BillBrush

Paul reminded me of something I have in my tool box from when my sewer main broke in half (yes it was icky.) A cast-iron sawzall blade (as in a blade for cutting cast iron.) Also works on ceramic and fiberglass IIRC. Basically it's just abrasive on the cutting edge. The blades I have are the 12" variety. With a little care you could probably make short work of the globbies. Avoiding damage to the other parts would be the main issue, but these blades really won't cut anything other than what they're designed for so even some cardboard could be an effective blade guard. If all else fails you might give it a try. Bill

Ok, now this makes sense to me. If my brain hasn't left the beam entirely I can see how this would work for them. They spray in the mold release, which, from something I read earlier today also hardens gel coat. Then they spray the gel coat resin, in one of a variety of colors, then spray the fiberglass resin and lay in the glass. Add the rest of the innards and presto, you have a boat. I could see how this would be superior to painting based on manufacturing technique as it would speed up production greatly, and the finish would be ready-to-sell from the get go. If I'm going to restore a boat, then I can just prep and paint as I would any other surface and it should work. That's good to know. I've been offered a Sunfish that's in need of some TLC so I'm contemplating fixing it up and selling it.

So from what I gather, most people who build their own boats use marine paint as a finish over several coats of epoxy/fiberglass. Most production boats use a gel-coat to finish a straight fiberglass hull. So are gel-coats just a real pain to apply for a home-builder? Too costly? Not appropriate for a plywood boat? Can you take an old tired gel-coated plastic boat and paint it? Could you take a painted boat, sand off the paint and gel coat it? Is there any difference between a gel coat and marine paint (from what I have read the answer is yes.) I'm looking at various and sundry used boats and I'm curious how bad of a job it is to pretty one up. Thanks! Bill

The Snarks are horrendously under-powered, but that's one of the things I think makes them a great beginners boat. Combine that with a hull design that plows through the waves instead of going over them, and that's completely unsinkable, and it comes out to be a very forgiving boat. I've never come close to turtling mine, except last Monday when I was coming into the dock and the main sheet caught on a cleat, turned the whole boat broadside and heeled it over till the rail was almost under. Big fun.

Yesterday the weather was perfect for taking out my little Sea Snark, and I was in need of some wave therapy so I decided I was heading to the lake. My son (7) has never been brave enough to go out on the boat with me, but yesterday he decided it was time. No panic attacks, no second thoughts, he just jumped in and was ready to go. We shoved off, and he LOVED it. He says he's ready to solo now. ;D He was feeling like pretty hot stuff since I let him take the tiller while I pulled the sail up a bit higher . Anyway it's not a home built boat, except for all the rigging, I'll throw some pics in. I am a proud Dad.

LOL. I am not considering buying it, I just wondered if anyone recognized it. IIRC it was posted a few months ago with more detail and a much higher price; and that posting said it was built from a kit. I think it would make a nice runabout for your boys Konrad. You could use it as a tender for the Vacationer. ;D Bill

http://omaha.craigslist.org/boa/1248968520.html Anyone recognize the type of boat? It screams "hand built" to me, but I could be wrong.

Providing non-home-built boats are allowed I'd be interested. I should have a new boat by then, with the toy boat as backup but I don't see any way I can reasonably have one built and ready for launch by then.

I saw you mention that in another post (I've been lurking around for about a week now.) Congratulations on buying a place. We had a campout for Scouts down at Wagon Train in May, and it's a nice lake, but as you mentioned the trees would make it a bear to sail in. Hopefully we're going to sell the Money Pit real soon now, and I can get the family moved . Maybe this winter I can build a dinghy or something.

Hello everyone! Well it only took me about 4 months longer than intended but I finally have my house "For Sale" which means that once it goes to "Sold" I can think about getting a new (to me) bigger boat. I'm going to buy a boat to expedite the process of getting on the water and get my kids introduced to boats, and then I'll build one later. (Leaning towards the Super Skipjack) Anyway, it's obvious that there is a great deal of boating experience here so I thought I would get some opinions. Requirements - Able to seat 4 comfortably, and 6 in a pinch. Somewhere around 800-1200 lbs of bodies and gear. Under 20' just simply because I need to be able to store it somewhere. Cartoppable would be ideal, but I think it's a tall order, outside of the Snarks, and I haven't found any Sunchaser II's for sale closer than 800 miles away. Price should be something south of $3000 unless it comes with a free divorce lawyer. Obviously there are a billion options out there, but are there any known lemons to avoid? There was a Newport-Lochley 18 around here, but the Craigslist post expired, which makes me a sad panda. Anyway, I hope you don't mind the question about plastic boats, but if I'm out of line Frank can plonk me. Bill P.S. If you need crew Konrad, let me know. It would be cool to be on a sailboat that you can stand up in.

A belated Merry Christmas guys. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with the extended family so I just got home. Tomorrow we get to have one last Christmas dinner and then it's all officially over. I hope everyone got something cool they wanted. Bill

71 camels Guess I got a good one.

touche' I think steel's probably cheaper though. ;D I haven't found a janka number for redheart, but it is pretty hard. (It's the hardest wood I have personal experience with) I'm guessing that Ipe is much much harder though, so I can't imagine working it with hand tools. Readheart pretty much laughs at my attempts to use a plane on it. I have to say I've never seen a cove technique like yours, and I'm intrigued. Now I'm trying to figure out something to do to try it out. Bill

Info about Ipe: http://www.woodsthebest.com/ipe_decking/ipe-wood.htm It's the 2nd hardest wood after Lignum vitae. Looks like a great substitute for teak except for that whole "not floating" thing.

Well it fits like it was made for them; because it was. I drew out the plan in 1:1 scale on graph paper and fit plan to the stones as close as possible. Now I just have to clean up the mess. Best lesson learned during this build: Double-sided carpet tape (duct tape style) is an AWESOME clamp. I used it for everything from holding down the shell pieces to holding the tray sides to the jig for cutting the splines in the end grain. I even used it to hold the sacrificial fence to the rip fence. In some cases I needed a piece on each board, and then joined them with the double adhesive. Maybe I need to build something to hold some of my other tools. Something like the attached picture maybe. If you've never seen video of that chest it is just unbelievable. Here's some more shots of it at the Smithsonian site. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/toolbox/piano.html

Yep, I actually feel a little guilty that it's such a nice piece of work and I'm going to use it for a very utilitarian purpose. As of about an hour ago it's finished. Made some brass springs to hold the tray down when the lid is shut, and cut some foam to hold the stones firmly. The tray got the finish oil a few hours ago and I definitely like the looks. So to close out this minor threadnought, here are the last pics. If you want to see them all, you can go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bbrush/StorageBoxProject#

Well tonight was good. I have the tray fabricated and glued up. Tomorrow will be a final sand and trim and then finish oil. I decided the butt joints on the tray sides weren't going to work so with some gyrations with the table saw I splined the joints. Cutting the splines was tricky with the tablesaw since they were only 7/16x1/8x1, but I got it done and it looks good. I used some scrap redheart for the spline so it should look nice once it has the finish on it. Some pictures:

Awesome Konrad! Now you just need to finish out the cabin this winter, and you'll be ready to go come May. How'd the kids like it? Bill

Well while Konrad was out sailing I was hip-deep in projects. Among which was "Da box." I was able to get the latch fully fabricated over the last couple days despite managing to solder the piece I was using to position the barrel on the face plate to both the face plate and the barrel. The barrel was broken getting that out, and I almost had a disaster on my hands. Despite that I was able to get the latch finished and today I cut the mortise for it. A little polishing with the Dremel tool and I test fit it. During the test fit I snapped off one of the brass screws holding it in, and I thought I was going to have to redo the lid. A little chiseling, and some needle-nosed pliers removed it though and I was back in business. As of the end of tonight, the shell is assembled, sanded, and oiled. YAY! All that's left is making the tray, which I started before I came in to apply oil. Pictures below. The brass face plate isn't perfect, but it's hard to get a really flat face plate when you're working with hand tools, and it's very thin brass. Still I think it looks ok for home-built. Hopefully by Wednesday I'll have the tray finished and I can count this project done. Pics in order: Fully assembled and glued shell, Latch face - test fitting, Latch bolt, shell complete - with latch installed.

Ok, looks like the trim is looking good, and I am going to sleep on it, then glue it tomorrow, and then start working on the outside of the shell. Here's a pic of the assembled box (dry fit). There are more pics of the exploded view, and a closeup of the trim. http://picasaweb.google.com/bbrush/StorageBoxProject# It's coming along nicely up to this point, but I'm going to have to get off the dime and decide on my lid catch. I'd like to be done before Monday.

The Nike box has so much honing oil impregnating it I think it's going in the wood burning stove. It ought to burn for about a week. Worked on it last night, and decided I didn't like the way the edge grain of the partitions looked so I cut some strips out of some scrap I had to glue to the edges. The scrap is some unknown yellow wood, so it should look nice in contrast to the dark. For some reason I think it was called yellowheart at the store, but I'm not positive. Ah, Google to the rescue, yes here it is: http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/pauamarelloinfo.htm The curves were a bit challenging, but I set the plane to extra thick and muscled it through for some thin strips. Tonight I should be able to get some Watco on them (Natural) and see if it works. My wife is of the opinion I've lost my frigging mind for doing all this on a box for whetstones. She just doesn't get it. ;D

With my tolerance for tv at "overload" due to all the political "news" I was desperate for a project to get me away from the tv and computer. So I started cleaning the garage. That led to sharpening tools, since I hate using a dull chisel or plane. That led me to conclude that I needed a new box to store my whetstones in. So began, Da Box Project. First, the current box, so you can see why it needs replaced. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lQtopqItb0i9hf66P9RE0Q (Apparently the "Add image" link doesn't like me, so I'm having to use links. The box ends, showing the dados cut for the partitions. I pooched one corner, so one of them is assymetrical from the other three, but it's about function with this project. This was my first go with oak in about 20 years, and I had forgotten how nicely it works. The http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/G2Cr49j--G8KxYKW2Hnnjgpieces.'>http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/G2Cr49j--G8KxYKW2Hnnjgpieces. The box interior partitions. I designed these on graph paper, then prototyped them with foamcore once the shell was done. They will hold up a tray for a 2nd level of storage once the box is assembled. The tray isn't started yet as I will build it to fit the assembled box. There is a compartment for each of my stones, plus a couple spares. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/G2Cr49j--G8KxYKW2Hnnjg Dry assembled box, stones, and oil. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tq3Jsnz9exd_62vxOBWhmQ Dry assembled box, interior shot. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jo_Gm1f4s4nY9Ia84y_uvQ Dry assembled box with lid. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/g3I9y1dxetf_gIvVF6UZrw Tonight the pieces are downstairs being Danish oiled (Watco.) The interior is getting black walnut and the shell is getting natural. I'll probably take more pictures as I go through the project. The dimensions on the box are 8"x6 1/2"x6" (LxWxH). My current conundrum is the latch/handle. I would like to make some sort of clever handle-latch combo that locks when the box is picked up, but I haven't come up with a design I think I can both build, and looks sufficiently reliable. I'd also like it to be flush with the top when not in use so i can stack stuff on top of it. A lot of criteria there, so I may have to compromise. The tray is going to have foam on the bottom of it so it holds the stones firmly in place when everything is closed up. All in all it's far from perfect but it has been really nice doing something out in the shop again. The kids have also had a good time feeding the wood burning stove and asking Dad a whole lot of questions about "What does this do?" The smell of oak sawdust brought back a LOT of memories. Bill

I haven't done boats, but my experience with autobody work and bondo would lead me to believe that subsequent coats are going to magnify the problem rather than alleviate it. I'd slap on some coarse sand paper and take them off. Bill

As far as I know it doesn't make any difference. That wood is supposed to be treated all the way through. You could probably make a point of putting it mill side down, but I think you'd be safe either way.

As the owner of an ancient house (hovel) I strongly recommend that you level it now. There is nothing plumb or level in my house and it causes me no end to headaches. Bill