Interruptions

Not all interruptions are bad. Yesterday I had to fill a quick ship order of wooden toys to send to Manhattan Kansas. That's the stuff that funds the kayak project. If the kayaks paid for themselves I would be tempted to turn this into a business and then it wouldn't be fun anymore..

Weekend Progress

I did manage to spend some quality time in the shop this weekend. The stitching has begun. It has taken a little more time than I anticipated to get the hang of the best way to put the wires in and twisted tight. I am using construction wire instead of the recommended copper wire, to save a few bucks, but I'm paying for it in time. The other little glitch I ran into was the temporary frames, they didn't fit. Not only did they not fit, but were so far off I had to start over and plot them out again. Apparently when I put the numbers in the computer to print out the shapes I messed up the scale factor and ended up close but no cigar. Just goes to prove that doing some things by hand pays off.

I added 8 hrs to the project this weekend, which brings us up to 33 hrs so far. The lake still has over two feet of ice on it still, so I have a little more time...

Panels Complete

Deck Panels

 This weekend was pretty productive, I just wish it was a day or two longer. I spent Saturday running around town doing the weekly shopping and errands. Saturday afternoon was dedicated to ice fishing for northern pike, of which I did manage to land 3 beautiful fish.
Sunday I expected the weather to be bad so I planned on spending the entire day in the shop. The major tasks for Sunday was to prep all of the panels for stitching  after hours of sanding edges and beveling the edges on the shear line and drilling holes, I think I am finally ready to stitch the hull panels together.
At this point I am willing to mention that the plans and manual from Pygmy boats does leave a bit to be desired. While the instructions and plans are complete, everything is there, they seem to be lacking in more depth and in-site to the project that would make the process a little easier. After spending the majority of my life as a professional draftsman, whoever drew up the plans could have spent a little more time improving readability. Again, the plans are complete, just lacking a bit of style.
Eight hours spent on Sunday, which brings us up to 25 hours so far.... not bad for a first build.

Hull Panels

Mothership

Had a great four day weekend to work on the kayak. It started on Friday with a terrible cold (cough cough ;) and ended Monday with the presidents day holiday. At this point, all of the major pieces have been cut out with the exception of the coaming pieces. I have to admit that i didn't spend every available hour on it. I did manage to go catch a couple of fish, take care of some book work and various other tasks. Cutting out 12 twenty foot long pieces with a jigsaw has not been the most fun task that i have done on this boat so far. that works out to about 480 feet of cutting, no wonder i went through 3 blades.
As of this weekend I hereby dub this kayak the "Mothership" because it is one mother of a big boat.
I added about 10 hours to the project this weekend which brings the total up to 17 hours thus far.

A little more

Made a little more progress this weekend on the kayak. The lofting is now complete, next step is to cut out the pieces and smooth out the final shapes. Then will trace out the shapes on the other panels for the other side, cut and smooth. I would have spent more time on it but we got hit with a blizzard and the shoveling was a lot of fun.

hours spent so far...  7

First steps

The first challenge on this kayak build is putting together long enough panels for the length of the boat. Butt joint two full sheets plus 53 inches of a third. I used a trim bit in the router to true up the edges and with a 3 1/2" brace, I glued the butt joints with epoxy thickened just a bit with wood flour. You can see the weights used to hold everything down while the epoxy cured. A good use for paint cans full of bent rusty nails! With the average temp in the shop around 65 deg, it took almost all of two days for the epoxy to dry. The next big issue was figuring out how to turn the 20ft piece of 1/4" plywood over by myself...not happening.. With the help of the neighbor we got it flipped.
Now I can draw on the sections to be cut out.

Hours spent thus far.... 3

K3 The next kayak

And so we begin. This kayak is a Pygmy design called the Osprey double/triple. I purchased plans from them but not the entire kit. This build has started pretty slow, I had hoped for more shop time but you know how life gets in the way. I do have most of the materials on hand, and I will gather the rest as we go along. The epoxy and fiberglass I purchased from U.S. Composites. I used their stuff on the first boat and was happy with the result. The plywood is not the fancy okoume marine grade plywood that cost 60 bucks a sheet... I am using luan plywood from Menards at 7 bucks a sheet. I like the grain patterns and once you put fiberglass on it, it doesn't matter what the material is. All I managed to accomplish this weekend was setting up a 20' table to start work on. Hmmm, I think I feel the flu coming on....

Happy New Year

Wow, what happened to December? Its not like I have been slacking or anything, I had 19 orders for things on Etsy, lots of toy fences, gates, paddle boats and cutting boards. Had to take a little time for the holidays and do some ice fishing.

But now I'm back in the shop, I have the wood on hand for the next kayak and I ordered the fiberglass and epoxy. The space is clear for the the 20' tandem, I just need to move the snow blower back to the garage where it belongs.

I have a couple of projects to ship out this weekend; 2 paddle boats, 6 cutting boards and a farm set (fence, gate, water tank and hay bales). After that I should be able to do some fun stuff right?

Cleaning

I didn't realize just how bad it was until I spent the whole weekend cleaning out the shop. There were scraps of junk and old wood that has been lurking under a few benches for at least 9 years now. If I haven't used it by now, it isn't going to happen. Driven by a local newspaper reporter who is coming out today to take some pictures and interview some local people who sell crafts and stuff on Etsy. I figured that I had better clean enough to at least make it safe to walk around. I'll post the article when it comes out. Now I have the floor space to layout the new kayak...

Busy

Been pretty busy in the shop of late, the weather is getting colder and we have finished the firewood for this year. So that translates into more time for fun stuff and less time doing yard work. The Etsy shop is doing pretty good, I suppose the pre-holiday shopping is picking up. It still amazes me that I have been buying tools and supplies from the income generated by these silly little wooden toys and fences. A big thank you to everyone who keeps coming back and buying more stuff. I'm going to pound out some more stuff to send to a craft show in DeSmet on the 17th that the neighbor has a booth at. We will see how all this stuff sells.

Meanwhile I am just about finished with the re-skining project of B-man's kayak. I have been learning interesting things about tent fabric and spar urethane. Just a few bits of trim to put on and one final coat, then its off to storage for the winter cuz I need the space for the next kayak.

Upcoming Projects

I have a few projects coming up that should be pretty exciting. the first one is a tandem kayak built using the stitch and glue method of plywood construction.

I also need to catch up on some etsy projects to build up a little inventory before the gift giving season starts. Yes I know a lot of people have finished their xmas shopping by mid July but I tend to wait until the bitter end, better deals that way, right guys? 

There is a quilting/work table on the list that I need to get finished one of these days to keep peas in the household and various other small projects that have been waiting for awhile... ok for a long time. but I'm getting better! Now to do some fishing!

Bathroom follow up

Yes I promised to follow up on the bathroom overhaul we finished in June. To sum it up we installed a new tile surround, had the tub re-glazed, new shower head, paint, and a bead board ceiling.

New Addition to the Shop

Ok I finally did it. I have been messing with my band saw for a couple of years now. I must say that it is one of the most used tools in the shop. So why have I been fighting with a tiny dysfunctional table and no fence? So thanks to the proceeds from a lamb sale and a few sales at ETSY I have finally ordered a table top, fence combo from Rockler.com. This should make a world of difference in the production of those silly little fence toys.

Here is the link to the product if anyone is interested.. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?site=ROCKLER&page=10164

soon

sorry, been busy..... be back soon!

Bath renovation

As you may or may not know, high school graduation is nothing more than an excuse to renovate as much of the house as humanly possible just to keep the peace. As the days click by and the big date draws near I have undertaken the task of the bathroom renovation. Originally I figured that if I was busy tearing out drywall and installing tile I would escape from the other social tasks such as writing invitations, deciding on a menu, and other unspecified tasks that as a man I am totally incapable of.

So here is the before pictures of the bathroom.

Back To Work

I finally finished the built-in components for the end wall of my living room. there is still a few little things to do, like some crown molding at the top of the book cases and a cushion for the window seat. Other than that its finished!

One Confession

One confession.

(To you professional writers out there who got me into this silly thing, I apologize in advance for this post, please be nice in the comments.)

It was a dark and stormy night. The pitter patter of raindrops was punctuated with a blinding flash and the rumble of thunder. The wind could be heard whining and moaning through the exhaust vent as we both stood there looking at the crime scene.

                "Why did you do it." She demanded of me, standing there in her bath robe.

                "Just what are you talking about?" I replied in a tone of voice I usually reserved for small children who are unusually dense. "I heard you screech out and thought you were being attacked by a vampire or something".

                "You know exactly what I am talking about, there isn’t anyone else with access to this room", she countered with hands on hips and a snarl in her voice.

During the next lightning flash I glanced around the room, taking in the usual collection of implements and products designed for some sort of female ritual or diabolical torture. Everything was in its place, as near as I could tell, but with the thunder in her eyes I knew the storm was not the most dangerous thing in the area.

                "Ok, its 3am and I’m jolted from sleep, I don’t think we are communicating very well here. Do you think you can take it from the top and explain to me just what I am guilty of?"

                "Give me your hand", she stated.

                "Why" I replied

                "Just do it",

                "Ok, now what"

At this point she proceeded to take my hand and guide it, down, down to the bottom of her robe where I felt that it was dripping wet.

                With a glimmer of hope that this situation could turn out to my benefit, I asked with the utmost of sincerity "What happened to you? Are you ok?"

                "I fell in you asshole! Some jerk left the seat up again!" Her whiplash reply dashed any thoughts of a late night rondevu.

At this point in a married mans life you come to the realization that anything you say, is wrong, dead wrong. My first thought was to deny any knowledge, because honestly I have no recollection of perpetrating the crime.

Everyone should know that marriage is all about trust and sharing. She trusted that the seat would be down and now she will not be sharing for quite some time.

To make a long story even longer I will make my one confession.

                "Honey, I am so sorry but yes, it was I who left the toilet seat up!"

Two Images

Catching up today with FWG's who am I challenge. Here are my two images that describe my life right now.

A river passes through my life, ever changing, always moving. Bringing new ideas and people, friends and family along the way. Sometimes flood, sometimes drought, ever moving, always changing.

Perfect weekend

I had to think about this one for quite some time. would my weekend be a romantic get-away? A night out with friends? A cruse though the Caribbean?

nope, I don't think so. Those things would be fun and I would jump at the chance to go, but if i had my way....

I would like to spend the weekend in my wood shop. The smell of fresh cedar, the whisk of the plane, the shavings piling up along the workbench. The current project taking shape, be it a kayak, a cabinet or wooden toy. The solitude of working alone, and being happy with that. The only pressure is coming from the clamps as they hold glued up pieces to dry. The mundane tasks that keep the body busy but allow the mind to roam a bit, thinking about the future, the past, or even whats for dinner.

Yes I think that is my favorite weekend.

Day 11 My perfect house

How much space do we really need? How much stuff do you really have to have? As a disclaimer I do have a large garage and a large woodshop that are both separate buildings. But if I ever found myself alone, I would build and live in  a house like this.

This is the Weebee house plan from www.tumbleweedhouses.com

House width:	8'	Porch:	2 ½' x 2 ½'
House length:	15'	Main Room:	6' x 6 ½'
Trailer Size:	7' x 14'	Kitchen:	4 ½' x 4'
Road Height:	13' 5"	Bathroom:	4' x 2'
Dry Weight:	4900 lbs	Ceiling height:	6' 3"
all measurements are approximate		Loft height:	3' 8"

The Weebee boasts the wonderful bump-out windows in the front. The interior is completely finished in pine with stainless steel counters. The exterior of this house is finished with cedar plank siding and an corrugated aluminum roof. Yes, when it rains, you can hear it. The Weebee can also be finished with board and batten siding or corrugated aluminum.

Living Room

The "living room" is flooded with light from all the windows surrounding the front of the house. The stainless steel fireplace warms the house amazingly well. The nook is large enough to store a day bed, futon, or small couch.

Kitchen

The kitchen features a sink, 2 burner stove top, refrigerator, and ample shelving. Below the sink, there is a small water heater, and the refrigerator. There is also space where you can store a small toaster oven or microwave if you choose.

Can I add a dishwasher or laundry to the kitchen?
The kitchen is too small, but a washer/dryer combo can be placed in the lower half of the closet (back left of living room).

Bedroom

The bedroom is in the loft. It is large enough to fit a queen size bed, but that said, this house is a little small for 2 people. The mattress is foam (or like kind) so that it can be rolled up and fit through the loft opening. The loft also has shelving for clothing. At its peak, the loft height is 3'-8".

Bathroom

Like on many boats, the bathroom is the shower … and it is called a "wet bath". We use metal diamond plate finishing on the walls that leave it with a modern look. The shower water is heated from the small water heater under the kitchen sink, and can last about 5 minutes.

The toilet is a low flush RV toilet designed to conserve water. You can easily substitute a composting toilet.