14. Where art meets science.

After a week in Holland I came back very refreshed. Holland is fabulous. We drove over in my Aston Martin DB9 Volante, and apart from the torrential rain  …   we started off at a car museum in The Hague called the Louwman. It houses an amazing collection of antique, vintage and post modernist cars all beautifully displayed. Have a look at the website  http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/. Then up to Amsterdam where my long suffering and very patient wife suggested we go and look at some classic boats at http://www.classicboatsamsterdam.com. Tom Hemelaar, who owns the company very kindly came out to show me around for a half an hour on Sunday. He has two Riva Aquaramas for sale, one in excellent condition and one in need of TLC, well actually a bit more than TLC but beautiful none the less, as well as a collection of other wooden boats. He was very instructive on the building methods and very patient with this novice asking dumb questions.  Thank you, Tom, very much appreciated.

So back in the studio the final battens had to be fitted and the cleanup of the frame started and then the fairing. Enormous help from my American friend, David Miller, who, sadly, is on his way back to the States as his job here has finished.  I shall miss his company, not to mention his enthusiasm, energy and talent.  Thank you David, and when did you say you were coming back?

The fairing is a perfect example of the point where art meets science. Fitting the curved battens, especially the bow section is a matter of trying to find two similar looking peices of timber and hoping that they will bend to identical curves. Then fairing them off to mirror each other.  I am sure that the pros have a more scientific method but I prefer the art course! The epoxy looks a dreadful mess until it is cleaned up. I studied some of the pictures on the Glen-L web site and they all looked clinically clean as well as the floor  …  not a shaving in sight! We had bits of timber splitting etc. but the end result should be fine. The fairing is looking good although not finished. The bow is the most complicated part to fair.