ABOUT THOSE DRAGON BOAT EGGS

lmira area carver, John Kolanach (who carved the Honey Bear and the Dragon Benches on the restored carousel) gets the credit for planting the seed, or as he says, "laying the egg for our new favorite reptile, Jasper ll." Here, in his words is the story of how the idea came about and how it didn't happen right away. It appears that Dragon Boat eggs take a little while to hatch.

I discussed the possibility of creating a new dragon boat during the festivities of the carousel's grand opening in May 2006. It took awhile but I listened intently while the thought gained momentum through the months that followed.

A year and a half later, the egg was about to hatch. I received a call from EPCPS President, Bob Lyon, wondering if I would be interested in designing and building a dragon boat head for Jasper ll. My answer? "ABSOLUTELY."

After studying the limited existing photos of the original Jasper boat, I asked if I could deviate from it regarding materials and design, but retain the original integrity.

Let me explain: The original boat design was very dated and simple. It was also made of wood. Our new boat would be constructed of fiberglass, substantially smaller, and electrically powered.

I recommended using fiberglass to make the new dragon neck and head for it's reduced weight and ease of maintenance. I also wanted to make Jasper ll look more like today's vision of what a dragon would really look like. The public today, young and old are barraged with state of the art graphics that depict amazing details and realism in movies, illustrations and animation. I decided to keep the basic elements of the original Jasper with it's open mouth, outstretched tongue and the fin-like gills. They will be more realistic, but will still resemble Jasper ll's distant relative who haunted Eldridge Lake in the early days.

The sketches started.

After the purchase of the new boat, our Dragon Boat Project Manager, Dale Bryant, sent me a photo so I could start thinking about the deck and hull shape and how to blend them into the neck of a dragon. This became easier once Dale delivered the boat to Elmira. Shortly after arrival, I made measurements of the front end of the boat and took more photo's so I could begin the construction design. I decided in advance to use PVC tubing as an underlying armature to built upon for two reasons: One for the light weight and the other for it's inherent strength.

All the design work went quite fast and 2 weeks after the start, I had a five foot long drawing showing the construction details all the way to five views of the head. Excerpts can be viewed here separately with actual build photos depicting the respective drawing views.

Beginning with the PVC tubes, let me say this: I left the drawing in Dale's workshop one night after work. By that Friday he had the main structure mocked up per the drawing. I knew right then I was in good hands and I couldn't have been more excited. I was pumped and said "see ya' in the morning".

That weekend I had the pleasure of working with Dale and two close friends of his, Norm Ferris (who is President of Elmira's Popcorn Truck Preservation Society) and Harry Hartman. Throughout the weekend we all enjoyed working together on the PVC structure. It was enjoyable because the four of us know how to make things work and get the job done (I'm sure we've all experienced the opposite).

About the PVC work - a decision was made early on during the fit-up of the tubes that two of the tubes were not going to be required due to the evidence of the strength without them. This was great - less weight! This omission can be seen from the photo next to the original design. The structure in the photo is actually held in place by two bolts (through the deck in existing holes, one from where the bow light was and one from where a flagpole hole was) and a third through the tow rope u-bolt on the hull. It is largely self supportive otherwise. Existing holes were used so the whole structure can be removed for ease of detail work later. Let me add here that the PVC will also serve as a conduit to run wiring up to the head for the eyes that will light: red on the port side and green on the starboard side..... and finally for a path for smoke to billow up to the nose and mouth.

The next week was filled with nights cutting Hi-Density polyurethane foam to fit around the tubular armature. And also that week, the structure and design were approved by two state inspectors from Albany's Marine Division of New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

The foam cutting process extended into the weekend. It was back and forth marking the foam where cuts for clearances were needed and going over to the band saw to make the cuts. Back and forth. Back and forth. The cuts had to be as close as possible. Voids were filled with polyurethane foam which cures very rigid. Near the head where the foam sandwiches each other, polyurethane glue was used between each. There is now more than enough foam for the final structure to float on it's own (safety issue).

APRIL 2008 PROGRESS - the mesh wrap story