A Working Boat

 Our local Grandchildren were here for the weekend and as well as watching Thomas Tank Engine Videos and Snow White on VHS tape we worked in the workshop.

  My five year old grand son has been involved in a variety of projects with me in the shop and my three year old grand daughter is following his example.  Now Clara is a very focused cleaner in the shop which give rise to a new safety concerns, unlike her brother she is not scared of the big machines. He is cautious, she is fearless, and I am going to have to remember that at all times.

  However as Clara was cleaning with brush and dust pan, a role she has taken over from her brother he decided that we should make something. Inevitably he wanted another boat.  I have made many boats for him and as he gets older he has higher and higher expectations of Opa's Boat Works.

 For this boat, I thought I would put up small hurtle, a challenge if you will that he would have to surmount before I undertook to make another boat.  The challenge; I played dumb and told him that I couldn't build a boat without a plan.

  

  This is the plan for the working boat drawn by my five year old Grandson.  I added the labels as he explained the details of the plan. Also included is the scale if you wanted to make your own boat.  The boat has a crane on the front, he's seen this type of boat in Toronto and Hamilton harbour. The request was for eight square cargo containers, on which there were hooks so that the crane could pick them up and the captain's cabin is at the stern.

  The crane turns and has a hook to pick up the cargo containers and the hold of the boat has been routed out 1/2 inch with a straight bit in my Bosch Colt.  When we didn't have a crane with a telescopic boom he decided that there was a conveyor belt underneath to move the cargo forward. Isn't imagination a wonderful thing?

  I cut the hull out of a 2 x 8 and used some of the off cut for the cabin. Kieran used a hand saw to cut the dowels used in the crane as well as spent a good deal of time sanding the hull while I worked on cutting the cargo containers on my sliding mitre saw.

  The projects are getting more advanced and K wants to be more involved. My challenge is to find more ways for hand tools to be included in the process without making it too slow and frustrating. At this point he doesn't like to paint the boats, he says he like wood colour, but he also says he wants to play with the new boat: NOW, not wait for paint or glue to dry.

 Building needs to be good and quick.  Opa will have to work on his methods I guess.