Ruth here:

“We should have told more people when we were starting to build to buy stock in Henry’s Roofing Tar and Tacoma Screw. Just in the bottom planking alone so far we’ve gone through 3 buckets of tar and 2,000 some odd screws!

 

Finally some more up to date photos of her hull!

Working on the deck for the next few days to get that framed in so when we come back from yet another short trip to California this week we can then start planking and gluing that together. With our recent score on lumber we intend on planking the deck instead of plywood and glass which makes both of us very happy.”

Ruth here:

“Despite the lack of blog posts we are so busy I can’t keep up!

Garrett glances the Craigslist ads every now and then to ogle at boats for sale (he has a problem) and to see if there is any quality lumber up for grabs. He hadn’t actually cruised the listings in quite a while but the other day he pulled it up and stumbled on a pot of gold! A guy, only an hour and a half south of us, was looking to unload some old growth fir for $1 a linear foot. You heard me, for those who know how good that is, a dollar a foot! There was so much lumber in this lot we had to pick it up in two trips. We scored on nearly 800 feet of beautiful 2X12 Douglas Fir boards. After getting it back to the shed and organizing the jewels, primarily vertical grain, we’ve only discovered about 6 tiny knots. The two of us were like two year olds keeping an eye on our new toy making sure no one else would touch it. On the drive home you’d hear one of us say, about every 5-6 minutes, “So much wood” with a stupid grin on our face.

Once again I feel the need to express how awesome it is meeting people. We were greeted with a smile and sent home with apples from their orchard. Thank you!

We are a bit further along on the boat than these pictures but since I do not have internet in the same place as the boat I cannot instantly put up current visuals. Looking from back of the transom forward now it appears that her hull is done! We’ve decided to pause on planking the bottom in order to get to the deck. This is because the deck will require some epoxy work which is weather sensitive. We have the whole month of September (knocking on wood here) to have temperatures above 60 degrees for the epoxy to be able to cure. We can continue planking even after the temperature starts to drop and we’d hate to be caught going into the winter unable to proceed because we can’t finish a major step that needs completing before the next!

Using two bolts Garrett was able to get the last plank pulled into the twist of the hull. The original idea of steaming the plank would have worked but it was taking too long to get the set up just right. One bolt towards the base of the plank close to the rabbet and another towards the top stringer was enough to tweak the piece into place by tightening down on the nut.

I feel like me and Garrett haven’t seen much of each other lately since we’ve both been working so hard this summer. Garrett has just been plowing through projects and steps on the boat. I’ve been so busy at the bar I work at trying to take advantage of the busy summer months with extra shifts. We work on opposite schedules. Garrett working from sun up to sun down and I begin as the sun sets through the night to almost see it rise again. Once the boat is in the water and we are sailing we will get to spend everyday together and laugh back at the days we hardly said two words in each others direction!

We are coming along and tightening down on the final tasks and will soon be driving in the last fasteners and it will all be smooth sailing from then on!”

Ruth here:

“In all sense of the word. Summer has finally arrived and we are seeing some of the same weather we did last year. We got lucky and from May until now it has been mild, high 70’s and mid 80’s. This whole last week, however, has been mid to high 90’s with a few hours of each day kissing 100 degrees. Garrett has stuck to his plan of getting 5 bottom planks on a day. We have estimated it will take about 60 planks per side. He started midships at worked aft to the transom and the Port side has all those planks done, 46 planks!

The last group of planks on her tail end are only 3 inches wide versus the 5.5in width of the rest. The very last plank will need to be steamed. There is just a little too much of a twist to manually pull that plank in. Garrett has constructed a steam box out of plywood and using a single burner below it and some hosing connecting the pot of water, to transport the steam, to the box with our tiny plank inside. The box needs a little tweaking still so I’ll get better pictures to illustrate this soon.                                   

I’m so excited to see the bilge!!!

In between planking the bottom we are also working on the deck. This week as been a bit too hot to be working that high up in the shed so we’ve been focused more on planking but here are a few pics of what we’ve got so far. Awesome!!!

Can’t you just picture her getting on a mean lean crushing waves!

The Starboard side is slowly catching up to Port. Another 2 full days and Starboard will be planked up to the transom as well! 2 full HOT days! Send your cold thoughts to Garrett 🙂 “

Cheers,

R

Because here’s the next video! And it’s a long one 🙂

 

Ruth here:

“Thank you Mom and Dad!

My parents threw me an “absentia birthday party,” August 5th, for people to donate to the boat kitty. They got a taco truck and a projector to play our videos for those who attended. My mom, while I was growing up, was never one of those moms that threw extravagant birthday parties or really did anything that could be defined as extravagant in most circles. Really mom, Thank You, I know you put in a lot of effort to do that for me and it really means everything to me. I’ve never missed having a birthday party anyway. I feel rather blessed that it is not a big deal to me. Garrett and I don’t celebrate holidays either, manly this is because we often don’t know when they’re happening for lack of a clock/calendar to tell us. We only celebrate our anniversary and often use our birthdays as an excuse to take a day off guilt-free.

I got a wonderful call that day from the party with the normal birthday chant and some odd yelps I believe came from my brother…

My mom sent me this picture before that day to show me how they converted their dining room into a theater to show our videos! I’m still amazed at the response from those who watch our channel. I love that others find enjoyment in watching them as much as I do creating them! Makes it all worth it.

Above is my Dad watching Episode 9: The Engine. In true Napa Valley format with a glass of wine!

Cheers guys!”

Thanks,

R&G

Ruth here:

“…Another day of planking and trying to maintain momentum on progress. We are both really looking forward to finishing the bottom planking so that we can officially say, “We have a hull!.” One year and 6 months in and we have a hull! Smarter people skip this by buying a factory built hull as a kit or purchase and pick up where someone else left off in their aspiration to build a boat from the ground up. It’s not easy to keep telling yourself it will all be worth it when you’re floating someplace tropical in boat made from your own hands entirely when you’re deep in the middle and up to your elbows in tar!

We have over 30 planks up on the Port side! The pictures are a little further behind. Garrett decided to keep going on the Port side and complete it before moving forward on the Starboard side. It’s now getting harder to capture all the planks in one photo without stepping out of the shed. By completing the Port side we hope that visual will be encouragement to plow through the other side. That’s the idea anyway…

Garrett’s made a ruff schedule to get 4 to 5 planks up a day depending on how his back is feeling. If we can hold onto that it means 12 to 15 days left of planking! 2 weeks!! We can do that!!! One last step to complete the ruff hull (still needing to sand/plane down, caulk, and prime/paint.) If we can push through these last weeks of being on the ground outside the boat working we can then be inside the boat working on her deck becoming closer to trucking. Every step completed means one step closer to being in the water and getting back to life!

Not sure if we have ever explained the meaning of Rediviva’s name. You could look it up I suppose but it’s a latin word meaning revival or coming back to life. Her name has become a sort of mantra for us. Once she is “done” it will be a plunge back into life. Our life. The life we find meaning and fulfillment in. The water, the ocean, is home. Traveling is home. I first found this word looking up local history of our current location, her birth place. In the gorge, Columbia Gorge, we have been locked but still next to this awesome body of water that leads to the ocean. Eventually, like us, the Columbia River spills into the pacific. The Columbia was named after one of the fist American ships, the Columbia Rediviva (rediviva was added to the ships name after a major restoration) , charged with discovering the famed northwest passage once believed to be at this lower latitude but instead founded the beginning of the fur trade which most of this area was known for. Now known for kite boarding and wind surfing, wine making, and micro breweries. Not so much for boat building…

But here we are.

Chipping away.”

R&G

Oiling the masts with used engine oil from our truck. Little things I can do to keep busy while Garrett continues on bottom planking. I can tar and preserve the backs of the planks but cutting, shaping, and fastening is all Garrett.

Ruth here:

“We are back at work! Hopefully after a much needed vacation to see family and friends we can get back to work with new motivation and sense of tenacity!

Congratulations to our amazing friends Jon & Carly who have officially tied the knot

We got to go sailing on their boat in the Delta near Sacramento. Drinking Gin and Grapefruit on the water…no words can describe that bliss.

Still in summer with a solid two to three months left of budding flowers and warm weather to knock out bottom planking and make a good dent in getting the deck and cabin tops assembled!

        

With 11 planks on port it was time to move to the starboard side to even her out!

                           

I obviously did not get to the next video while we were in California, I had good intentions on doing so, but I am hard at work now and should have the next video out shortly, showing how we managed to fandangle all 6 stringers in place.

Cheers!”

R&G

 

Ruth here:

“The day has come for Rediviva to get her bottom planks on!

Day 1:

2 planks on and the next 5 cut

Day 2:

Errand run in town and total of 8 planks installed.

Day 3:

11 planks on the Port side done! 5ft and 7/8”, to be exact, area covered.

           

More days to come with a short break away to drive down to California for two of our best friends who are getting married! Should be able to get out the next video while we are there…

Here shows the Cheeks:

        

I don’t know if we’ve mentioned that once again our tarp on the shed needs replacing… We used the old shredded on the cover the boat as best we could.”

Stringer #1, bending her into place to dry fit. Starboard side.

                    

Stringer #1 and 2 installed. #1 (the middle stringer) we thought would be the easiest but we were way off. It set the position for the other two stringers so it had to be perfect and with it being our first attempt at bending a 40ft scarfed piece of wood over our heads it was a learning exercise!

Getting #3 into her notches. Completing the Starboard side.

Stringer #4, first one on the Port side and the middle stringer. Didn’t take as long as Starboard but still the middle stringer setting the alignment for the others means more care and finesse are needed.

                                      

#5 out of 6. (Left) Dry fitting. (Right) Notches cut.

Notches for #5 ready for Preservative and Tar

                  

All 6 stringers installed!

From inside the boat

            

All that is left now is to install the Cheeks and cut the Rabbet!

Garrett finished installing the Cheeks the other day (pictures to come) and has decided to cut the Rabbet as we go on with bottom planking in order to get planking sooner!

Going back up the hill now where Garrett should be putting the first planks on the bottom!!!!!! We thought this day would never come haha

-Ruthie

Ruth here:

“I can’t believe how many things have happened in the last month. I mostly take videos rather than pictures these days, since our YouTube channel has been growing, but I should remember that pictures are still worth a thousand words. I’ve been flipping through the film, as if I still used film…, and realized we’ve gotten a lot completed. I can’t believe Garrett failed to mention another huge thing that got checked off the list; cutting down the last of our trees for spars and such! Garrett’s brother Reid was in town and seemed like as good a time as any to wrangle them out of the forest. My camera died, however, I know very dramatic! Then my phone died so these are the only photos I captured…

The day before yesterday was really exciting! I’ve been waiting for this moment for awhile. We removed ALL the cross bracing from the frames. We have 7 deck beams, which is all of the full-length beams, up! We had to leave some of the top bracing on the frames to keep her ridged until we can install the carlins (cabin wall framing) and side-deck beams. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about (Mom) you will just have to wait and see. All will be revealed in time. We began the day thinking we had decided on a Pilot House and Flush Deck lay-out with a Focsle and we finished the day with changing everything and installing deck beams to accommodate a Center Cock-Pit with an Aft Cabin and Focsle layout… Garrett says it right, “We no longer make plans, we make ideas.” It’s the only way we can stay sane and keep everyone else from going crazy when we change our mind again. Sorry Fam! They’re used to it by now… Family – “Wait, I thought you were…?” Us – “Yeah, no… That was yesterday!”

High-tech center line

Now we can see what we are working with!

I love watching Garrett stare at the boat. I liken it to a mother watching the father smile down on their child. Knowing there is love there. This birth has been exhausting and tedious but when you can look at what you’ve done and still smile you know you are doing the right thing for you. At the end of the day I can’t help be proud of not only Garrett but myself too. I’m still here and I’m still smiling! Something about a man, his boat, and a dream.”