my paintbrush for some finishing touches. Cannon hatches and windows now complete, and some photos, as promised.

I still have to sort out a wheel. It definitely needs one. As I'm pessimistic about being able to buy anything suitable, I am having a go at making one. Not an easy task. We'll see how that goes.

On the move again

Isn't it funny how often either nothing seems to go right, or everything seems to tick along nicely? I know the human mind is always on the lookout for patterns, but those kinds of periods in life always seem to stick in the mind.

Last week at work was way less frenetic than any other time this year. There's lots going on, but I found time to breathe, time to think. Yesterday, especially, I was able to sit down and apply some uninterrupted thought to some of the problems facing the team. Whether any of that thinking was worthwhile or not is still to be seen, but it was a refreshing change. Something I have badly missed.

Today, in a rare break in the un-Spring-like weather this year, I got out the paint and started some finishing touches on the pirate ship. Photos to follow when I have more progress to show.

And also today, I finally got around to submitting more novel chapters to Critique Circle. I've resigned myself to the fact that revisions are going to lag way behind the critiques, and decided to push more through the queue. This is going to be a long process, and right now it's standing in between me and some real writing.

Miscellany

A brief and rag-tag collection of updates.

I got my paints out again last week. That brought back a whole new load of memories as I wrestled with long-unused painting techniques once more.

No, this is not the Death Star (as Ali insists), nor is it the planet around which Pandora from Avatar orbits (as Matthew thinks). This is the mining moon, Jemiyal, from Ghosts of Innocence. This is unique for me, as it is the first time I've started a painting actually trying to illustrate something specific. Normally I am just getting a pure image out of my head onto paper, an image with no story behind it other than what the viewer wants to invent.

Also checking off finishing touches on the pirate ship (see the Pirates Ahoy! tab). Rope ladder and halyards done. We got a set of signal flags to brighten things up, but still have to find a proper pirate flag.

I'm still taking a break from writing submissions, and find myself looking for excuses to avoid tackling the next round of revisions, but I've been able to fit in a few critiques in the meantime. Limiting my blogging time seems to be paying off.

More progress

Another little bit of progress to check off the list (I'm very much a lists person, by the way). The lanterns on the stern posts add some finishing detail to the pirate ship.

You can see I had a bit of sunshine to work in. In between showers. And I was working outside in t-shirt and shorts today, after we had snow earlier in the week. What a week of contrasts.

My CPU needs an upgrade

Once upon a time, in the days when most home computers required a soldering iron and hours of patience to assemble, a fresh-faced and hairy-headed Botanist reported for duty at his first job as a programmer.

In those days, we shared three terminals between the whole department and you had to book time to use them. And you soon learned which times of the week were good to get work done, and which were not. During the latter times, the mainframe had regular batch jobs to process and the CPU's time was split many ways. You could sit at the terminal, type a command and go make a cup of tea before you got a response.

The machine hadn't died, it just had very little time to devote to any one task and it took a long time to make any progress.

That's a bit how I feel.

When I added the "Words and pictures" page to the blog (link above), Jean Davis observed that I had several projects to keep me busy. True, I have several novels in various states of completion, but I have to come clean here. They are mostly gathering electronic dust waiting for a slice of my time.

The only writing project active right now is Ghosts of Innocence, and even then work on the novel itself is limited while I try to keep up with critiques. I have at least managed to knock out a few critiques over the holidays, and I hope to post more chapters soon.

Another long-neglected project vying for attention is the pirate ship. I took advantage of a dry and bright day today to get back to some of the finishing touches before I can put that to rest.

Finishing touches include: Finishing off and painting the windows at the stern; adding and painting gun port hatches; planking out the rest of the hull at the stern; adding lanterns to the tops of the stern posts; finishing off the rigging (waiting for the builders store to have the right rope back in stock); adding halyards for flags; adding a rope ladder over the bow; and finding or making a wheel.

Whew!

Just to complicate matters, my visual arts neurons have been twitching lately. Putting that "Words and pictures" page together, and adding some of my old paintings to the mix, got me thinking about taking up painting again.

Oh no! I remember all too clearly just how time-consuming that used to be! If I pick up a paintbrush again I am sure that will put paid to any prospect of revising Ghosts by the end of 2011.

I think I need an upgrade...

A long way from the Caribbean

Now that the leaves have fallen, I can see properly into that far corner of the yard. And today was the first time in ages that I've not been scrambling to get to work and have had the time to look properly out of the kitchen window in real daylight.

And there was the pirate ship, peering around from its berth behind the tree fort, looking a long way from home in the lingering snow.

Take a bow...

Bow section finally finished, and I'm pleased with how it finally shaped up. I've been worrying about that part for ages, with planks going at all sorts of funny angles, but it was remarkably easy in the end.



You can also see the planking starting to extend down to the stern, and the rope ladder up to the crows nest.

My, how you've grown

The pirate ship has much more of a ship-like feel to it now that the masts are full height and partially rigged.

I had one heck of a job capturing the end result on camera, though. I settled for a close-up from each end to try to show both the height of the masts and some of the detail.


Even so, it's not too easy to see properly in these photos. As usual, if you click on an image you can see it full size which might help. You can see the new steps in both of these shots too.

I spent most of yesterday clambering up and down ladders, and I can feel the effects today so I think it's time for a day off.

It'll never fly, I tell you!

It's three weeks since I last posted a progress report on the pirate ship, and just over three months since I started building.

Wow! Is that all it's been? It feels a lot longer. Three months of sometime intense effort, with many breaks and interruptions.

Not a huge amount accomplished in the last three weeks because both time and conditions have been against me.

This month, of course, is dominated by return to school, and all the usual after-school activities ramping up. Now that Megan has started in middle school we had, not one, but two "meet the teacher" nights last week. Fortunately on different nights.

Then, shortly after my last post on the subject, the weather turned. Not many opportunities to work on the side planking that you can see here. You can also see how damp everything is; all that previously clean decking is now covered in leaves and bits from the trees. So this is going to be slow work from now on.

I decided a long time ago not to try planking everything solidly, and I'm glad I chose not to. When I started on the bits above deck, I realised how much it would emphasise the flat planes of this only-moderately-boat-shaped structure. Leaving gaps lower down, and subtly varying the widths of the gaps, helps to hide the true shape and give an illusion of roundness.

Luckily there's still plenty of pieces I can work on in the shelter of the garage. This weekend I'm making sets of steps to lead up from the waist deck to the raised platforms fore and aft. Then the top masts will take a bit of work before I'm ready to lift them into place. And I've started drawing up plans for the wheel and working out how to go about making it. Making large round things out of wood is not easy.

Decked from stem to stern

A milestone reached today. The last ribs in place and the last deck plank nailed down.


I thought this last section would be plain sailing - rectangular area, and 8' long so most of the planks wouldn't even need cutting to length - but I should know better than to be too cocky. This last bit of decking put up a fight and took me all afternoon.

It started off hopefully enough. Once I'd cut the middle planks around the masts and nailed them in place, I measured the remaining gap across the width. It looked like I'd struck lucky and ended up with an exact multiple of plank widths. Once I started laying them out, though, I realised I had to chisel out notches along the sides to allow the side planks to snug into the ribs, and then I still had to plane 1/8" off two planks (one each side) to squeeze them in.

Planing a strip off an 8' plank isn't difficult, but it is time consuming. Anyway, I finished with a tight fit, which is good because I know from experience that they are likely to shrink a bit over time.

Fisticuffs on the quarterdeck

Looks like the crew are getting fractious, captain!

Well, at least it gives us a chance to see the decked stern section. Now very close to having a fully useable play structure, with only the waist deck to rib and plank. Still loads of work to do, but everything after that is really cosmetic: side planking, top masts, rigging, and (of course) we need to find a wheel.

Avast behind

And other bad nautical jokes!

After two weeks hiatus work has resumed, and the bum end of the ship is now taking shape. Here is an overall view, where you can see a definite galleon shape emerging.
And a closer view of the stern section.

Can you see what it is yet?

Bow section nearly complete. The fore deck and forecastle is now decked - and well-trodden already! - just waiting for some hull planking. I don't intend to butt the planks up, they'll be spaced out a bit, really just enough to give the hull some shape without making the structure look too heavy.

And the second mast is in place in the background. If the masts look a little short, that's because they are. I still have to add top masts to both.

Pirate ship week 4

Apart from a few supports to give some shape to the bow, the front third of the ship is finally ready to be decked and planked.

The crow's nest took a lot of work, with some complicated angles to cut, but I'm pleased with how it's turned out. With all that weight up there, lifting the mast into position was a team effort. Thank you, Ali!

In case you're wondering, there will be a rope ladder up to the front of the crow's nest from the raised fore deck. Not nautically correct, but a lot safer access than traditional style rigging.

I got held up a bit at that point because I couldn't attach those deck joists until the mast was in place. I needed access to the inside of the tower to tighten up the carriage bolts securing the mast, but when it came down to it I found the bolts I'd bought were just a fraction too short. I could get the lock nuts on a few turns, and I really don't think they'd ever have come undone, but I'm not taking chances. So that bit of assembly had to wait until today's trip to the builder's yard for my next batch of materials.

Week 3 of the build

From a distance things on the ground don't look much different from last week, but appearances are deceptive. The stern tower is now squared off and concreted in, I've doubled-up the longitudinal beams to support the waist deck, and the bulkheads either end of the waist deck have got all the cross beams and braces in place to take the weight of the masts. I'm being especially conservative there, because the fore mast needs to take the weight of children clambering up to the crow's next.

So here is a picture from a different angle, with some of the crew to give you an idea of scale.

And there's lots of work gone on that isn't yet in place. I've started work on the ribs that will hold the deck and sides, and the crow's nest itself is taking shape. A complicated structure that I'm pre-fabricating on the ground where I can get at it easily.

Expect some visible differences next week!

The Two Towers

No, not Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Something way more down-to-earth. The stern tower of the pirate ship is now in place, along with the lengthwise beams to support the waist deck joists and ribs.

Only the port side is fixed in place, though. That prefabricated tower ended up slightly out of square. Only by about 1/2", but I might as well get it right while I have the chance so I'm going to nudge the starboard side it into its rightful position once the concrete around the port posts has set.


And, before anyone says anything, yes I know it's big :-)

Oh, and happy Independence Day to our neighbours to the south.

A good weekend's work

All packed up for the weekend, after working on the bow section of the pirate ship. At least something vaguely pointy is starting to take shape now. My quality control inspector, Gypsy, looks like she's giving it the "paws up".


Now a very tired Botanist is setting a course for the beer fridge.

What is this thing rising from the ground?

Not very ship-shape, I admit. You need a lot of imagination to flesh out the rest, especially in this rather poor photo. That bright sunlight streaming in made for a very high contrast field of view.

This is the first of two "towers" that are the foundation for the deck.

This one, all levelled off and set in place, will form the raised forecastle. Its twin is assembled in the garage ready to lift into position once I've marked and dug holes for the footings. That one will hold the stern deck. The mid deck will be suspended between them on pairs of 2" x 6" beams.

All this will form a rather square core for the structure, but will be largely hidden from view. Projecting deck joists laid across will give it more of a "ship" shape eventually. But that is a long way off yet.

What have I let myself in for?

Every big project seems to have that moment when reality sinks in, usually accompanied by some moments of panic and questions like "Am I really doing this?"

The moment usually revolves around some act of commitment, where the theory stops and action takes over. For indoor renovations, it's that first act of necessary destruction before you can start putting things back together again. For software development, it's when you start booking out code and editing.

Last weekend I cleared out the space where the pirate ship will go. Here it is with strings marking out the centre line and far side.

But that was not the moment of reality, because even that was easily reversible. So the corner of the yard is now tidy. Bonus.

For a standalone construction like the pirate ship, the turning point is when I go out and buy that first big load of materials. Like I did this week.

Up until now, it's all been designs on paper. Disposable. Can stop at any time and forget the whole thing. But now I've laid out hard cash. That is a corner turned. Not huge in practical terms, but psychological nonetheless.

Maybe I was coming across as a bit casual in my earlier post on this subject, but I don't mean to belittle or underestimate what I've taken on here. This is a big project. There's no denying it. But it is certainly achievable.