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Getting ready for the Depoe Bay Boatshow Here at the Toledo Community Boathouse, we LOVE the Depoe Bay Boatshow
- it marks the start of the boating season here on the coast. We
try to have something interesting each year: The best thing about the boatshow is that it forces us to get our boats ready for the new season
It all starts with a good scrubbing. We rarely have time (or inclination) for maintenance during the season, so we have to get things looking nice.
Protip: If you are going to paint in fancy colors, make sure you get the pigment mix numbers written down and go to the same vendor so you don't end up with a splotchy boat. A couple pieces of tape to protect the name, and it is time to get rolling.
These canoes are made with plain old ACX plywood and the chines and gunnels ripped from a 2x4 and scarfed together. Nothing fancy at all. They take a beating during the year. Lazy Weekend 2.0 plans
Rule 1: Always paint your boat. Rule 2: Never buy a freshly painted boat.
Peel off the tape and we are right as rain and ready for a new season on the water.
Mollyhawks are a little more substantial and take a wee bit more cleaning. Beautiful boats.
We had some reluctant visitors - Sydney (l) and Mo (r) were just looking for a nice place to watch the sun go down. I tried to get them into a canoe, they said no but promised to come again in the morning. Yeah, sure, I've heard that story before.
Oh, my! They DID come back in the morning, bringing Phil along with them. They got the standard safety lesson ("Don't fall in. If you do fall in, make a lot of noise - it takes me some time to get my camera and we all want to point and laugh.")
and off they went. Canoes are excellent Boathouse boats - it takes minutes to instruct, then they are off like a spastic centipede. They paddled the 1.25 miles up to the tide gates, then back down to the Yaquina River, and back, and said they had a great time.
Our next pair of visitors were Abby (12) and Hanna (10.) They claimed to be absolutely terrified of boats. I spent a good half hour explaining they were actually terrified of drowning, and boats are what keeps you from doing that. I am not well versed in the arts of communicating to little girls, but rather than give up, I faintly got them in the boat and we did a couple laps around the docks, screaming in terror all the way, but screaming (equally loudly) NO NO NO when I said "OK, if you are so scared, let's go back to the Boathouse."
That wrapped it up for the weekend - the girls wanted to help so I put them on broom detail, watched over by Mike A, a new volunteer. Come to the show next week, we'll get you on the water. |
