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The Building of Old Codger


Chick Ludwig

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Don's cold gene has never been activated since he moved south much later in life. Even though we live within 10 miles---hey, wait---I bet it's more like 25 miles, he lives way down in the LOWER mountains, while I'm way up in the UPPER lower mountains. It's MUCH colder here. Maybe even 7 or 8 degrees colder!!! But he's right about it being warmer for the next few days. And he DOES know where I'm agona be. Off come the model building clothes, on go the boat building clothes! It's "feather-the-edges-day" and " glass -the-sides=day". So. y'all have a great day, y'hear?! We'll get back together tonight and see what actually got accomplished in this here warm spell.

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Well, here I am back inside. Letting my poor nueropathic fingers warm up. It's all the way up to 49 degrees in the ol' garage now. Almost 11 o'clock. 45 when I first went out. Got stuff moved and ready to start feathering. You know, gettin' ready to get ready. Don would be in his shorts and t-shirt about now. Complaining about the heat. Pain's about gone now in my 9 1/2 fingers. (Remember my argument with Mr. Table Saw back when I was building Summer Breeze?) They're at the numb stage now. About ready to get back at it. See ya later, alligator.

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Here we are back at the 'puter again after a days work in the shop-garage. Shoprage? Garop? Anyway, sides are done. Probably won't be cured enough to feather the edges for the transom laminate tomorrow. Besides, now that I've decided in a long shaft motor, I gotta raise the transom height. That will be tomorrow's job. Well, that and making the keel strip and installing it.

 

Meanwhile, here are today's pictures.

The feathered edges. My favorite feathering tool lying on top. Works great, but ya gotta keep it moving or you'll dig in and make a mess.

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Another view. I also feathered the center line seam.

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Here's the 6 oz. glass hung on the sides ready to "resinate". "Epoxify?" Little bits of duck tape hold it from slipping off. Hmmm, I musta wiggled as I took the picture. Sorry 'bout that, y'all.

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The lap at the bow. I like to have both sides ready to go right at the beginning.

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Tools for the job. Oops, forgot Mr. Squeegee. And I didn't use Mr. Brush. I like the little roller. A full size paint roller would be faster, but I like the control I get with this little guy. And, I can dip it right into the butter tub.

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Here it is---all wet out and squeegeed. I'll go out later tonight and---hopefully---trim the overhang.

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No special reason for this picture. it's just the glass wrapped around the transom. But ya can see that big ol' notch for the short shaft motor. It'll be smaller after tomorrow.

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Yeah. I was watching a fund raising program called Rock, rhythm, and doo-wop  on PBS last night. Took me back to memories of the days that girls were a part of. Why is youth wasted on the young?

 

HEY, wait, I thought we were talking about boats on this forum. At least us old fogeys can still mess around with them! I did get the keel and "hole-in-the-transom" filler stuck on yesterday. I'll run on out and get a couple of pictures for ya in a few minutes. I'll edit them onto this post.

 

I'm BAAAACK. Here they are.

It's a keel, y'all.

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 All clamped together.

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Look Ma, no clamps. I'll purty it up later.

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The udder side.

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These guys followed us home from our morning walk yesterday. They wanted to know when we could go for a boat ride

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On 3/15/2018 at 11:05 AM, Chick Ludwig said:

Well, here I am back inside. Letting my poor nueropathic fingers warm up. It's all the way up to 49 degrees in the ol' garage now. Almost 11 o'clock. 45 when I first went out. Got stuff moved and ready to start feathering. You know, gettin' ready to get ready. Don would be in his shorts and t-shirt about now. Complaining about the heat. Pain's about gone now in my 9 1/2 fingers. (Remember my argument with Mr. Table Saw back when I was building Summer Breeze?) They're at the numb stage now. About ready to get back at it. See ya later, alligator.

 

Chick, You make me remember when I whacked my fingers on Graham's tablesaw while building the Oriental Express 20 foot tri in 1988.  Cause was a violation of the first thing never - ever, ever to do on a tablesaw.  Good news is that the numbness will fade a bit if you live long enough.  It's been 30 years and numbness is almost all gone.  The ER put in some stitches, put on aluminum guard splints to protect the remains and I went back to work.  We had a deadline for the World 1000 race and I was not eligible for sick days since there was no pay anyway.

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PAR, -----HEY!!!!!! They's BETTER leave my turkles ALONE!

 

Tom, I don't think the finger will grow back, even if I live a LOT longer! Anyway, the numbness is not from the damage to my hand---actually caught a bit of the other four fingers, too, but it's the nueropathy I've got in my hands, and mostly, feet. The doc says it's from too many years of breathing styrene and MEKP fumes. Not to mention practically bathing in acetone. No one worried about that stuff back when I started building boats. Fiberglass boats with polyester, not good 'ol wooden boats with 'poxy. Standing on concrete floors didn't help either. Plantar fachiitis kinda hurts, even with the numbness.

 

Graham, I tried to raise my salary, too, but Miss Debbie says I make too much already.

 

Enough whining for the day. After taking Miss Debbie out for shopping, and for lunch at Daddy D's Soul Food, I took a little time to glass the transom. I know you're getting tired of seeing the under belly of this thing, but I need to prove that I actually got something done today. If ya think it's been boring so far, wait to see how dull it is filling, fairing, priming, painting....

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Today's progress report. All edges are feathered, a weave filler coat applied. The transom will be finished bright, so I used plain 'ol poxy on it. The rest of the hull will be painted, so I mixed some of my "mostly Q-cell" filler into the poxy for that. I mixed a "sloppy" thin mixture.  First I tried applying it with a 4" foam roller. It just made a lumpy, uneven mess. Then I squeegeed over it to even it out. That worked much better.  It seems to fill the weave well. I'll let y'all know after sanding it. That will be Thursday. "Life" stuff to do tomorrow and Wednesday.  Dentist Thursday afternoon, but I'll have time to try it in the morning. Come on back and see how we're doin' then. No pictures today.

 

I've definitely settled on a motor. I'm agona go with (Southern for "going to go with".) a 20hp Tohatsu tiller steer, 20 inch shaft, electric start, power tilt and trim. It weighs 118 ponds. That's a slightly bigger motor than I'd planned, but weight and price is not much different from a 15hp. And the 15 doesn't come with tilt and trim. My old back is gonna appreciate it. The lakes we'll be cruising on have lots of interesting "skinny water" coves to explore. Here it is if ya wanna check-it-out. https://onlineoutboards.com/tohatsu-20-hp-outboards/tohatsu-20-hp-mfs20eeftl-outboard-motor.html

 

Power trim will also help with lifting the stern with so much weight aft. Me, the motor, battery,  and 2 - 6 gallon fuel tanks. I'll try to find a place forward for at least one of the tanks. Not much room to play with in this cockpit. Another option is a "Whale Tail" or "Doel fin". That would trade off about 1 mph of top end speed for greatly improved trim at slower speeds.

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14 hours ago, Thrillsbe said:

I thought that Proper Southern Dialect would include the phrase “ah-moan”, and the use of The Reflexive Verb.  Such as “Ah-moan get me a Tohatsu 20.”

 

   There isn't really one Southern dialect.  Even if you just go over a ridge it changes a little.  When I used to live in the Piedmont the phrase might be something like "Ahma gitta Tohatsu 20".  If you go a little further South it becomes "Uno Tohatsu veinte por favor" (my apologies to anyone who actually speaks Spanish).  In my new home in the Southwestern part of way (WAY) down South it would be more like "Ahl have a Tahatsu 20 mate and throw her on the transom while yer at it."

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Well, y'all, youins, you guys, dude, man, etc., etc., I grew up in St. Pete., Fla., where people came from everywhere and almost no one was actually born there. My mom was from Bristol, Va. and I was born in that town. My brother was from Bristol, Tenn. My dad was from Brooklyn, NY. You can see how I may be a bit confused about accents.

18 hours ago, Thrillsbe said:

I thought that Proper Southern Dialect would include the phrase “ah-moan”, and the use of The Reflexive Verb.  Such as “Ah-moan get me a Tohatsu 20.”

Don, I don't have ANY idea of what you're talking about!

 

Actually, folks I grew up around woulda said, "I'm agonna git me a...".

 

Tom, I have containers full of various sanding dust. Poxy, poplar, occuome, mixed. Handy for making "hucky-puck". Plenty of all get carried home, too. Through the door from the garage to the house. Miss Debbie does NOT like for me to bring it home with me. Maybe I'd better explain "hucky-puck". It may not be spelled that way, but I never saw it in writing. Back-in-the-day, when I worked for good 'ol Charley Morgan when he still owned Morgan Yacht Corp., putty to bond deck to hull joints, and to fill the cavity where the led keel casting was bedded into the keel cavity of a shoal draft boat, the putty was made from asbestos powder and polyester resin. By-the-way, the shop folks called Charley, Charley Morgasm. I worked in the engineering department. Charley would come in first thing in the morning and loudly say to the guys, "Hey stud...", and to the girls, actually we only had one girl, Sally (Not his wife at the time, also named Sally.).---He'd say to her, "Some day I'm gonna get my way with you!" What a colorful character he was. Here's an article about him. He's still goin' strong. http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/for-sailboat-designer-charley-morgan-lifes-still-a-breeze/2196366

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4 hours ago, Chick Ludwig said:

Well, y'all, youins, you guys, dude, man, etc., etc., I grew up in St. Pete., Fla., where people came from everywhere and almost no one was actually born there. My mom was from Bristol, Va. and I was born in that town. My brother was from Bristol, Tenn. My dad was from Brooklyn, NY. You can see how I may be a bit confused about accents.

Don, I don't have ANY idea of what you're talking about!

 

Actually, folks I grew up around woulda said, "I'm agonna git me a...".

 

Tom, I have containers full of various sanding dust. Poxy, poplar, occuome, mixed. Handy for making "hucky-puck". Plenty of all get carried home, too. Through the door from the garage to the house. Miss Debbie does NOT like for me to bring it home with me. Maybe I'd better explain "hucky-puck". It may not be spelled that way, but I never saw it in writing. Back-in-the-day, when I worked for good 'ol Charley Morgan when he still owned Morgan Yacht Corp., putty to bond deck to hull joints, and to fill the cavity where the led keel casting was bedded into the keel cavity of a shoal draft boat, the putty was made from asbestos powder and polyester resin. By-the-way, the shop folks called Charley, Charley Morgasm. I worked in the engineering department. Charley would come in first thing in the morning and loudly say to the guys, "Hey stud...", and to the girls, actually we only had one girl, Sally (Not his wife at the time, also named Sally.).---He'd say to her, "Some day I'm gonna get my way with you!" What a colorful character he was. Here's an article about him. He's still goin' strong. http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/for-sailboat-designer-charley-morgan-lifes-still-a-breeze/2196366

 

 

Well Chick, I hope you did not do the engineering on Charlie's Windmills.  I saw one of them punch the mast right through the bottom in a National Championship race on the Chesapeake in the 1970's.  Rough and windy but never saw that before or since.  Hooray for air tanks.

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Oops! I was just a draftsman back in those days. No design. But my first job in the boating industry was with Morgan Yacht. I worked on the Outisland 46,  and some others---don't remember what now. Oh, I did some of the drawings for the Disney World boats that Morgan built. Charley sold the company to Beatrice Foods while I was there. He and they came to a "parting of the ways" over quality issues. Beatrice brought in the "bean counters". One thing they did was to use particle board for the interior components. Guess what happened next....

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