Lessons learned

I'm putting a page on the side bar for any adult contemplating doing a similar program, and who wants the benefit of my experiences.

Successful Launch!

On the morning of Sunday, July 31st, the congregation of St. Andrew's was joined at worship by kids and parents from its two summer programs.  It was a perfect morning, and there were smiles all around as the kindergarten kids from Play and Learn and the older group from the boat-building Experience were introduced to the congregation that made it all possible.  Nearly all the boat-building kids were there, often with several family members.  Most participated in the worship service to one degree or another.  Each of the boat-builders told the assembly what they enjoyed  most.  We sang Inch by Inch, Row by Row," for the Play and Learn gardeners and "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" for the boat-builders.  We prayed.  All the people sprinkled the boats with water as we blessed them.   Many people admired the boats, and the fact they were built by kids.  I was very proud of our team.

Then worship was over and it was time to launch the boats.  The parents learned the ground rules: they were in charge of their kids, a teacher was in charge of each boat.  No one would get into a boat without a life jacket on.  Boats were not to go out beyond waist-depth.

We all drove our cars to the home of church members Marilyn and Jay in Fairhaven--our great hosts--where the boats were launched into calm water with a light on-shore breeze--perfect for safety.  In no time at all the boat-building kids had paddled about, and some had given rides to siblings.  Even a parent or two took a turn.  As kids became more confident, more than one crew "accidentally" overturned their boat.  These boats were simply lifted up sideways to drain the water, and they were ready for more fun.

All this was good fun.  Should we do it again?  A "reunion" of the boat-builders may be in the works for later in the summer.  Reply below or send me an email if you're interested!

The boats are lined up before launch.  The near one was quickly built as a prototype, the two kids boats are next; the little plastic kayak at the back was the "rescue boat" in case anyone needed to be towed back to shore.  No one needed to.

Hmm... Maybe we should both face the same direction!  Mathew helps.

kids set off.

Some kids had more experience with paddles than others.

The fleet afloat.  Eleanor watches her charges.

People watch.

Leaders of St. Andrew's approve.  Reverend Blair, second from left, gets credit for the program.

All over but the shoutin' (and singing, and paddling!)

We did the last wood-butchering today, finishing the little decks on the second boat that will add stiffness to the boat's gunwales.  That and painting were the chief boat-building tasks, and now we have only to add a touch of color before we call them DONE.  The rest of the day (when the kids weren't playing), we learned about displacement and Archimedes law, we tried on life jackets and talked about the plusses and minuses of each, and we discussed water safety. 

To learn water safety, teams had to consider one of two stories: 1. A friend invites you canoing, and your parent says yes.  You get to the water and discover your friend did not bring life jackets.  "We don't need them," she says, "we learned to swim at the YMCA"  What are your thoughts?  2. You and your friend get into a canoe.  Your friend says, "since we have life jackets on we can paddle way out to the middle of the pond."  What are your thoughts?  

Tomorrow we will do a bit of painting and then clean up and prepare for the Sunday 9:30am church service and picnic/boat launch that will follow.

Here are a few recent happenings.

"WE KNOW the diference between type II and type III personal flotation devices!"

"This is the way we paddle our boat, paddle our boat, paddle our boat.  This is the way we paddle our our boat so early in the morning!"

"Ah, lunch time!"

"Thinking is hard work!"

(...but boy, can we come up with some goofy ideas!")

One week to launch!

In light of my recent test of the prototype boat, I now know how to finish off the kids' boats.  We will not add a keel/skid, since the boats will track fine without them, and they would increase the draft (depth) of the boats slightly.  We will not build-in permanent seats, since seating needs to be moveable to balance the boat for different combinations of people.  Without seats to stiffen the sides of the boats,  we will need to add small decks at both ends.  This will be easy to do, and will also provide places to put flotation so the boats will float fairly high even if full of water after a capsize.

Here then is a rough build schedule for this last week:  Monday we will add the decks to the first boat and finish preparing to paint.  The bottom and decks will be traced and cut out for the second boat, and put on.  Tuesday the first boat will be primed, and the second boat made ready for painting.  Wednesday the first boat will be painted, the second primed.  Thursday both boats will be painted.  Friday we will decorate the first boat, paint the second.  Along the way we will learn a bit about boat displacement, water safety and boating, and we will practice for our worship service on the 31st.  Finally, Sunday the 31st will be church at 9:30 then a picnic lunch and boat launch for the kids, their parents, and anyone they wish to invite in Fairhaven.  (I will send home details and directions to the Fairhaven launch site.)

I am proud of all the kids: they have done great work.  I hope to see you all there at church on Sunday, July 31st at 9:30am!  Bring along lunch, a blanket you can lay on the sand, sunscreen, and a shady umbrella.  Wear a bathing suit under your church clothes.

Recent work:

The bottom is on the first boat, but the edges still need a lot of elbow grease.  This will be a better boat than the prototype in the background.

Elbow grease!

Because of the sides are not vertical, the chine logs need to be chiseled flat so the bottom will fit tightly.  This is a skilled task.

Taking a turn with the chisel.  The bandana keeps the sweat out of my eyes as temperatures approach 100 degrees.

A break for a little baseball.

Cleaning up the parish hall so it's fit to be used on Sunday.

I joke that they will get a lot of use out of these new skills!

 We're ready for Sunday!

A brief test of the St. Andrew's Skimmer

--took place today in flat water on Lake Nippenicket.  I wanted to find out a few things in time to make modifications to the kids' boats if necessary.  First, I wanted to know how well it would float the 280 or so pounds that would allow for an adult and child to go out together.  I wanted to know where built-in seats would have to go for the boat to balance properly, and how low they should be for good stability.  I wanted to know how well the boat would "track" (paddle in a straight line) without a keel.

After about an hour fooling around on the water, I can report good news.  The boat easily handles my 200lb plus another 85lb or so of other weight, with at least a good 6 inches of freeboard remaining.  With this load, the boat floats in about 5 inches of water with the stern stem immersed and the bow stem just kissing the water.  The boat tracks nicely --even paddling with a single paddle on one side alone-- but turns pretty well, too.  It has no keel, but the exterior chine logs maay act a little bit like a keel to keep the boat straight.  It is pretty clear that any seats must be low (sitting on one boat cushion is just about right).  Balance is a bit tricky, since most of the boat's buoyancy is concentrated in the middle.  Paddlers will have to adjust their seat positin to make the boat balance somewhat stern-down, so I will not install fixed seats.

All in all, she is proving a useful little boat!

More than half-way and things look pretty good,

--considering the flooded basement, a day or two of disorganization, and a (very nice) field trip we took yesterday with the gardening kids.Today was almost entirely a boat-building day: we divided the group in two to shrink the number of kids needing to be organized and given jobs, and Matthew and I switched groups between boat-building and outdoor play.  By the end of the day, we'd made good progress: the first boat is is 3-D and nearly ready to have the bottom attached.  The second boat will go 3D tomorrow!

Sawing,

 Drilling

Chiseling.

The first boat: bottom will go on tomorrow!

Second boat: sides are connected to center frame.  Tomorrow we'll bring the ends together.

The Team is coming together

--after some bumps in the road as kids are learning to respect each other and be good to each other.  This has been a hard learning in a group with such different ages and personalities.  To each child, Matthew and I say, "don't use your words to put someone down, but instead to build them up."  A common purpose in boat-building helps, as does the games that Matthew our game leader devises.  There have been other bumps in the road--such as the flooding of the church basement in an intense thundershower on Monday.  After I waded after our wood and tools, construction moved into the parish hall, where we share space with another program.  As I write, more intense thunderstorms probably mean we won't be back in the basement the rest of this week.
          Even the kids are sometimes surprised at what we've accomplished.  Their friend Mr. Rumberger visited earlier in the week and kids clamored to lead him on a tour of our projects.  Today, seeing a prototype boat on top of my car, a carpenter wondered whether he could build a boat, too.  When he learned that the same boat was being built in the parish hall by kids, he went away determined to try it himself.  I invited him to come back and look in on us later on.
          Through it all, we use our balances,

we saw,

We sand,

We drive screws

(sometimes with care,

and sometimes mainly with enthusiasm)

We build our models,

And, of course, we play!

One week in,

--and the twelve of us have experimented on floating and sinking, practiced measuring in inches and centimeters, learned a little bit about mass, volume and density, built balances to help us in our experiments, and measured and cut out parts for two boats!  Matthew is both able assistant, and the leader of our welcome "movement breaks."  Along the way, we are learning the values and skills of teamwork.

The popular Ninja Destruction game sounds worse than it is!

Balances were finished on Friday!

(I've GOT to learn how to use this camera!)