High Tech Meets Old Fashion

I love boating. When I was under the age of ten, my father would take the family out canoing. Later, I got a job working on the islands out in Casco Bay and had to take a boat to work. When my mother and father divorced my step-father took us out on the ocean and we cruised and we fished. Once again I love boating.

As an adult, I find that I can not currently afford a boat. My step-father once told me jokingly that a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into (I think he was joking). I had bought a boat, pretty cheap because it needed a lot of work. I didn't have enough tools, skills, or money to make it work. So I put that dream on hold... for now.

I was surfing around the internet and was following a random tangent. I saw an article on Japanese dome homes (which I think are really cool) and that led me look up geodesic dome homes (I know what the heck does that have to do with boats). Well, while I was looking up geodesic dome houses online an entry lower said "Geodesic Airolite Boats". I am a curious man so I clicked on that link... http://gaboats.com/

Here was something totally cool, lightweight boat kits you build yourself. You purchase a kit from them that has cut to length 3.7 oz. 72" width heat shrink Dacron fabric, Kevlar roving, Structural Epoxy adhesive (1 to 1) mix thickened to a viscosity similar to Vaseline (very low toxicity) and Transfer Adhesive Film (hot melt glue). You buy the wood yourself. The plans are sold seperately so you can buy just one set of plans and put as many boats together as you want just by buying more kits.

You learn about some old fashioned boat building techniques and some new high tech ones (heat shrinking and working with Dacron fabric). Lastly, putting together your own boat is a lot less expensive than buying a brand new one. Some day I will put togfether my own boat from them and continue telling you about how much fun it was to go boating in a boat I made myself.

So that is how I think I will get to go boating again. Have fun and be great.

Next: Darwin's theory of evolution and modern man.