I am under the gun, so to speak. I have set the launch date for next Thursday. July 3rd. I have a lot to get done but I work well under pressure.
                                        The drive shaft needs the cutlass bearing and flange installed

                                              Partway there. Bolts will be epoxied in tomorrow.

Ended up out a half inch further than I planned. Everything fit well in the trial fitting. But once I got everything set up and putt the epoxy on it....suddenly it hit a stop most of the way in. It is fine. This is much stronger than the small piece of fiberglass pipe that was sticking out for the set screws to go into. I also have a little bit more I will do to stiffen it up a might.

      The gray non-skid is no more!!! Hurray!!! It looked like this when I started.

Without a lot of searching, this is the best I can find.

It just does not look like such a dark color does it? Proof that all things do not necessarily make sense. Now it is white.

The difference in heat is so astounding. You would have to feel it to believe it. I told you why I went with the gray to begin with. I was told the white would have so much glare I would not like it. Sunglasses are dirt cheap. But when the boat is superheated by the sun beating down on it all day, it is way to hot to sleep in. So being able to sleep...priceless. Good trade!

                                                     I finished the outside footstool.

The next post should see Mary Lee about ready to swim. Unless I get busy and save the next post for after launch. Time will tell.  OH!!!! I almost forgot. I crashed my clown bike in the middle of Myrtle Beach's busiest intersection. While it was busy.

They are building an overpass at a very busy light on the nearby freeway. I have to ride through it to return from the marina. Vivian drops me and clown bike off. I sweat it out until noonish. Then I ride back. I had never considered the locks on the places where the bike folds. The center of frame above pedals and the steering just above the front tire.
 If I had never tried to cross a road quickly between light changes(there is no pedestrian lights, you are on your own) I would not know that the handlebar lock can release under pressure if not tight enough. I have a fair bit of road rash.
My back is certainly hurting now and as a result.....Those locks are tight enough now that it takes considerable effort to undo them. Imagine pushing hard on the pedals. Hard as you can standing up. Then having the handlebars suddenly pull back into your waist. Wheel turns, skid marks are the result. FUN!!!

Back again.

 I have noticed a change in the last few days.
   It has been a struggle to try and regain what I lost with my back injury. Between the heavy pain medication and the softening of muscle and subsequent loss of endurance, it has been a trial.

  The changes have been slow and only really noticed when looking back far enough to remember what things WERE like. I have been really pushing all I can stand when I feel good enough to do it. Mostly, winter takes away a big part of what I gain in the summer months.

  Vivian has told me that I am torturing myself by pushing so hard. I admit, it has been difficult. I have probably been pushing a little TOO hard at times. But in just the last couple days I have reached a new plateau. My energy levels are up. Maybe not all the way back to normal, but it is an immediate and noticeable change. I am very pleased.

Yesterday I started working on Mary Lee again. I got the first coat of white non-skid put down.

You can see the places that are still gray. I had to have a place to stand and walk around. Even though it still needs another coat the change is pretty extreme. By the time I got this far and was pulling the masking tape off,  the gray was scorching my bare feet. I went below. Where the ceiling had the white it was a little warm. Where gray,  it was already hot to the touch inside.
     Remember what cockpit looked like all gray?

Today is rain. Thwarted!! But okay. I have the cutlass bearing/drive shaft job starting tomorrow.

              First was the cylinder brake hone and a little soapy water being used to fine tune the
                                           fit of the cutlass bearing into the flange 

                                                  Perfect fit.

Now for a couple jigs to make it all go together correctly the first time. I have a dish in the hull where the drive shaft exits. It will need built up properly with epoxy. Fortunately I have a lot of practice glass bedding hunting rifle actions into stocks. I will use neutral colored shoe polish for a release agent and to fill up any gaps I do not want epoxy setting up in.

I will put bearing in flange, slide the bearing into the tube and build the epoxy up where it needs to be. When set up. I have a 2x4 block with holes drilled in the right place. I will hold this up and use it as a guide to drill the holes for the flange bolts to get them square. I will also use block to hold bolts until the epoxy dries. This will keep them lined up square. I will then clean everything up and use 5200 to bed the flange to the hull. Job done. I will take pictures for the next post so you can see how it goes.

I have a couple of footstool projects going.

Just using up the rest of the bike rack scraps. The piece with the spokes is actually the two bottoms put together just to show what it will look like. The board in front of it is the actual top. Just needs cut out and sanded. It is actually 5 boards glued together with a step joint.

So what is the point of this project? I mentioned that the projects I am doing are specific projects for planned jobs on Mary Lee.  This is a little more complicated hexagon than the one I showed in the court yard geometric wall hanger last post.

 The next project is a wood bucket. Then the grand daddy project I am going to do. Wrap the mast in Mary Lee's salon

That is the mast I will be wrapping. Why? To see if I can. That settee you see on the left. That will be a booth before summer is over.

So there you have it. I am finally feeling good enough to move ahead with plans/dreams. I will be posting more regular as I get things done and finally realize the product of my labors. I may actually have Mary Lee in the water before July 4th. If not.....it certainly will not be from a lack of effort.

I just posted last week but it has been a busy week and I am trying to keep up a little better. I got several projects done this week.
 I know what some of you are thinking. "Vivian sure has him going on the LIST". Not so. I do these things of my own volition. I think them up and do it myself. To please her? Sure! Vivian expects nothing from me and I expect nothing from her. We do for each other because we enjoy doing things for each other.

Why did I mention this? A Neighbor gal(retired and single) told me that if I kept it up I would be invaluable. She also said something with a connotation of...If a man won't do projects for you what good is he? Might be why she is single. I would not be in a relationship that required me to do things to prove my usefulness. What Vivian and I have is so much more comfortable and fun.

Remember the coffee table I built a while back?

                                             Finally got the stain and polyeurethane applied

                                           Cedar stain deck sealant applied to plant stand

                                                    Looks better with plants on it

                                              Did you ever see that old rickety bike stand?

                                    I had a plan for it. First break it down into stuff I could use

                                         Then turn it into whatever project comes to mind.
                                               Shelves and face boards for cabinets first.

                                                 Built my first picture frame out of some.

                                                  A little cutting and router work.
                                                       A little masking and paint

                                 Vivian went to one of those group painting sessions and did this painting
                                                           I told her it needed a frame

                          And the mock picket fence for that big beige and boring wall in the courtyard?

                                                        Finally finished

                                         That is still one big ugly wall. Yes...I did get the picket                                                                                       missing by water valve put in

                                         More bike rack pieces being used to solve the beige dillema

                                                         It helps to have a little color

                                                      Then off to the pier for a sunset
                          We enjoy coming out here, lots of dreams get discussed while the sun goes down 

Work on Mary Lee is getting ready to commence. I feel bad leaving her out of the water but I just HAD to finish some of these projects. I knock out a project a day anymore. From idea to plan to completion. I have a nester dinghy to build after Mary Lee goes in the water. I have some things I will be upgrading inside her throughout the summer and fall making her more liveable. A booth and some berthing/stowage upgrades I want. My projects here have been chosen judiciously for practice to get me ready for the upgrades.

Next project here? I am considering a couple bathroom mirrors built in the old stile and sash window style. You know the ones. The little square panes of glass with the wood around them. Why? I want to build Vivian some french doors. I also have an idea for using plexiglass with that technique to close off a big opening between the stove and the booth on Mary Lee. I want the light so I won't close it in. I just want to eliminate someone at the booth ever being splashed with hot stuff from the stove.

                                      The stove is behind the hole in bulkhead(wall) on the left.

You also may have noticed the octagon on the courtyard geometric wall hanging. I have one more octagon project before I start planning to wrap that ugly mast in wood. I don't know that I will get all these projects done this summer. I head south November 1st. I am taking the tools needed with me to allow me the opportunity to continue if the desire strikes me. I will be back in Myrtle beach next spring for a time so can always continue then.

So much has happened since the last post. Where to begin?

The work on Mary Lee had to take a back seat to the need for cabinets in Vivian's garage.

The first one is started. Chair is to give idea of the size.

First cabinet is ready to hang. Since walls are never straight, cabinets must be hung in sets.

First 3 are up. Now I am getting somewhere.

All up. Doing shelves and face trim boards.

White is done. Had a little trouble with the Rockler finish sprayer I mentioned a few posts ago.

The air maker quit halfway through the second coat. I thought of a solution.

The hoses were similar in size. The shop vac put out more air then needed so when I made the clamp to attach the two different hoses together I filed in some slots to release the extra pressure. Works great!

Will have white doors. I am thinking about doing rail and stile doors as that is what will go in above the washer and dryer.
So, of course I didn't just do cabinets from start to finish. I built a few flower boxes for Vivian to put in the courtyard.

The dwarf oak tree went in a week or so ago. It was a rescue. One of our friends had a friend who had it pulled up and drug over in the weeds to discard. Vivian had been trying to come up with a type of tree she would like. This one looked like just the right one. An hour later the old shrub had been dug up and the new tree was in the ground being watered.

This was the basic courtyard before I got turned loose in it.

See the trunk of old shrub sticking up in the left corner? I thought it needed something.

Little bit of thought.

Feeling my way through it with some 2x6's ripped into 2x2's.

There you have it. Needs stain, but it works. The corner is cleaned up.

I have quite a bit of scrap left over from cabinet build. What to do with it?

Going to paint them white and hang up on courtyard wall for a little extra something to brighten it up and fill it in.
So in the meantime. I have been searching out parts for Mary Lee.

Way to long.

Had it made into something I can use. I couldn't find anything like this anywhere. Guys I met had them made out of stainless because they couldn't find them in bronze. I wanted bronze. I have new cutlass bearing and Wednesday the hanger bolts are in. Try finding bronze hanger bolts. They are out there if you want a package of ten. At $8 a piece I didn't think I needed 8 of them laying around for the duration.

Deck hardware is almost cleaned up. My last adventure with butyl tape.

Forgot about this. A friend sent me this picture of the stainless one his friend came up with.

Time to get the white non-skid on. I will work on it this week while I am over doing the cutlass bearing.

Vivian polishing some of the stainless.

Have also been spending some time with her on the beach.

Also catching some sunsets on the pier. I am very fond of Vivian.

Found me a folding clown bike at goodwill for $44. Another $40 and it had new tubes, mirror, bell, nicer seat and got a good bath after I greased all bearings, oiled chain and derailers etc. Basically an afternoon.

Is that it? Not even close. I have been building some jigs for router.

You can see from the picture that this guys jig will make round stock as long as his box. It will also do table legs. Even tapered legs. I suppose even a ball bat is possible. I want to make my own oars along with the mast and boom for the nester dinghy that is rapidly approaching build time. I thought of a way to make the jig infinitely more adjustable and able to handle material as long as I want. I can also do it as big around as 6 inches if trimmed first.

Just need to finish other end so finished round can go through. No big deal at all. I can make as many different ends as I want and put them at any length in the box. The pvc you see the stops in(thumb screws) spins. I made a blind hole in 3/4 plywood so it could not pull through to inside. Then drew a line on outside of ring where it comes out of wood.
 Using 1/4 inch bit in router table, I made a groove around ring. Then slipped it into plywood and cut 4 1/4 inch plywood pieces you see. Inserted them into groove and fastened. Pvc turns but cannot fall out. Drilled holes and threaded in thumbscrews. Similar to tail stock on metal lathe.The screws can be tightened in whatever way needed to center wood and it matters not how much sticks out the end. This is a turn by hand slowly type of thing.

Also decided that I needed a jig for cutting circles and just generally adding a radius to things.

Made a thing for Vivian's trunk to keep groceries fron rolling around. Made with slots so it pulls apart and lays flat when not needed or wanted.

 I picked up a waffle maker. We are experimenting with different flours. We both want to get away from wheat. I have lost almost 20 pounds since earlier this spring. I know I could lose it faster fasting but the fasting is a way of detoxing and changes nothing in the way of activity and eating habits. As I am able to do more, I notice an old habit of forgetting to eat coming back. When I am happily engaged in something that requires creativity I get so engrossed in it that the thought of eating never accurs to me. THAT...is how I know I am finally making ground with my recovery.
An after thought on the fasting. Vivian will attest to this. If you do your research, you find that you stink when you sweat because of the toxins coming out in your sweat. I have fasted so much that I don't stink when I sweat. I no longer use deodorant. If I smelled I would. I use a little bit of body spray so I smell good for Vivian but that is it.
Last but not least. I have noticed in this mostly retired community.

If you leave the garage door open while working, and that garage is close to one of the mailboxes, You tend to meet most of the people. When I meet people out bike riding I always hear...You are the guy who is always working in the garage. Yes....I am. I have been likened to a busy beaver.

Funny that statement. Steve and Linda Franko stopped by for a visit on their way north. One of the things said was how I worked like a fiend on the boat that first summer. Actually, I did, But mostly because Mary Lee had been neglected for several years before being set on the hard for another five. I didn't have a choice. I was also fighting to get myself and a boat recovered enough that I could head south.
Sometimes it is hard to believe what I have been through in the last 3 years. But if not always moving ahead...what would be left to do? I have certainly spent my last winter in the cold. This constant regression in the cold months and then starting over in the spring when it warms up has to stop.

I held off on this post because I was waiting until I had something finished to put in it. Turns out that I had a lot of projects in the works and the post is rather long. I must attempt to alleviate the burden of doing these long posts by posting more often.