There's still a bit to finish up the dory, but she's got a coat of paint on the bottom and I couldn't stand to wait another two weeks to get her in the water—plus, it might be July before we see another day like this. I wanted to see what adjustments needed to be made for the final product so we threw the dory on top of the LandCrusher and drove up to Vancouver Lake to see if she floats.


  


Floats, indeed! Molly took the first turn at the oars and I sat back and ate brie and crackers. Not a bad life.





The boat's named Ellen, after Molly's grandmother who recently passed away. She's quick and very easy to balance: I could stand up without any trouble. Molly wound up perched right at the edge of the seat, so the oarlocks need to move forward a few inches. Other than that, everything seems to be perfect.

After a return to shore to visit the bathroom, we traded places and I took over the propulsion, taking us across the lake to the island. We found a swarm of very large mosquitos there and then we quickly rowed away. The water was a little choppier on the way back, but the dory handled it with no problem—no surprise, considering this is the same kind of boat fishermen used to take out into the ironically-named Pacific.


 


So, now we have a boat! And when summer comes, at long last, we'll spend long hours floating around doing nothing in particular.

Now if only it had a sail..