Timeline

1000 pounds, the first of 20,000 pounds. Besides a small leak in the old melting pot our Harbor Freight dual burner propane stove converted to lead smelter was doing good. 1000 pounds ready in 5 1/2 hours having burner 14 pounds of propane. So now we know we are going to need 280 pounds or about 66 gallons .

Many many thanks to Monica and Charlie for giving us a starting point for the layout of the pilot house. Frankly and this point I don’t see anything I don’t like. Open, roomy, sleeping for two.

When a toddler stumbles and falls for the fourth time. No body says, “Just give up. You’re a failure”. But by the time we get to high school it’s common. Failure is synonymous with looser, flunkies, stupid, retard. The whole idea of failing at anything is abhorrent.

Junk sails are heavy, and we want a sail winch that is versatile. This idea is centered around a hydraulic hub motor, allowing the sail to be raised or lowered with a remote switch in the pilothouse or a secondary switch near the winch.

As the time counts down until we hit the water, it’s time to start working on the sails. It’s a massive undertaking even for someone who has an above average ability for sewing and stitchery.

You’re only as dumb as the smartest person in the room. And the internet makes for a really big room. Yes, you have filter out some trolls, and inflated egos, but what is left is a great cross section of humanity and experiences.

I question myself when I want to add something that I have never seen on a boat. But this one just makes a lot of sense to me, and lugging the 80 pound welder, and plasma cutter, grinders, and steel up and down the companionways has convinced me this is a really good idea.

It’s finally coming together. All the hull pieces are assembled and we’ve started running wires to the various components inside. Once that is done we’ll take her to the lake; not to run but to simply see where she needs weight to trim her and make her just slightly positive buoyant. Then comes the programming.

Coffee cake and banana bread seems to be favorites among the crewmembers and as I keep misplacing my recipe for banana bread, I’m going to put it on the blog…. now when I say I can’t find it, you can remind me. 🙂 Doug eats lots of bananas. Tinka eats lots of bananas (yes, seriously.. the Basset loves bananas).

Most Saturday mornings when we have crew, Betsy will whip up a coffee cake or muffins. Here’s her recipe for the coffee cake that tastes as good as it looks. There are mixes by King Arthur, Krusteaz and Betty Crocker that are similar as well as a recipe on the back of a Bisquick Box.

We learned while cutting the panels for the Mizzen sail; the really small one, that measuring and cutting the each panel correctly is very important and it takes a long time. We already have the shapes for each panel in CAD so wouldn’t it be dandy to cut them on the CNC Table.