It Has Been A WEIRD WINTER

South west Oklahoma is normally a 3 -6 week winter then you can pretty much count on warm days, usually around the first week or so of February,  gradually getting warmer. What I would really like to know is WHAT HAPPENED this year! WOW We have had a REAL WINTER this year. Several occasions of snow that actually lasted longer then the normal 12 to 24 hours and COLD like the North country! Do not have TV or internet at the house so I have not really been able to keep up . From what little TV I see it looks like it was this way all over Wow!
In between that and getting hit with what ever monster bug has been going around I'm running at least 2 weeks behind of plans. Seriously I woke up on morning a couple of weeks ago feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Headache from the deepest darkest part of you know where, could not think, could not talk intelligently in words of more then 2 syllables, could not walk straight the ten feet to the john or the door to let the dogs out. Seriously thought I had had a stroke at first but was to sick to go to the hospital.  Dialing 911 was just to much effort.  The good news is, I can actually think and chew gum at the same time and  it is getting warm. 60's and 70's this week end and the keel is in the bail room ready to start putting resin on it. Got notarized copies of bill of sale and title and got those down to tag office so I will be legal once I get numbers and tag sticker on hull ( AFTER Fiberglass work is done.) .
Finally got around to unpacking the fiberglass order I put in a while back. Amazing thing, almost  400.00 worth of mostly tools and one 30 yard roll of cloth don't take up much room.  Except for the cloth it is all on a couple of small shelves in the back room waiting for me to get busy. Did get the first layers of cloth for one side of the keel cut and ready to go. I am thinking tomorrow night I will get in there  and start. Need to cut at least one more layer of cloth to fit then its resin, cloth, resin, chopped strand, resin and more cloth finished off with  white pigmented resin for a finish. It  may not look as professional as a shop but it will do the job which is all I really care about.  Then once that side is done its is flip it and repeat on other side and I'm good on the keel. Next I really need to get the bottom rudder rebuilt. Plan on just starting from scratch on some sort of frame and glass it in.  Have the tiller almost completely re-glued  and ready to sand down to refinish. Need to go get some laminating resin or wood glue. I hate the idea of buying a quart of resin for such a small job so I may cheap out on that one.

Decided to spurge and go to outback, This was a major disappointment. Last time we went several years ago a rack of lamb was just that. Now it is 3 little lamb chops, some mashed potatoes and green beans covered in butter.  can you say HIGH Cholesterol! It jut not worth the price or the trip any more.
Took some pics of keep  and progress. Cant quite figure out where they are on this new cell phone. Will post once I do.
That's about all for now. Sail safe but get out there!

Global "warming" brings COLDER TEMPS?

What in the heck is going on with this weather? Last winter was a bone chiller.This last summer was like we were in death valley. In fact on many days it was hotter here then it was in Death Valley.I checked just to see. The first of June  was 105 degrees hot and it stayed that way  and hotter until all of a sudden in September it went to cool and now the first of November is is cold to the point of below freezing already. In  the over 20 years since I have lived here, this is NOT normal. This is more like upper Midwest not  South west!
 Now I'm fairly easy to get along with . I have learned to roil with the punches but this is ridiculous!
All the talk about global warming that I hear makes me wonder what the SAM heck is going on. How can we be having :global warming if the winters are slowly getting  COLDER?
This gal has had enough!

Polyester and Wood

All over the Internet I see people really putting down using polyester resin for different projects.  Now granted the expensive epoxy may be better, I would not know, I have never used it.  If I ever build my own wooden boat, Id probably use the 2 part epoxy just because it is supposed to be better wetting . What I do know is after a LOT of research I found something that I'm really happy with for the current application. 


It started out with the platform under the porta pottie being in really UGLY condition.  I took it out  ( previous post) and put  cloth and  one straight coat of  poly on the bottom side. It looks terrible.  NO one but me is ever going to see it , so for a newbie project where I'm experimenting I think it will be OK. It not like it is going to be intentionally immersed.  What was there originally only had paint on it so anything is an improvement.

  include photo here of pottie support

 
Rearranging the flotation foam in the v berth  and turning part of that space into storage meant taking  the wood off of the V berth.   I used the original wood to make my pattern . Again since I'm just learning this,  I started with the under side of the tip of the wood. 

All things considered, it does not look to terribly bad for a rank beginner.  It has a spot that  I honestly have no idea why but it points up like a pin. I have this notion that a bug flew onto  it and left that point when it flew off. The poly must have been really close to dry since it is still here and the bug or what ever it was did not stick. You can't see any of the cloth in it except for a few spots around the edge so I think I must have done alright.  Much better then not pre-coating it,. That has places all over you can see the weave of the cloth.


I diluted the poly down with acetone. I used a 4:1 mix, then a 2:1 mix then a 1.5: 1 mix. My hand slipped on the last one.  Then I did the straight poly coat. They say when you have enough layers of the dilutes  on it won't change color from absorption any more. That is how you tell you are done.
How you do it is you pour your resin into your measure bowl, add whatever proportion of acetone into it then add enough hardener for the total amount.  In the 4: 1 I added 35 drops of hardener just like i would have on a straight 5 ounces of resin. Add acetone to resin , stir to mix it up good, them add the appropriate amount of hardener and mix REALLY  WELL. If you don't mix it good enough you will  have a mess, Your cured project will have spots that are going to be tacky and you have to clean up the mess with acetone and redo those areas..  
 By the time I  got done mixing the first batch it was a no brainer I was going to need more hardener. I called Bondo. Come to find out they are now owned by 3 M. ( so what else is new?) I asked the guy could I use the hardeners I can get locally with this water proof resin. Remember the stuff that was donated way back in the beginning?  While there is NO WAY  I would  trust simply "water proof"  on a rudder or any thing that is under the water line, this seem like a great application. Its water proof so it should  not be negatively affected being in a boat. 
The tech looked it up. As long as it is a BONDO  OR 3 M LIQUID HARDENER or a MEK LIQUID Hardener I was good to go , so off I went down to Oreilly's to get some more.  The tech made a BIG DEAL out of making absolutely sure I DID NOT get creme hardener.  A small 1 point something ounce bottle was 6 dollars USD and some change.  It broke seven dollars by the time tax was added.


 insert photo of resin and hardeners here.

If you notice on the pic the edges look REALLY raged. That was my fault.

 

I have this old table I use that believe it or not was once a really expensive dining room set. I put some cheap plastic drop cloth over it and the plastic  moved like a California earth quake.  It was all over the place. That fringe is where the resin hardened/ cured  to  the plastic. 




Some close up shots of the edge . It's a REALLY good thing polyester resin does not stick to plastic or I would be in big trouble.

  As you can see in these pics, the resin got under the plastic.  The formula I have got figured out OK. My technique  needs serious improvement.

If I was trying to make a   3 d fiberglass seascape or a  grass scape with little fingers of the glass pointing up one layer in front of another, I think the "do it on plastic"  would do a great job.

The good news is except for needing to be sanded thinner to fit in the spot. I may have a perfect seal along the edges in most places except for the flat edge on the bottom . 


Time to use the Dremel!!!!!!!

Food: Homemade yogurt from powder milk Part 2

Checked on the yogurt at about 12: 30 PM.. Poured it out into a bowl and its kind of thin.  That of course cooled it off, so I had to heat a bit of it up and pour it back in and stirred it up to mix. Checked the temp. Everything is back on track.

It  taste like yogurt and would be fine. I just want it a bit thicker. Right now its about the same consistency as canned tomato soup after you add water only with thicker chunks. Speaking of temperature control When I was mixing it all together it seemed like a lot of bother to do the add some hot then add some cold water to get it the right temperature so I just heated the water up to the 110- 120 degree range and poured it in. Once it got just short of being at  the point of not adding more I checked the temp. It was a bit hot so I added a bit of cool water until it was right, then added the yogurt. 

Saw Dust Factory : Rudder page 4 The Fiberglass Jig Continued

Last pic was  one side of the rudder boards being in place in the jig for the first dry fit.   I need to mention that I used two pieces of paper on this to intentionally have a lot of over lap between the jig and the adhesive, as well as over lap on top.  Also note, I put the shiny side up.

  If you are using most types of polyester you HAVE TO BLOCK AIR  OR IT WILL NOT CURE!!!!!       

MAKE  ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU RESEARCH , READ AND UNDERSTAND THE INSTRUCTIONS WITH ANY PRODUCT YOU PURCHASE  BEFORE YOU START YOUR PROJECT.  Online tutorials, youtube how to videos,  any other how to video I could find online and calling the manufacturer of the product are how I learned what I needed to know.  Look at as many sources as you can find. You will get differing opinions and methods. That is  good thing. It will help you figure out  what will work best for you and what your comfortable with.  What one video don't cover many times is covered in a different one. 

When you can visualize  the steps involved of what your going to do and how you are going to do it, and don't have any worries of doing it the way you have in mind because you have done your  home work,  you are probably ready to make your materials list and start collecting what you need.

 
I have been doing my own honey do's for over 20 years. Even those of us who have experience can make mistakes that, if not corrected in time, can  waste materials.   Now I did not intentionally mess this up,  but its probably a good thing I did. It gives me a real good way to show how incredibly important dry fitting EVERY THING is. 

Ladies, I don't care what it is your working on. If  you are trying to put two or more pieces of ANY THING together permanently whether or not you think you may want the option to reuse those materials for something else later voluntarily DRY FIT IT before you add the adhesive!!!

This applies to any thing from wood, metal,  pipe, stone  etc.  Had I not dry fitted this gig to the rudder, the entire project would have become land fill material.

 I had to put a piece of the freezer paper, shiny side up,  under it to show the gap we had at the first fit.

As you can see, it was a significant gap that had the potential to  throw the alignment of the entire project off .

That one  gap spread several inches down the rudder.

  
Moral of this? NEVER , EVER,  NEGLECT THE DRY FIT STEP OF ANY PROJECT!!!!!!!





Now back to progress.



This is a dry run but the instructions are for what I will do after I apply the  polyester to the boards.  The reason for the paper is so it will NOT stick to the jig.  When I do it for real with the polyester in place I will use some cheap tape to tape the seams close.


 

Put a piece of your per SHINY SIDE DOWN on the area not already covered. Over lap is a GOOD THING!

 

.
Take the  freezer paper or what ever you are using  from under neath and fold it  around the ends and  over  the top side of the boards.  Remember to use something that will NOT stick to the adhesive. Plain old fashioned wax paper is good.   Ladies this is one of those things where skills you know you have come in real handy.  Just do not waste time trying to get it picture perfect. You cannot reasonably expect it to look as nice as a regular box that you wrap. Your paper will have wrinkles from the jig you normally would not have to deal with.  Sloppy is not going to hurt it one bit, as long as you have the air blocked when using polyester. 

Make sure it covers the ends if you have any joints so air does not get in and prevent cure.

Finish it up like a present

I added another layer of paper on top  for extra security.  I don't want the paper under neath to slip.

Add the end piece to the jig and repeat on other end.

All boards ready to be screwed into place to let it cure. Remember if you use Polyester, it  needs to not have air on it to cure properly. 

Keel Pattern