Email (Note: The WebLetter Mr. Lovelock refers to is WebLetter 15)
Subject: (no subject)
Date: Sat, 25 Dec 1999
Dear Glen-L Marine,
I recently had some photos developed showing some of the building stages of the V-Dory I had built in the Philippines. I sent an email message to you a week or two back and did not realize you had published it in your newsletter until I started receiving email from Glen-L readers requesting information about the boat. Since there seems to be a lot of interest in this boat, I thought your readers might like to see some photos of the building process. I have numbered the photos 1-14 and will try to give a brief explanation of each picture. Please feel free to eliminate, renumber, re-arrange, or re-edit any of the following information.
Photo one - this shows the building site. It is outdoors and the builders erected a temporary shelter of bamboo and a rainproof roof. The lumber is tongili, which is purchased from a local sawmill about 30 kilometers from the building site. Although this type of wood is native to the Philippines, it is illegal to cut it locally and it has to be imported from Indonesia. The wood is "rough cut" and has to be re-sawn by hand to the proper dimensions. The building form has been constructed according to the plans and has been made stationary by driving pieces of rebar into the sandy ground.
Photo two - Another shot of the building site, showing Mr. Bovis and three of his sons. They have built countless bancas-the traditional Filipino canoe with bamboo outriggers, but never a "speedboat". In addition, they had never used any power tools before building this boat. They liked drilling and driving screws with the electric drills, but preferred hand sawing and wood chisels for the closer fitting joints.