This week I took some days off to follow a course in clincher-building a small boat. Building a clincher-built boat was a wish being in my mind for a long time already. After discovering that there exists a boatbuildingschool very nearby, I did not think very long to subscribe for a course building a pram (NL: vlet). There are more and bigger boats you can build, but I thougth that starting with the simplest was a good idea.
So there I am: working hard, together with 5 other man on one boat. The tough target is to finish the boat in 7 days.
This is how it looks after 5 days:
Altough I am a kayakker, who is working on a rowing boat, I can not forget my kayak and I use my kayak as transport to school; paddling 9 km's forth and 9 km's back in the evening.
As I am not used to building boats, 7 days of this kind of labour asks a price in sore muscles. The kayakkilometers adding extra to that: resulting in being very lazy in the evenings.
BUT: I enjoy it very much. It is very interesting to learn how man has built boats this way fore centurys already. Doing so without all the modern tools we can use nowadays.
It is very admirable.