Notes from the Cape

So, I have finally finished my holiday project. Ok, so it was initially going to be a project for when Lois was at Guide Dog training, but I soon discovered that it was far more work than I originally anticipated. In total, it took about six weeks to complete, with a total of about 50 hours work. The Boat, the ‘Bon Retour’, is an all-wood replica of a French fishing boat, built in 1952.

The kit contained all parts required. Some are pre-cut, some need to be measured and cut yourself. The instructions and diagrams are fairly simple to follow. However, there was almost no help on the rigging, so I had to do most of the rigging by looking at the picture on the front of the box.

While I thoroughly enjoyed building the boat, I soon realised that there are a few tools that you really need to complete the project.

• A plank bender is used to ensure that the planks on the keel can be easily bent to fit the frame.
• A nailer is used to easily insert any nails into the boat. It is basically a manual nail-gun. Considering that you use about 100 nails, I recommend getting the tool.
• A good quality craft-knife with a selection of spare blades is indispensable, you need to for almost lievery step of the construction.
• A pair of long-nose pliers, as well as a small wire cutter makes holding and trimming of awkward parts easier.
• Finally, some of the holes you need to drill are only 0.5 mm in diameter, so a small manual drill assists with this task.

Did I enjoy the project? most definitely.

Will I do it again? Absolutely – in fact Lois bought me another (much more complex) model for Christmas. This is the Baltimore Clipper, which I will be starting shortly – watch this space.