Back to steam bending

Steam bending unit

As previously mentioned, the Windshield was cut down to a lower profile.  Decide to add wood trim.  The wood had to be steamed to bend without cracking.  The setup pictured above worked pretty good....here's how it works:  take a length of plastic pipe with a diameter that will fit the girth of the wood you need bended.  cap the ends with aluminum foil.  run vinyl hose to the pipe from the 1 gallon paint cans that you can get at a reputable paint store (empty cans @ approx. $2.50 ea).  turn on the electric burners to high after filling the cans about a quarter way to the top and wait for the steam to rise up and saturate the wood for about an hour......take the wood out and - quick like a bunny - bend it to whatever mold or jig or whatever you have and there you go!

Gonna trim down the windshield

See that blue tape?  That will be the new elevation of the windshield....tell all your friends!

Anderson Lake

Lake Tulloch





Goin' back a coupla weeks...

....here the boat is against the backdrop of Scotts Flatt Lake.....next week:  Tulloch Lake!

Engine/boat still running strong, took Caruna out for a spin at Anderson Lake in Santa Clara County, CA

Up and Runnin'....runnin' strong!

Took my boat to Lake Anderson (Santa Clara County) for a shakedown run...right after that went to Scotts Flat Lake (Amador County)....then....Lake Tahoe!!  Ran like a champ the whole time!....knock on woody!

Rebuilt engine has been dropped into boat

It's a complicated process

Took a break this past week, boatin' and campin'......we almost got the engine together for the trip but, alas, the flywheel did not match up!

the long road to rebuild

Here's my boat!

Something is happening!

It may not look like it by looking at the picture at left but progress is being made!  One thing is we got ahold of a big-ass puller that, even though it is big-ass, barely pulled off the clutch plate from the old engine.....whew!

Still nothing has happened

Still waiting, waiting.

Something better happen soon....

...considering i'm running out of boat sketches, but as long as nothing happens with getting the boat running what can one do?

no news is good news?

Still waiting for more to happen on the engine.

No boat action this week, but.....

YEAH!.........

.....Chicken wings!!!
Getting the signage together for the Sant Cruz Mountan Brewerys' 3rd annual Chicken wing ding cookoff Jun 19th!!!

I'm cooking up stuffed wings!

moving towards the goal

Got the new engine mounted on the engine stand....stay tuned.

Here's the new crate engine

Here it is!!

engine in!

The engine (long block) is ready for pickup locally.  Time to get on it, if you know what i'm talking about.

Just Thought i'd....

....throw in this cartoon of Sandy Driving her boat named "Sandy."  She really shouldn't name a boat her own name.

New Hope!

It might just happen tomorrow!....What am I talking about?  I'm talking about ordering the new long block!!  Completion date set at June 1st for putting the boat into water, and i'm not talking about letting it stand in the rain!....in a frickin' lake dudette's!!  Knock on Mahogany for me please and i'll take you out for a spin!

Return of Stanley!

Stanley came by for a brief visit today!

gonna use the existing exhaust manifolds......

....after all.  Getting closer, there's a real good chance of this almost making it!

Hopefully....

....we'll start moving on this engine rebuild soon!

still nothin'

Went away to Tahoe this past week and now it's raining.

still on hold

Continuing with the forensic auditing (and coming up with very good for me stuff).  going to copy off about a ream of paperwork documenting my financial activity since 2003....so, I'm hoping to get back to the boat soon.

ps: I'm sure everybody is just fascinated with knowing about my auditing skills, feel free to not read the above.

on court mandated leave of action....

....well, in a soft way anyway.  The court is forcing me into digging deep into forensic auditing.  It is taking up most of my time, as I do this, though, it's hard not to sketch in the margins of my notebook.....and believe me, my notebook is mostly margin!

10 coats - all done.....

....at least the deck varnishing.  It's finished with a matte finish, by the way, not a gloss finish which is more common.  I suppose i follow a different drummer on that one, though, because I like the matte better.  I'm not going to debate anyone on this.

back to work!...real work...engine work.

Takin' er apart.

the varnished truth!

8th coat!

6th voat of varnish 5% reduction

Yankin' it!

Hoisted the beat engine out of the Crooks - that's the brand name of the boat.  Now we can begin to make it work again.

Sanding break!

Sanding 'er down with 320 grit.....wet sanding!  The reason to do this is to smooth it out, if you don't the varnish will have an uneven surface......4 more coats to go!

5th coat of varnish

4th coat of varnish

This coat was thinned just a little bit - 5% - as the rest of the coats will be.  One thing I noticed is that it took about twice as much varnish this time compared to last time.....think because the layer is thicker (less thinner used).

varnish - 3rd coat!

This coat was thinned 25% just like the second coat.

Varnish - second coat

Varnish!

Put on the first coat of varnish on the deck.....8 more coats to go!

The first coat I thinned down the varnish 50%

Next coat: 25%

Something happening

Finally, just yesterday, after months of no activity, I started sanding the rub rails with sixty grit.  I looked in my reference material and noted that 120 grit is the final sanding grit....one doesn't want to go any more fine on the grit because the varnish won't stick as good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE4HGlmtOcg

Nothing happening

Getting my mind in gear for starting up again - resto of the boats - as we get through this winter weather things will begin to happen!....watch for it!

Bad news!

The adapter plate won't work, it's made for an automotive application....looks like plan B (previous post) is going to happen.  Otherwise nothing has happened, a lot of rain and it's cold to boot.

Weekly check in

The news this week is the same news of last week, nothing is happening.  I've tried to make contact with my mechanic since December to see if the adapter plate will work, if not i want to continue searching for this needle in a haystack part.  But time keeps slippin', slippin' into the future and although the season for boating is still a ways away still, plan B is developing in my mind.

Plan B:  With the help of a good friend, reblock (chevy 350) the existing set up with a new one.  By the time March rolls around, if nothing has started with the nailhead engine, i think i will proceed with Plan B.

Haven't done anything with the boat lately

but i did manage to do a sketch of a Garwood.

When the sanding is finished....

......the sawdust settles, I have a beer and take a break!

Pictured is an artists rendition of the deck portion of the boat which, after months of sanding this thing, is done!....at least the 60 grit part.  Now I need to come back at it with a cascade of finer grits ending up with 180 grit (or maybe just 120, I forget which one, gotta check my resource material).  The good news is that, by far, the major sanding was knocking it down with the 60 (grit)....piece of cake now!

I'm tired

Mainly, I'm tired of all the bullshit I have to put up with, but to get to the point of this entry, as I've been working on the boat I've been listening to this album, (don't know what happened with the u-tube thing but the song is "I'm Tired" by Savoy Brown) and specifically this song.  It's a song with a message that I take to heart, how 'bout you?.