The best laid plans of mice and men....

Oh lordy. Spent yesterday on the boat (pictures of the progress included) and what a day it was! I'll spare you the details but it seems like everything that can go wrong, is going wrong. So we are running around like crazy people trying to re-organise but it's all pulling together so panic over for now. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be in a position to have it in the water to see if it floats ready for the big day on Saturday. I have every confidence in the boat building team!

Full length of the boat. You can see how much extra height the side planks will add to it.

I've made this image extra large so you can see the holes which the yew witthies pass through to secure the planks together.

Putting some finishing touches to the end of the boat.

One of the builders, Robin Wood, has a blog (http://greenwood-carving.blogspot.co.uk/) with loads of fantastic pictures and explanations of how the boat has been constructed. He also does spoon carving courses so here's a link to his website if you want to have a go http://www.robin-wood.co.uk/. The head boat builder, Richard Darrah, is an archaeologist who specialises in ancient timbers, his website has some fabulous pictures of past projects he's been involved with and is well worth a look (http://www.rivenoak.co.uk/).

We've had some fantastic volunteer stewards who have given up their time to come and educate visitors about the boat, so a big thank you Terry and Faith. And I really do have to give a massive shout out to Dover Sea Safari (http://www.doverseasafari.co.uk/) who have been so supportive of this project and patient with all of us landlubbers as we try to understand what launching a boat entails. The Dover Harbour Board also deserve a mention as, again, they have been very understanding and supportive of us.

Tomorrow I should have some pictures of the complete boat and maybe in the water if we're lucky!


...to be continued....