Day 105: The launch continued...

Saturday, March 27th 2010 the Zizumara is christened in Elliot Bay.

*Photos by Peter Neu.

Mom readies the champagne and fellow river guide Meredith brought all the dory goodies... Tulips, welcome mat, bailing bucket, sponge, sweeper... so perfect.

Fellow river guide, Helmut brings the good vibes.

The cork is popped and the bow is christened.

May the Zizumara be blessed with endless snow melt waters and safe passage from mountain to sea.

To the Zizumara!

The starboard side is christened.

May the Zizumara never feel the touch of a boulder!

The stern is christened.

May the Zizumara be blessed by the playful and joyous spirit of the constellation Zizumara!

The port side is christened.

May the crew and passengers of the Zizumara have safe passage!

Co-builder Tom receives his Zizumara brass plaque to mount in the port side hatch...next to the wine rack.

Dad & I pre-launch.

Tommy is commandeered to launch the boat... Just a little pressure!  

Pops off the trailer like a dream.  Perfect launch, nice work Tommy!!

We take off on the maiden voyage.

Dad takes her for a spin and tries out his work.

Brother Pete takes a turn on the sticks.

Me, taking a tug on the oars.

Tommy pilots the family along the Bay.

Its a party boat.

Cheers Zizumara!

A day to remember.

Day 105: The launch!

So happy!

Just loaded the boat on the trailer, and on my way to the launch.

Stopped at home to pic up my brother and got to show off the boat to the neighbors and my cousin Sarah and family.

Me & the Zizumara

Pete & I

We headed to the launch site and went across the road to the Alki Tavern for a little pre-launch celebration.  Met some fellow boat builders there and set the stage for a fun time.

The gang begins to gather for the launch.

....Actual launch pictures are coming!  I was so excited I didn't take a single shot.  My brother however has the professional documentation. Stay tuned...

The christening and launch went smoothly and we had a great time in the Seattle sunshine.  We rowed around Elliot Bay and then moved on to Salty's restaurant to party.

My Mom made it all happen.  Great food, drinks, people and stories.  We had pics of the build playing in the background and a grey whale spouted in front of the dock where we were celebrating.

The next day my Mom & I went out for a morning row before breakfast.  Got to really take it for a spin and test it out.  Its really sweet!!

The bow of the Zizumara with Seattle in the background.

Mom pushes on the oars.

The Zizumara got a wash down from a rain squall that hit just as we pulled her out of the bay.  The spring flowers welcomed her into life as a boat.

Back on the trailer and ready for the ride home.

An experience to always remember.

Day 104: Oar sleeves

The sleeves take some focus to accomplish.... 2 of 4 got done.

Looks like a wreck...

A little less chaos...

O kay, this might work...

Brother Pete pulls the lines through the sleeve.

The Zizumara hosts its first salmon dinner.

Not bad for a first try.  Hope the epoxy cures for tomorrow's launch!

Day 103: Hardware

Today, the oar locks were installed.  The bronze looks pretty good.

Also got the missing gunwale blocks put in place and bolted, cleaned the deck paint of varnish drips, fixed some varnish flaws in the oars and measured them to fit the oar sleeves.

"before"
Re-drilled the holes in the hand rails.  The umbrellas I ordered were too big for the holes.  The specs said the umbrella pole was 1 /4 inch, but it turned out they were actually1  5/16" inches.  It was nerve racking cutting the new holes but it turned out really well.  ...and we'll need the umbrellas for the launch in the Seattle rain.

"after"

Day 102: Varnish and details2

Varnish is at round 8 on the gunwales and 9 on the oars.  I think I may stop there as I'd like the varnish to get a full cure before it hits the saltwater in a few days.

Installed the foot brace.

The foot straps came from a local surf shop. $5bucks in the bargain bin.  They'll work for now while I track down a nice piece of ash or make some custom straps.

Installed the boatman's hand rails that my Dad made.  Still have to make a seat... after the christening this weekend.

Day 101: Varnish and details

Varnished round 7 on the gunwales and round 8 on the oars.

The table pieces were painted.

Prepped the UMHW that I found on the beach for use on the trailer.
I didn't have a measuring tape so things were just eyeballed.  I'll find out tomorrow if I got it.

It was fun to chisel this material.  It was sort of like hard candle wax.

Hope it works.