How to make tack cloth, sanding sealer and grit size chart

 A forum page I found

How to Make a Tack Cloth
A tack cloth is one of the best ways to remove dust and grit before applying a finish, to make one soak a cheese cloth in water, wring out the water, soak it in turpentine, wring it out again, drip enough clear varnish on the cheesecloth to make it evenly gummy throughout. Store it in a jar with a lid to keep it from drying out.
Gently wipe away dust and fine particles.

How to Make Sanding Sealer Mix one part wood glue with ten parts water, apply with brush, let dry. This will raise the grain, sand smooth.
 
Save Your Sawdust
Before you start to sand a project empty the dust bag, when the bag is full empty it into a clean mustard or ketchup squeeze bottle. You will now have a supply of sawdust to match the project if you need to do the sawdust and glue fill. To do this squeeze some glue in the crack, then spray a bit of sawdust on it and work it in, repeat if necessary, remove excess.


Grit Size Chart

Retail Defination	Industrial Defination	Uses
Super Fine	600 600 400	Polishing metals, ceramics, stone and plastic usually wet. Not usually used for wood.
Extra Fine	360 320	As above.
Very Fine	280 240 220	Polishing finishes between coats, usually used wet.
Fine	180 150 120	Finishing bare wood.
Medium	100 80 60	First sanding for softwoods, shaping.
Coarse	50 40	Paint removal, rough sanding, shaping.
Very Coarse	36 30 24	Machine sanding bare floors, first cut.
Extra Coarse	20 16 12	Machine sanding floors to remove old coatings.

Lost and Found

Funniest thing, when you all of a sudden have two computers to work with, remembering which one you downloaded pictures to can become a part of the learning curve.   These were on the net book. ( old system)


                                 

                                           Buddie in an extra small PFD. It fits perfectly.

 Saw this on the cabin sole. Any idea what kind of bug this is? Looks like a cockroach except it has spots.

On the more boring aspects of life, I have given up on fighting with the shocks, I decided to just go with the same brand of shocks that were in place. My mechanic is going to get them installed and I'm going to focus on things that do not make me stark raving insane, like  getting ready to blow this pop stand of a town and head for blue water. I'm not getting my hopes up BUT if all goes well, based on an earlier phone, call I may actually get out of here this month!  I will know more in about an hour or so.
Got the pics of the street pipe break flooding my yard. I'm so glad we were all here when it happened. At least it did not get to the foundation this time.

That's all for now, Sail safe but SAIL!

It's A Tough Life Being a Boat Dog!

To those who know me personally I have made it clear I WAS NOT as in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY getting another dog for a while.  I have had MY MIND firmly MADE UP THAT ANY CRITTER WOULD HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I HAD MY BIG BOAT. If my followers remember, I tried it a while back but the poor thing simply could not grasp the concept of doing her business alone.  It was working just fine too. I have been foot loose and fancy free for what a little bit over a year now. NO CHILDREN! NO MEN! NO PETS! NO PROBLEMS! Life has been GREAT!
I would have gotten by with it too. I was doing just fine then I made a really BIG Muistake! I met the new renters DOGS! Now Keeshee is your average Chihuahua cross. Nice but no bells going off. Cloie is a black short hair dachshund and while cute, nothing spectacular.   Everything was just fine til I met the "baby".  His name was Bruce and he is a 3 month old long hair black dachshund.,  He took my heart at the start but still it was their dog and I was "safe" or so I thought.  Some times you and a pup are just a mismatch no matter how hard you try.  " Bruce" was just such a mismatch. Finally he and his owner came to a meeting of the minds,. It was time to rehome him.  Now me and my big mouth, thinking I was safe from being adopted by a pup especially one that is not completely house broke opened my big mouth being silly. I made the comment I'd take him in a heart beat and turn him into a boat dog. Hey he is trained to puppy pads what can I say. Sure I meant it, but I never thought any one would take me up on it! Well life being what it is, one evening this last week my renter came out and asked me if I was serious. " Bruce" had tested her patience once to often. Me being me and already attached said yes. Meet " Buddie" ( the name Bruce had to go.)  Here he is trying on PFD's at Petmart.  The x-small fits him perfectly. I don't know why but that pic is gone . This was the small size which he has much room to grow in. I decided to wait to see how big he gets in the next few weeks between me being in blue water before I actually buy one.

Van is almost ready.So far I have replaced the tie rod ends, pitman arm, back brake shoes, corrected the back brake adjuster, changed anything that is fluid, including but not limited to the differential oil, replaced spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor and  front bearings. Other then the power steering pump squealing I THINK I have it under control and might actually get out of this land locked area some time this month.  Needless to say the PO lied about how well it had been maintained. Oh well, such is life. It will do what I need it to do and that is all that counts. The good news is the engine runs GREAT and after doing all of this, I should have a trouble free trip.  .


Was finishing the front shocks when the water pipe in the street busted. Wouldn't you know it chose to flood the area exactly under the van where I was working.  It was really weird. I was under the van ,  went to go get a tool and came back to a flood, so we caught it in time to prevent foundation damage to house. The city got out here and put a clamp on it. ( Their way to save money )  So instead of that while I am waiting  for the mud under the van to dry out, I'm catching up on my blog and internet activities. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. LOL

 Had an early morning visitor the other day . I think I will call him Fred.

Not a lot else going on.
Sail safe but what ever you do SAIL!

FunBites and Other Dog Treat review and Sit

If you have been following this blog, you know I recently adopted two sweet girls named Sandy, a dachshund mix  and Abbey a Schnauzer mix. They are very good girl even with the serious need to get them trained for boat life.
I got the girls and went out to wally world to get the basics. You know the drill if you have pets; food, collars, treats etc. Found some decent prices on stuff so I can't complain. It was cheaper then I  thought that part would be. No great buyers shock or heart failure at the prices for what I bought.

One thing I will not be purchasing again is the FunBites raw hide strips! They are supposedly packed with calcium which is good. They come in a resealable red plastic bag. That's not why I bought them. I bought them becasue dogs need something to chew on besides furniture and this looked like a reasonable  cost effective solution for a month supply or a least a few week worth.  I get paid once a month like many folks. When I go to get supplies, I look at over all cost very seriously.  Getting enough of the regular style  raw hide chews was more then I wanted to spend what with all the other start up cost of shots  and flea and tick stuff.

The lady I got them from had thought she had found them a home but it didn't work out. They send Sandy back, then Abbey started chewing furniture so they sent her back. Logic said she was missing Sandy even though there were other dogs in house, so I got both girls.  Every thing was fine on that end until recently. Dogs and raw hide are, in my opinion. just like air and sunshine. The two go together. Hence the chew sticks.  Bottom line is they just do not last. Abbey is a very exploratory dog. If she does not have something appropriate to chew on she will find something to satisfy the craving. The FunBites just do not last. Long story short, I'm going to the butcher and get them some beef bones.

One of the items I bought to get the girls started was these Ol'Roy treats. 25 oz for less then 5.00 bucks is, IMO a good deal. I got beef and chicken and they absolutely love them. Poor Abbey, as much as she loves then especially the chicken ones, they don't like her so much, If I give her to many at one shot in a training session they come back up. It does not stop her from wanting them but, well you know how it is. Payday I get to go try something else to go with them.  Variety is good so its not a big deal. It's also a good reason or mare variety in treats. I don't want them to get spoilt to one thing for times I may not be able to get them.


Another item I bought that has mixed results is the Ol'Roy lamb and rice flavored bone shaped biscuits. Sandy will eat them. Abbey buries them in her blanket.  So much for saving money  on that one. The lady I got the girls from said they were used to milk bone brand so I guess that is what I'm going to be replacing these with.
 The good news is since I want to save the grilled strips for training and since they girls were spoilt into begging which is not something I put up with. I put a couple of the  chew strips and lamb biscuits out for them while I'm eating. They are happily busy and I dot have that "please feed me" look staring at me while I'm eating. Every one is happy.


My son  had a  good idea the training to sit part of things. He has his dog  get in his lap and tells him to sit. After the dog sits he gives him affection and every time the dog gets up he  repeats the process. Me, I add treats to this off and on. Then there is the idea I got from pet finders. com. Scroll down for link for sit.  Once you have their attention and they are standing in front of you,  slowly  take your hand with the treat in it backwards over their head until the butt is on the ground  then say yes, and praise them while your giving then a treat. On  Abbey that is starting to work!
 With Sandy  I have to take a different approach. She needs assistance getting into  position. Once she is there I say yes, praise her and give her the treat.

 Yesterday Sandy finally got the point which she displayed in a rather interesting way. I still have to help her into position but she finally gets it! The fumy part is once she is in position she will continue to sit with that look on her face that says OK I'm sitting , do I get another treat ? She will stay sitting until I tell her no more treat. At which time she is obviously not happy.


Looking at dog beds.
When I adopted the girls I knew beds were gong to have to wait but that's OK. I wanted to research this  plus at that time we thought Abbey might stil have grow left in her since we thought she was less the a year old. As it turns out she is a Sept dog so that is not an issue but still I wanted to look around. Reviews is something I pay attention to.  If I'm going to fork out 20.00 bucks or more per animal I want to know if the product is worth  it. Results were I was just not impressed with what I saw  on beds in my price range. I've beem playing around with the idea of pillows and pillow cases. Yes, primitive but it would work. 
Decision is made pillows are just not large enough so on to idea 2. Make something. I was at walmart looking for remnants in what passes  for a fabric department. Remnants no longer exist at our local walmart. I was walking by the pattern books and believe it or not  the simplicity book was opened to pet patterns. Yes, I never thought of that ideas but it was sitting there staring at me like Providence had opened the page just for me to see. You know I had to stop and look. I won't tease pet lovers with  the details but if your not impressed with pet stuff like clothes, toys, beds etc, go look at simplicity patterns.
Long story short, Simplicity has  patterns for a no sew pet bed.  It's cute. It's designed to work with polar fleece. Now if I can just  find fleece in a color that I not only like but that won't show the dirt so much we are good to go. I'm thinking about seeing if that fabric protector spray works on polar fleece If it does the problem is solved. In the mean time I think I'm going to cover a couple of old  over sized pillows with the  old flannel sheets  they are using now. It will work.
 A cool snap has set in so working out side is now an option while it last. That's good . Maybe I can get hat fiberglass done I've been thinking about 
Not a lot else going on.
Sail safe but sail!
 .

Boat Dogs, Kindle and Current Events

Well I started leash training the girls. Abbey is catching on to the idea that walking along side of me is easier then being steadily tugged along.  She is not responding to  treats so much as lots of affection. Sandy on the other hnad responds to affection but seems more interested in the treats.
Sandy seems to be familiar with the concept of walking on a leash or is just one extremly smart dog, I'm not sure which, probably both.  I'm guessing she was on a leash before the  peope I got her from had her.  Sandy is the one that when she hears the treat bag  responds  immediately. Abbey will look at you like she is just not sure if it is worth the effort until she is right next to you . 

Tip on treats, The ones I got are about an inch to two inches long. I broke up a bunch and put them in a zip bag. Its easier then breaking them up as needed when you have dogs clamoring for them,


A while back I was introduced to Christine Kling books .This woman can write a real page turner. As a result I stated following the blog  " Write on Water". Now many are not interested in writing as a means to make a living. For those who are,  I highly suggest following this blog. The recent post have been about the economics of writing. Two separate post,  both saying  the same thing, gets my attention. If your going to self publish Kindle is apparently the way to go. The specific links to this topic are here.  Christine's Original blog on Principles versus Income.             Mike's response

Not a lot else going on . Have been working on getting this house finished  so I can sell it to buy THE boat. I'm down to the piddling little stuff that takes time more then money so that's good.  The good news is it looks like we have a way to solve what has turned into a night mare over the deed. It has to go to court. The evidence I have is solid. Its a matter of seeing if an attorney I can afford will take it.  I spoke with an attorney the 4th of Sept. I'm waiting on an answer. If your a praying person , praying that this is resolved expeditiously so I can sell the house would be appreciated. The way it is now I can't even legally rent it out . The idea was rent it out and get on the water at one of the area lakes if all else fails, while I'm waiting for this other deal comes through. So far it's a catch 22, I'm between a rock and a hard place. 
That's about all for now.
Sail safe but sail!

Boat Dogs

Well after a couple of month of something feeling just "not right" around here I figured out what it is. My son took his dogs with him and its just to danged quiet. We have had dogs ever since I can remember with only short periods of no dogs usually associated with grieving the lose of an animal.  So with no further adue here's the girls. 

This one is called Abbie. She's a Schnauzer mix. Very playful and a good candidate for using future boat facilities. She really prefers carpet to going out side. LOL

Sandy, Dachshund mix. quiet. who ever had her did not play apparently but she is coming around.

I got blessed. Got on walmart.com and looked up dog stuff. Big 25 ounce bags of treats for about 5.00  online. At the local store the were about the same or less. The chicken rawhide strips were a joke. They crumble in your hand if you put any pressure on them so not sure how long the bag of 60 will last but what the heck, Live and learn NOT to do that one again! Went to vet to get anti flea and tick stuff. I about had a heart attack at the price. Need to contact manufacture and see if pet smart sells same stuff as vet. I do NOT do walmart for flea and tick drops.  it is just not worth the money.

Was looking at petfinder.com.  GREAT selection of training videos so thats now part of life.  Bought a lot of treats for training.
Why did I do this? It was time.
So what does all his have to do with boats? Its called BOAT DOGS!

Sail safe but sail!

Boat Quotes

 This is so good I had to post it. Boat Quotes

Boats and 100 degee weather

Yesterday started out kind of slow. I have been wanting to get out to the Venture and  fool around but life happens. I finally decided damned the temps full speed ahead! Mostly it  has been moving things around.We have  been using the boat to store some stuff in light of all the drama that was happening. Since I'm stuck here, with a house I can't sell, for a while any way, the decision has been made, as painful as it is, to move the stuff back inside and stick it in a corner some where and get back to what's important to me! If I can't sell this place for a while I'm darned sure going to get this boat ready and take it ANY PLACE that will sustain sailing even if it is Lake Texhoma or one of the area lakes  for the duration!

Having said that! Well it was  still a good day. I got outside and in the boat. I started out right after sunset. When I finally looked at the clock, it was about 82 degrees F according to weatherbug at 3:16 AM. . The good thing about the houses immediately around me being empty is the misc noises I make fooling around late at night are not a problem as if my neighbors were really close. Now I can't exactly start up a drill or a power saw but  little noises like dropping a hammer or climbing in and out of the boat are not going to give any one a sleepless night.  Not having to worry about my trouble light shining into any ones bedroom window makes it nice. It's how I plan to beat the heat for the not so noisy parts any way.

Tried to  pull the chain plates off. It's not happening with only one person. Have to have someone man a screw driver on  the out side while I pull off nuts on the inside. Did get the measurements for backing plates. I figure to get some  3: x 3/16 inch .  I'm figuring 6 feet should be enough to get that part done. Throw another 2 ft of 1/4 inch for new chain plates and I should be good. Am going to get new  bolts, nuts etc so all the metals match . That and some bytal tape (spelling) and I'm good to go.  I have been toying with how to do this. The voc tech school here has a class that operates a hug computer operated  metal cutting machine . You see where that is going, right? Have to wait til it opens but what the heck I'm here any way may as well make the best of it. If that don't work I'll get the Dremel out and do it my self. I looked up sources for the metal . WOW can you say EXPENSIVE! If any one has a source for 316 Stainless  3/ 16"  x 2" or 3/ 16 x 4",at a decent price PLEASE post it or send me an email!

Have been playing around with the idea of going ahead and saving up for the solar panel to get the wiring started, Have to get a wiring plan figured out.  Its only a 22 ft boat so I'm figuring rough eye balling it , the longest run I should have is maybe 16 ft, not counting mast of course. I've got enough block to raise this gal up and drop the keel, so that is on the agenda s a definite.

Where is all this going?
The baby boy has LEFT THE BUILDING! Now that the set back is almost over, once again I am free at last! Momma's days of being Momma on a full time in house basis are OVER! We had a minor setback this last three weeks but things are getting back on track! I honestly cannot decide who this pushing your fledgling out of the nest is harder on. Yeah, at 28, since the medical issues are resolved, its time for him to be on his own. NO DOUBT about that.

What I do not get is why, once they are  "on their own",  when your child steps into the "goo" and ask for your help, do they seem to think that this willingness to help them sort it out, as in think it through to THEM finding a conclusion and or solution THEY CAN DO,  means in THEIR OPINION, you and your assets are on call 24/ 7 all of a sudden, as if they were three again? OK, I get that it takes time for them to adjust to a new life of living on their own.. That's just a case of they have to get experience and there is only one way to get that. What I do not understand is why it suddenly becomes (in their opinion) your crisis?  Can you say OY!
Parents teach your children  how to plan! Make sure they have coping skills for really bad days! Teach them that THEIR LACK OF PLANNING IS NOT YOUR CRISIS! My son understands what caused the problem. He was taught the skills to cope with adversity. Some things only come with getting knocked down and pulling your self back up. This was one of those. Time will tell how long it takes for all that stuff  we tell our children that they  did not want to hear takes root and gets solid. The good news is at 28 he only has about a year and a half before that second coming of age that seems to kick in at 30 starts to take effect.

 The good news is he has a really good distraction so now mother won't be the single most important women in his life. He found Ms. Right! I got to spend sometime getting to know her.  She is a trooper! She will definitely do to ride the river with . She in not a wimp by any means.  We have been talking about what I'm planing on doing with my life . At first all kinds of bad experiences were really making her anti boats. Now you KNOW that aint going to work very long around me, right? We had some talks .She seems to be slowly coming around,. Last night she informed me that being afraid of boats, sailing etc over what happened in her childhood was not sometime she was going to allow to continue,. The girl has MOXY There are very few things that make me want to climb up into someones face but, oh by howdy! I'll not go into the details as it is not my story to tell, but I would so love to keel haul or at least,put a extraordinarily large knot on someones head after hearing  about the DUMB STUNT that some  so called adults played on some children!.
The GREAT news is  this gal is the one that has him inspired to do all that stuff men are supposed to do. Who would have thunk it! LOL
 I must have done sometime right. My other son informs me he also has started a relationship with his Ms. Right. She also sounds like a trooper and a basically well grounded gal.  RELIEF!  Who knows maybe grand children are on the horizon? Time will tell.

well I guess that's it for now. Think I'm going to go get my tools out and ready for later when the sun goes down. I have  some hardware to pull off a boat.

Sail safe but sail!
 

Options, Revenues and Providers

In the course of being part of several sailing and boat forums I've picked up a lot of learning these past couple of years.  A lot of insurance info has been on the boards lately.  Since eventually this is something I am gong to check out for my self I decided to put a page dedicated to just marine insurance. It occurred to me to open this up for others to post providers they know for all to have handy in one place by using comments.   As I was posting that page it occurred to me adding a page for other products those who have already been there and done that have used satisfactorily. I decided to open up the page of products I have used to others to post their favorite BOAT RELATED items, using the comments section.


Revenues. We all need to eat. I am opening this site up to advertising. If this offends please forgive. I figure it is not going to put a huge amount of money  into the sailing kitty, but every little bit helps.


PLEASE DO NOT just start clicking thu thinking your helping me if you have no interest in a product. It hurts the site marketability.  If however you are interested  in a particular product, please do so. The site only pays if you actually buy something  from a link. Also please be advised that google does collect information when you click thru.

FINALLY!!!! It's About BOATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While I am doing the hopefully FINAL sorting of the stuff in the house, I'm working on the Challenger as my sanity keeper. The Venture is still in the drive way but she is full of stuff I have yet to sort through before I put her up on blocks to drop the keel.  This is how I'm keeping my sanity in the mean while. Yeah I'm getting flack from some of the guys over the method and materials I'm using. By their standards and expectations,  I'm cheating like an erring husband on how I am doing this.  For this reason I make an open and honest offer to those who feel very strongly about how I should be using the two part epoxy on these little  fixes. Please feel free to shop and order the materials you think I should be  using and ship them to me. I will be more then happy to use them and even give you a blurp as donator.  Email me for my shipping address.

Having said that, on to the boat.  If you remember I picked this up last summer with the idea of fixing it up for  my son.  Well he is on his  own, several states away and I'm not about to carry it THAT far on the top of my car. I now have another toy to play with . You can tell I'm just heart broken over that development, right? :)~

Finally got her up on blocks to work on.

Sorry about he angle but had us use my cell phone and that aint gonna take a close shot  straight on.


Initial work to be done.

There are some gouges and dings along the keel. This one is the worse with out actually being a full fledged breach.

            Then there is this one which is a                     full blown hull breach.

                         A close up of breach.

Then there is the transom. The story that goes with boat is it got hit by a string lawn mower TWICE.

    Been busy sanding her down. Wouldn't  you know the sander went kapluie. I have go to learn how to replace bushings in these sanders! I do however have a LOW COST idea on how I am going to temporarily solve that  little problem. All I have to do is go digging in the shed which is another spot every thing is stashed in for now. GRRRRR  I'll let you know how it turns out AFTER I try it.If it is successful. This idea is so nutty, I'm not telling in advance.

Now some of you guys are going to hate this but I've been using JB weld products for years quite successfully. I've saved TONS of money using their line. They make water weld and I got some.  So far  I have  2 1/2  tubes invested.  Beats what epoxy cost. Yes, I thought about getting some filler and using the polyester epoxy.  It cost 18.00 plus a can and I have ZERO experience using that kind of set up. Before I do it on a boat I actually hope to be in the water with THIS SUMMER or what is left of it, I went with the water weld.  It's about SAILING remember?


In no particular order here are the current pics.

This is where the sander died . GRRRRR

Almost partially done with the first sanding .

Remember that really nasty hull breach?

That's all for now.
Sail safe but SAIL!!!!!!!!

Publish Post

Horse of a different color

Well its been a while. I have been in the south. We had arranged to go work for a guy doing some "minor " repairs on his house. Nothing big. Refinish a floor, refinish his wrought iron, little stuff like that. He was wanting us down  there and as any on who has redone a boat knows things ALWAYS take longer to do then anticipated and doing this house as no exception. so between him and me, we decided to go ahead, use his tools, and get down there. I wanted to take  the Venture since the original idea was a place to work on it and get her in the water. Tires being  as high priced as they are we decided to leave her here. go ahead and go do the job to make money for all this other stuff.
Turns out the floor he wanted to refinish was in a room filled with things he really should have put in storage It would have taken three days to just to get that out of there.
Nothing was ready to work on. Spent the first couple of days sorting through his garage looking for tools. and changing lite bulbs. Then he wanted to gripe about it.
Its funny I told him flat out I was not up for anything that required a license yet he wanted me to do plumbing.  One thing led to another and he wanted  us to do major remodeling like replace his windows in the front of his house etc. Now all of that we could have  done. That was not the deal breaker.


The job allegedly came with a 28 ft RV.  The orignal agrement was he would provide hook ups for and we would purchase on payments for my son. W wold work out some sort of contribution fr the utilities.  Almost immediately he wanted me to rent a spot at an RV park, Now housing and 10.00 a man hour is not to bad but when he took away the housing 10.00 an hour aint  all that much when your paying motel bills or rv space plus hooks ups. the profit margin crashed on that one. Still that was nothe deal breaker.  The fact that he wanted get work that wold have easily cos him way more then 10.00 an hour done as cheap as possible I can understand.Yes, I still have all the emails about this.




The travel trailer has storm damage which was repairable we knew that up front. When we got there and tore into the damaged area to see how  extensive the wood frame damage was,  come to find out that trailer has BLACK MOLD in it.  I've done black mold twice.  Once for myself and once for a lady I did garden wort for as a personal favor. THAT STUFF CAN KILL YOU!  Not something I want to Tackle especially not for 10.00 an hour after he had already tried to rip me off on wages. Black mold or mold of any type is a dangerous thing!  It is HEAVILY regulated by state and federal law.
Long story short in between that and him trying to gip me out of wages it did not last.  The final straw that broke the camels back was his hidden agenda. He knew this was a TEMPORARY THING!  He is in my groups and knew , same as any one else does that MY GOAL IS BLUE WATER! NOT living in an land locked area ANY WHERE!  He came up while  we were working on the wrought iron and tells me his real goal was to use the travel trailer to see how we did on it with the idea m and his brother would take turns hiring us to do work in his brothers RV rebuild place and his house.  He was trying  to "help" his bother since he apparently has trouble keeping people hired.  IN THIS ECONOMY?  That told me right there all I wanted to know.  When he old me that I about dropped my jaw to the ground.   After we go done working I told him we needed to solve the housing problem He allegedly went blank on ideas. He started griping about how I had not brought the boat., which he agreed to before we left. I gather his idea was that we would live in he boat when we found out the black mold was s to bad to stay in the travel trailer. I guess he figured he wold have us by the short hair and in a bind. I told him we were gong to go eat and he should text me if he had an idea. Spending  the night in a COLD mountain area in my van with two dogs and packed to the roof  was not my idea of how I wanted to live. Did not have enough cash left since I had spent ever thing  to just get there to do his job, so we headed south. Sleeping in the van is one ting but freezing  our butts of while doing it is a different horse altogether.
Yeah, I should have called OSHA or NLRB. I have something much more effective in mind. I am  letting providence deal with him.  Momma always said, what you do will ALWAYS come back to you and I expect he is going to get to walk a long walk in our shoes, sooner or later.




The good news is my son found him a place in a very nice area and is now on his own.
Me? I'm back in Oklahoma getting things set to up to deal with house. Have an unexpected gliche but nothing that can't be solved, It is just going  to delay selling house a bit. If your a praying person, do me a favor and pray the problem gets resolved so I can get house sold.


In the mean  time I am working on tiny things to get house  ready to go and working on the 16 foot challenger.


Sail safe but sail.

technology/Space Hurricne? Solar Storm? Either way its why I dont rely on "JUST"

Here is the text.

 GPS and all that may be a good thing . I don't want to become to dependent on any thing like that since one of these could theoretically wipe out the entire grid.

Taken off of Yahoo news. 

This story was updated at 1:28 p.m. EST.

A wave of charged particles from an intense solar storm is pummeling the Earth right now, which may trigger stunning aurora displays and cause minor disruptions to satellites over the next two days, NASA scientists say.

The storm began when a powerful solar flare erupted on the sun yesterday (Jan. 23), blasting a stream of charged particles toward Earth. This electromagnetic burst, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), hit Earth at about 9:31 a.m. EST (1430 GMT), according to scientists at the Space Weather Center at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"It's a minor to moderate storm," Yihua Zheng, a lead researcher at the Space Weather Center, told SPACE.com. "Probably in the next 10 hours or so, people at high latitudes can see auroras. This could maybe cause communication errors at the polar caps, but the magnetic activities are probably not too strong."

The northern lights displays will be especially visible for people in northern latitudes where it is currently night.
"For parts of Europe already, and further points to the east, we should expect to see strong magnetic storm conditions," Harlan Spence, an astrophysicist at the University of New Hampshire, director of its Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, told SPACE.com. "There's a very good chance tonight that we'll be seeing some very strong auroral displays. Typically auroras occur at relatively high latitudes, but for events like this, you could get auroras down at mid to low latitudes."

When a coronal mass ejection hits Earth, it can trigger potentially harmful geomagnetic storms as the charged particles and the fields within it interact with the planet's magnetic field lines. This can amp up normal displays of Earth's auroras (also known as the northern and southern lights), but a strong CME aimed directly at Earth can also cause disruptions to satellites in orbit, as well as power grids and communications infrastructures on the ground.

Yesterday's solar flare set off an extremely fast-moving CME, Zheng said, and the associated radiation storm was the strongest since 2005. But the ejected cloud of plasma and charged particles was not directly aimed at Earth, and is hitting the planet at an angle instead. This glancing blow will likely lessen any impacts on Earth, she added. [Photos: Huge Solar Flare Sparks Major Radiation Storm]

"Earth's magnetic field served as a shield, and pretty much shielded the radiation so that it doesn't penetrate that deep," Zheng said. "It's like a car collision: head-on or off to the side. A CME is like that too. For this one, if it was a direct hit, Earth would receive a much stronger impact. This one was on an angle — toward higher latitudes and a little off the ecliptic — otherwise it would be a much stronger impact."

Still, the storm does rank as the biggest space radiation event in about seven years, Spence said.

"It's not as big as some of the big, historic storms, but the chance for re-intensification is still possible because this active spot on the sun that created the initial havoc could go off again," he explained.

Several NASA satellites, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Stereo spacecraft observed the massive sun storm. Data from these spacecraft were combined to help scientists create models to calculate when and where the CME was going to hit Earth.
"A CME is kind of like a space hurricane," Zheng said. "You have to predict how it will form and evolve. From the models, we can see which spacecraft will be in its path, and what will be impacted."
At the Space Weather Center, scientists were able to pinpoint the arrival of the CME more accurately than ever before.
"We predicted it would arrive at 9:18 a.m. and in reality, it arrived at 9:31 a.m., so ours has a 13-minute error," Zheng said. "Usually for this kind of model, the average error is seven hours, so this is the best case."

Yesterday's solar flare was rated an M9-class eruption, which placed it teetering on the edge of being an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm. M-class sun storms are powerful but mid-range, while C-class flares are weaker.

The flare erupted from sunspot 1402, a region near the meridian of the sun that has been active for a while now, Zheng said. The powerful solar storm could be signaling that the sun is waking up after an extended period of relative dormancy.

The sun's activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle. The star is currently in the midst of Solar Cycle 24, and activity is expected to continue ramping up toward the solar maximum in 2013.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the auroras sparked by the solar storm, or other skywatching image, and would like to share it for a possible story or gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com.

Do I need to say more?

Logic of a group

 I posted a question about cells and providers on one of my groups. It has a rather lively discussion going on. That's the god thing  about yahoo groups . You ask a question and learn more then you ever thought you would know. Some really good ideas came out of it for  sailing and getting things done on the cheap. This is one of those make it work type of ideas that make me glad I found this group. Thanks Andrew


"LMAO  you reminded me about the log.  On my last sharpie i had rigged a copper toilet float with an eye screw and i could pull a string and drop it at the bow and time when it passed the stern to calculate my speed.  Crude but it worked well.  Especially Nice if you have a boat of even length like 25 or 30 feet."

Polyester, Woood and Wood Stoves.

 On this page I am  making the pics larger then normal to show detail. I'm not sure if it will make it upload a lot slower and be a pain  for viewers. Please , feedback on this would really be appreciated! Thanks. 


Poly trimming was good practice for using the Dremel I used the EZ lock cutting blade and was very pleasantly surprised how it did and how long it lasted. 




 Resin  I am using for this part of project 

The resin  container says it is water proof. This is their general all purpose house hold use bondo. The little tube is the hardener that came with it. The small bottle is what I bought at Oreillys. The mixing bowl I got from Oreillys. I really like them, They cleanup really well with an acetone soaked rag and if you look a the photo below you can see it has multiple markings for different types of resin. Not bad for less then a buck

It originally has Bondo liquid hardener  written on it but the lettering came off as I used it due to sticky hands from resin.

  Love all the markings. A good all purpose  "disposable" resin bowl.  I did not need the markings using the Bondo but it will sure come in handy when I get to the point of learning how to use 2 part  Epoxy.






 If you remember what I had after the poly cured was a real mess around the edges from having the plastic I used underneath. 

Front

  

Back

               Some close ups of the mess  on V berth tip  board.

 Shots of the trim job in process
  I forgot about taking shots before I started this but you can still get the general idea. I started by just taking it off a little bit at a time with scissors. Probably not a great idea but it got the largest part of it off. .If I had to do it all over again, I  would use the Dremel for this part.

You can see where the resin from both sides overflowed the board.

I now know how to make ice cycles out of resin. 

The back of the first board I did  No plastic under the board..

the resin sealed the edges really well in various places. It seemed a pity to cut it off but it had to happen to fit.

Front

Back

See the void?

Separation of cloth due to plastic moving things around so I could not keep the cloth in place. Next time I think I will use staples to keep cloth in place.

 Time to use the Dremel.

First we take off the biggest part, making sure we leave enough room to not gouge the wood.

                       

                              Close ups of what we have left

 On to the porta pottie board.

Ready for final sanding to pretreat top side.

    Just so  every one  knows I do use safety gear. Glasses and a mask rated for fiberglass.

   
          
           My Blue heeler standing by  to  make sure I get it right. 


  I still have to sand the excess poly off the front as that looks really tacky and has to be done before  I pre treat  for poly on the top sides but one step at a time I'm getting it done.

Looking GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even that first board I did for the  porta pottie looks decent  on the edges now that it is trimmed up.

 I got busy with starting the job of trimming up the wood for the bulkhead between the bow flotation and the new storage space. Am using the wood that was in the middle section. It is a tad to short across the beam but I can use a board stretcher made out of the other piece to fill in  the gaps.  I HATE throwing perfectly good wood away, Once it is in place and fiber glassed,  it will be fine.  For those if you that do not know what a board stretcher is, it is simply adding extra pieces where it is to short.




See the weave
These are close up shots of the first board I polyed. I did not know about pre treating it. You can see the weave of the cloth which as I understand it is a bad thing. Even I can tell  this is not a good thing when compared to the board I pretreated with the diluted poly. This board, if put under water for a sustained period of time, I do not doubt for a minute would have severe delamination and form blisters.  
This is I suspect why so may are down on using poly based resin for boat repair. When it comes to the hull or rudder, there is no way I would use polyester based resin. But  for my purposes of interior it should be fine. Heaven forbid me ever being proven right about this by my boat being underwater! The board I pre treated with the diluted poly s does NOT have this problem.

 V  Berth Storage Bulkhead

                                                                                                 
 I was truly surprised how long that one cutter lasted. I started out with trying to use my sons battery operated circular saw. The blade is getting really dull  and the batteries are needing replaced, so I changed over to the EZ lock on my Dremel.  I finished the  second slant cut with it, did all the trimming on the two v berth pieces and   got one of the hull notches done before I needed to change blades. Not to bad IMHO for one blade. It was burning the wood instead of cutting it by the time I got to the  second        notch.                                                                                                               
 
That's all for now on the boat. 




We finally got the wood stove ready. It was covered up out side but still got rusted. I guess metal absorbs moisture even if it is covered really well. Any way to make along story short we had  a mess. It got rusted and I was NOT going to put it back in the house looking like that. I went out to Ace hardware to get some primer and stove paint. 

While I was there John  ( manager) reminded me about rust converters. He showed me a product but I did not like the idea of it turning a gray or white color.  I noticed a little bottle of Rustoleum Rust reformer sitting up stop shelf so even at 8 dollars plus  for a 8 oz bottle  I bought it since it turned the rust black, which was more in line with what I had seen on you tube videos about another product. Plus I figured if it went well I would not have to repaint. I was not looking forward to  having to have the guys brush all that rust off, sand it level  and then prime and repaint that stove. Long story short, it took a couple of coats to do it.  On some really bad spots we used three and four coats but it looks pretty good, even if I do say so myself.  It is a more rustic look then if we had sanded it and painted it but that is OK.  I don't think any one but me is going to care about that. I do want to put a light coat  of paint over it later so it matches the stove pipe better . We sprayed the chrome pipe so it matches . One thing I do need to mention if you use the rust converter  or paint on a stove MAKE REAL SURE YOU BURN IT WITH A REALLY GOOD SOLID STRONG HOT FIRE BEFORE YOU PUT IT IN HOUSE! That first fire is going to stink so bad it will drive you out of the House! PLEASE TRUST ME ON THIS! WE PUT A PAPER FIRE IN IT THINKING THAT WOULD DO.  I WAS SO WRONG!!!! 
 It ended up taking the best part of 2 bottles but it was worth it in just the work saved of not having to brush, sand, prime and paint the stove.

Shots of in progress stove rust conversion to show the color after rust conversion.

Not to shabby

Looking good and working just fine!!!!!!!!!

 I finally got around to ordering the parts for the Lumina.  100 bucks USD but what are you gonna do?  It has to be done.  We basically are replacing the entire  coolant over flow system. 

I can't believe how much they want for new tires for this van! It is outrageous! 500.00 for tires? I'm having my son go  check out the salvage yards.  Same issue for the boat trailer  and little trailer.
 One thing at a time it will get done. 

 The house is getting really close to  being done. Have a lot of little stuff still to do then we are good to go.




That's all for now. Sail safe but sail


 And never forget to USE DA GREY MATTER