The decks are epoxied — I rolled on resin mixed with mostly slow hardener but added a little fast hardener to one batch just to see how it worked in that application (quite well, actually). It takes about 150g total to do the foredeck, less than half that for the after. The boat would like to remind you that it really is going to be beautiful when finished.

With the deck wood darkened by epoxy, I can now be sure of the selection of the color for the accent stripe up front which has been occupying an absurd amount of my attention. Amy and I looked at the pigments (which arrived today) and agreed “liberty copper” is the one to use.

I’ve been watching reviews for 360 action cams and became convinced that Insta360’s “One X2” model would be the best for my uses. I didn’t really want to pay full price for a new instance of a 2-year-old camera, but I also didn’t want to take my chances on eBay with a complex product with lots of opportunities for prior abuse and undisclosed issues. I do, however, trust B&H’s used dept, so I haunted that page off and on looking for a good deal while I perusing How-To videos. I saw no X2s at B&H for the last several days or earlier tonight. When I popped in at 2 in the morning just before calling it a day, a “a slightly scuffed” but otherwise fully functional X2 with the OEM-supplied accessories stared back at me for almost exactly the same price as good eBay deals (30% under new retail) and with free shipping. Bluff called! It will need additional batteries, a dedicated memory card, lens protection, and an extra long selfie stick –so would a new one. Marvelous: another pit of reasonably priced kit with an endless potential for accessories. [Also for the record: now that it’s here, I see no scuffs, slight or otherwise. Thank you again, B&H.]

Unlike the X, the X2 is said to be sufficiently waterproof as it comes out of the box for the adventures I have in mind for it: capturing hypnotically beautiful rowing trips out on the Catawba and hysterically inept thrashing about by an old man attempting to row for the first (or twentieth) time. I watched several reviews and picked a 2.7m Telesin carbon-fiber vanishing selfie stick. Will it be perfect? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s a well-reviewed mid-range product that won’t hurt too much if it needs to be replaced / upgraded. I had to start somewhere. Add the lens guards soon and spare batteries, and a charger eventually. A lens cover, and a dedicated micro SD card with plenty of space are must haves. In the meantime, practice, Mister, practice. A 10 minute walk in the woods with Gemma worked like magic — and required 5GB.

Note that the Insta360 app appears to load and run nicely on the Ipad Mini 4 but was not offered to my larger Samsung Tab A. It may be possible to load it anyway. I probably wasted $11 on an app for the Samsung which might turn the camera on and off (I thought it would do much more). My first actual trial –dog walking– produced grossly overexposed video outside. The fix, so far, is to record video in HDR mode. There may be other solutions. To move files to the desktop via a USB cable, keep USB mode set to “Desktop” in which mode the computer sees the X2’s SD card as a removable drive; the camera is effectively just a hub. I have been all around the barn working out how to mount that camera in the boat. Simplest: provide some mounting holes by way of which I can stick a small ball head anywhere I want one and then mount this selfie stick on the ball head. Done! Promaster MG-2, eBay.

The parts from Durham Boat Company are here and went together cleanly, solidly, naturally. Forget ropes and shims and leather: the sleeves fit the old oars perfectly. Just go ahead and clean the oars up with paint, epoxy, or whatever and get them ready to go. They’ll do fine. The oarlock bushings (Concept 2, blue universal, for the C2 carbon fiber oarlocks) went unnoticed and unappreciated by me. I had to go to YouTube to figure out a) that I needed them, b) that I had mistaken them for spacers, and c) how they work. They mate the oarlocks to a scrap of 1/2-inch stainless tube very nicely; I hope they fit just as well with the brass tubes I’ve ordered to make into pins. About pins: brass 1/4-20 threaded rods are on the way as of today, too. I’ll use steel fittings on them until the idea proves out and then swap in brass or stainless steel.

I’m going to need some appropriate putty for the hatches that permit access through the bulkheads and white paint for “the office.” The sampler kit should have enough Black Diamond black pigment to cover the exposed epoxy around the bulkheads. I may put off painting the corporate HQ until well after launch when everything is where it really needs to be. There’s no sense sanding down through paint to make inevitable adjustments.

I seem to have arrived at the infamous “90% done, 90% to go” stage.

Day 50.

Plumber’s putty for the hatches, plywood for the floor beneath the rowing machinery, and two-part structural foam are all in hand (Lowe’s, Lowe’s and Amazon).

Lots of boatly bits have arrived and more are on the way — see bold text above. The boatyard is becoming disorganized as the project progresses in so many different directions. I will, I swear, separate all these tasks into their natural divisions and proceed systematically. Believe that? Maybe I could interest you in a nice bridge.