Still a week before I go, but:
New house
New workshop
Boat-launching spot a couple of hundred metres away
I’m helping my daughter’s girl scout troop put on a Pinewood Derby race this weekend so I figured I might as well make my own entry for the Parents’ division.
Science!
If only the World-Wide Web existed when I was a Cub Scout.
When my son’s Cub Scout pack had their derby a few weeks ago we had an award that was basically this:
Yeah, my dad was both useless and not often present in those days. I remember kind of wishing I had a Big Brother 
back then to get truthful answers to all the questions I knew I couldn’t get from family or friends.
is that a kazoo?
No, it’s a mostly hollowed-out wood block with a partially disassembled flashlight for ballast and lighting effects.
i meant the metal part, not the wood, but yeah
Not bad, but I still like my steam powered pinewood derby car better.
I just found another potential DIY sailboat option, even simpler and cheaper than a Firebug:
Might be worth doing one of these as a starter, then do the Firebug as a second boat.
A project for later:
Not only is that a neat mechanical computer, I think it would be possible to recreate it fairly simply in timber. Just a bit of routing for the board, some heavy ball bearings for the play pieces and a very simple linkage between the trigger and the ball release.
Could look quite nifty if you did it in decent timber.
Occupied house. This is one I hung last year, lovingly painted by my daughter.
This years model is slightly deeper (1/2") and has a slightly larger hole.
A scan of the neighborhood shows 2/6 are definitely occupied.
Another budget boat option…
http://www.hillsborotech.org/foldable-kayak/
Folded coroplast skin over a PVC pipe frame.
Considering some of the things that you will be sharing the water with, I would hesitate to trust my tender giblets to a foldable boat.
The big scary stuff is mostly up by the entrance to Bass Strait. It should be fairly mellow paddling around the shores of West Arm.
My brother has more to worry about; he’s got saltwater crocs in his backyard.
Bull Sharks can go anywhere. They found some in the Arkansas River once, although that may have been a prank.
So sharks are assholes…
