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!

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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!

Grind, Weld, and Poo

DougCabin Tops, Steel Boat

The rain held off today and Aaron, Jack and I got the last of the welding and grinding done on cabin tops and deck. In the shop Su and Betsy worked on the art of the next deadlight casting. “Some people care too much. I think it’s called love.” — A.A. Milne

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Aaron Starnes, Denton Texas

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Su Davis, Tulsa Oklahoma

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Crime Scene

BetsyJust for Fun

IMG_2904 Oh NO! This is what we woke up to this morning in the shipyard.  A chalk outline of our mischievous little helper. Suggesting something like an episode of CSI Shipyard, we lost all thoughts of sugar plums dancing through our heads. We’ve got Jezebel and Tinka scouting the perimeter and hopefully something will turn up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as other clues, we don’t have much to go on. The last time we saw Rizzo the Elf, he was swinging on Seeker’s Christmas Lights. But a storm is moving in and there is a fair amount of humidity out there — could he have been electrocuted?   He seemed so happy and carefree  and though he does tend to be a bit of a troublemaker at times, he’s still a part of the Seeker Crew.  What happened?

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Casting Deadlights – Part 1

DougAluminum, Casting, Portholes, Steel Boat

vs151206-004Sodium Silicate Sand Rocks! Especially for the occasional casting or big casting. Traditional Green Sand requires, skill, storage, and a sand muller to recondition your sand. And the difficulty increases with the size of the casting. Sodium silicate sand uses inexpensive fine silica sand, and sodium silicate (water glass) which reacts with CO2 to harden the sand. 200 pounds of mix cost less than $30.

I’d like to thank our local Tulsa foundries for sharing their knowledge. Especially Scott and Adam at R & D Foundry and Don Doss at Metal Dynamics.

And many thanks to Seeker crew: Jack, Su, Hugh, and Paul who helped get us through the learning curve casting our first porthole deadlight.

And finally to Betsy who has been working on our new web site. You can now buy from our Junk Store and help support our work.

Junk For Sale!

BetsyJunk Shop, Steel Boat

logosm

Our store is finally open. Stop in and see the beginning of much more to come.


Let’s Go Shopping!

Today we added the 34 oz Thermal Mug. This is just like the mug we give our visiting crew. It stands 8″ tall and holds enough liquids to keep you refreshed and hydrated.

Thermal Mug

Thermal Mug

While you can probably find products like these at the store for less, it won’t be an official SV Seeker piece of junk. If you can’t afford it, please don’t buy it, but if you do — thank you very much for your help in funding The Boat the Internet Built!