I was very excited to be coming back to Seattle to spend the summer months visiting my daughters and their families and my friends. I was especially looking forward to once again participating in the annual Swiftsure race out of my favorite city of all time, Victoria BC. I would be racing with great old friends and some new ones on Michael Hoffman and Samantha Haney’s J40, Malolo. We would be doing the BBQ race which is really more of a social event that a serious sailboat race. We would use the same starting line as the other 300 or so boats just outside Victoria harbor. Though I don’t know the actual distance, I’d guess it was about 25 miles in length. The race finished at the Victoria Yacht Club where all of the participants were invited to a great BBQ and award presentation. Though we had a great start and were in either 1st or 2nd place for the first half of the race we had a sail handling issue and dropped from contention. Even so we all had a great lot of fun and thoroughly enjoyed the day and the event in total.
The Good Ship Malolo
One of the participants was Brena Lever who I’d known for a few years. In conversations during the event I discovered that Brena had just installed a hot tub in the back yard of her Ballard home. And she wanted to build a pergola around that hot tub. After my success with building the condo railings I felt invincible and capable of taking on this new project. So naturally I let her know that I was excited to make that my next challenge. So we began discussions as to what she envisioned and how we would go about building it. I made up a list of materials needed and began borrowing needed tools for the task. Brena got busy assembling the wood and other supplies we were going to need. Within a couple of days I was making pilgrimages from Whidbey Island where I had rented a small cabin just a couple hundred yard from the Southern tip of Holmes Harbor which is where the town of Freeland is located.
Freeland, Washington On Whidbey Island
Allow me to digress for a moment. Since I had previously sold my car before leaving for Panama, I was in need of transportation. It was many many years ago that I last own a convertible. That car was a 1963 Triumph TR4. My ex-wife, Jan, still a good friend incidentally, and I loved that car. But when our first daughter, Shelly, came along it was time to buy a “family” car. So the TR4 had to go. L Shelly J J J Now a convertible in Seattle probably is not the best choice of vehicles. Except when you are only planning on using it during the beautiful PNW summers, which was precisely my plan. I found a well maintained 2003 Chrysler Sebring Convertible at a reasonable price that sort of fit my budget and snapped it up. Can you say midlife crisis? Or in my case late life crisis. Call it what you will, I loved it and rode around all summer long with the top down every day it was even semi-nice. And will do the same this summer. Thank you very much.
My New Plaything
The convertible at least made the hour and a half trip to and from Brena’s Ballard home fun, but not inexpensive. I figured about $25 for each round trip which included ferry fares and about 3 gallons of gas. Brena graciously reimburse me this expense. The hot tub had been installed on a patio made from recycled red brick. Brena had purchased and positioned the 4 concrete corner pillars that would define the size and shape of the structure. My first job was to attach the 4” X 4” corner posts to the metal brackets embedded in the concrete pillars. And then since the patio was not exactly level (close but not exact) I needed to cut the posts to length so that the structures roof would be level. A somewhat tedious task as I was doing this by myself and that required multiple trips up and down the ladder to position the header beams, clamp them in place, check them for levelness, reposition, etc. until everything was level. Only then could I mark the posts and cut them to length.
The Corner Posts, Outside Headers, and Braces Are Done
Next, I cut the 2” X 6” outer header beams to length and attached them to the corner posts and secured them with diagonal braces to hold everything nice and stable. Then I cut inner header beams and again bolted them into place. This insured an adequate anchor point for the pergola’s roof rafters. Using one of the cut off pieces of the 4 X 4 corner posts, I fashioned a center anchor point for the four corner ridge beams which were also cut from 2” X 6” stock.
I assembled this structure on the ground and then scheduled a time when Brena, her teenage son, Sergey, one of his school mates, and Thomas Winston could help me lift the structure into place and mark the 4 beams where they intersected with the corner posts. The structure was then taken back down and I the notches cut for those points and then we lifted back in place and secured it with long hardened lag bolts. (Thanks Michael for the suggestion)
Ridge Beams Bolted To Corner Posts
The next step was to cut and fit each of the 2” X 4” rafter pieces which were to form the open roof of the pergola. Making these compound angled cuts turn out to be the biggest of many challenges I faced with this project. I did have the use of a compound miter saw borrowed from Michael Hoffman, but even so, this took much experimentation and trial and error (lots of error) to get a fit that was at least close to accurate. Though not perfect as I would have liked, eventually I got all of the pieces screwed into place.
Underside Of Rafters
Rafter In Place And Cut To Length
The final step was to cut all of the rafter pieces to length where they overhung the header beams. This was what the finished pergola looked like.
Finished Pergola
Not too bad for an amateur carpenter.
This project took up most of my time for the month of June and I wish to thank Brena, Sergey, his friend, and Thomas Winston for their help. And to Michael for his advice and counsel. It certainly helped keep me off the street and out of trouble. However, I must say that I’m still waiting for the promised hot tub party and champagne. Maybe this summer, Brena?
Time to move to a new place to lay my weary head and start my next project.
Check back soon.
This project took up most of my time for the month of June and I wish to thank Brena, Sergey, his friend, and Thomas Winston for their help. And to Michael for his advice and counsel. It certainly helped keep me off the street and out of trouble. However, I must say that I’m still waiting for the promised hot tub party and champagne. Maybe this summer, Brena?
Time to move to a new place to lay my weary head and start my next project.
Check back soon.