Goin' up to Comanche

....Commanche lake which is kind of east of Sacramento, CA. The weather has become unusually warm again after a cold mildly rainy stretch. After topping off fluids and lubing the hubs as well as a safety check (a must), I'm ready to pull out!

placing planks

Can you see what's happening here? since these mini planks aren't being steam bent, they are bent by brute strength and kept there using eliptical discs while the glue hardens.

I was going to work on the boat yesterday...

...but a funny thing happened on the way. Before I was going to work on it I decided to walk to the bank, make a small deposit into my small account, then walk over to where they are building a new Safeway grocery (gargantuan) store to take a picture of the spanking new standpipe (see photo-this post). I was then going to walk back home. As I was walking by the "pub", I spontaneaously decided to stop in for a pint.....five pints later I staggered home and didn't work on the boat, but it was tasty beer.

everthing is up-tight...outta sight

...if you get my drift, if you hear what I'm saying. But things are moving along, planed off the sub decking and am poised to lay down the mahogony.

got it covered

finished with the decking underlayment, kind of a lath attack, reminiscent of the lath under a plaster wall....only different.

To the City Dump

Yesterday was especially special because I finally got rid of the old smelly gas that came out of the boats' gas tank. With Stanley riding shotgun in my 1986 Toyota pick-up truck, the perfect dump runner. Up the coast 3 miles, hanging a right at Dimeo lane, there you are! Where dreams come true! One with my people! A place where I can be me, not faking it with some aplomb, a place where the garbage hits the ground so to speak. Stanley had a blast chasing the sea gulls as the sights and sounds tickled our olfactory nerves. But, alas, had to get back. Dropped off the toxic 20 year old gas, filled out a form and made our way back home to a fresh cup of coffee for me and dog bisquit for Stanley....can't wait to get back there!...and thanks for the comments.

Laying down strips of wood and....

right at the very front of the boat a proactive lame attempt to deal with this junction point (see photo where the green circle is). Still trying to figger it out. something will happen, that's for sure.

Got Rain?

We got some rain today. we need a lot more but at least it breaks the ice, rain wise anyway.

OK, fun time is over, back to work!

...Yeah, it was fun taking the boat out but now it's back to the grueling, painstaking, never ending laying down of the slats-o-wood. It's a pain in the butt but somebody's got to do it and that means me.

Stanley!

We here in N. California are treated with unusually warm weather, unlike many parts of the US visited with crippling cold and snow....but we're gonna get ours when water rationing takes place. Have you ever experienced a drought? they're no fun...can't wash your car or you go to jail. Can only water your lawn before 9:00 or after 8:00! people yammering at you to: if it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow let it mellow., people you don't even know tell you this. You feel guilty asking for a glass of water at a restaurant! They scowl at you evn if you are really thirsty. ...That's why you gotta get your kicks in while you can and go boating!

a little this, a little that

this being laying down slats, after glueing one strip down it takes all the weights I can muster to hold 'er down. These weights include lead weights, cans of varnish, steel welded in my welding class and a rail road track (about 1 ft. length). What this means is I glue a strip down, put the weights on then do a little of that , which today meant getting a load to go to the dump and yardwork. When the glue has set, then I do another strip (this) with the same weights and then go back to doing that, no wonder I get disoriented and confused, Is this multi-tasking?.

Beginning a new layer

to the left of Stanley you can see strips of wood being laid down to add another "ply" to the decks underlayment, by doing this I can be more economical with expensive mahogany, me being a real cheapskate tightwad.

Smart Wiring?

I took this picture before covering the bow, now I can look at it and get a brain cramp thinking about how to deal with it....good thing it's down the line giving me a lot of time to have a brain cramp!

Ever been mellow?

Gotta take the boat out every once in awhile just to stay sane, know what I mean? Do you feel like I do?

Time to batton down the hatches!

....well, not exactly, would you believe screwing down the decking underlayment? Finally I can put the rot behind me and get on with the really important work, making it look good. As we all know, it's more important to look good than to feel good. Well, I'm the kinda guy that thinks we can have both.

And here's th CF number for future possible reference, feel free to check in with the DMV to see if it's still registered.

perplexing conhumdrum

My eyes wandered over to where the cutwater should be, the metal skirt on the front of most boats of this type. In this case, it's not there, did it ever have one? Did it have one from the factory? Did it get lost? Whatever it is.....what do I do?

reinforcing!

As you can see, reinforcing rot affected areas. Just when you think you can really rip on the decking you notice even more "prep" work or whatever you want to call it.

lifting ring assembly back on!

It get's down to two basic elements when doing boat restorations: taking things apart....then putting it back together. That's what happened with the lifting ring assembly, it's back on and now I can continue with the decking....the action is going to be hot and heavy now!

My Woody's outside, covered in snow...

....nowhere to go now. Well, not exactly snowing but it is raining here in Santa Cruz and it's cold too. Not inviting to work on it. Staying indoors and grooving on indoor activities such as television. -------------Now let's hear the Tradewinds sing "New York's a lonely Town" on u-tube!, how about it?

Or listen to Matt Bianco with the song "yea yea"

Have boat, did travel

Round trip of over 1400 miles of pulling the boat. (to Pheonix, AZ for the holidays). Everything went well although when I got back I noticed one of the trailer tires was low on air pressure (10 lbs.) and when I checked out the prop after the Lake Havasu boating experience I noticed the nuts holding on the prop were loose and the cotter pin was gone. If this was overlooked, at some point they would've come off completely let alone the prop coming off.

I'm writing this to demonstrate the importance of keeping on top of stuff like this....otherwise, you wouldn't believe what shit can hit the fan when dealing with these Pain in the butt boats!

ps: the trailer of crushed cars was at a rest stop somewhere around Blythe.