Paint

DougSteel Boat

Paint —  It’s one of those things you want to get right.  But it’s also apparently one of those things that can cost $100,000 if your boat happens to be in the 40 ton range.

Our criteria.
1)  Good, not pretty.  I could care less about gloss. Durable, is much better than gloss.  Epoxy chalks in the sun and chalking is fine.
2) Basic color selection.  Black, Grey, Yellow, Red and we are good.

Topsides 4200 sq ft
Hull Interior 4200 sq ft
Below the Waterline 1500 sq ft

Everything:  Zinc Primer Amercoat 68 HS, air sprayer 0.07 tip, 1 coat, 3 to 4 mils, 5700 sq ft / 550 * 1.2 = 12 gallons

Hull: Coal Tar Amercoat 78 HB, 2 coats, roller, 8 mil, no thinner, 3000 sq ft * 2 / 78 * 1.2 = 95 gallons

Everything Else: Amercoat 385, 2 or 3 coats, roller, No induction over 70, 3 hour pot @ 70,  4200 / 218 * 1.2 = 23 gallons: 20 gallons Grey, 2 gallons Red, 1 gallon Yellow.

 

Keels and Casting

DougCasting, Keels, Steel Boat

I finally got the keel patched and put the crew to work doing the nastiest job of the year.  During the last few years of construction the keels have been collecting inches of grinding dust, plasma dust, weld spatter, tools, leaves and other assorted trash.  Just add water and you get the picture.  Now we wait for them to dry and they’ll be ready of lead.  Mean while we are back to casting deadlights for the portholes.

Mucking Out is DONE!

DougKeels

Wet, cold, and muddy, but the worst is over and I have Jack, Hugh, and Martin to thank for it.   Ok, so Martin was seriously late, but that was Delta’s fault.  Now we just need a week or two of dry weather so they can dry out, and then it’s time to pour some lead!

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Martin Kresadlo stopped in on a business trip. I shook his hand and pointed to a wet vac. This guy knows how to go to work.

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Modifying the lead smelting pot.

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Jack with our “almost a pressure washer” and me with a piece of flat bar presueding the crap to come free.

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Martin and Hugh

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Everybody busy.

Mucking Out the Keels

DougKeels, Steel Boat

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Jack giving a quick welding lesson to a visitor, David, who was passing through Tulsa for the holidays.

 

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Finally Got The Leaky Keel Fixed!

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Mucking Out the Keels

 

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There is about an inch of Grinder Grit in the bottom.

 

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Glad we left the big drain holes.

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The Gingerbread Crew

BetsyJust for Fun, Steel Boat

While nutcrackers pranced and sugar plums danced,
a special magic fell upon Seeker by chance.

A dusting by fairies or mystical things,
turned the boat and the crew into gingerbread beings.

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On Christmas morn’ she sailed the waves,
A crew that included Jacks, Aarons and Daves.

The skies were bright blue, all sunny and clear,
When all of a sudden, the bad did appear.

 

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Where once he had sat
all sweet on the shelf,
A towering giant named
Rizzo the Elf.

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Walking the plank
was the route of the crew,
Rizzo waved his sharp weapon,
Oh! What shall we do?

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Drew and Ed,
Dean and Greg,
marched down the timber,
leg by leg.

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He speared on his  trident,
poking them on,
Who will save them?
Where has Doug gone?

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What hero could save
the Seeker’s crew,
How do you conquer
a gingerbread shrew?S1090001

When just out of nowhere, help did appear,
A long legged shepherd, and her sidekick “The Ears”.


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“Don’t hurt the crew”, the shepherd proclaimed,
If you don’t step away, you will surely be maimed!
They sniffed and they licked until they were clear,
The tall evil elf was quite nothing to fear.

 

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And there he fell
Ginger Rizzo’s no more,
Cold and stiff
on the rusty floor.

 

 

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They munched and they crunched, 
the bad guy was gone,
And things were all normal by the next dawn.

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Merry Christmas from all of us at the Shipyard.

Note: No elves or crew were harmed during the production (except of course for the edible ones).

A hardy thank you to the Seeker crew for having made 2015 a fantastic year. And a special thanks to Betsy for the screen play, baking, and choreography.
–Doug
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Casting, Rudder, Hatches and other

DougCasting, Hatches, Rudder, Steel Boat

The engine room hatch has a gasket. A second deadlight is cast. The rudder quadrant now has put out dowel pins as several of you suggested. Thank you! The chain to cable connectors are done for the chain and cable steering system. And you get to see me continue to fail to patch a hole in a keel. 🙂 Many thanks to crew members, Betsy, Su, Aaron S, Jack C, Jack S. Seeker crew rock!

If you love cars and motorcycles, then checkout Aaron Starnes web site and blog: www.aaronstarnes.com

https://youtu.be/HOJLlpHMWfw%20

More Clues….

BetsyJust for Fun, Steel Boat

S1080005 We took a closer look at the “crime scene” and spotted some interesting things —- TRACKS!

flour

Hmmmmmmm…….

 

 

Questioning the suspects…..

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Nose? What’s wrong with my nose?

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Look at her if you wanna talk about noses…..

It snowed... big fat fluffy white snow....

It snowed… big fat fluffy white snow….

Elf? What elf?

Elf? What elf?

Ok,, so it was 70 degrees…. but as for the elf… I didn’t kill him! Ask ol’ big ears over there!

paw

Yep, it snowed.. just like ol’ long legs said. There we were, just minding our own business and this white stuff starting falling from above… Last time I saw that elf, he was hanging out on the couch.

Checking the surveillance cams we see that elf ...  along with Doug, eyeglasses all askew.    Is Doug asleep?  Is that a black eye?  Is this a case of elf bashing?

Checking the surveillance cams we see that elf … along with Doug, eyeglasses all askew. Is Doug asleep? Is that a black eye? Is this a case of elf bashing?

Rudder Quadrant / Keels / Deadlight

DougKeels, Portholes, Rudder, Steel Boat

We had a great weekend despite the keels.  Jack Sadrakula flew in from Chicago.  We successfully cast another porthole deadlight, he help me unsuccessfully patch a keel.  He then completed the gadget that connects the #60 chains to the 3/8″ steel cable for the chain and cable steering system, and then help me unsuccessfully patch the keel again.  He then broke and fit the #60 chain and centered up the drive shaft coupler on the helm’s gear box  and helped me unsuccessfully patch the keel again.  Randy Martin drove in from Denton Texas and while Jack drilled, reamed and set the pull out dowel pins in the rudder quadrant.  Randy help me unsuccessfully patch the keel.   All and all it was a good weekend thanks to Jack and Randy.   Next week I will be patching the leak in the keel.

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Setting pull out dowel pins to reinforce the rudder post to quadrant connection.

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Welding a shaft coupler to the helm gear box shaft.

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Randy helping my dig a hole so I can get to the leak in the keel.

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Bailing water out of the keel and into the forward cabin where it can drain out of the boat.

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Randy cleaning up the second porthole deadlight, and Jack drilling holes for the dowel pins.

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Me “not” patching a leak in the keel.

 

Xmas Shopping

BetsyJunk Shop, Steel Boat

santaxmas

There’s still time to have a very merry SV Seeker holiday! Padding the USPS estimates (c’mon.. you know they’re running behind), we are pretty darn confident (no guarantees — but confident) that if you order a T-Shirt or Thermal Mug by this Sunday (Dec. 20, 2015), we can pop it in the mail first thing Monday morning and you will have it in time to shove it in your Christmas stocking.

Rates for USPS Priority mail in the USA are very reasonable. Priority shipping for T-shirts is roughly $5. For actual shipping charges, head on over to our Shop and you can fiddle around clicking the shipment buttons in your cart and see what the charges would be. Yep.. you can cram muliple items together and save on shipping charges when you go Priority.

Get your Jolly on and thanks for your support!

CSI Seeker

BetsySteel Boat

We haven’t seen our elf in several days — ever since we spotted the crime scene chalk outline on the shard of steel beneath Seeker.     Had Rizzo the elf been electrocuted and fallen to his death?  Or did somebody kill the little fellow?  Why is there no body?

Where is the little guy and what’s he been doing?

Who in the world would have a motive?    The Elf Police have been pouring through our surveillance videos in hopes of turning up something that will help and look what they found!!!!!

 

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OMG!!!     It’s a picture of Rizzo on Doug’s computer watching FAIRY PORN!    Clearly there’s more to this elf than meets the eye!