Tales of a Boatbuilder

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fallguy1000
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Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by fallguy1000 »

Nearing the end of my project, I find myself spending countless hours and miles on my poor joints looking for needles in haystacks.

Maybe I'm sloppy. Maybe I'm devoid of focus and direction.

I looked for an hour for sanding spindle kit, eventually finding them behind the new windshield cutouts under the fiberglass rack. What jackass put them there?

Elated, I quickly realize there is only the smallest size and the biggest and the big won't work. I start to sand and the arbor starts to bend and breaks about the same instant I realize it. I rechuck the 1/4" remaining and sand for about 3 minutes; trying to go from 1.25" to 1.3". I measure and it is 1.26", really going places now. I decide, better go look for the next size up. About 5 minutes in, I find it. Go back to the boat. My battery is dead.

Since the Texas plans, I have a moratorium on buying much. I put the battery on the charger and decide to work on the vac pump. Mom calls. I work on the pump during her call. I resurrected the pump. It got some epoxy vapor in it and ATF breaks it down. A tip from a fellow in Pennsylvania and a bonus for you all. Aren't you glad?

But there is crap everywhere here. I know what lean and mean is. I know kaizen and all those fancy methods of lean manufacturing. But there are simply too many tidbits right now.

My rudder is spinning in circles. The battery charger is blinking charge.

The connections for my nav lights are analog. Czone digital supposedly can't accomodate nav/anchor combined. So I hand wired it and it is absolute garbage. Another bonus for any readers with string stomachs, piggyback female spades are best left for pornos. They have no holding power. In fact, there is something inherently wrong with my spade connections. The females don't fit well on the males. All joked aside, I am serious. So, after a week or two of disgust at a day's work, I discovered Carling makes a female side you can load with very specific spade females. No, not that kind of spade(ing), sic and sick.

Good news is one of my vac pumps works. It leaks, but gives full vac when on. Before the atf trick, it had a sticky spot and I figured the shaft or bearings were bad.

In other news of the damned, my weigh scale fiasco has also found a shining light. I bought the thing on ebay for 275$. Got it here and it worked 1/10 times and then 0/50. Ugh. So, I left neg feedback. Guy got all mad. I got Covid, went to box it up before the return deadline; despite the Covid and sent it off with a day to spare. 5 days later, USPS returns it undelivered, damaged in shipment. I call ebay, they say money back, send it to the seller if they pay shipping. Guy eventually tells me to recycle it. So, I tear it apart and do a debug. It has rangy resistance. ? Rangy resistance is a wacky result. I tear it all the way down and find heaps of dirt. Clean it and get good readings. The thing works after I cleaned it! Gonna send the seller $125.

For now, gonna try my battery. I intend to offer more ramblings on this thread about my misadventures. So, if you want to coin in; mosty laughter from you all is what I am going for.

For any other readers, my project is a very complicated one. Boatbuilding is lots of fun. But I am at a funny place in the build where there are 4000 things left and only 100 days to finish.
My boat build is here -------->

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=62495

Jeff
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by Jeff »

Almost there FallGuy!!! Great build!! Jeff

Cowbro
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by Cowbro »

Dan, I can't even imagine the list on a boat like yours. As for inspiration, tthe first thing that comes to mind is: How do you eat an elephant?...One bite at a time.

You are getting down to the toes as CL would say.

Fuzz
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by Fuzz »

It is so easy to get overwhelmed building a large boat. More than once I have found myself sitting and trying to decide what way to go next. Unless you have built a larger boat I am not sure folks really understand how hard it is to make progress every day much less being able to get the most out of each boat building hour.

TomW1
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by TomW1 »

Dan i guess you just have to sit back and drink a beer every once in a while, before going on to the next step. :lol: You're doing a great job. :D

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

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BarraMan
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by BarraMan »

Dan, I look at your build and think, "No way Jose"! 8O Not even if I was 20 yrs younger. :help:
My boat pulls admirers wherever it goes. They all want to know, "What is it", and can't believe that I built it.
Sometimes when I look at it, nor can I! :doh:
I think the "How do you eat an elephant" line fits best. :lol: The big picture can be overwhelming but taken one small piece at a time, not so much.
Keep at it - you can see the finish line from where you are! :D
Cheers
Lee

PS: Here's a motivational video to keep you going!

https://youtu.be/4Y0wavscijY
Last edited by BarraMan on Fri Mar 04, 2022 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

TomW1
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by TomW1 »

Dan i guess you just have to sit back and drink a beer every once in a while, before going on to the next step. :lol: You're doing a great job. :D

Tom
Restored Mirror Dinghy, Bought OD18 built by CL, Westlawn School of Yacht Design courses. LT US Navy 1970-1978

Dan_Smullen
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by Dan_Smullen »

But other than that, things are going well.

PapaDave
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Re: Tales of a Boatbuilder

Post by PapaDave »

“This boat that we just built is just fine -
And don't try to tell us it's not
The sides and the back are divine -
It's the bottom I guess we forgot”
― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

Your boat is amazing Dan. Keep at it.
Dave

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