Dreams to Reality

So with the concept of the pirate ship playhouse firmly planted in my head, I went about turning the rough sketch, plus a million other ideas, into a workable project.

Here were some of the things that we decided Little Dude would definitely need:
- Sliding board (to make mutinous crew walk the plank)
- Swing set (to combat sea sickness on rough days)
- Climbing rope (for physical activity to ward off scurvy)
- Captains Wheel (to navigate the high green seas)
- Telescope (to spot the enemy)
- Water gun(s) (to fight off the enemy, even if they are squirrels)
- Mast (to fly the Jolly Roger during times of plundering)
- Ladder (escape as a last resort)
- Crow's nest (to keep an eye out for uncharted land masses)
- Captain's quarters (to chart the next course)
- Oh, and storage for the Captain's father (Me) to store maintenance equipment!

When my parents visited for Christmas, Dad and I sat down and sketched out the plans. His previous playhouse expertise, experience as a draftsmen, and perfectionism yielded the following "blueprints." (Is that what they are called for a ship? Oh well...)

Most of the essential items made the cut, with the main loss being the accessible crow's nest. My wife insisted that I was not allowed to make the ship a 1:1 scale to the real thing, so the crow's nest may just have to be for show. TBD!

Feeling ambitious, we decided to stake the locations of the posts that would form the backbone of the mighty Becky's Revenge. Little Dude decided he was going to help. This is going to be fun! Hopefully he doesn't run away when the time comes to dig the holes!

That's all for now. Next up, we need to go get the materials to set the posts and frame the decks. Stay tuned!

TWB
1/24/2012