We turn back to pick up some more crew.

It is slow going, pushing off the bottom of the canal with poles.

We head out into the Icknield Port Loop.

Tom and I push the boat out with poles.

We gnetly push the boat into the canal on a dolly.

The boat is ready to be put in the water.

Monday morning.

The end of day 7. The hull just needs to dry overnight.

I work on preparing the seams between the plywood and metal for most of the day.

Helen stops by to give me an Easter present.

Sunday Morning I have the boatyard to myself.

At the end of Day 6.

It helps fill the seems in the planks along the hull.

I am using some sludge from the canal to mix into my epoxy.

Saturday morning: I need a little bit more trash.

I have been walking along the canal every day – so I missed seeing this.

Walking back home we see the BBC broadcast of the boatyard!

The two towers that were JRR Tolkiens inspiration for Orthanc and Minas Morgul.

|From up here you can also see two very important sights in Birmingham.

From up at the resevoir, the boat looks tiny.

The boat at the end of the day on Friday.

Tony passes me the trash for the camera.

They ask Tony from Midlands Waterways to pull some trash out of the canal for me (but first Tony has to put the trash INTO the canal).

The BBC comes to film on Friday.

Walking home along the canal.

This is the boat and crew at the end of day 4.

I think this sheet metal must have been the roof of a truck, now Tom is making it into the hull of a boat.

My mom and dad mark out the planks on the side of a refridgerator.

Barrie Morse, a marine surveyor, comes by to inspect the hull.

Thursday morning I start making the stencils for the metal planks.

This is the end of day 3.

These kids are showing me some paper boats they made in class.

My parents – visiting Birmingham to help with the boat.

My dad makes a paper sun visor for my mom.

My mom and I examine the debris for more boatmaking material.

Now I can make adjustments in the bow and sheer.

|The employees of the Waterways Management were suspicious at first.

The sun is coming out.

My dad notches the sections to be placed into the keel.

My mom helps cut out the sections.

My mom arrives with a gift: trash fished out of Gallway Bay.

At the end of day 2.

Things are beginning to take shape.

From the road above the boat yard.

Some of the sections are cut.

Sludge seems to collect in the bend of Icknield Port Loop.

This plywood didn’t come out of the canal – it came from a scrap pile at Ikon.

Progress is slow with the wind.

The rain and slime helps hold the stencils in place while I transfer them.

Early Tuesday morning – Tom and I start working in the rain.

Tracing out copies of the sections.

From my model, I can draw out stencils for sections of the boat.

After I examine the trash, I make a small model of the boat.

More trash arrives.

The Ikon Gallery crew is preparing the site.

It is hard to imagine how any of this will ever float.

 Tom Bloor helps me out by stripping the sheet metal from around the appliances.

The trash arrives early Monday morning.