Four sheets of plywood ...

[bythelake]

... $50 on debit card.

Epoxy and fiberglass tape....$70 on debit card.

Safety goggles and earplugs...$ 8 on debit card.

The smile on a young girl's face as she builds her first boat................Priceless.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartlandHeros/files/Good%20Ship%20Hello%20Kitty/kboatcloseup.jpg

Construction of the Good Ship Hello Kitty has begun. I may have to push the launch date back, however. I neglected to take 9 year-old attention spans and skill levels into account. You see, she found the scraps more interesting than the boat. I resisted the impulse to call her back to the task at hand. Instead, I let her play with the scraps while I cleaned up to the lines of the planks, and when she requested help with the sign she was making out of the scraps, I stopped what I was doing and helped her. You see, the point of this project is to spend time with my daughter. So far, we had the bottom and sides cut and trimmed, the frames laid out, and the transom cut.

It was several weeks before I could lure her away from her cartoons again and back to the boat. This is HER boat, and SHE is the lead builder. But the planets were finally in alignment, and Kathryn and I went to work on the boat again. We tacked the midsip frame in place,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartlandHeros/files/Good%20Ship%20Hello%20Kitty/3d.jpg

stitched the bow and transom on,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartlandHeros/files/Good%20Ship%20Hello%20Kitty/stitch.jpg

mixed up the epoxy and filler,

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartlandHeros/files/Good%20Ship%20Hello%20Kitty/mix.jpg

and smeared the epoxy onto the joints.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HeartlandHeros/files/Good%20Ship%20Hello%20Kitty/fillet.jpg

Although Kathryn wasn't overly enthusiastic at the beginning, she soon got excited because "It's starting to look like a boat, Daddy!"

Alas, progress has been furhter postponed, because SWMBO has commandeered the boat shop for a ``Garage Sale.'' I will post further pictures and progress notes as they become available.

[This message has been edited by bythelake (edited 07-13-2001).]

[This message has been edited by bythelake (edited 07-14-2001).]

[ken mcclure]

???

Ah! (LOL) When I posted the question marks, all I saw in the original message was ... http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/smile.gif

My daughter is 3 and 1/2. She already runs around with scraps of Zebrawood, Yellowheart and Purpleheart -- cutoffs from her rocking horse.

She's watching the molds go up and already asking "when will it be a boat?"

Priceless, indeed is the word!

[This message has been edited by kwmcclure (edited 07-14-2001).]

[bythelake]

Sorry KW, the pics didn't show up at first and I had to edit.

[Rich VanValkenburg]

Brings up another question. While 'btl' isn't using PhotoPoint, I've noticed that same site has been down since early yesterday, and just when I'd decided to use it. Are they down for good?

[Concordia41]

Great story - even without the pictures...

[imported_Phil]

Yes I know what you mean! My kids are always needing the hammer to pound in screws or looking for a good piece of wood for a hammer or anchor. One of the boys is really concerned that it is upside down. Progress is slow but sure

Phil

[imported_Phil]

Yes I know what you mean! My kids are always needing the hammer to pound in screws or looking for a good piece of wood for a hammer or anchor. One of the boys is really concerned that it is upside down. Progress is slow but sure

Phil

[doorstop]

My kids always found that my best try square made the best hammer if the smoothing plane wasn't handy, and my wife discovered that the $80 dollar hand saw works great for pruning and if you leave it handily hanging in the tree it is nearly as sharp when you use it NEXT autumn..... then there was the crosspene hammer I found with the rideon lawnmower and the chisel used for planting seeds (?)..... not to mention cutting up the dogs meat on the bandsaw... AAARGH!! http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/frown.gif

[TomRobb]

After I finally found that no ammount of hollering, rationalizing, explaining would keep their sticky little hands (and SWMBO's as well) off my tools, I bought some ok tools for the kitchen "junk drawer" and kept mine under lock and key http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Tom Dugan]

That's interesting, Tom. That happens to be the same solution my wife took about her kitchen knives (and we don't have kids http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb/biggrin.gif ).

-T

[Dave R]

ByTheLake,
I even went so far as to try to join the Yahoo group where you posted the pics. Didn't work.

[NormMessinger]

bythelake:

Oops...
You must be signed in to access the group HeartlandHeros.

To sign in, please click here: Sign In

I'd like to see the pictures but when I address the URL for your pictures this is all I get. You wanna share your password? Does YAWho offer a way around the need to sign in?

--Norm

[jeff pierce]

"btl's" story struck a chord with me. I had hoped building a boat would be a great father /kids experience but thusfar they haven't showed that much interest. Admittedly I have done most of the work on "my time" (11 pm or later). I am so glad I took notice when they began eyeing the plywood scraps. I took a break from boatbuilding and over a couple weekends (in short child-attention span bursts)we designed and built their own skateboards. We could have bought skateboards for half the price at Walmart, but they are bursting with pride from their accomplishment. Upon completion, my son told me "I'm going to keep this forever. When I'm too old to ride it, I will put it on display".

Brings a tear to the eye.

[bythelake]

Sorry guys, I've been out of town.
Are the pictures not showing up for you?
I can see them when I pull up the thread. Unfortunately, the e-group is private, and I'm not allowed to share the password. The group consists of parents who have put their children in a residential school because our children were seriously off-track, and we have run out of alternatives. If anyone is interested, or knows someone who is having trouble with teen-age children and running out of options, contact me off-list, and I will be glad to share my experience or just serve as a wailing wall.

I put them up there as an alternative to photopoint. I didn't realize that the password might keep others from seeing them. If that's the case, let me know and I'll find another alternative. If you send me a message, I can e-mail you the pics.

I'm really proud of Kathryn's work, and looking forward to sailing the Good Ship Hello Kitty with her. As soon as I can get SWMBO's garage sale stuff out of the boatshop, we'll be back to work.

Cheers,

Mike Cummings