Steps, Treads, FIRE!!, And The 10K

I look back at the archives (over → there) and see that I have been warping the minds of boat builders for over 4½ years.  You two guys should seek therapy.  Reading this gobbledegoogle can cause serious side effects. I met a guy in the boat yard that said he met the designer on several occasions. I told him that I cursed the designer on several occasions. See? I"m warped!

Thanks to Olivier for his comment. He's only in it for the music. Smart man. No wait, he already has his boat in the water. Not so smart, man. The music has been a chance to hear songs from everywhere. It seems that when it comes to music,  boat folk only know Jimmy Buffett and Bob Marley. There's more and I hope that I have exposed you to at least one song that has touched your soul. Right now I have Sam Cooke singing sweetly to me.

Everybody loves my boat. As all craftsmen, I see the flaws and errors, the slings and arrows, the dings and narrows of outrageous fortune. My philosophical attitude has changed as a first time builder of boats. Initially you conceive of the perfect boat. Slowly that concept erodes to a good solid boat that can take you through reality, sloughing off the fantasy that initiated this process like ablative bottom paint. Now I see a neat craft that reflects my quirkiness, something that I have in abundance.  

So, here I sits almost finished. Those of you that want to know the monetary cost of building such a vessel must think of the $10K principle. The materials you need to finish the boat costs about that much. Epoxy: $10K, Lumber: $10K,  Electric system (Granted, mine is pretty deluxe): $10K, Plumbing (again, deluxe): $10K. You get the picture. So, you ask, how much?  $104K for materials with about $6K to go. Don't even ask me about time. The designer says 3,000 hours or so. It is false. It does not include the parts trips, the online shopping, the cleaning of the work space, the contemplation of the solutions to complex plans, the studying of the plans, the cursing. the weather delays, or adding amenities such as a toilet. It is a perfect world concept, something that doesn't exist. Figure 5-10 years of your life, then think back of that person you were 5-10 years ago. You will change again that much during the process. So tread carefully. I won't even mention the stresses on your personal relationships.  Me? I don't even buy unripe bananas anymore, lest I change my mind.

A brief cold snap and a brief lazy streak gave me a couple days off to pursue nothingness. I did.

So I bought some rope. This is nothingness?? The big boat store chain now price matches online sellers of identical products. You still have to pay sales tax, but it's the same as shipping and you get it today if it's in stock. These are for dock spring lines.  I'll still need a couple more shorter ones.

I tied an eye splice in one (old salts kindly avert your eyes). I must have liked doing it I tied it 4 times! I still have to work up the courage to do it to the other rope.

I trotted down to my future parking space: the floating dock at Galveston Yacht Basin to see the dock height above water: 14". It leans a mite. I figured out that I needed about 4 steps to get to boat level. I made 4 steps to be finally assembled in situ. My garage sale anemic table saw cut through the 1½" lumber, but I had to feed it slowly. A while back I turned it on and a puff of smoke emanated from the motor. It keeps going, but I have to be gentle. I dug out my non skid bags from the aft cabin. The bags were mostly empty. Hmmmmmm, get on your hands and knees and utilize boat yard detritus to augment the pile, A mixture of sandblasting grit ground shells, sand and whatever provided an aggressive non slip area. I needed a couple coats of paint to tame it! It will be just fine.......

I pulled on these and wound 'em up.

I gotta figure out what to do with that stuff.

So in an attempt at calming the chaos, I conceived of this. I'll let you know 1.) If it was a brilliant idea, 2.) if it even works. 3.) if it was a bad Idea, you'll never see it again.

The new e-pox-e kit in miniature. It's most of the stuff needed to mix a small batch of epoxy. The fillers take up their own bin, much larger. The orange mat is a plastic cutting mat available from wally world, 3 for ten bucks. It serves as a work surface and rolls up. Hopefully it will shed the dried epoxy when I roll it up. I still hate epoxy to the depths of my soul. It is not my medium, it's a deal with the devil.

A long while back I cut these treads down on the now long gone band saw. I dug around and found them. I bought some adhesive that works with rubber and finally glued them onto the steps.

On the anniversary of the 1947 great Galveston fertilizer ship explosion, The oil refinery across the channel had a fire, It took them several hours to contain it. There you go: my sleazy attempt to boost my readership with sensationalism.

The guys at the boat yard must like me. They keep delaying my parts order promising that it's "on order" so I'll stick around. 

The Music​♫: Joan Baez "Silkie"

Another seal song (No, not that guy).