an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
Got the raggedy stems trimmed and sanded finally, which made Terri very happy. Had been saving that until I could see how tall the bow chocks would be and get a feel for proportions. The Rudder rods were cut, too, so I could finally try out the Tillers. This critical testing process required a pleasant half hour of sitting in the boats daydreaming. They work quite well.
Floorboards ready for varnish
Wow. That was hard.
Several people told me that this part was going to be a challenge. They were right.
The problem is there are no straight lines. Geometry – even tape measures – are of no use whatsoever. A terribly complex, odd shaped, 3D object has to fit snugly into another very complex, odd shaped, 3D object, and there’s just no easy way to accomplish that.
It’s Winter in the Southern Hemisphere. It hasn’t snowed in Wellington, New Zealand, for 30 years. The average age of a New Zeallander is 26. So that was before most of the current population was alive.
It did today, just a few hours ago.
Someone caught it on film rather nicely.
No, not bottles of beer on the wall.
Pounds.
That’s how much the boats weigh now. Just the hulls with floorboards inside – no rudders or centerboards or other furnishings. No real effort was made to keep them light, but I hoped they would come in under 200 pounds each, and they did, just.
Don’t think I’ll be toting them up over a shoulder like before:
Recent research is showing that, in some areas of thought, when we don’t have a word for something it becomes invisible to us. So what is clear to people of one culture, who have a word for a thing, is obscure or nonexistent to another that does not. If a tree falls in the woods, and we don’t have a word for it . . . ? How about how you feel today emotionally? How much does that alter what you see? Turns out, a lot.
Short article here:
http://www.petapixel.com/2011/08/12/do-people-always-see-the-same-things-when…
(sorry, looks like the video has been removed. 11/11/11)
Via Metafilter
Rudder hardware installed on Aeon
Got all the hardware done this week. You would think doing something already made, that you just attach with screws, would be simple, but you’d be wrong. This is why I’m so bad at estimating when I’ll be done – nothing is really that hard, just a lot more complicated than it seems.
Every piece of hardware is unique, The screw holes are all in different places on each cleat, for instance; the holes on one don’t line up with the holes on any other. You have to label each part, its location and its orientation, before marking where to drill the pilot holes in the boats, then make sure you put each piece back in exactly the same place to screw them in.
Rudder Shoe installed
Had one last brass piece to make for each boat, though I’m not sure what to call it. Rudder Shoe? Rudder Slipper? Basically, it’s a Rudder “Weed/Crab Pot/Eel Grass/Sawgrass/Gunk Preventer” based on a brilliant idea from Roger Rodibaugh, Grand Poobah of the Crawford Melonheads.
Continue reading “Hardware the Hard Way Part 5 – Brass Rudder Shoes”