Hatch Alternative

I was debating whether or not to build this boat with hatches. Because it includes shear clamps, I won't have to reach inside to tape the deck seams. I read on another blog, that in this case, you can install waterproof deck plates for access to the watertight compartments, and skip the hatches. However, I do use hatches, so I compromised by planning a hatch for the forward compartment, and a deck plate to access the rear. I decided on a hatch forward, because a deck plate would be too hard to reach.

New Kit

My Shearwater 17 "Wood Parts Only" kit arrived today, a whopping 17 days after I ordered it.  Not being One Who Takes His Time, I immediately unpacked it, and began joining the bottom panels. 
I dared to simply epoxy the "puzzle joints" together, without the reinforcing strip of 9oz. fiberglass tape. As I see it, this joint gets fiberglassed on both sides anyway, and the glue joint should be strong enough to hold the panels together until then. This intersection also turns out to be right in the middle of the cockpit, where that bump created by the saturated 9oz. glass will require lots of (heavy, expensive) epoxy to fill it smooth. 
I actually feel that there is just a tiny bit of "overkill" in the Instruction Manual. I tossed this idea at CLC's owner, (nice guy), and got a bit of a "raised eyebrow" response, but I had decided that my challenge for this project was to save as much weight and material as possible. More on this concept as I go along.




I also cut strips from leftover 4oz. fiberglass cloth to use in lieu of 9 oz. tape:

 

Sleeping Giant

I've been here at least 50 times, between the ages of 8 and 53, and that's a conservative estimate. I might have thought that I knew every rock & tree, but I didn't-something about going back to a place after years makes me observe small details. 
That October wet snow/ice storm took a toll on the trees, but the maintenance folks  did a neat & skillful job of felling & bucking the damaged, unlike that gross giant-hedge-trimmer-on-a-bucket-truck thing they use to slash branches on the highway. Forest proliferation made it different anyway-big 'ol trees are gone, little, new ones are there.

 A view of "The Chin", from the "White Trail". These are the tallest sheer-drop cliffs on the hill. More than one has met a tragic end there.

This plaque is opposite the above mentioned cliff, on the easy "Tower Trail". Its obviously been there for years, but I never noticed it. Some of the nomenclature would be confusing for persons unfamiliar with The Giant's lore. On the opposite side of the "head", many yards of trap rock have been removed by quarrying. 

Actually, I never really noticed how much these cliffs are in the process of falling down. Every cliff has a big talus pile at its base, and boulders of every size and shape resting securely or precariously. Many look like a misstep would send them down.

The Good Old Tower, another CCC make-work project. About the same as ever, with a few modernizations.

I remember when this room had what looked like pit toilets on this bench. What the hell was someone thinking? At least they snapped out of it & filled them with cement.

 Spacious landings on the second & third levels. It was as if they were expecting hundreds of visitors at a time.








Nice spiderweb detail.











Top, with a view. A very safe place, you'd have to really try to fall from here.

Modern, solar-powered "facilities".
























About 30 years ago, I visited a place now known as Dead Man's Cave. As usual, its really just a series of tight spaces in the rockfall. It seems that it used to be easier to find, since I can't find it after three attempts. I read detailed instructions on other blogs & message boards, and still can't find it. As I recall, it really took some nuts to go in there anyway, but I wanted to check it out while its still too cold for Copperheads.

2-18-12 Addendum:

We finally did find the Dead Man's Cave today.  I had been too stuck on the way I used  to find it via the Blue trail and The Devil's chute. My friend, who had never been there before, somehow sensed that I hadn't gone far enough down the Green Trail. When we did the directions/landmarks I'd read about were very good.

 This formation of boulders is directly to the left  of the opening. It looks almost like a deliberately-built wall. A picture of the opening, as it appears from the rock pile is almost pointless, because the opening doesn't  appear from the rock face. It is an abrupt right turn.

Looking down & in, after the right turn

Graffiti. Points  the way to Hell. ;/

The "front room" ends abruptly. You are looking straight forward at a wall, and a straight-down drop of 6 feet. I seem to recall going down  there, without the aid of that log in the background, in the past-but there was an even tighter drop-down hole further in, which  I didn't do.
This is as far in as I got today. 

On the way back, we checked out the abandoned quarry.  A lot of this hill has been eaten away. I thought it looked like a really good place to get beaned by a falling rock. 
We returned via the Violet trail. Lots of nifty exposed roots, and the ruin of an old dam on the Mill River.

Mt Tom, CT

I'm obsessed with Towers lately. Especially the type of implausible, impractical, there-for-no-reason, Undedicated Monuments. Mt. Tom is easy to reach, right on RT. 202.


Someone thoughtfully arranged a directional sign of sticks. Not really necessary, there is a well-worn, rocky trail blazed in yellow.

 We paced our out-of-shape selves on the climb. First glimpse through the trees.

 
Actually, a sign at the foot of the trail said "Tower closed for repair". We couldn't figure out if that meant that the road to the tower (did it go there?) was closed, or that the interior of the the tower was closed. We went for it anyway, and nothing was closed. 

 
I was hoping for a nifty stone spiral staircase, but no. This wood is indeed in need of some repair, but not yet unsafe. 


Views from the top:

I've seen this type of thing several times, in the woods. At first, it obviously looks like a chimney that's outlasted its house. But oddly, the ground isn't particularly level in front of this, and there's no remnant of a foundation. A fairly tall tree grows right in front of it. The small structure to the left is poured concrete, and in bad condition.

 

We also took a side trip back to Cunningham Tower, in Cornwall. After checking that out, took the road up to the top of Mohawk Mountain. There are two fancy, modern communications towers, and a very nice view:

 

Cunningham Tower

Is located in Mohawk State Forest, Cornwall, CT.  I read about it on a website called "Damned Connecticut, which is mainly concerned with "weird" and "spooky" places. I didn't find it particularly "spooky", and only weird in that it seems to have No Particular Purpose.

 Yes, it does sit there, in the middle of the woods. It was built about 100 years ago, and forest proliferation has probably obscured whatever view there was from the top.  It reminds me of a small version of one of those "Martello Tower" forts. 

Like all good castles, it sports a gargoyle. Actually, nothing about the place itself spooked me, but there was a slight creepiness to the interior, which I'll get to later.

The floor is made of red octagonal tiles. There was about an inch of ice on the floor.

There was once a second & third levels. You can see where there was a spiral stone staircase, but its been broken off. The ground & second floors each have fireplaces.

These thingies are about 50 feet downhill of the tower. I have no idea what they were-maybe supports for some kind of patio?

What are these?

Surprisingly little graffiti-there wasn't much more than this. Not much trash either.

And now, for a bit of weirdness. Someone has placed a board across the fireplace, like a mantel. On it were a neat row of votive candles, and bits of broken crockery. Hmm. I wonder what they do in here? Actually, its not very far from the road, and located in a State Park that's closed after dark.

Squaw Cave

Its amazing what is called a "cave" in Connecticut. Boulders fall on each other, leaving some sort of space underneath, and it becomes a "cave"  Judge's Cave, Wolf Den, and the cave at Chatfield Hollow are examples. The Rock House in Watertown is large and impressive, Dead Man's Cave on Sleeping Giant is deep, rambling, dark, and spooky, but these aren't true caves. When I read that there are two real caves in Connecticut,, I wanted to check one out.

 This is the hill. even from a distance, you can see that the rock is a little "different'.

 The cliff

 Cave opening. You can clearly see it from RT. 44, including idiotic graffiti. In fact, the cave is less than 50 yards from the road. The interior  is almost completely covered in graffiti, some of it offensive:

 From the inside. This would be a good cave to camp in, it it wasn't sooo close to the road.

 The interior tapers like a tube. A very small spring runs through it.

Like just about every geological feature in places where "geological features" are fairly rare, this place has a Legend. Google for it, I won't bore you with it here...
And, like most interesting features which are unlucky enough to be located close to populated areas, certain people feel the need to make their "mark" on it. Its as if they want to erase any "primeval" or "natural" aspect, and force the place into civilization. A small & neat carving of a name or initials, with a date, might actually be cool, for the future- " I wonder who "J.D. was? And he really was here way back in  2012?"- but Sloppy Racist Spray Paining doesn't cut it...

The Leatherman's "Real" Cave

I am oddly fascinated by the stories and legends of The Old Leatherman. No need to recount the standard tale here, a Google search will easily tell the same story on half a dozen websites. I did, however find an interesting entry on one blog:

"Steve… Gotta say I like your site… I grew up exploring that whole area…In fact just over the hill and along the next ridge of the mattatuck trail… Is a very real cave… You use to have to use a chain to climb up to it… also there is a very large rock overhang known locally as the “half c”… I partied all over that place and hiked and explored…. Only thing I will say though is that the cave there by jericho wasn’t the cave we all knew as Leathermans… If you go almost all the way down Park Rd. coming from Eylematic… In one the last curves in the road is a turn out… Used to have a railing across what was/is a dirt road… And there is a lone house up to your right a good few paces… Any way, follow this until you get to a place where you could take a jog right or stay with the “road”…

Take the jog right… Walk another 50 100 yards… leathermans is on your left… At the end if this ridge is a towering rock…If you climb to the top of this, it is a great view… Someone carved a star into the top of this… Looks to be along time ago… This rock is widows peak…But at any rate That is the real Leatherman’s… You can feel it"

I've been to the cave near the Jericho Trail a few times. There are two routes, both uphill: Steep and Steeper. Other posters on this blog doubted that the popular "Rock House" cave under Crane's look out would be heatable by a campfire, and I agree-its large, and open at both ends. The wind would go right through it. I followed the above directions to this place:



Another rockfall "cave", this one only about half a mile from the road, on almost level ground. I believe it is the place. I don't seem to know how to photograph a cave to "look like a cave", but this place narrows to a snug den, which a campfire would heat easily.  Much easier to reach, especially by careless modern partiers, who'd left beer cans all over. I carried out a boxful of them (cans, not partiers).  What the hell is so hard about carrying out your trash??












I followed the directions further, and climbed the nearby widows Peak. Nice view of Thomaston.  I think I found the above mentioned "star", but its faint, and looks more like a starfish:

I tried looking for the "very real cave", but I don't think I found it. Saw other interesting details on the way, though:

I

 

 I also read that the idea of Jules Bourgulay as The Old Leatherman has been debunked. Shame, it was such a good & dramatic story!  However, it sometimes seemed to me, that the Standard Story might be a little embellished, as if to explain why a man might walk an endless circle in an uncomfortable leather suit. It seems that in those pre-welfare days, Hoboes were not such an uncommon sight. This particular vagabond was, however, a little "socially different" and mysterious, giving rise to legends of his origins. He may have even been "playing" it a little with his striking appearance and silence. He never worked or sought work, covered only about 10 miles a day, and ate free meals, several times a day. It became a sort of "honor" to be known as someone who fed The Leatherman. 

I have also read that when he was found dead, he showed signs of mercury poisoning & syphilis, which might explain the behavior of walking in a great circle for thirty years.

He may or may not have performed his circuit for profound reasons. Maybe he was just a "differently configured personality".

It Will Continue

I had originally planned to start a new blog when I started a new kayak Build, but it occurs to me that I have already written enough about "my next build" on this blog, so I might as well continue here. 

As aforementioned, I decided to go ahead with using my cedar strips, without the coves and beads.Yesterday, I planed all the strips down to a thickness just under 1/4' (7/32?) with my (repaired) thickness planer. Quite a lengthy job, and I made, in the parlance of the Younger Generation, an Epic Mess.  After cleaning up this morning, I stacked the strips & counted the lineal feet-700, about twice as much red cedar as white. I hope its enough-don't want to have make more!

The Next Plan

So, when we had last left this saga, I had given up on the idea of making my own bead-and-cove strips, because I had planed the strips too thin. However, after more reading, I discovered that you can indeed, build a strip deck without the coves and beads, by planing a "rolling bevel" as necessary, into each strip. You can even plane the strips thinner than 1/4", maybe 3/16 (weight savings). So I'm going to try it that way, challenge myself, get frustrated, learn a bunch along the way, and (hopefully) come out with a good result.
CLC sells bead-and-cove strips of White Cedar and Western Red Cedar. I could not find any decent White Cedar anywhere, but the nice gentleman at Liberty Cedar, after hearing my plans, suggested Alaskan Yellow Cedar. Its very nearly white in color, but it seems very hard & heavy for "cedar".  I'd better use it sparingly, for "accents"

Plans & Projects, Continued

I decided  that I couldn't bring myself to attack the beautiful deck of my kayak with a jigsaw for any reason. so I put a fresh coat of varnish on, and tried to sell it on EBay and CLC's website. Unsatisfactory results on Ebay, and some interest  from a guy on the CLC site, but no sale. Its hanging from the rafters in my basement right now. I decided to build a new SW17 Hybrid, and try to sell the old 'yak in the spring, when people are acually interested in kayaks.
Unfortunately, I also decided to try to mill my own bead-and-cove strips.  After spending over $100 on wood,  generating at least two bags of wood shavings, much table sawing and planing , I realized that I'd planed the strips too thin. I could not cut a strong "cove", no matter how I adjusted the  router. So I now have a significant pile of too-thin cedar strips in my basement. I even managed to wreck my back in the process, somehow. The web page I read about how to do it said to mill the strips "a fraction of an inch thicker than 1/4", but I really think it would have to be almost 1/16' to leave room for a strong cove.  So I gave up on the idea, and decided to buy an entire kit this winter.

Plans, Projects

I need stuff to do during the winter.
When I make plans, I have a tendency to be modest, either from an inherent lack of confidence, or a desire for a high probability of success. So, I built my Shearwater, having bought the construction manual & studied it, months in advance. After using it for a season, I began to want to build my "Ultimate Kayak". I test-paddled a Night Heron Hybrid  at the CLC demo, and thought that my SW was actually faster, so I decided on a Shearwater 17 Hybrid.
Plan A- Sell my present boat, hopefully for enough $$ to buy the next kit, and build the Hybrid this winter. Build a smaller "toy" boat next winter, for fun.
"Plan A" flunked when I tried to sell the kayak. No bites on Craigslist or CLC's website. Lots of watchers and views on EBay, but no serious bidding. I considered keeping the 1st boat, building the Hybrid anyway, and attempting to sell the old one next spring, but I don't know that it will sell any better then, either. Then I'd be stuck with two 17' kayaks in my tiny basement.
Plan B- Retrofit my present 'yak with a cedar-stripped deck.
Hmm. It seems that it can be done, but with difficulty, and with the very real possibility of making a hash of the whole thing. The idea set my mind going with problems, solutions, tools to buy, techniques to learn, etc.  I have gone though this before, like when I was considering buying the house next door-I run all the problems through my mind, collecting solutions. In the end, I left that house alone, having judged that it wasn't  worth the effort. Now this time, I was more equal to the challenge, except for one thing-I just went downstairs to look at what I have to do, and I decided that I probably couldn't  make myself take a jigsaw to that beautiful deck for any reason. I had just sanded and re-varnished the deck, preparatory to sale, and it looks pretty darned nice. 
So:
Plan C- wait until January, then build my "toy kayak" this winter. I won't wreck anything, and it'll keep me busy.

Hamburg Cove

Another bay of the Connecticut River. We tried it last year, going up cove until we ran out of water, but this time, I went towards the river.

More Backyards Of The Wealthy. 

 These guys pose well.

 I don't think this has been used in a while.

Nice place for a paddle-less obnoxious boat traffic.