Wednesday, August 29, 2012
It's About Boats and Money
As some of you know, we left the area for what was supposed to be a job for a while. The job turned out to be a nightmare. The good news out of all of that is, the baby boy got his on place and is doing very well. I got back in June I think it was. Came home to a disaster and have been working on getting it all squared away. Moral of that story is when your gut says DO NOT DO SOMETHING, DO NOT DO IT!
I came back to a massive roach infestation. Fogged the house twice. The second time I used 2x the recommended amount of bombs, did the attic and under the house in the crawl space. You could not tell it was done a week later. We have a honey suckle bush out side. I found out that roaches make their nest in the roots. Guess what is going to get tore out?
We came to the conclusion that they were getting under the wood work and behind the cabinets and going out side when we sprayed and bombed. In pure retaliation, I've spent the last month going through the entire house and caulking each and every nook and cranny that exist. All of the wood work and trim is getting caulked. If I can slip a paper into it, it gets caulked. If I think any form of life, including a germ, can squeeze it's way into the slightest crack, it is getting caulked. I am seeing a dramatic improvement. A large reduction in the number of beasties is now the daily norm. I'm still seeing a few and on some days more them others . The over all numbers are dropping. I called the place I used to get my concentrated bug killer from. They don't sell it any more. Seems the feds have decided that regular people can't possibly use a product safe enough to be trusted with it. That really stinks as it was some really good stuff. That's OK, where there is a will there is a way and I found a different supplier. It's a different brand and a lot more expensive but it should work.
Have been working on the little boat off and on. I finally broke down and bought another sander. The plan is to order repair kits, extra brushes etc, this month. Have the bottom and one side done on the first rough sanding. It's looking pretty good. I Need to order more disk but that's just part of it.
Mainly the "boat orientated work" has been exploring how I'm going to earn a living while living on board full time. I've come to the conclusion none of my ideas is going to make me rich. If however, I put a bunch of small things together, they could add up to a useable amount of cash. They say if your going to write, write what you know about. I know about honey do's on the cheap, raising a multiply challenged son as a single mom and living on subsistence income level. This is marketable, especially in the present economy. There are a few other aspects I'm reasonably well versed in that ties into the part of raising a multiply challenged son, so that will fit in as well. It won't make me rich but it will all help.
One thing I have had to admit. Social networking for the self publisher is a have to. Face book I was already on. Today I did what I thought I would never do. I joined Twitter, as well as a writing hub.
There are some very interesting post on the hub. I looked up to see what I could find on sailing and was very pleasantly surprised. Add that to doing the Amazon Kindle thing, the Nook Book thing on B&N, the affiliate thing and who knows I could actually make a dollar or two. The hard part is learning how to use all these resources and keeping them straight in my mind. Just looking at all that makes me feel like I'm back in school cramming for finals!
Then there is the HAM thing. I have had getting my Ham license on my mind for years. Sailing and Ham, in my opinion just go together. Can you imagine the distance you can get on the water? I know Hams talking all over the planet to each other is no big thing. It is done all the time. It is still awe inspiring to me just thinking about it. Then there is the part about being able to send emails over HAM, not to mention the other aspects of being in touch with others while out in the middle of the big blue.
Put it all together; Yes, I have been working on my goal of living aboard and sailing all week. The part that really BITES IS I have not gotten one silly thing one on any of the boats except for a bit of sanding.
It's all good. One day at a time and when that gets to weird one thing at a time. It will all get done.
Sail safe but sail!
I came back to a massive roach infestation. Fogged the house twice. The second time I used 2x the recommended amount of bombs, did the attic and under the house in the crawl space. You could not tell it was done a week later. We have a honey suckle bush out side. I found out that roaches make their nest in the roots. Guess what is going to get tore out?
We came to the conclusion that they were getting under the wood work and behind the cabinets and going out side when we sprayed and bombed. In pure retaliation, I've spent the last month going through the entire house and caulking each and every nook and cranny that exist. All of the wood work and trim is getting caulked. If I can slip a paper into it, it gets caulked. If I think any form of life, including a germ, can squeeze it's way into the slightest crack, it is getting caulked. I am seeing a dramatic improvement. A large reduction in the number of beasties is now the daily norm. I'm still seeing a few and on some days more them others . The over all numbers are dropping. I called the place I used to get my concentrated bug killer from. They don't sell it any more. Seems the feds have decided that regular people can't possibly use a product safe enough to be trusted with it. That really stinks as it was some really good stuff. That's OK, where there is a will there is a way and I found a different supplier. It's a different brand and a lot more expensive but it should work.
Have been working on the little boat off and on. I finally broke down and bought another sander. The plan is to order repair kits, extra brushes etc, this month. Have the bottom and one side done on the first rough sanding. It's looking pretty good. I Need to order more disk but that's just part of it.
Mainly the "boat orientated work" has been exploring how I'm going to earn a living while living on board full time. I've come to the conclusion none of my ideas is going to make me rich. If however, I put a bunch of small things together, they could add up to a useable amount of cash. They say if your going to write, write what you know about. I know about honey do's on the cheap, raising a multiply challenged son as a single mom and living on subsistence income level. This is marketable, especially in the present economy. There are a few other aspects I'm reasonably well versed in that ties into the part of raising a multiply challenged son, so that will fit in as well. It won't make me rich but it will all help.
One thing I have had to admit. Social networking for the self publisher is a have to. Face book I was already on. Today I did what I thought I would never do. I joined Twitter, as well as a writing hub.
There are some very interesting post on the hub. I looked up to see what I could find on sailing and was very pleasantly surprised. Add that to doing the Amazon Kindle thing, the Nook Book thing on B&N, the affiliate thing and who knows I could actually make a dollar or two. The hard part is learning how to use all these resources and keeping them straight in my mind. Just looking at all that makes me feel like I'm back in school cramming for finals!
Then there is the HAM thing. I have had getting my Ham license on my mind for years. Sailing and Ham, in my opinion just go together. Can you imagine the distance you can get on the water? I know Hams talking all over the planet to each other is no big thing. It is done all the time. It is still awe inspiring to me just thinking about it. Then there is the part about being able to send emails over HAM, not to mention the other aspects of being in touch with others while out in the middle of the big blue.
Put it all together; Yes, I have been working on my goal of living aboard and sailing all week. The part that really BITES IS I have not gotten one silly thing one on any of the boats except for a bit of sanding.
It's all good. One day at a time and when that gets to weird one thing at a time. It will all get done.
Sail safe but sail!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Deck Hardware
Well it was a good run while it lasted. My helper went home, so I'm on my own again. The good news is the largest percentage of the deck bolts I need to remove so I can get the spider cracks repaired are out of the way and safely tucked in their baggies waiting for reinstall or replacement. Just to make sure I get every thing put back in place correctly, I took PLENTY of pictures. Reason for so many shots of same areas is so I have multiple perspective when it is time to put it all back together.
In no particular order here they are.
Bow
Port starting with Stern. Rub rail is off most of it.
Last but never least starboard
More good news is I found brushes and repair parts so my sanders are not dying all the time. I will be able to get back to work on that aspect soon.
That's about all for now. Sail, safe but sail.
In no particular order here they are.
Bow
Port starting with Stern. Rub rail is off most of it.
More good news is I found brushes and repair parts so my sanders are not dying all the time. I will be able to get back to work on that aspect soon.
That's about all for now. Sail, safe but sail.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)