Triumverate ,

OK I'm done bitching about the foibles of contemporary society. It would be good if only for the people. Some fads I currently am ignoring: Pop Star antics, Trump, the shooting of the week, whatever diet is hot right now, electronic gadgets, gluten, Cosby, and many many more.

Thanks  to Ken for the comment. I think I was born an old fart. Ben says he too is an old fart. As I said.......I don't/won't fit and never did/will. I won't go to social events. I'll build my own cruise ship before I'd book a trip on one. Such is me. I can predict the future in technology. I predict: Windows 11(or equivalent), 5G networks, iPhone 7. I read a recipe for the best effing (their word, not mine) chicken recipe; it had chicken and salt............I'll never fit. 

Thanks to Pappa Boater (Budge's dad???????????) for the comment.

And thanks to good friends, Nick and Marta for comments. Waitaminute, with the two guys last week and the four guys this week, that makes...................................aw hell, too many to count. I'll just assume it was a fluke and a few guys stumbled over the blog looking for a porn site ("Hey, A Cat Named dog, heh, heh, heh"). They will disappear like spit in the wind.


I'm warning you right now, really really boring this week, a three double Canadian whiskey drinks (you, not me) to get through it.

We commence..........................................

We bought an olllllld Delta 4X36 belt sander for 10 bucks and Ben refurbished it. It is old and will run strong. It won't stop, also, it won't start. It was running when we bought it. Ben oiled it up and cleaned it up. He plugged it in and it went "pfsssssst" and fried the starting capacitor!
 It runs strong, but you have to push start it. He also made a custom guard to protect the kidz from sticking their fingers in it. 

It even has a chute in the bottom to expel accumulated detritus! But, the good news of the week. Budge is basking in the joy of freedom: Grin and Bear It were dragged kicking and screaming to Pre School! The loved it (nope). They'll get used to it (yup). Budge is completely free from 8:30-2:30. We put him to work. We started fairing the hulls! First you sand and sand and sand.

Oh, the Beard and Hair? Ben shaves it off periodically and donates his hair to Jihadists with cancer. Then we mixed a fairing compound of 1 part epoxy, a smidge of silica, 2 parts .28 SG microballoons. Budge applied it in a thin coat to smooth out the irregularities.

The Brown Recluse came out to help! Part of her Home Schooling.

We mixed 5, 6 ounce batches per hull side. Each side took about 3 hours with all 3½ of us working. Mostly we got one side each in 2 days and 2 sides in one day (?).

The Brown Recluse filming the action (she's making a video to document the processes).

Safety tip! Make sure you wear proper protection. Silica is fine powder and you don't want to inhale it! I won't bore you, but then we sanded and sanded and sanded.

All the hulls had to be sanded  again to knock off the excess. I sanded with rough to knock off the high spots, then Ben did the same with less course sandpaper, then Budge went over it with finer sandpaper. Yes, 3 times, 4 sides! Next, we re-apply more fairing compound to fill in the spots we missed. I told you that this is incredibly boring. You should be finishing your second drink.

Ben commenting on our round tuit. "I'll help you when I get a round tuit" In order to spare you from more hull torture, I'll tell you about other stuff we did.

I made the blocks, what supports the tiller bar, what connects the tillers in a semi-scientific manor. They mount somewhere on the tillers, measured from the aft beam and are at a parallel angle to the angle of the rudder/ tiller connection angle (sheesh!). A post. made from a large stainless steel bolt, epoxied, cut off an bungee'd on. Aw, hell, you'll get this later on.

Ok, you should be pouring your third drink by now! This block, once positioned, gets glued on, drilled out into tiller, bolt glued in and cut off. Aw forget it, it's complicated! We must have done something understandable this week.....................................

Oh yeah, we ratchet strapped and bungee'd the tillers to the hulls to determine the correct position of the notches and that weird swoop up profile that originally matched the knuckle to complete the line of the knuckle (take another sip!) and now looks funny because it's too high.

The rudder/hull gap was pretty good (take a big gulp). That line drawn on the right represents where the rudder cheek should be, so I delved into the scrap bin and dug out some 9 mil scraps.

And cut them out. The curve was directly proportional to the size of the scrap plywood we could find (serendipitous scrap scrounge design principals).

Then we glued them on to the rudder.

But first, Ben Had to correct the Bad spots on the rudder so we can fill them in with epoxy

So, glue on a cheek per rudder per day.

All that's left is to cut the notches. Last week Budge said "You need to by a controller for the outboard motors". So I went on line..........Hmmmmmmm.......dual motor dual controls, shift and throttle that's...........FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS! Wait, good ol' ebay ...............Hmmmmmm..........Hundred Fifty, naw...........................Wait! .................ahhhhhh Forty- three bucks......... better.

 They're   not that old and look like airliner controls. and will fit with the overall eclectic/shabby chic/steampunk/ found object design concept of the boat. We will funk them up a bit with paint. We have to have things so we know what to do when we build the pod, assuming we know what to do.

The Music♪: Bill Boyd &His Cowboy Ramblers "Wah Hoo"

The kidz are in school!