| After the
twisted disaster that was Sarah's stern knee was removed, Dave checked
online and placed quite a few calls trying to locate a suitable
piece of replacement wood. There was a piece that had some potential
at one of the saw mills Dave contacted in West Virginia, but that
would have required us driving up there to get it. Counting stopping
to see friends and family, we were looking at a four day trip total.
Dave managed to locate a piece here in Florida just a couple of hours away, but they wanted over $600. |
| Every
day though we'd drive past a large live oak on a vacant lot next
to our house, and we often joked, "That'd make a good stern
knee." These shots were taken standing in our back driveway looking toward the lot. Sarah's lucky star shone through again when the lot was sold and a permit was obtained to remove some trees to make the property suitable for building. When the land clearing crew first showed up, Dave made quick and fast friends with the driver of the front end loader. Actually, the whole bunch turned out to be really nice guys, and they even leveled a path for our aging dog, who was loosing her sight. It was the second or third day of work before they got to the tree, but they cut it per Dave's specifications, and for a $20 tip to the driver of the front end loader, the wood for Sarah's newstern knee was dumped at the end of the driveway before I could even get out the door with the camera. |
Now getting this rather large chunk of wood from the house to the boat was no small task, but where there's a will (and a series of levers, a hammer, and a come-along), there's a way.
We got it to the boatyard and Nicky picked it up with the boom truck and deposited it on the edge of the marsh. Seems the tides keep it moist enough to prevent checking, but isn't completely submerged and in danger of infestation by worms. It's how they've stored the wood for the shrimp boats, so it should be a good resting place for Sarah's new stern knee.
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