Check out the link for a picture (I don't want to infringe on a publication's private property)... it's an iceberg with various color stripes. The stripes are various algae, sediment and the like that get trapped in the ice as it forms. Very pretty. Maybe I should add some interesting stripes to the boat when I paint it...

Only available for commercial applications right now, but these would be just perfect for the roof of my boat. No pains mounting them, just stick them on. There is a video here of an installation being performed. The company also does have some residential solutions... I have to believe this stuff will continue to grow.

A couple of articles covering a competition to have a sailboat cross the Atlanta autonomously. Interesting, although I would rather go along for the ride, myself :-)

• A sailing robot to cross the Atlantic
• Pinta the robot sailing boat takes on Atlantic challenge
• The Microtransat Challenge

I got so involved in processing all my pictures yesterday I forgot to mention that I also put fiberglass tape down one of the chine seams. Plans specify two layers of the bottom cloth on the chines and I decided to put the tape over the seam and then cloth the entire bottom as the second layer. Seemed to go on nicely and smooth out well.

Tonight I got home late, but there was enough light left to run out and take a look... finished out very nicely. Looks like I got it all well wetted out, and it is really stuck on there. Glad to see it bonded so nicely. That will add a lot of strength and impact resistance to that joint, I believe.

After morning services and Mother's Day lunch with my wife and son, we got into some boat work. Ran by the orange box (Home Depot) and picked up some 1x6 pine boards to rip for the outer keel. I still find it odd that it's cheaper to buy 1x6 instead of 1x3. It just seems to me that they could get smaller boards from smaller, cheaper trees, but I guess it doesn't work that way.

Georgia had some pretty bad storms during the night last night (tornado's, severe thunderstorms, etc.) We didn't have any real damage, but the high winds neatly removed the plastic from my shed. Since it's easier to work that way, and it's not due for any rain to speak of for several days, I just left it off. The winds this afternoon would have removed it again anyhow.

One side effect is that you can see the entire boat at once. I makes it bigger :-) Got some pictures while we had the opportunity.

Dane got busy removing some of the "clamping" screws down the centerline so that we could plane it off level and get ready for the keel. While he worked on that, I rounded off the chines. I tried using a round-over in the router but with the angles involved, it just didn't work well at all. Wound up just taking the angle grinder with rough sandpaper on it and rounding it by hand. Worked like a champ.

Later we got the first board of the outer keel on. Had to plane off the centerline flat and fill the "crack" with epoxy. Went ahead and glued the first board in place. That went fine... just have to make really sure it's straight and in the middle.

Money = ~$23.00 (1x6's)

Time = 4 hours

Just a quick note to wish all of our Mom's a "Happy Mother's Day". And if you still have your mother, please reach out and give her a big hug (even if its only a phone call).

I'm blessed to have a great mother, mother-in-law, and wife (who is mother of our child). And they all support me with my boat building!

All-in-all it doesn't get much better than that.

Well, one year ago today I ordered the plans and considered things "started" on my build.

I figure I'm withing a month or two (worst case) of being able to roll the hull. Not as far along as I wanted to be, but we'll take what we can get.

My original 'schedule' had me finishing the hull last September, but various family and health issues kept that from happening. My overall plan was for 2-3 years. Hopefully I can make that.

Regardless of delays, its still great fun (most of the time) and things have really seemed to be progressing of late. Today we were having a family discussion on hull colors :-)

Picture from Wikipedia

Our friends over at GCaptain had a blurb about the N/S Savannah - the world's first nuclear powered merchant ship. It was an interesting article and a good update on the ship.

Wikipedia also has a fairly up-to-date entry on the vessel.

I find this ship interesting from a couple of viewpoints... in this modern day of high and climbing oil prices, maybe its time to be considering some more of these ships?

More personally to me, I toured the ship in Charleston, SC and the Patriot's Point museum many years ago. When I returned a few years later, it wasn't there. There was no mention of where it went or what happened to it. It was as if it had never been there and I really began to wonder what I was dreaming up. I finally found it had been moved, but kind of lost track. It's somehow neat to me to hear that it is being cleaned up and refurbished (minus the propulsion system) and that its on the National Historic Register and will be kept for historical reasons.

An interesting alternative fuel design that is "out there" now. I have some doubts about some of the biodiesel stuff from an economic and environmental viewpoint (should we be burning food for fuel???), but depending on how it's made, it might be ok. Regardless of that, it certainly works.

This 100% biodiesel-powered, 78 ft wave-piercing trimaran aims to set an around-the-world speed record while maintaining a net zero carbon footprint. The Earthrace left Sagunto, Spain, on April 27, and has already made excellent time across the Atlantic, landing in Panama just 8 days later.

Read the rest here... (including a video). You can also check out the Earthrace site for info. We first covered this boat with a link to this National Geographic spread back in December.

It's always a pleasure to have something good to write about a vendor you deal with. Excellent customer service can mean so much these days.

If you recall, I ordered some more epoxy from U.S. Composites the other day. Well, when it arrived last Friday I was busy and didn't get around to opening it. Sunday evening I opened the box and found that the gallon of resin had sprung a leak. The jug itself was leaking (split a seam I think)... the lid was still tight and well sealed (plug, screw on lid and tape).

The entire shipment was sealed in a heavy plastic bag that had contained the spill, although everything else was fairly well covered in goo. One nice thing was that most of the small stuff (fiberglass roller, pumps) were in their own bags, so they were ok.

Well, now I had a rather expensive mess. I called them Monday morning and was promptly greeted with apologies and offers to send replacement containers for any that were too messy to use. Absolutely no question about sending a replacement jug of resin.

I declined the kind offer of new bottles and they were going to ship the other. It came today, well packed in packing peanuts and just what I ordered.

Thanks for a good recovery!

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