Tyche
Copyright© 2020 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 3
TYCHE .3
Mom came back 4 hours later. I had taken the Farr off the trailer and turned it over. It’s not very heavy and I understand levers, fulcrums and blocking. I had the table built (assembled), leveled and was sanding the laser burn off the edges of the frames. I thought I’d done pretty well.
When she stepped through the door, Surprise grabbed a putty-knife and slipped it into one of a multitude of spider cracks on the old boat. She gave a little twist and a two-foot by four-foot section of fiberglass and one layer of the three layer 4mm plywood popped loose and slid off the hull. It stunk. No describing the smell ... except, maybe ... really strong vinegar and mold.
“That’s why you’re building a new boat.”
“How did this happen?”
So ... she showed me the spiderweb cracks in the fiberglass from where I’d hit or clipped the can buoy by trying to ‘shave’ a little distance off the race course.
“This glass isn’t ‘big boat’ glass ... that stuff is heavy ... this is 3/4 ounce bias ply woven roving ... we laid out 2 layers ... not six or more like the bigger boats. For what we’re building ... it’s plenty good. You just can’t hit things with it.” She sighed.
“Water ... in this case ... salt water ... we built this one in New Zealand ... tends to do nasty things to wood ... and the boat is four years old and had a hard life.”
“I get it,” I said. “I practiced ... and I hit things ... I probably should have had a pram to learn on.”
She said, “Maybe ... but we went with what we had. What we had was 3.7’s. You did look so cool sailing it. You made a tiny boat look big. I know you sold at least 4 of the New Zealand boats.”
She motioned me over to the part of the hull that fell off.
She said, “Notice ... it was the plywood that failed ... the frame is still intact. Our construction held up.”
She grabbed a piece of sandpaper and started in on a new frame. “Well?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I picked up a frame half and sanded. “Sanding.”
We each sanded pieces until they were done and in order.
We unrolled vinyl sheet on the table ... the parts won’t stick to the sheet.
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