Into The Weeds

Back in school it was a tradition to build various flotation devices to get people out into the middle of the charles river to watch the 4th of July fireworks spectacular (e.g. the infamous cruftamaran incident). At some point last year, Scott decided that he was going to go all out and somehow turn a car into a boat for such use. Here are some pictures from last year, and here is a lengthy log with links to more pictures.

After the disappointment of last year, everyone was all the more determined to get the carboat launched and up the river for the fireworks this time around. The vessel was officially registered with the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The interior was cleaned and refinished, propulsion added in the form of a bicycle-driven-paddlewheel, steering system constructed, flotation foam added and shaped, and many other things were touched-up and/or improved upon. Unfortunately, several gears wore down early in the transit, sending the paddlewheel system into the weeds. Scott and Steve had actually spent the night on the boat earlier after a late-night launch to avoid the disappoinment of last year.

They got the boat to Josh’s mooring by the Sonesta hotel in Cambridge, and after a good deal of work there on the sidewalk with hammer, file, drill, blowtorch, wrenches, etc., the paddlewheel was working again — to the cheer of several bemused onlookers. We loaded up with refreshments and took the trip under the Longfellow bridge all the way past the MIT sailing pavillion (where we sang a rousing verse of the Engineer’s Drinking Song), and to a spot near the Harvard Bridge for a good veiw of the fireworks. All in all, it made for one of the best July 4ths ever. Here is an album of pictures that I snapped this year during the work and launch of the vessel.