5 days into December we get our first snow! We drove out to Boise, Idaho that weekend, to where my brother lives, to trade trucks for the winter. It could not have happened at a better time! His truck has 4 wheel drive and is better equipped for snowy backroads. We arrived back home to a few inches on the ground and more falling.

Within the next week we received another 2 feet on snow. Seeing about the same amount as what accumulated total last year in a matter of 6 days! Our neighbors Subaru was practically buried.

We’ve been keeping busy despite the snow and cold. We ordered a bunch of goodies. Our first pound of caulking cotton, 3 irons to do the caulking, 5 gallons of cold weather epoxy, various sizes of fiberglass cloth to glass the decks, and Swab got 2 gigantic squeaking tennis balls.

As I write the snow continues to fall. We’re supposed to see another 5 to 8 inches before midnight. It’s crazy how much things slow down in this kind of cold. A lot of our time is spent tending to the fire and shaking the shed clear. I wished I had more updates on boat progress for you but alas nothing major has changed yet but soon!

It felt really good day before yesterday doing a good cleaning of the shed and inside the boat. She was full of sawdust and scrap trash. I vacuumed and swept her decks while Garrett planned and sanded her topsides in preparation of fiberglassing the decks (the glass will wrap passed the first two planks on the topsides.) We decided we didn’t ever want to mess around with leaky decks so we deviated a little from tradition. The next few days we are to see the temp drop into the single digits. Next Tuesday night we may even see the thermometer read 0 degrees!

Send your warmest thoughts!

I was going to say Welcome December but I’ve realized I’m not ready. Where has 2016 gone! I can relate now to the old folks that sit around and say “Where does the time go?”

No snow yet but we can see it on the forecast…. Maybe Monday. We sure have ice already. Forming in any container left outside and in between the wrinkles of tarps leaving the neatest formations! This time of year is a mix between things slowing down and speeding up. The weather makes us all slow down a bit but the holidays move quickly. It’s important to find time to just enjoy the season. My brother, Sam, came back to visit for Thanksgiving and when I noticed a bald eagle eating down by the White Salmon River below the highway we had to stop! We ended up seeing 6 or 7 eagles! They were well aware of us and left their kill but hung out in the near by firs. Such awesome creatures!

As for boat progress, a lot of material ordering and runs into Portland at the moment. We’ve ordered fiberglass cloth and cold-weather epoxy resin to glass the deck. Also, today we ordered, caulking irons and ruffly 840 ft of caulking cotton to start. Can’t break the bank all at once. Still working out interior layouts and therefore have not completed the cabin roofs. Cleaning and other small tasks always can be done…. even though it doesn’t feel like progress we have to remember that it is 🙂

 

 

Ruth here:

“I got to enjoy my first beer on deck a couple of days ago when my brother was visiting. It will be the first of many. Before we know it we will be grilling oysters, drinking margaritas, and hosting fellow sea gypsies aboard.

Garrett’s been pushing the hours past when the sun feels like shinning this time of year. It’s crazy, it feels like we loose 20 to 30 minutes of light each day. The “fall-back” time change has made the impending winter real. We have to be honest; the cold and gloom does not treat our minds well. However, Rediviva is in a much different place this time around. Last year we had completed all the frames in September but working on the chine and finding the lumber to start the topside planking was a huge pain and took a painstaking amount of time. Entering November this year is much brighter with completing the deck base layers and getting the cabins built.

You can find us having morning coffee inside the boat discussing interior plans. Super exciting! Every morning the plan grows, shifts, and changes. If I tell you our intentions now they will only continue to morph into something else completely unrecognizable tomorrow…. Sorry… The main cabin walls are in and last night the walls of the focsle were completed. Some radical ideas have been thrown in and tossed out. Some perfectly normal thoughts have been expressed and rejected. It is hard when you have a blank canvas to know where to start or more so what concept to even decide on.

What I do know is that whatever we begin building is going to be great. Rediviva is so beautiful. I hope to only do right by her and then she’ll return the favor.

A prayer out to the space that determines the fate of such things:

Please help me help Garrett. Help Garrett stay motivated and feel accomplished. Keep our minds safe and sane with the depressive weather that surrounds us. Thank you for the support given even if I fail to see it.

A quick video thank you before I clock in for my night job!

Thank you everyone!

Ruth here:

“I often joke about building the boat being Garrett’s quarter life crisis. Buying a brand-new red sports car would have been easier! But no where near as challenging so Garrett couldn’t be bothered with such wants. Garrett turned 25 today so we already have a head start into his issues dealing with the fact he’s a quarter of a century old. Send your birthday love!

Today we work on the Cabins! We just got the plywood we needed to construct the walls yesterday thanks to some kind souls who helped us afford it!

     

 

I was driving home late last night and heard this weird noise and realized when I pulled into our driveway I was listening to my music too load and failed to notice I had a flat tire! Blond, yes, I know… I promised Garrett I’d change it and he gave me this look like, “…okay..” He’s shown me how to change I tire in case of an emergency but I’ve never actually changed one out myself. I know you know this is not a big deal or any real accomplishment but I feel proud today because I did it for the first time by myself and can check that off the list of things to do before I die.

My brother drove over from Boise, ID for the weekend so naturally we made food, drank beer, made fires, and sang out of tune!

The second layer of the deck came out nicely! First layer is 3/8 and the second is 1/2 in. Plywood covers so much surface area!!!

 

Thanks Everyone!

 

Here it is!

 

Finally we’ve finished planking the hull! the last couple planks were a little more tricky to fit, but not to bad. They are triangular, and need to be shaped to slide in right where the two rabbets meet. It’s pretty crazy, and kinda funny because it definitely hasn’t set in yet. It’s always interesting with every milestone we accomplish the excitement does’t come till later. I get in a zone to push through, and when it’s finished I don’t feel much excitement until I reset a bit. The winter is getting close, but we have once again been blessed  by the lingering kindness of humanity. This time in the form of a giant kerosene heater for the shed. i’m pretty stoked because once we get the shed closed back up it should be able to heat the whole thing. We will be moving back to the deck and cabin houses now, and hoping the winter isn’t to bad this year.

     

 There it is!

 

Ruth here:

“Garrett had one hell of a roller-coaster day. He usually starts the generator to let it warm up before he does anything else but yesterday he decided to prep the hull for the next 5 bottom planks. He preserves and tars every surface then goes to start up the generator. The Genie has been a little stubborn lately with the weather slowly shifting to cold and colder. Garrett squirted a little starting fluid and gave it a go. The generator goes into flame! Fight or flight? Should he get the hell out of dodge or try and put out the flame which is a couple feet tall? He had just filled the tank, which rests above the flame, with 5 gallons of gas and next to the generator is the spare 5 gallon jerry jug. Also to note the generator sits right next to our trailer which is our home and has an open flame propane refrigerator… Thankfully it is raining so Garrett’s hands were wet and he didn’t suffer any burns. He rips off, somehow, the cover for the carb and the fuel filter which is where the flame started. He throws it as far away as possible along next with the spare jerry jug of gas. He frantically starts shoving dirt, that being his only available extinguisher, anywhere he can to suffocate the fire. This method was successful but before he was in the clear he noticed the filter he threw was still very much on fire. Fortunately the generator is not ruined we just need to replace a few parts and Garrett does not look like something out of a horror film with a deformed face!

We are getting awfully close to finishing the bottom planking. The port side is winning but starboard is not too far behind. She is looking really awesome! Progress will once again resume after we take care of repairing the generator:)

I’ve been filling all the countersink holes with epoxy and sawdust. I’m about half way on the Port side of the boat. Garrett will grind down the epoxy to be flush with the hull and then will plane down the entire hull to make her fare and ready to be preserved then primed. ”

Thanks everybody!

Here finally is episode 14!