I want to work sailing into the lives of my great grandchildren (there are 13 of them with 2 more on the way). Unwilling to spend $30,000 apiece for new MC Scows (the most sensible choice given local competition on Lake Maxinkukee in Indiana), I decided to go the “home built” route with Michael Storer’s “Oz Goose”. It appears to be a very reasonable option among boats in the 13 ft. range. I paid John Owens of “J. O. Woodworks” in Troup, Texas $1745 to ship me a CNC kit in Okoume plywood. That is, I tried to pay him – the first check was written with different values in the numeric and the alpha fields (the bank would not cash it). The second check was also “improper” and unsatisfactory in some way. (Is there a chance old age has arrived?) I finally just used the bank “bill pay” – that check worked.
The kit arrived promptly and work on the boat has progressed smoothly.
One more sign of my advanced age — the boat requires very little in the way of hardware but, what little there is, is SO much more expensive than I expected ($48 for a gudgeon and pintle set). And epoxy! $700 (for resin and necessary supplies) may be enough to finish the work – I hope so. On the plus side, the work is great fun and it gives me a sense of real accomplishment, IMPORTANT when you reach 85 years.
Jeff Frank at Sailrite was able to provide a kit for the sail — $300. Again, there was a bit of sticker shock! And it is nearly done after only 12 hours or so of labor (of course, I know my way round sewing machines and our old abandoned loft in Columbia City is now mine alone – it has been converted to my personal library but there is still lots of room for small sails like the Goose uses and the sewing pits are still there).
Much remains to be done. I intend two more articles – one to the completion of the boat and another to document its ability to sail as a proper boat should with great grandchildren at the helm! Stay tuned…
