Robert Leask wrote:

What keeps me at it is taking a moment to stand back and look at what I've done. My boat has been my home for many years, and taken me more places than I can relate, and it was once only a mental image. Then an image on paper, then liines on the loft floor, and finally the good ship Loon. After all these years I can still see that image in my mind. A dream made real, by my own hands.

I am almost the opposite from you, Robert.  I look at it one task at a time: I'd be overwhelmed by the project if I really took on board that I'm building a boat.  After all, it was quite clearly explained to me that I'm not capable of doing this sort of thing!

Thats why we do it. The whine of drills, the buzz of power planes, the smell of epoxy in the morning, instant coffee rimed with sawdust, and a dream. If I weren't so old, I would build another. I'm enjoying your photographic boat building documentary, your pictures evoke all those sights, sounds and smells of building a wood boat. 

Is boatbuilding a means to an end, or an end in itself?

What keeps me at it is taking a moment to stand back and look at what I've done. My boat has been my home for many years, and taken me more places than I can relate, and it was once only a mental image. Then an image on paper, then liines on the loft floor, and finally the good ship Loon. After all these years I can still see that image in my mind. A dream made real, by my own hands.

Thats why we do it. The whine of drills, the buzz of power planes, the smell of epoxy in the morning, instant coffee rimed with sawdust, and a dream. If I weren't so old, I would build another. I'm enjoying your photographic boat building documentary, your pictures evoke all those sights, sounds and smells of building a wood boat. 

Is boatbuilding a means to an end, or an end in itself?

Ketil, I'm sure you will know that in English 'amateur' has the same root as 'love', ie we do what we do out of love rather than necessity.  I wonder what the equivalent word is in Norwegian and whether it has the same overtones.  Too many professional boatbuilders have to keep an eye on the clock and say 'this will have to do.'

It is a great privilege to have both the money and the time to build my own boat.  I am truly enjoying the process.  It is absolutely essential to maintain a level of self-discipline: fortunately my chosen way of life has always required this of me, so it's not a huge effort, although there are many times when I'd like to 'take it easy' for a few days.  I try to put in 8 hours on the boat.  It seems to average out a bit less in the winter and rather more in the summer.  I suspect this has a lot to do with my being 'solar powered' and inclined to slow down and lose motivation when it's grey and overcast (like today).  Even though I'm building inside (aren't I lucky?!), the lack of sunshine still affects me.

I'll be lucky to turn the boat over by my birthday, which would be great, but if it ends up taking a year, I won't be that unhappy.  Probably another year to fit out and then several months finishing off and making the rig.  Not a fast build, but it could be a lot worse and I reckon I have the energy to keep on as I am until then.

Annie, the best you can do is extremely good. As it needs to be, because this project is about building yourself a living space that you're going to occupy 24/7 for the foreseeable future, not just for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoons, as is the case for many boats. While many of us, myself included, would expend less effort on tidying the areas that only the spiders will see, I'm sure we all respect and admire the way that you are creating your boat, in your way, to your standards. I apologise for teasing.