One month plus ten days, after my unremitting efforts, thirteen large bamboo materials have been roasted in advance.

After peeling the skin and baking the water, each one was light and fluttering, only about 100 catties, less than one-third of its original weight.

Of these thirteen bamboos, I plan to use only 11 as the base material of the bamboo raft, and the remaining two smaller ones will be erected on both sides of the bamboo raft as the side of the boat, and handrails will be set up on them to ensure everyone's personal safety during the voyage.

The whole large bamboo body at the bottom can block the waves. The sea is not as calm as the river, there will be waves when there is wind, our bamboo raft is walking against the water, the deck height is not enough, if we don't block it, the slightly higher waves will wash our deck.

After measuring, the eleven base materials, combined, must be two meters and seven wide, the width has exceeded my original idea, but it doesn't matter, the bigger is bigger, more stable, not much slower. It is about 10.5 meters long, and each one is cut into the same piece.

On the whole, this can already be regarded as a 'big ship' of not a small tonnage, and from a distance, it can be regarded as magnificent, and the wind and waves of the general three or four levels can be borne casually.

Next, I was not in a hurry to assemble the bamboo into a whole boat, but first studied how to design the sail, the other main component.

I studied with my cousin for two days, and I got her to give me a lesson on the Bernoulli effect, modeling, experimenting, and finally coming up with a solution.

In view of the fact that our canvas is not large, the tonnage of the boat is not heavy, and the bamboo raft has a shallow draft, the resistance is far less than that of the boat, so we decided to make it a hard sail.

The sailbones were made of bamboo, and two shaped hard sails were braided, and canvas was hung, one at the bow and one at the stern.

This kind of hard sail operation will be very convenient, the weight will not be very large, even the mast together, it is estimated that the maximum is seventy or eighty pounds, and I can load and unload it alone.

When you want to sail, you can start by inserting the sail, and when you want to stop the boat, you can remove the sail. The corners on both sides are pulled by live hook ropes, and the angle can be adjusted at any time depending on the wind direction.

We went to the bamboo forest again and came back with some bamboo chips. Not only for sailbones and masts, but also for cutting a few large ones, which were used as sheets and bamboo strips for tying ropes.

At that time, we will have to lay a deck in the cabin to insulate the water, and the materials for building the cabin will also be needed.

Oh, and the materials to pitch a makeshift tent when you go ashore at night.

By the way, I also got a few large closed bamboo tubes to make life jackets.

I've already figured out how to do it. It is to peel and dry, and then the bamboo tube is hollow, and the buoyancy will be great. Tie a rope to the bamboo tube as a shoulder strap, and in case of an accident, you can carry the bamboo tube in advance, even if you fall into the water, you are not afraid of sinking.

The bamboo material was cut back to make the material for the sailbones, which still had to be tamed by fire and then nailed to the mast with iron nails. Make a model that can take advantage of the Bernoulli effect.

Because my mast is connected to the whole sail, and the sail is pulled directly from the mast, it must be able to move, so there needs to be a hole in the deck for the mast.

The bamboo material of the bamboo raft itself is not strong enough, so naturally I can't punch holes in it, for fear that the wind will pry my bamboo material into ruin.

Therefore, it is necessary to replace it with a piece of hardwood. Hardwood is fastened to the deck and then punched in the middle to house the mast.

I went up the hill and cut down an old pine tree and cut it into two meters to solve the problem.

The pine trees are heavy, woody and hard, just what I was looking for.

Two square wooden piers are sawed with a saw, slightly smoked and watered by fire, and a chisel is used to punch holes in the middle until they are as big as the mast, and three are made side by side, and they are installed on a certain hole depending on the direction of the wind when sailing.

Time flies quickly, the sails are ready, some materials are ready, and it is almost March, and in our plan, there is still a month left, and we will sail with the wind.

Now it seems that there is a lot of time.

The next work is to assemble the bamboo into the whole ship, then build the cabin, adjust the sails, and then launch the sea trial, first practice for a few days, before daring to take the women out to sea.

Su Wu's work here, there were more than 200 catties of rice, so I asked them to stop and teach them to store them in a pottery urn.

It's not good to have too much rice, because the air is humid on the sea, and the rice can't be stored for much time. Later, bring a stone mortar that you can eat while scooping on the road.

There are still more than 800 catties of millet left, so I will let the women turn them out and dry them again.

Last time, we collected a total of more than 2,000 catties of grain, and we have eaten seven or eight hundred catties in these days.

Rice is used as a staple food, and I am used to eating it, but I don't have a meal, and it is really uncomfortable. In the past, I was wandering in the mountains, but there was no condition and no way. But eating meat at once also scared us.

But rice is different, it tastes bland, but it eats it all at once, but it can't get tired of eating.

It seems that it is really plain to be true.

We estimated our voyage, and to make the most conservative estimate, it was probably four to six months. Two hundred catties of rice, plus eight hundred catties of millet, can also scoop out five hundred catties of rice.

A total of 700 catties of junmai.

The consumption of six people is calculated as five catties a day. That's more than four months old.

Of course, when the staple food is consumed, we sail along the coast, there is absolutely no shortage of food, there is endless seafood in the sea, and there are endless wild things on the shore.

Originally, if I could pack more and take it away, of course, it would be the best. Anyway, our boat can carry it. It's a pity that there is only so much there is. The millet in the mountains can't wait for the next batch to ripen. A few days ago, when Tiantian Qiuqiu and Kexin went in to collect medicine, they saw that the rice seedlings had just risen.

I chopped some wood and put it in the cave in the back mountain, so that Su Wu and Tian Xiaxia could watch the fire and burn a kiln of charcoal to come out.

Tian Xiaxia also mixed some clay and burned two more porcelain stoves specially used to burn coal and charcoal. It can be moved on and used for cooking on the road.

In the extra time, these women organized to go into the mountains to pick mushrooms and wild vegetables to make dried vegetables. I also went to the bamboo forest to dig bamboo shoots and dry them.

The women were enthusiastic and seemed to be doing a great job.

All the work is going on intensely and hectably.

My cousin and I worked hard to assemble our sailboat.

We moved the bamboo to the sea, not to the sea. The whole big bamboo raft, when assembled, must weigh tons. If you don't get close to the water's edge, you won't be able to carry it into the water later.

At the junction of the Haihe River, five meters from the shore, we dug a flat piece of land.

At the bottom, three large bamboos are placed horizontally, and then bamboo materials are placed on top to assemble. In this way, when the entire bamboo raft is assembled, it will be placed on three large bamboos, which is easy to move.

The raft was assembled.

Three months passed.

(End of chapter)