3rd varnish coat on hull of the Tern 14

The Tern 14 is getting closer to finished. One more coat of Varnish on the hull, maybe another one or two on the deck, some deck fittings (bungees) back band, and foot braces. Also a sea sock.

I finally see the Epic Endurance 18 for what it has become, a worn out kayak in need of a rebirth, epoxy over the exposed fiber, then clear coat, paint or varnish over the epoxy.

It should stay off the water 'til I've rehabilitated it. I inspected the defect and saw that it was an 8-10" crack in the fiber just above the deck-hull seam. I sanded 1" to each side of the defect and splinted the hull until it was level with the deck portion of the seam.

Drove out to Brady's to paddle the OC6 with Joost Z., Vern, Janet and Mara. 42 minutes to get to Westport Marina with a small ebb tide. Big ebb to fight back to Brady's. Right arm is still too high. Keith said that towards the end of the leg back, he'd begin to lose his grip after 10 strokes. I see an idea there for a claw, that combined with a strap that can help the lower hand function as Nordic ski pole straps do.

Using http://www.walkjogrun.net/ I mapped the path we took to the Westport Marina. using the most direct path, we paddled about 4.12 miles-- /42 minutes= 4.9 mph. I should have brought the GPS, as I'm SURE we're faster than that. Our speed at Rat Island was 6.68 mph. I am certain that Keith and Joost are stronger paddlers than Bill and Bela, all else being the same.

Dinner of hamburger, potato salad & beans at Keith's place. Garden of blueberries, apples, some tomatoes, cherry. Saw his upside down tomato grower--top reservoir was planted in herbs. No water reservoir, does not self water. Discussed a solution to keep tomato plants watered: wicking as in self watering containers.

Email to keith:

The commercial self watering container (swc) product is the Earthbox @ $50 each. I have 7 eighteen-gallon DIY swc's (see http://www.seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf) with strawberries, 5 with tomatoes, one with a sickly eggplant that I just evicted, one with yellow crookneck squash, one with Swiss chard and two with snow peas. My cost was about $6 each. so 17 boxes cost about $112 instead of $850 for the commercial swc. I also have some mini boxes that hold a gallon each with things like choy sum (Chinese veggie), baby carrots, broccoli (just planted), basil (just planted), more strawberries. I have grown lettuce in these and they have absolutely thrived, but would quickly drink the water in the reservoirs. Wicking works.

Eggplant Haiku:

It refused to Fruit,

It got the composting boot,

who's next?, zucchini?