30th Ashan, Arc 717
Overcast, might be how you described the weather that day. Clouds covered the sky and often blocked the sun's warming rays. Luckily for Elijah, who was entering the shipyard where he worked his head aching somewhat from the night before, it was not raining. There was nothing worse in his mind than working on boats in the rain, in fact he would never really do it. He did not want to risk damage from the water to the unsealed woods. Instead Elijah would leave the boats covered on rainy days and not work on them till it stopped.
For him it was a good day as there was no rain. So, he headed over to the sloop he was working on building. Over the many arcs he had been alive sloops had become his signature vessel to build. Possibly it was due to the speed they could be built, in his mind the more he could build the more Nel he could make. This was not entirely true but it worked for him.
He walked across the stone floor towards the platform next to the sand on which the boat stood supported by a frame of wood. Upon arrival he pulled the large tarpaulin off of the work in progress to reveal the half built boat. One side of the hull was completed but the one he stood at now was only a quarter done. The wooden planks at the bottom were in place but he still had the whole curvature of the boat to fill, right up to the rim of the hull. So he began the process, there were some planks already on the floor, left over from the day before.
He took the long board, which had a fair amount of flex and secured the front end to the frame first. Carefully hammering in the nail to fix the board in place. Then he moved to the rear and did the same holding the board up with his knee and bending it with the curve if the hull frame before hammering it into place with careful and accurate strokes. The wood fastening securely in place. He then applied some more nails into the other frame pieces, securing even more.
He tested it by pushing down and up to make sure it would not budge. This was how he did the layers and then he would cost the inside later with tar and other sealing agents to make sure it would not leak. Of course the tighter the wood was fitted together the better and so he looked along it for any big gaps there might be in case he needed to switch the plank out or lower it at all. Luckily for him it was a tight snug fit.
He stepped back and examined his handy work, just double checking it along the whole length and from a distance to make sure it fitted right. He had cut it well the previous day and so now it was fastened into place it fit well. Now he just had to repeat this process until the whole side was complete,this would take at least two breaks to do roughly and to do perfectly with his skill he assumed around four breaks. So he began on the next board, starting the menial tasks of layering and fixing one board after another. Later on, likely another day, he would have to caulk the seems between the planks.
Three breaks later Elijah was stood before the completed side of the hull. He dusted off his callused and skilled hands and ran his fingers over the wood, fixed in place and solidly made. It was the perfect base for when he was to seal the wood and waterproof the entire thing. Next was the part that Elijah really hated, he had to fix the mast in place. To do so he first had to get the mast up and into the base of the sloop, over the hull edges so it could be connected and bolted in to the centre board of the sloop's base. This way the mast was more stable and less likely to break under stress, of course it did not make it impossible.
So he headed over to the wood shed, there were pre cut and sized masts on the left side. They were all of varying thickness, length and also wood types. Elijah would normally use oak for his frame and masts and then Cedar for the planking. This sloop would be no different and so he picked out his mast, a thirty centimetre diameter oak pole that would stand twenty metres above the deck but had a length of twenty eight in total. He looked towards the man and his horse who were assigned to move the masts over to where the builders needed them. "If you could just take this one for me that would be perfect?" He gestured at the mast he wanted and with a nod the horseman connected the horses harness to the hook that was in the end of the mast and placed a steel plate under the tip of the mast to avoid scraping it on the floor as it was dragged.
Elijah followed close behind as it was taken over to the sloop he was building. As he followed his mind wandered, first onto alcohol and then onto women. It had been a little while since he had bedded anyone and he was beginning to think it was about time he did. He missed the comfort that only a woman could offer him, the relief and the feelings that were offered in a night of passion and fun. His mind was jolted back into the present when the screeching of the steel plate ended.
"Thanks mister." Elijah waited until everything was unconnected and then began the harder process of getting the damned mast into the hull. He took a thick hemp rope that was left from building earlier parts of the sloop and tied it around the large mast. Then using the hull as a sort of winch Elijah threw the rope over to the opposite side and made his way to it. With a huge tug and low stance putting all his weight into the pull he attempted to haul it upwards on the other side. He was successful as it raised slightly off the floor but he realised he was unable to hoist it further because it would slide back when he attempted to grab further up the rope. He looked around him for a solution, looking until he thought about the horse. The horse could do it.
So he made his way back over to the wood shed and approached the horseman. "Hello again, you think you could use your horse to help me get this damn mast into the hull?" He was met with a nod in response and apparently the man knew what to do already as he came over and fasted the horse now to the rope he had been attempting to use. Elijah watched cursorily as the horse walked much more easily than he could have and pulled the mast up. HE and the horseman guided the mast making sure it did not swing and damage the hull until it reached the top and plopped over into the hull. One end was propped up against the bow the other in the basin of the hull.
Elijah thanked the man again and then requested his help with one last thing, the erecting of the mast. He needed the man's help in raising it up straight and keeping it stable as he fastened it in place. He agreed to that too and climbed alongside Elijah in to the nearly empty hull. Elijah and the man pushed and walked the mast until it was straight up and in place with the joining section. Four L-brackets were in place to secure the Mast too not to mention the cylindrical void in the wood that the mast slotted into. There was a little wobble but once the screws were in the L brackets and into the mast it stood well and in a sturdy position, and once the deck was in place would be even more so.
He thanked the horseman one last time and then began to replace the tarpaulin having to twist it around the mast that protruded from the top. He was done for the day, having spent around eight breaks working on the sloop in total, it was coming along nicely. The sun was already low on the horizon as he finished placing the tarpaulin in place and then prepared for the walk back to his sloop at the docks before he would head out for something to drink most likely, see if he could snag a pretty lady for himself. The idea was appealing and so he left the shipyard in the direction of his seaborne home. It was not a long walk but it was also not an interesting one, he walked the same old streets everyday and they were filled with the same people. If Elijah had wished it he could have probably recalled the days when the current walkers on the streets would have been the parents of those around or maybe even the occasional grandparent.
He was old and yet he did not feel it, soon he would find out why, he just had to start digging into his long long past.
Overcast, might be how you described the weather that day. Clouds covered the sky and often blocked the sun's warming rays. Luckily for Elijah, who was entering the shipyard where he worked his head aching somewhat from the night before, it was not raining. There was nothing worse in his mind than working on boats in the rain, in fact he would never really do it. He did not want to risk damage from the water to the unsealed woods. Instead Elijah would leave the boats covered on rainy days and not work on them till it stopped.
For him it was a good day as there was no rain. So, he headed over to the sloop he was working on building. Over the many arcs he had been alive sloops had become his signature vessel to build. Possibly it was due to the speed they could be built, in his mind the more he could build the more Nel he could make. This was not entirely true but it worked for him.
He walked across the stone floor towards the platform next to the sand on which the boat stood supported by a frame of wood. Upon arrival he pulled the large tarpaulin off of the work in progress to reveal the half built boat. One side of the hull was completed but the one he stood at now was only a quarter done. The wooden planks at the bottom were in place but he still had the whole curvature of the boat to fill, right up to the rim of the hull. So he began the process, there were some planks already on the floor, left over from the day before.
He took the long board, which had a fair amount of flex and secured the front end to the frame first. Carefully hammering in the nail to fix the board in place. Then he moved to the rear and did the same holding the board up with his knee and bending it with the curve if the hull frame before hammering it into place with careful and accurate strokes. The wood fastening securely in place. He then applied some more nails into the other frame pieces, securing even more.
He tested it by pushing down and up to make sure it would not budge. This was how he did the layers and then he would cost the inside later with tar and other sealing agents to make sure it would not leak. Of course the tighter the wood was fitted together the better and so he looked along it for any big gaps there might be in case he needed to switch the plank out or lower it at all. Luckily for him it was a tight snug fit.
He stepped back and examined his handy work, just double checking it along the whole length and from a distance to make sure it fitted right. He had cut it well the previous day and so now it was fastened into place it fit well. Now he just had to repeat this process until the whole side was complete,this would take at least two breaks to do roughly and to do perfectly with his skill he assumed around four breaks. So he began on the next board, starting the menial tasks of layering and fixing one board after another. Later on, likely another day, he would have to caulk the seems between the planks.
Three breaks later Elijah was stood before the completed side of the hull. He dusted off his callused and skilled hands and ran his fingers over the wood, fixed in place and solidly made. It was the perfect base for when he was to seal the wood and waterproof the entire thing. Next was the part that Elijah really hated, he had to fix the mast in place. To do so he first had to get the mast up and into the base of the sloop, over the hull edges so it could be connected and bolted in to the centre board of the sloop's base. This way the mast was more stable and less likely to break under stress, of course it did not make it impossible.
So he headed over to the wood shed, there were pre cut and sized masts on the left side. They were all of varying thickness, length and also wood types. Elijah would normally use oak for his frame and masts and then Cedar for the planking. This sloop would be no different and so he picked out his mast, a thirty centimetre diameter oak pole that would stand twenty metres above the deck but had a length of twenty eight in total. He looked towards the man and his horse who were assigned to move the masts over to where the builders needed them. "If you could just take this one for me that would be perfect?" He gestured at the mast he wanted and with a nod the horseman connected the horses harness to the hook that was in the end of the mast and placed a steel plate under the tip of the mast to avoid scraping it on the floor as it was dragged.
Elijah followed close behind as it was taken over to the sloop he was building. As he followed his mind wandered, first onto alcohol and then onto women. It had been a little while since he had bedded anyone and he was beginning to think it was about time he did. He missed the comfort that only a woman could offer him, the relief and the feelings that were offered in a night of passion and fun. His mind was jolted back into the present when the screeching of the steel plate ended.
"Thanks mister." Elijah waited until everything was unconnected and then began the harder process of getting the damned mast into the hull. He took a thick hemp rope that was left from building earlier parts of the sloop and tied it around the large mast. Then using the hull as a sort of winch Elijah threw the rope over to the opposite side and made his way to it. With a huge tug and low stance putting all his weight into the pull he attempted to haul it upwards on the other side. He was successful as it raised slightly off the floor but he realised he was unable to hoist it further because it would slide back when he attempted to grab further up the rope. He looked around him for a solution, looking until he thought about the horse. The horse could do it.
So he made his way back over to the wood shed and approached the horseman. "Hello again, you think you could use your horse to help me get this damn mast into the hull?" He was met with a nod in response and apparently the man knew what to do already as he came over and fasted the horse now to the rope he had been attempting to use. Elijah watched cursorily as the horse walked much more easily than he could have and pulled the mast up. HE and the horseman guided the mast making sure it did not swing and damage the hull until it reached the top and plopped over into the hull. One end was propped up against the bow the other in the basin of the hull.
Elijah thanked the man again and then requested his help with one last thing, the erecting of the mast. He needed the man's help in raising it up straight and keeping it stable as he fastened it in place. He agreed to that too and climbed alongside Elijah in to the nearly empty hull. Elijah and the man pushed and walked the mast until it was straight up and in place with the joining section. Four L-brackets were in place to secure the Mast too not to mention the cylindrical void in the wood that the mast slotted into. There was a little wobble but once the screws were in the L brackets and into the mast it stood well and in a sturdy position, and once the deck was in place would be even more so.
He thanked the horseman one last time and then began to replace the tarpaulin having to twist it around the mast that protruded from the top. He was done for the day, having spent around eight breaks working on the sloop in total, it was coming along nicely. The sun was already low on the horizon as he finished placing the tarpaulin in place and then prepared for the walk back to his sloop at the docks before he would head out for something to drink most likely, see if he could snag a pretty lady for himself. The idea was appealing and so he left the shipyard in the direction of his seaborne home. It was not a long walk but it was also not an interesting one, he walked the same old streets everyday and they were filled with the same people. If Elijah had wished it he could have probably recalled the days when the current walkers on the streets would have been the parents of those around or maybe even the occasional grandparent.
He was old and yet he did not feel it, soon he would find out why, he just had to start digging into his long long past.
