"Joist" 2 Months Left!

So we are not in crunch time yet, but I am starting to feel the pressure of Little Dude's birthday party being ~2 months away. I have realized that Sunday afternoons alone are not enough time to get this project finished by June, so I have had to resolve to work on the Becky's Revenge every night after we get LD to bed, even if it is only for 30 minutes at a time. That is the only way I have a chance to get this done: piece by piece.

Over the past couple weeks, we were able to get the floor joists set for the lower and upper decks. All that is left to get the floors framed out are the joists for the bow of the deck. That will take some imaginative engineering to get all of the angles worked out properly, but we will get there!

Joists for top deck installed, lower deck started.

Little Dude inspecting the lower deck joists (Shhh, don't tell Mommy!)

"Hey Dad, the top deck is pretty high!"

  

We have also made some progress on the "top-sides" design. We decided on a ramp (think dock ramp) for the main entrance to the ship as well as a climbing ladder to access the upper deck (once LD gets a little older, of course!) While at Home Depot yesterday, I picked up some items for the main mast, including the mast itself, the cross braces for the sail, flag pole for the Jolly Roger Flag and the crow's nest (half of an old Jack Daniels barrel!)

Mast materials picked up!

Next up we will be working on framing the bow of the ship and starting to build out the skin to frame the hull of the ship. Stay tuned!

TWB