At the age of 71, Claude J. is very active. A hyperactive senior citizen? Today, this observation about the vitality of our elders has almost become a truism, rhyming pensioner with enthusiast, what could be more banal? Claude perfectly illustrates this ardent heart, this intellectual freshness that is so often lacking elsewhere. One day, while surfing on the Arwen Marine website, the Belgian, a bit of a yachtsman in the past, discovered a new world: sailing and rowing. He fell in love with the sport and immediately decided to build a Skerry, a boat measuring 4.58 m in length, with a width of 1.37 m and a weight of 60 kg.
Assembly of the boat
To shelter the parts of the kit, he fitted out the covered terrace of his house on the heights of the Meuse. Then comes the assembly of the plywood plates according to the method of the sew-glued, then the installation of the joints in epoxy and finally the sanding.
It is necessary to pay attention to the risks of allergy when working with glue. And above all, avoid working in the cold. Winter is not the ideal season
he laments today, because the epoxy must be used at 19°C
. No matter, the woody curves, the slender lines welded with white paste will warm up in the living room. The whole looks like a wedding cake set in the middle of an abbey library or a notary's waiting room. The wife, who holds no grudges, smiles and we understand that Claude's crazy project did not rock the household.
A synchronized sibling
Fortunately, to turn the boat around, Claude could count on his brother. He is also building a boat. Without knowing it, the twins were surfing on the same site at the same time and their reaction was the same: build a boat! If you were looking for a demonstration of what is called entanglement in quantum physics (two particles separated from each other at astronomical distances, even from one end of the universe to the other, instantly adopt the same behavior), look no further
To return to the operation of turning the skiff over, it is not too heavy: 60 kg. The advantage of plywood is that it is very solid and allows to lighten the boat by choosing thin plates.
To finish the boat, Claude then tackled the varnishing and painting. The whole work will take the retired man a whole winter. That is to say, in his estimation, 180 hours of work.
For Claude, the Skerry sailboat is incomparable: solidity, stability, aesthetics. There is hardly a similar boat in Belgium.
The pleasure of building above all
The motivation of the amateur shipowner is simple: to keep busy, to realize a challenge and to sail a little. This he did on the Meuse, to the great pleasure of the onlookers who came to admire this new vessel, an elegant ambassador of traditional sailing.
Since then, Claude has continued to saw, sand, and plane, but more on model boats, remote-controlled models. Currently, he is building a steam boat based on the plans of an American, Emma Sloop.
