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!
 

A Little Bit of this, A Little BIt of That

Wow I can't believe it has been so long since the last post.
If you have been following this blog the last post was about getting my bedroom floor finished.
I'm in there on my knees sanding and realized we had not refinished the window.. What was supposed to be a fast refinish it and put it back, turned into a full fledged OY!!!!
As it turns out some where between it getting out of the window and into the work area, the window  fell apart in our hands, literally. The only thing that was holding it together was the frame around it.    Rebuilding a window was not what I had in mind for this week but......
The choices are:

1.buy a new window that fits exactly. Have you ever been able to match a window in a 90 year old house? Neither have I.

2. Get one as close as is possible and have to rework the siding. We just yesterday finished he exterior of all that tiny little details with only one small item left to do, once payday gets here. I AM NOT, I repeat NOT  redoing an entire side of this house just to match the siding in the window area. 

3. Rebuild the existing window.

Let us not go into that except to say it is getting done.

My bedroom turned into the work room while all this is getting done. Hence the floor awaits. HOPEFULLY this the week we get my bed room cleared of all side projects and I can actually  continue on refinishing the floor.

The good news is  the shelf is finally up in my closet, a LOT of stuff is packed and loaded into the boat ready to go. the tiles have been bought for the kitchen floor, the lower cabinets are almost finished, the door to the  corner cabinet in the living room are waiting to be installed and  a LOT of stuff has been disposed of. Craigslist is a great place to put a curb alert on things you don't want to waste time taking to the good will. My closet is almost empty and my bath room is darned near empty of all that stuff that has been taking up space.
All things  considered a lot has been getting done.
For those of you just joining us, the question might be occurring, what does all this have to do with sailing much less building a home made catamaran?  It is simple , it has to be done so I can sell the house to pay for  a blue water boat I can live on.

I have decided what I am going to do with The Toy. I will strap it on to the V 22 and take it with me.
Fair winds to all

EZ Kitchen Cabinets

If you really need kitchen cabinets but cannot afford them or do not know how to make them , here is a simple, cheap and effective way to accomplish that goal. 

When I removed the original cabinets in the kitchen I was shocked. It was nothing more then a bunch of supports nailed into the walls that supported the drawers and shelves attached to the walls then a facer board put over it . Simple yet served purpose for many years. Here is what we did to duplicate this simple , cheap and effective  cabinet making. 

As you can see form the photos it is basically stained and polyed board fastened to the studs with metal brackets.  Then a facer board and doors put in place. It works well 

Tyhe upright s support the top. This side is til in process of being completed.. 

                               This side we already have facer board and doors on 

What I (we) did during my summer "vacation"

Some Misc Pics that never got uploaded:

June started out  with 105 degrees and stayed that way until Sept, which surprisingly brought cooler temps. Needless to say not a lot done on boats but wow what we got done in house is great!
In no particular order......

Before shot of ceiling, Wood stove smoked up a bit and ruined ceiling paint.,

No home remodeling is complete until someone puts their  foot through the ceiling

Oh the joy of remodeling a house while your trying to actually live in it.