The Tower of Pain and Suffering

has fallen.



This is all that remains of that wonderful piece of engineering.



That was the last major obstacle as well. The workshop floor is now open and I can begin assembly! ;-)

Standby..... This is gonna get messy! ;-)

Another week about to

pass us by and not a whole lot to show for it. I was able to get the remainder of the vapor barrier up. It was just one of those little nagging jobs that I didn't finish last fall. It wasn't going to get done with the car in the shed so I at least had an excuse. ;-)

One of the things I did when I built the shed was embed 3 eye bolts in the ridge, on center and two just off center. These are sturdy 1/2" eye bolts. Now if the ridge can carry it the heaviest object I'll have to lift into the boat is the engine and transmission which the manual tells me is approx. 550 lbs.



From the center bolt I'll fix a 1000 Kg snatch block made specifically for 3/16th. wire rope. This will give me the piece of mind I'll need when there's 550 lbs of engine hanging over the boat. The other two are simple rope falls with 1/2 rope.

I apologize for the poor picture but the lifting force for the center cable will come from my little 2000 lb 12 volt winch. It's a tough lil' bugger and pulls like crazy!



I tested my rig with my own, not so unsubstantial 240 lbs (Don't tell Dr. Bhatt) plus a 34 lb battery. The ridge and bows deflected pretty good and I heard some creaking going on up there. Even with just moderate weight on the winch you can see the bows spreading out about 2/3ds of the way up. To counter this I added two cable stays across the shed. You can see them in the first picture. A second test with the stays in place and there's no deflection or creaking of the bows! If necessary I can spread the load out over two bows instead of point loading on the center bow. I hope it works.

My supervisor stopped in yesterday to put his "Paw of Approval" on my work.



That's 'bout it for now. Some shelving and a second work bench going in today. Photos to follow.

Update: Last work bench. This one for fiberglass & epoxy work hence the melamine panels. Hopefully it'll make it easier to clean up the messies that are bound to occur.



Thanks for looking in.

PS. One more small job to complete and I'll be able to tear the "Tower of Pain and Suffering" apart and turn it into an assembly table! ;-)

Now it's starting

to look a little like an actual workshop!



This is my nearly instant $100 work bench. Not even $100 actually probably closer to $85. The bases are standard steel shelving units from Lowes that I got on sale for $58 and the top is 3 - 2 x 8's and a 2 x 4 for backing. A couple bucks in bolts & nuts to hold the miter saw and vice on an Walla! Instant work bench. Both bases are securely fastened to the bow shed bows and it's a pretty solid work surface.

Mr. Snuffleupagus (AKA Snuffy the sawdust collector) works well! I made some more sawdust and it all just magically disappeared!



Update: Managed to get a lil' more organizin' done. Now I'll never be able to find anything! *sigh*

T-Minus 2 Days and counting.

It's Alive! Alive! Alive!



As soon as Mother Nature cooperates I'll be able to move then boat out of the way then the IROC out of the shed!

Standby. It won't be long now! ;-)

Addendum: The weather was great when I got home so I liberated the car from the shed! one tiny step further....

T-Minus 2 Days and counting.

It's Alive! Alive! Alive!



As soon as Mother Nature cooperates I'll be able to move then boat out of the way then the IROC out of the shed!

Standby. It won't be long now! ;-)

T-minus 3 days

and counting till the first day of spring!

The snow is quickly melting. +10C temps today so I don't expect to see any more white stuff on the ground when I get home. ;-) The only problem with that is the ground is soaked so much that it's backed up into the shed a bit. Nothing major just makes things turn to mud when you walk on it.

I did manage to get some of my Super Dooper Sawdust Sucker Upper assembled.



This will help keep the dust down during the sanding phase which is important for the painting phase! At least so I'm told.

So, if all goes well I should be able to move the boat and car by this weekend! Getting nervous though, over 7 yrs of planning and it's about to start! *shudder* All I can hear myself saying is "What the f*ck am I getting myself into?" and "Too late buddy boy, suck it up and get working!".

Standby.

Getting everything lined up....

takes some effort. Once the snow clears I'll have to shift some toys (boat & car) around and get the shed setup as a workshop. I'm pretty sure I know how that's going to go together.

One of the things that's concerned me a bit was the amount of epoxy we'll have to mix by hand to laminate the entire hull of the boat. Originally I was considering infusing the hull but it's unlikely I'll get a good vacuum seal on the plywood, that and the lack of a decent flange pretty much eliminates that option. It might work and I still might try infusion on the inside of the hull. More on that later.

Anyhow, mixing epoxy. The Admiral is chief epoxy mixer on this project. We've done a few small experiments mixing the sticky stuff and have made a few messes. I've personally mixed one batch that failed when I was putting the bows for the shed together. So after doing a lot of research and asking some questions I've bought this unit....

Sticky Stuff Epoxy Dispenser....



This device will meter the correct proportions of resin and hardener. We're still left with the mixing issue. Doing some more research I found some mechanical mixers then discovered the static mixing nozzel! Going back to the manufacturer of the dispenser they have a number of options to add static mixing to the dispenser. We've settled on this addition which will (I hope) deliver correctly measured and thoroughly mixed epoxy without any guess work or cramped hands!

Total cost about $375 but I'm told this is a good investment and will likely pay for itself in reduced waste and errors.

Standby.....