CANOE!

Well, seeing as how all of the activities that I once enjoyed are now a bit difficult to partake in, I've started building a canoe.  I got the idea from my buddy Murray, who, most of you know, is the kind of guy who is rather particular.  Building a strip canoe is definitely one of those things you need to be rather particular about during the construction process because every f*** -up becomes an order of magnitude worse as the canoe progresses.  I thought it would be a good challenge for me, seeing as I'm not the most patient person in the world.

The first step is to make the strongback.  The strongback is the foundation, or platform, for which the canoe will be made 

around, so it needs to be sturdy, straight and relatively level.  The last bit there, level, was kind of a challenge in our garage here because it is far from level and is constantly moving.  Yup, thats right, MOVING!  The ground here in Houston is far from stable...thats what you get when you combine clayey/sandy sand with lots of rain.  Oh well.  The strongback I decided to make is a nearly identical version of the plans designed by Ted Moores' Canoecraft.  I completed the strongback last November...I'll get some more canoe updates soon.