The Beginning

At the beginning of the summer of 2009, I wanted to think of a project for Matthew and me. When he was a littler kid, we had a ton of fun building Lego projects. In fact we still have a small scale model "hemi" engine kit, that we never started. But I wanted something else. I remembered way back in boy scouts, building a canoe. It was a really cool project. So I checked out some boat building kits, and after a little research settled on the Pygmy boat kit. They have several models of sit in kayaks. These are more suited for colder temps - down south we all have sit on top kayaks. But, checking out the building process, and the finished products, I was really impressed with the quality of the boats, both in functionality and looks.

I thought this kind of project would be a great experience too. It involves lots of planning - reading instructions and thinking through the construction process; attention to detail - a small mistake can cause big problems, like a boat that doesn't go straight; and deferred gratification - it takes a long time to do this. The process only takes about 75 hours or so, but adding in wait time for epoxy drying, and busy schedules, we'll be lucky to finish in about 5 months.

I wanted to share pictures with some friends and family, and decided (about a 1/3 way through) that a good way to do this is with a blog that I can add comments and pictures.

Since we did a bunch of steps before I thought of the blog, there will be 5 or 6 posts that will catch up to where we are now.

Randy