Building by hand floats retiree’s boat
By Rob Hedelt, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"paradise" would be building his idea of that very thing in his backyard.
That's another way of saying how impressed I am that
crafted 26-foot Stadel cutter-rigged sailboat he's built from scratch.
By that, I mean that he not only studied up enough to build, rig and power the gleaming sloop over the past three years. He also cut cedar and white oak trees on his property and used a portable sawmill to cut them into the lumber needed for the boat's ribs, hull and decking.
Paradis, who retired after 30 years with the
"The hardest part of the whole thing may have been drilling the hole for the engine's drive shaft," said Paradis, whose lives with wife Susan and their children on 10½ acres in
"I had to get through 10 inches of hard white oak and keep it absolutely straight," he said. "It took me two days, but I got it done.
Sure, the former Boy Scout who grew up in
I'm always amazed at people who, without fear or trepidation, launch into a project without prior experience.
Paradis said he followed plans from a catalogue and then read up as much as possible on all aspects of the construction. Then he tackled each step with a careful approach.
Sometimes, there were unforeseen problems, like when the height of the boat plus the trailer forced him to remove a few boards from the siding of the garage to get the vessel out from where he built it.
He's getting a little impatient these days, wanting to get the boat wet and sailing and sorry that he's being held up by details like getting the boat registered with the state and waiting for a final few pieces of gear he needs to finish rigging the sails.
All told, he's spent about
Of course, that doesn't figure in a cent for the countless hours he and his sons have put into the craft.
If he'd paid someone else to do it, chances are the boat's cost--something he has to estimate for the state and for insurance--would be four times the cast he's got in it.
All through the boat's construction, Paradis has used an inventive mind to figure out how to do everything from manipulate and move 20-foot tree trunks to rig the boat with low-draw LED lighting and fans.
Right now, he's got one last problem to solve: coming up with a system of raising the boat's 32-foot mast that he and his wife can handle while launching the aptly named sailboat.
"I get all sorts of people volunteering to help us, but we have to have a system that will work when it's just the two of us," said Paradis of what will probably be a combination of pulleys, poles and a winch.
Weighing in at about 8,000 pounds, the hull's two layers of cedar are sealed and covered with epoxy, so it doesn't need to have its planking swell into place like many wooden boats.
The couple is shooting for a launch in the next month or two, probably somewhere in the Northern Neck or
"After all this work, I'm antsy to get going," he said. "There will be things to continue to work on after that, but I want to see how she floats and sails."
After years of thought, sweat and tears, he deserves that little piece of paradise.
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(c)2014 The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Visit The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Va.) at www.fredericksburg.com/flshome
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