I have been meeting quite a few upholsterers with their own shops. I have been told over and over....You do not need that school. It is a waste of your time. I have taught myself how to sew well enough to undertake any job I am likely to get into. I think it is time to get set up and take the leap. I am going to go out in a semi again until spring. I am going to buy a pickup. Camper on top. Car hauler trailer set up as portable upholstery shop. I have a plan.

So. I have been out exploring the area around Hickory.

This is a place back up in the mountains that was interesting. That is all coffee cups.

This little lake. Lake Lure(near Ashville was used in a few movies.

Pretty small puddle. If you can read the sign. Used in Dirty Dancing and Last of the Mohicans.

That is a short update. I have been busy. I am going to be moved out of Hickory, NC. Before Oct. 1st. Going to drive up to Maine in the van for a few days. Then head out in a semi for the winter. Should be interesting. I have plans for Mary Lee this winter. She may very well end up on a trailer headed to Seattle and Puget sound. I want to cruise the Alaskan inlets for a summer. More on that later

Just a quick post.

   I have to take a day off upholstering. My back flared up. All good. I finished the second bucket seat yesterday. Seams are straight. No weird bulges. Everything lined up like it should be. I was going to pull the drivers seat out this morning. I need the van for class tomorrow. Guess I will start on passenger seat and save driver seat for next Friday.

   Here is the newest photo.

I like it. I will also be doing headliner and carpet when seats are done. Not sure if I mentioned that.

    We have not started doing any upholstery or sewing in school yet. But being in a town with several furniture manufacturers, There is remnants of fabrics left over from factories in all the second hand stores at $3.00 a yard. I decided to start reupholstering the van seats for practice. I may have $80 into everything needed to do four seats.

I have this neat sewing machine that I cannot keep my hands off of.
   The first obvious step was to get a seat out and take it all apart.

    Then start cutting the seams apart to make a pattern.

    seemed easy enough.   Pretty soon I had a mess going.

    So...It was time to cut out the new pieces. The new pieces needed to be cemented to the foam backing.

    Not horribly hard to do. First piece sewed together quite easily. Taking my time to get it right. The speed will come.


Next was the backrest. Many new things to consider here. Remember, I am teaching myself. I can be meticulous about making sure things look right as they go together...but I am just learning.

Got the pieces all taken apart. Seemed important to lay them out so the way they go together can be easily sorted out.

Sewing them together was interesting. I actually find the sewing easy.  Backrest went together fairly easy. Lots of extra things the seat never had, but okay.
    I ended up with this.

   I used some special bonding paint for changing the color of plastic.

   Ended up with this
Forgot to take pictures of headrest going together....It is a special little challenge of its own. Finally done. The following pictures are of the finished one. The next one in line to be done sitting next to it. Sort of a before and after. Then first one back in the van. Keep in mind that there were no rips or major stains in seats. I just wanted to get started doing upholstery.

   

   I will finish the seats and also replace carpet and headliner. It will be my rolling billboard.

I have a few more sets of seats to do for friends. I told them if they bought material, I would do it for the practice. Then I will start charging to do seats.  I am pleased with the visual this will create. The seat looks every bit as good in person as it does in the pictures. my seams are straight. I really like my new sewing machine.

   Upholstery school is off to a good start. It is sponsored by the local furniture manufacturers, so there is 2 months of classwork that has nothing to do with actually doing upholstery. I get it. They want us to take classes on teamwork, math, communication, etc.

   I keep thinking about the doctors that told me I would never work again. Maybe not in a grueling job at a plant, or driving truck for long hours every day. But I am beating the odds. I am tenacious. I will get there. Just barely getting started and the jobs are already lining up. Before I am out of school I will be going full bore. I won't get into specifics at this point, but....I have a hookup in auto upholstery. Tied to what I already knew before getting here, I am going to do very well.

I picked up my sewing machine today. It will be my main machine. I now have two machines.  My portable sailrite machine and this Consew 206. It was a bit more than I had originally wanted to pay, but it will last the rest of my life. I am getting ready to do some serious sewing with it. It sews beautifully.

Did I mention the little daysailer last post?

Let's not forget that.

I ran into a difficulty registering the trailer, but that is now just about solved. It is a Galilee 15. If you search Galilee 15 on youtube. you get a short clip of a guy sailing one.  The top photo is from the original owner. I am the second owner. The boat is a 1985 model. I will be putting it in the water very soon. Lake Hickory is just 8 miles away. Lake Norman(much bigger) is 38 miles away.

   Life is such an adventure.  While working on Mary Lee's upholstery, I had so many people ask me about doing upholstery for them, I decided that it may be the answer for making me gainfully employed again. I need something I enjoy. I also need a flexible schedule. I still hurt a lot, I need to be able to take a day or two to rest when I am hurting too much.

   So....after spending much time poking at different ideas. Throwing them out to friends for feedback. I came up with upholstery. As luck would have it, I was less than 300 miles from a top notch school. The Furniture Factory. Catawba Valley Community College.

   By the time I realized I could make it happen, It was a rush to get enrolled and find housing. I actually missed the first day. With all the driving I had to do(back and forth) I was finally here and had a bed put together at 10:00 pm. on the first day. I made the second day. I knew the decision to go to school was the right one after the first couple hours. I will leave here with the skill needed to start my own business.

A few pictures of the kind of furniture we will be upholstering. The local furniture factories sponsor this. They send the frames over for us to upholster. Workers from the factories(with many years experience) teach us.

     I just ordered my own machine to sew with at home. Not a requirement, but I intend to be using it to do projects of my own while I am in school. I will buy the machines I need while in school and be proficient with them by the time I am done with school.  I ordered a new Consew 206. As I learn which machines I need, I will buy them and start using them. I will be in school for 18 months to learn what I need. It is quite likely I will be practicing on car seats and panels.

   Something I like about this school. They will teach you everything. Emphasis on high-end furniture, because that is what the sponsors make, but we will learn all techniques. I am quite pleased to have this opportunity.

   Mary Lee is going to get all new upholstery when I am done. I will be much better at doing upholstery. Of course my boat will get the best I can do!

The sun is making Mary Lee into something that resembles a slow cooker. Air conditioning is not nearly enough. This week was all about getting some shade covers sewn up.

I looked around at what other people had on their boats. I liked the synthetic fabric on one boat in particular. Very light and breathable. They got their fabric at a Home Depot. I went on Amazon and searched for shade fabric. What I found claims to block 95% of UV rays. It came in 6 foot width and about as long as you wanted in 5 foot increments. I ordered two at 25 foot length.

It finally arrived. I took a piece to the boat and did a basic layout. It seemed pretty simple. I would know when it was done

I rolled it out on the ping pong table I have been using to cut out material, etc.

Next was a little sewing.

I do seem to be getting the hang of it. Grommets came next. I opted for the big plastic ones the other boater had used. Their covers have lasted over 3 years, seems good enough for me. I did have a little trouble getting some of them to snap together all the way. I finally used a large c-clamp. It snapped them together nice and tight with no effort

Then trying out my first cover.

It seems good enough. I left it a little shorter up front to facilitate going forward. Perhaps next time I will not.
  I still needed a bit more shade further back.  I had debated on making each side into one continuous piece. But...the booms swing a bit differently, and are a different height. It seemed that separate pieces may work better.

Good enough. Besides, I can always change things next time. Needs a little adjusting. Also hard to believe they are the same width. The shade makes a huge difference. The bottoms are attached with bungy cord and S-hooks. Everything for this project came up to just a few dollars over the $100 mark.

In other news. I start upholstery school July 18th(about 2 weeks).
  I will be in school a year. It is 4 days a week. About 300 miles from Mary Lee. So...once again, life will keep me too busy to spend a lot of time on Mary Lee.

The process of getting me recovered, to a point where it is finally beyond just struggling to get through each day, has been an all consuming chore(to say the least). I bought Mary Lee as a way to force the fight, so to speak. It had to be something "out of the box" that I really wanted to do.

As I finally began to see a real improvement in my recovery, I realized, that I needed to find something that I would enjoy doing. Something that could be boating related. Flexible enough in hours that it could work with boating. I also have those days when I hurt too much to do anything.

I had an interest in upholstery long before I got hurt. Liking it will make a big difference. Being able to see projects finished nicely suits me to a "T".

I think I could use sewing to fund a circumnavigation (if I so choose).

  The work continues, a step at a time. My vision was to make Mary Lee lighter and brighter. It felt like a dark cave at times. Don't get me wrong. I do like wood, but it was just too much of a good thing.

Remember this from much earlier in the blog?

This is what it has evolved into so far.

Much better.
Now for the knobs. Solid brass.

They helped.
  I have shade fabric coming in any day now. I am also just about done with the A/C box for mounting A/C to blow down hatch. Portable A/C is not cutting it.

I have a stretch of driving truck in front of me before starting upholstery school.

  A few months back, I installed a defective solar powered vent on the forward hatch. It turned out to be one of those lessons that will not be repeated :-)

I found two of these vents for quite cheap. First mistake was buying two of them. I needed to rebed the glass in both hatches as they had begun to leak.  It seemed that putting a solar vent in each one was a good idea. Only 5200 was available. Kind of a permanent sealant for what I was doing. I just figured that as long as I was careful....All would be well. My work was good. vent was not only defective, but now everything was put together with 5200.

I sealed it up with aluminum tape. When I got the time I would fix it.

  This time it would be done correctly. I thought about it. I decided installing something that would potentially leak, right above the v-berth, was not acceptable. This meant new glass. I got online and ordered polycarbonate glass. I got enough for 3 hatches. It was cheaper to order that amount.

I have been busy, so it took a while to get around to the hatch. I also was dreading the 5200 I had bedded the glass with last time. I tried cutting it out, around the edges, with a razor knife. Not so good. Keeping in mind the rubber seal below the glass. I needed to save it. I had no idea where to get another. At least on short notice.

I gave it some thought. When it does not work by hand....incorporate a power tool. I put a Dremel cutting disc in the drill. Did not work. I decided to try a cutting drill bit made for Dremel. Bullseye. It walked down the frame, pulling the sealant off the aluminum cleanly. Well...It roughed up the aluminum a little, but all that would be hidden by sealant. It was time consuming, but I got it done

Now it was time to cut out new glass. It needed to be perfect. Fortunately, I just happen to own a good bandsaw. A big bandsaw.

It made the cutting easy.

Perfect fit in the frame. I forgot to take a picture of the drill press. Holes for the handles and hinges needed to fit perfectly. I clamped the old piece on top of the new one. Put proper bits in drill press and drilled holes.

You can see them here with baling wire run through them for handles. When bedding new glass. You have to use a bead of slow cure on top of rubber seal. Set glass in with as little movement as possible. Then let it cure before doing the edge with fast cure. The clear glass made it difficult to see the edges. I put the pieces of tape on just so I could clearly see the edges. It worked great.

Finally got to seal the edges.

I put white privacy tint on it and installed hinges and handles. Everything fit beautifully. Off I went to the marina to install it.

I sat in the van watching a storm roll in. I had tapped the opening. I could only hope it held up. It poured mercilessly for over 30 minutes. The picture does not do it justice. An hour after this picture, I installed the hatch in full sunshine.

I have sun shade fabric coming in any day. I will be doing the screen for shading boat any day now. I hope it turns out as good as the hatch.

  I do tend to neglect the blog from time to time. No excuses. Life happens and I am always busy.

I am just now recovered to where I was 6 months before I crashed that folding clown bike.  That has been over 2 years ago. I am now just beginning to be able to lay down in some other position besides my right side. Since the injury, I have only been able to lay on my right side, curled up.

  I had just got to where I was able to lay on my left side in Myrtle Beach. I had started seriously going to the gym and riding bike. I did my best day on a bike. 60 miles. I always put an odometer on my bikes and test against a gps for accuracy. I had Mary Lee out of the water doing bottom paint and was riding clown bike back and forth to Marina. The handle bar lock came loose as I was racing across an intersection. I crashed right onto the side that I had hit when I first hurt my back. OW!!

This time I got a different kind of folding bike

It is much more stable.  Shocks front and rear make it easier on my back when riding. The best part. The latch, where it folds, is so much more positive. It is also spring loaded. You have to pull the pin or it cannot come loose.

  Steve and Linda(Yesterday's Dream) had invited me to visit them in Marathon, FL. They have wintered there in the Banana Bay marina for several years. I had hauled that dance floor to the college in Boca Raton, FL last fall. I did not realize that I was only a couple hours drive from them. The opportunity to haul the floor back up to Southport came up. Since the trip was paid for.....I decided to see if Steve and Linda wanted company.

Linda has been having knuckles replaced in her hands. We decided to wait until she had recovered sufficiently from the surgery before I made the trip.

It is about a thousand miles from Southport to Marathon. I drove down to just about a hundred miles short. Got a motel and drove in during daylight. It would have been quite late. I wanted to see the scenery in daylight.

I really enjoyed my stay. Steve and Linda are not only good friends, they are also great hosts.

Linda sported a fancy brace the whole time.

There was plenty to see.

The weather was just starting to get hot.


Beautiful sunsets from the observation spot right in from of Yesterday's Dream.

I even got to see the fabled green flash one evening. I really enjoyed the 3 days I stayed. I took many more pictures. I have, however, recently purchased a MacBook.

My first Mac. I have had some technical difficulties with figuring out how it all works. I have not yet figured out an easy way to get all the pictures transferred from Android phone to MacBook.

I would have liked to stay in. Marathon. But....time to head back home. So I said my goodbyes, and

left Yesterday's Dream and crew much as I found them.

Drove up to Boca Raton, picked up floor,

and headed home.

I really would like to take Mary Lee down to Marathon next season, But, I have decided to go to upholstery school next January.
   It has been hard figuring out what I can do for a living again.  I cannot choose something and find out in a couple years, that it will not work. I want to have a trade that I can enjoy. Can work in air conditioning. My own business. Set hours that work for me. If I overdo it, I need to be able to take a few days to recover. I want it to work with boating. I already had an interest in upholstery before I got hurt. I am diving in feet first.

So, back to working on Mary Lee. In the previous posts, I had built cabinets and done some upholstery. I just did not like the cabinets.

I pulled them out and rebuilt them.

I like this better.
  I found this little jewel in a consignment shop.

Solid brass. Polished. Digital picture gives it a weird color.

Catch up posts are long. Last thing for this post. I finally figured out how I want to build the starboard side. I took out the uncomfortable settee. I was back and forth between building in a booth or a comfy couch. The port side has a big water tank under it. It is too high to make into a comfy couch. I tried.

I need a different storage setup than what Mary Lee came with. The booth will not give me the comfort my back requires. I did a mock-up with old couch cushions to give me an idea.

I will build it love seat size. Cabinet on right for galley storage. Cabinets like other side...but bigger. sectioned storage behind backrest. sectioned storage under.

Almost forgot a couple things. I made a trip up to Oriental, NC. Just to look it over. I really like it up there.  Steve and Linda will remember this.

I had my dinghy tied up to this dock when we(Mike was helping me move Mary Lee south from Baltimore)met them for breakfast. The older picture is on the blog somewhere.

Blast from the past. I was an Operations Specialist in the Navy. My ship, LSD 40. Fort Fisher.

Me on deck while in Hawaii