The continuing saga of Boudicea, the Chebacco that would eventually be finished.

     Way back in the last century, I bought an upside down Chebacco hull from Burton Blaise up in the wilds of Ontario.  At the time my plan was to spend one, maybe two summers fitting her out in the green mountains of Vermont and trailer sail her during summers in New England.  How times change.....  Two homes, two states and a half decade later I'm proud to say that the old girl is getting close to being wet for the first time.   Instead of the Green Mountains, she'll be finished in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and instead of New England lakes, she'll in all probability see more of the Chesapeake bay and maybe even Gulf of Mexico, but all thing being equal I'm thinking that'll be OK with her.  I know it will be OK with her majesty, my bride of 13 years, as she'll get another half garage out of the deal.  I'll get to put a check mark in the finished project box and maybe for a year or so get off the chandlery's Christmas card list.  But enough of that.

     I named her "Boudicea" after the Queen of the Celtic "Icene" tribe from what's now northern England.  Having  suffered the murder of her husband and rape of her daughters by Roman legions in about 50AD, in a testament to future British womanhood, Boudicea promptly raised an army of some 150,000 and beat Nero's army like a drum for the next few years.  (My kinda girl.)  When finally surrounded and overwhelmed, she committed suicide rather than suffer capture herself.  A rather tragic tale, but I thought a suitable heroine to name a ship after.

     At any rate, Boudicea came out of the shed for the first time sporting most of her paint, some of her trim and spars in the finishing stages.  She's made from A/C fir ply with a layer of 3 oz glass and epoxy over the topsides and a couple layers of 5 oz glass on the hull/  The trim is red oak and the brightwork is finished with Sikkens Cetol Marine while the deck and hull  is Interlux Brightside, Hatteras Off White and Sapphire Blue respectively.  Bohndell cut what looks to be a great set of sails and with the help of Ebay and a credit card

I've almost got the hardware end of the project complete.

     Yet to accomplish is a short bowsprit, toe rails, trim along the cabin top, moulding around the mast slot, slot cover,  running rigging, rudder / tiller mounting, and fitting of the centerboard......... I'll stop now before I depress myself.  Needless to say there's plenty yet to do.   Nevertheless, I'm thinking I'll sail her by the end of August.  I may not have electrics and a finished cabin by that time but I think she'll keep the wet on the outside.  I've sent up some pictures of this most recent state of the lady.  Next to come hopefully will be the pictures of Gin & Tonics at the launching ceremony.

Cheers y'all.

Ed Heins

New Market VA