I have managed somehow to get myself ensnared in building and restoring boats. It started in Fall 2003 when I stumbled across the Chesapeake Light Craft web site. They happened to have their newly redesigned West River 18 kit on sale, so I convinced myself this was something that was absolutely necessary. I decided while assembling the kit that it was more an epoxy-technology experience than a boatbuilding experience. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I wanted what I envisioned to be a true boatbuilding experience, with the emphasis on building and woodworking.

After quite a bit of research, my first choice was a Caledonia Yawl by Iain Oughtred. I bought the plans and after a couple days of due consideration I decided I was nuts to try that particular boat as my first serious attempt. Besides which I didn't yet know how to sail (yes, yes, cart before the horse and all that, but I signed up for sailing school in the mean time). In the end, I found Arch Davis who designs small craft (and some larger ones, too) for beginning boatbuilders. After a couple years of weekend and summertime effort I finally completed the Penobscot 14. Since then I built another kayak for my oldest daughter, almost completed a sailing canoe, started another kayak for my spouse, and contemplated refurbishing my father-in-law's Thompson runabout. You can check the links below for more information than you probably want about these projects.

When I am not in the classroom and not tied to some vacuum chamber or other, I like to get out and do some paddling. My favorite destinations are the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Quetico Provincial Park. Here are the itineraries and some selected images from trips I have taken:

I don't know if I should call this an "interest" or another occupation. Though it is not ancient by historical standards, our house has needed some tender loving care. So...when I am not in the classroom and not tied to some vacuum chamber or other and not out paddling around, chances are you can find me somewhere at home flailing away at some so-called home improvement project or another. To date, these projects have generally involved refurbishing our wood-framed, double hung windows. Taking my cue from the computer industry, I have named the projects by year:

• Windows '96 -- stripping, reglazing, and repainting all 30 storms
• Windows '97 -- stripping and repainting exterior windowframes on ground floor & rescreening about two-thirds of the windows
• Windows '98 -- stripping and repainting exterior windowframes on upper floor and the garage (who else out there has seven (count 'em) windows on their garage not counting the ones on the doors?) & stripping and refinishing interior windowframes for the living room and dining room
• Windows '99 -- stripping, reglazing, and repainting the basement windows & stripping and refinishing more interior windowframes & rescreening the other third of the windows
• Windows '00 -- stripping & refinishing the six windows and other woodwork in our tiny little sunroom
• Windows '01 -- turned into home remodeling instead
• Windows '03 -- okay, this project had nothing to do with windows, but I stripped off the old shingles and put a new set on my garage
• Windows '04 -- I made screens for my garage windows and one for the house that had been lost to history
• Windows '07 -- the garage became too small to house the burgeoning boat collection so a nice boathouse was added (no lake was dug) -- and, oh yeah, a squirrel chewed its way into the attic which started me on the long-delayed stripping and repainting of dormers, soffits, and fascia boards starting at the peak on the front of the house whereby the squirrel entered
• Windows '08 -- finished the second half of the dormers, soffits, and fascia board extravaganza

First Project 1996: Eliminate the Cursed Red

Window Hanging Demonstration

Window Hanging Practice

Windows 04