Carpe diem (aka seize the day)

And so the boat shed build began. Now, it doesn't take an Einstein to work out that this was going to have to be a sizeable structure - not only in terms of length but also in height - if a 36 foot boat was to be constructed inside it. As we were putting it together ourselves, I couldn't help thinking this would present something of a challenge especially in light of my previously discussed design faults. So I raised the question with Howard.

"Hey, you know these frames actually stand over four metres high?"

"Uh, uh."

"Well, how are we going to bolt them together - and don't you dare say 'with bolts'? And assuming we actually manage to bolt together said frames, how on earth are we going to get the cover over them?"

The boat shed frames

Now, you know when you ask what is to you an eminently sensible question, but the person you ask obviously thinks it's a fairly purile one and you get 'that' look? You know the 'Oh, for heaven's sake, can't you work something as simple as that out' look? Well, that's what I got, followed by "just don't you go worrying about that. I've got it all worked out!"

To say I wasn't altogether convinced by this unseemly display of confidence would be something of an understatement. And was I right to be unconvinced? Well actually, no! With the aid of Sunni and Stu, the ute and some step ladders, the frames were up and bolted together in next to no time. Now all that remained was to put the cover on. 'Simple,' you're thinking. Well hold on just one minute because it's not that simple. Perhaps I should explain a couple of things at this juncture.

Half built

The boat shed was 18.5m long by 8m wide by 4.2m high which you will agree is a fairly substantial size. The cover comes in two pieces each of which is just over 9m long (obviously plus 8m wide and 4.2m high) and is made from a very heavy coated polymer fabric, so if we were to avoid the risk of prematurely sailing off down the harbour without our boat we needed a day with little or no wind. We waited ... and waited ... and waited ... and waited. We'd check the weather forecast which would be cautiously optimistic and we'd think 'maybe tomorrow' but tomorrow would dawn and the wind would be blowing.

And then it happened! We woke up one Saturday morning and noticed that it seemed ominously quiet - no creaks or groans from the awning, no scraping of branches on the old shed roof, jsut absolute calm. This was what we'd been waiting for. There was no wind! We really had to seize this opportunity so we had a hurried breakfast and raced outside rounding up the troops (aka Sunni and Stu) as we went. And then several hours and a bit of titivation later we finally had a completed boat shed. As we gazed admiringly at what we had achieved we contemplated the fact that we had actually reached the point when we could begin to build our boat. But first of all we were off to the Marlborough Sounds again. Gosh, it's a tough life!!

Complete and ready to use