So I’m currently partway through collaborating on the creation of a canoe. The project was started about three months ago, and for various reasons I’ve only just started to blog about it now (see dictionary entries; laziness, procrastination, forgetfulness). So the next few posts will be retrospective updates, and most certainly not in real time unless your idea of real time consists of finding a Delorean and arriving on a beautiful weekend in August in a leafy Sheffield garden. Hopefully soon Blog Time will have caught up with Real Time, and then we can all relax.
Anyway. Those people who know me well in real life were as surprised as I was when I found out I was to be one of two people building the Canoe of Dreams. The Mastermind Behind the Operation (or MBO as I affectionately never ever call him) and I were watching a documentary about home education at my local independent cinema (just an average Sunday in my life, nbd), which inspired said Mastermind to suggest we work on a Project together. Because it would be a nice team-building activity; because it would be fun; but mostly, because the idea of being in a canoe, on a lake, on a summer’s day with a beer in hand sounded Quite Nice.
That’s how the idea started. It could very well have ended up as one of those pipe dreams which sound like good fun and probably would be but life gets in the way and then it’s time to pay for other, more responsible things instead like laundry and dentistry (so I’m told). Fortunately MBO and I happen to be two very go-getting individuals and have absolutely no inclination whatsoever to prioritise afternoon naps, cups of tea, and binge-watching House of Cards. At all.
Full credit goes to MBO at this point for actually doing the research and generally Making Shit Happen. Firstly, he has an actual degree in making stuff and so knows a lot about it. Including making stuff out of wood. He also has a previous track record in canoe-building, this one time at camp. So naturally I left all the brainwork to him.
We ordered a kit from Fyne Boat Kits, the cost of which was apparently ‘reasonable’, but still caused me to live on beans on toast for longer than I’d care to admit. We plumped for the Canadian Canoe kit, which included all the plywood panels needed to make the canoe - as well as all the other paraphernalia, like epoxy resin and activator, copper ties, and fibreglass to coat the boat in. Also, the photos of the Canadian Canoe were most definitely selling a Lifestyle and I’m a sucker for that shit.
The kit arrived, and there it sat in a corner of the house for some time, whilst we did more important things including attending a wedding, partying to the max at a crazy-ass festival, and galloping around on a horse (not all at the same time).
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