Action Tiger

Oh. I figured part of the fuss about computers was you could print files in any size. I guess I just figured a set of panels could be printed in scale on legal paper or somesuch. I really don't know, I don't use them. This is a wee little phone. Seems it would be a neat, simple, quick little evening, and then fire the dream. I'll go back to my sanding. Peace, Robert

Yes, yes!Aren't the shapes so lovely? It reminds me of sculpted stone, like a banister or cornice on an old building. I learn stuff all the time... Peace, Robert

Okay. So, you're building the model? Shoot, man, print them panels on paper, glue it to some Bristolboard or basswood, glue it up, and stick it on the shelf to drive you wild until you finish. That's what I did with my little canoe in my avatar. It really does look like it's going to be a neat little boat, Chick. I'm all in favor small, low powered boats. My scene, if you will. If you fill the side panels with a helium based trimix type gas, it could be a deep submersible, too, the drivers breathing from the side panel tanks. Peace, Robert

I like it, Jeff. You may need to use glue and fasteners on the frame to up the rigidity for sailing. I have the plan and cut diagram for little lug sail in my avatar photo. My buddy and I designed it and he made it. What's the idea for seating? Peace, Robert

Chick, I don't want to alarm you, but in that shot from the starboard aft quarter, she appears to be filling with water. Neat little boat. You know somebody needs to make a model, right? Peace, Robert

Thanks so much! That is really very lovely. The worst part of the forum is trying to get the "whole picture ", you know? It's hard to get a good view of boats in just one view, if you know what I mean? I wish I could crawl all over them and see it all. Thanks again. Lovely, lovely work. And dangerous photography work! That right foot is right on the edge! Peace, Robert

Thanks PAR! Peace, Robert

Is it possible to get a shot looking down on that stern, maybe from inside the boat? It looks very lovely and interesting, and I'm just dying to see another view. The sculptural elements are lovely. Peace, Robert

I will attempt to lift Oldest Son over my head. Just kidding. That's like a 220+ pound bowl of chicken, now. My dislocated back will be on the list of grievances. Festivus is a fine excuse for using aluminum spars, by the by. Peace, Robert

I have a set of repeater lights on a bar that I plug into the trailer lights. Lights on the trailer, and lights clamped onto the back of the boat itself. I also have a set of high and low lights on my little kayak trailer, which doesn't get wet. The repeater bar came in handy when we brought home the new boat, in fact, as the trailer lights were shot. The repeater bar gets the lights right up in the faces of following traffic. Paul, do you have a source for those flashy bits? I know what you mean, and I sure would like to install some. Peace, Robert

In case you all don't know this... I LOVE THIS PLACE! My kids were decorating the house for festivus, and found a decoration from 1986. They were amazed at the vintage of it. 1986 is, like, 30 YEARS AGO! Yes. I suppose the 80s really WERE a long time ago. The new (ha) boat in my drive is to be called Slim Jim, which was the nickname the marina guys gave the boat. I think mine is only twenty or so years old. Peace, Robert

Well. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. I think my little sharpie canoe is pretty. I just applied the sharpie chine treatment to a plumb sided little canoe. It actually works. The Sneakeasy will be used on the quiet backwaters of the Delta and a few alpine lakes near us. She should make a fine little launch to putter along and watch nesting eagles from... Peace, Robert

Oh, Paul, I know it ain't old. I was teasing Ken because he be fixing a boat what he had to replace the whole side! No, the Sneakeasy is in okay shape. Lots of rainwater damage inside. One big section of chine and most of the cockpit frames are rotted. No big. Super easy repairs. I may glass the bottom up over the water line, too, while I'm at it. The limber holes left little traps for water to pool. It really is in good shape, though, and a super neat boat. It honestly does not look like a square. I am very interested to run it and see the wake. Supposed to be vey flat. Really, I'm more interested in getting this stupid sailboat painted, so I can go sailing already! Peace, Robert

Oh, don't I wish. There's still that Core Sound over there I dumbed into. And this. Also dumbed into. Know anything about refurbishing old boats? This is for my wife, though. Her boat, my work. I just may quit epoxy again by the time all this nonsense is handled! Peace, Robert

First pic is one corner of the transom lower edge. The second is just another shot of the glass overlaps I've been fairing. This is,about to get some paint, I think. I'm just chasing little stuff like the corners of the transom, the bow and stem area, around the oarports. Lots of tedious fiddling, but I tell you, sanding a 20 foot boat by hand ain't no joke, y'all. Peace, Robert

The black line is where I cut the glass, where the seam was. Pretty gone now, finally. Those lines are little ridges left over from the overlapping of the knife. She is getting a little roughed up and painted for real... well, primer. Then sanding, and primer, and sanding, and primer, and sanding. Then I might get to repeat a few times with paint, too. Either way. I am a paintjob away from a flip and finish of the topsides! Peace, Robert

I also learned it works good to stick on cloth upside down, or sideways. Vertically, I mean. Peace, Robert Too late did I notice. Go Wings?! Yeah. Down the tubes.

Those foam ends look lovely, Lotus. I see why you guys use that stuff. Peace, Robert

So. My epoxy bottles are in the little locker I made on the shelf to close them in. Okay, it's a box. But, I stuck a bunch of Christmas lights in and around the bottles to warm the gloop up. It also works on citrus trees to prevent fruit loss from freezing. Peace, Robert

My freeb has blown away twice while sitting on the beach. Peace, Robert

Heh. Flipper. Peace, Robert

Chick, I reflected the other day, as I was riding my bicycle home from my little part time job I have to keep me mixing with regular society, that things ain't changed all that much in the last 20 years. I work in the same place I did way back then, though for giggles now, and have the same transportation, and live less than a mile from where I did then. Crazy how far we have to travel, sometimes, just to end up in the same place, eh? Peace, Robert

There is also this. When I was training for Ironmans, which is about 30 hours a week, I would include my kids. When I ran, they rode bikes along side. When I swan, they paddled boats with me. Not always, but often. It was "forced" time to be together and engaged. Same same with boats. They help make stuff, and paint. I have a very obscene picture of Oldest Son, when he was Only Son, posing with one of the 20 foot canoes I built. Yes, a young man's pose. Now as a man, though, that kid can handle a boat. We always talk about the time he poised on the rail of our little skiff and reached up to reship the sprit, which had fallen out when the lashing broke... The time can be time you are together engaged, rather than together in the same room but miles apart. And, any child will benefit from watching a parent persevere to accomplish a dream and complete an impossible task. Peace, Robert

Okay. Dang it. I promised Chick. I have no photos of said incident, which is probably for the best, but I will set the scene. There is a decent sized river around here what has been quarried for the lovely stones comprising its bed for years. The little ponds that are left over make good places for delicious bass to go play bass. I kind of have a weakness for real food, moreso when the harvesting of it is fun. I have a long time adventure buddy, Billy, we'll call him. Billy and I are that type of friends what get introduced by a mutual, and quickly outdistance the third wheel. Dang, we met, and it was like reunited twins, y'all, except he is shorter and less narrow than I, the Ichabod Crane lookalike. So, I helped the kids build this punt, see, and Billy just happened to be over. Now, see Billy has the fishing bug something fierce. He fishes. I just like to go air drown some dinner now and again, but he's out to meet them all, have a picture taken with the whole town, as it were. "Dude, we gotta go fish that boat Saturday." Billy knows I don't fish, or boat can I help it, on the weekends. Ha. "Those ponds are open on the weekend. Little pond, big fish, good test for the boat..." Did I mention Billy is a salesman, y'all, in real life, and I am the sucker PT warned about? "The boat's not done, Billy. No oars, no scull, no cleats or tie off, no floorboards..." So, Saturday morning, sees Billy showing up at Dark 30, and the boat is already on the roof rack of the little sedan, so we only have to load the boat, and go. We could hardly even notice the enormous box on the roof of the tiny sedan as we drove down the highway at surface speeds. So, we queue up to launch (ugh) amidst a tiny Dunkirk of kayaks, canoes, jon boats, and one big old powerboat. Crazy. We simply hoisted our little box off and carried her to the water. I won't lie, I was relieved when she floated. I always am. Now, I said we simply launched her, but that was a lie. "Check out this boat! My buddy Rob built it. He's a master boatbuilder, Bro! Oh, he's been doing this forever. Blah, blah, blah! Loud, very loud, and embarrassing proclamations!" And, so, duly cursed, we launched, set off, paddling with an old Greenland style double bladed paddle, and my own pirogue paddle, which has a long narrow blade, and can be used as a quant, or pushpole, if needed. Mind you, we are in a large pond, acre plus, which is nowhere deeper than 5 feet, so although the vessel is untested, we had no compunctions about testing here. Well... I noticed the thin floor oilcanning right away. Mind you, there are floorboards in her now, and were supposed to be then, but we were in a rush, and wanted to go fishing. The boat paddles and rows like a dream, by the by. No lie, it goes like no box has any right to. The problem is, the bowman, if too chicken to just get up on the deck where they belong, concentrates all their weight between two frames, just behind the bottom seam. The kids made the boat, so it has a three piece bottom, and there is no glass on the joint, just good fits and glue. We had been fishing unsuccessfully for some time when Billy noticed a bit of water in his end, and some cracking in the seam between bottom and frame, which we dismissed as cracking paint, just from the flexing. Idiots. We were very close to some gents in a grounded out plastic canoe when Billy announced the Catastrophic Failure. Luckily, the canoe guys were puffing a potent homemade cigarette, so I think they may believe they imagined what happened next. What happened was, I got that sucker up on plane! I'm not sure you've ever seen a J stroke turn over at 9,756 SPM, but I can tell you the froth is substantial. At one point, poor Billy had to climb up on the foredeck and grab the painter, riding her like one of those rib drivers. Really, what happened is, I wanted to beach immediately, and Billy wanted to bolt across the pond. I won. We beached her, found the screws that had been literally stomped out of her (which Billy insists were pitifully small, at 1" #10 screws into fir, for 1/4 ply), and I pounded them back in with a nice smooth river rock/hammer. Dummy wanted to keep fishing, but the bite was off, and I was anxious to effect lasting repairs, so we just paddled back to the car. The boat took on very little water, and we got her loaded fine. Except, Billy stepped in a hole in the water and almost broke his leg off. Happy to report, the boat was fixed, and finished with floorboards and all, then beat up heavily by three kids and a big puppy over a ten day period. An absolute success. The end decks are excellent casting, boarding, and diving platforms, and it can carry a ton of stuff. Whew. Peace, Robert

I suffered a severe spinal injury years ago that leaves me susceptible to bad seats and bad beds. I while ago I discovered hammocks. Mine is simply an 8 foot long piece of light cotton, rolled twice on the ends, to form a strong hem, and double sewn. A rope through the ends can either be doubled and hung from two eyes, or each end can be supported by two eyes. Or, go crazy and use three eyes, one one one end, and two on the other! Anyway, they can be squeezed into places a hard bed can't, weigh very little, are up out of the bilge, and can be used on land... Honestly, bugs don't bite me all that much. My family is like insect smorgasboard, but I don't get eaten. Should I be concerned? I really hope I get to,drag out there and camp cruise with y'all next year. I'm saving pennies. Peace, Robert