Westport 2018!

During our last week at Westport, Lina joined Ioana in the finish carpentry crew, while Maggie stayed in the plumbing crew. Ioana and Lina worked together on assembling grids for overhead panels. Maggie continued to install piping systems in the 40-meter model. The three of us handed out our homemade cookies on Monday, and were glad to hear that everyone enjoyed them! On Tuesday, the day that Maggie and Ioana were to leave for their long drive back to Webb, Westport experienced an extremely unusual event: snow! Ioana and Maggie trying not to slip on their way into the yard During lunch, Maggie and Ioana said goodbye and began their trip. Lina was left to work the rest of the week alone before her flight back to New York. She continued to work on the carpentry project, and was really proud of how much she was able to accomplish on her own. Here's Lina chilling alone in the break room A couple of days into the week, Lina developed an allergic reaction at work...

  During our next-to-last week at Westport, LLC, Maggie worked in plumbing, Lina worked in fairing, and Ioana worked in finish carpentry. Maggie installed piping in the 40-meter boat, which will launch in the summer. Lina helped sand and spot-fill the transom of the 38-meter boat, which had a primer shoot over the weekend. Ioana packed cabinets and installed flooring.  As our time in Westport nears the end, we decided to show our gratitude to the crews that mentored us over the past few weeks. We bought baking supplies from the grocery store and baked cookies (but not before going to the movies to watch Black Panther, obviously). It took us seven hours and half a season of My Name is Earl but the cookies came out great! On Sunday, we heeded the recommendations of many coworkers and drove to Olympic National Forest. We stopped at a couple of trails (but we were too cold to do much hiking), a waterfall, and Ruby Beach, which, to our disappointment, wasn't covere...

Our winter work term is almost over! Ioana, Lina, and Maggie worked the sixth week at Westport in plumbing, mechanical, and fairing, respectively. Dauntless, the 112-foot model that launched the week before, was docked at Westport's outfitting pier while crews continued to add finishing touches. Ioana cleaned and prepped the air handlers and the hot tub, before moving on to multiple projects on the 40-meter model. Lina took a break from cutting insulation on the next 112-foot boat to help fix the exhaust pipe and clean the engine room of Dauntless. Afterwards, she worked on installing a fire-extinguishing pipe in the 38-meter model. Maggie worked on sanding storage units and cabinets for the 38-meter boat. On Friday, we got a tour of Dauntless in its final stages. Before we boarded, we walked to the end of the dock to see the lounging sea lions up close. Even though most of the interior was covered by protective tape, the completed boat was still impressive to...