little boat

on the venture challenge it says Build a boat out of materials you find outside. See if it floats (10 pts). last year i built more than one.

this year i built a thing designed to really float. i wove a cattail mat for the decking, and used dried knotweed lashed together with cordage i made from corn husks as the frame. i caulked the ends of the knotweed with pine pitch.




i made it a twitter account, in case people who found it afloat were inclined to report its sighting.

then i went up and released it from the place where i said i would.





what followed was more or less three days of heavy storms and high winds, so i do not believe it survived long, but clearly, it does float.

eight days later, i found floating on the res the remains of a little boat, made of knotweed. the lashing was different than mine.

the cord did not appear to be handmade corn husk, and none of the ends had pine caulking.



not my boat, but similar fate, probably. and yes, still floating.