Garage in northern Norway

[wazzza]

I dont know the stoy behind the poster wich is the frontpage of a Norwegian gossipmagazine, but I belive they pulled a prank on another colleague. The pictures from the feast were from a christmas or new year celebration.. The bridges I talked about are more like walkways between the three plattforms. We travel to work by helicopter and the flight takes roughly 40 minutes. The supplyvessels take 6-8 hours out here.


Wow, thats a lot of water in the first picture. Was that caused by snow-melting?

My friend does not work on the garage when I am away.. I do all the work myself now, but he helped me out a lot when I needed an extra pair of hands.

I am heading home in only a few days, cant wait to get home.. I play this video every time I head home

 

[Bib Overalls]

Cool video. The guys in the chopper headed for home look used up.

 

[Dividing Creek]

are those orange jump suits immersion/survival suits ?

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: thanks for the clarification on the poster and the bridge. that video is damn cool so don't blame you for playing it before you head home. i'm guessing that flight might be a bumpy ride at times with the wind and snow and rain?

all that water coming over the top of Snoqualmie falls a couple weeks ago was just from the rain. we don't have but a couple inches of snow in the mountains and today i think it was in the 60's (14c to you).

what are the plans for the garage or are you just going to surprise us with some more great pictures?

have a safe trip and talk to you soon

 

[SunnyBeach]

Just went through the entire thread. Thanks for posting the great photos and links to the Northern Lights video.

Very cool.

 

[wazzza]

Happy christmas everyone! Wont do much in garage these next days, but I am finished with the fuse panel.

 

[1/2 Cup]

All the best to you and yours as well wazza.

Nice job on the switchboard.

Regards

 

[Bib Overalls]

Your electricity is like ours, only different. You learn so much on the internet.

Watch out for this guy . If you don't leave cookies and milk for him Christmas eve you will wake up to find your refrigerator empty and a pile of dirty dishes in your sink.

Seriously, You have worked hard this year, out on the rig and on your garage at home. Take a few days to rest up and enjoy Christmas with your family. You have certainly earned it.

 

[Will S.]

God jul og godt Nytt Ar fra en gammel Stavanger (Madla) jente. Flott arbeid med garasjen og nydelig utsikt fra ditt hjem. Reidun.

That was from my wife. In English, for the rest of us: Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year from an old Stavanger girl, (Madla is the little town outside of Stavanger).
Great job with your garage, and beautiful view from your home.

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzzza: i agree you have done a lot this year so a few days of R & R with your better half to re charge the batteries and let her know you are not 100% a work-oholic might be a good thing.

great work on finishing up the wiring. if i remember right you are still waiting for your service to get installed by your electric company. yes? good luck with that and i'll be watching for more improvements in 2015.

my little 28 year old niece has the job of making the family fresh lefsa tomorrow with butter and brown sugar. she has my grandma's 100+ year old cookware and technique to make it right. no counting calories tomorrow for me, but the plan next year is to shed 20 pounds so i can go up and down a ladder without breathing hard now that i'm almost 60.

All the best and it's been fun watching your garage build and seeing some of your part of the world.

take care

 

[wazzza]

Thank you guys (and girl) for those kind words. I have been relaxing and eating all christmas! We have got crazy amounts of snow the last couple of days so I have tried to make room for the truck inside the garage.

I have tried to get more organized, so I made a solid bench that is bolted to the walls. The decking is temporary.

@ Drivesitfar: My grandmother also makes lefsa! I have eaten way to much of that now When it comes to electricity I only waits for the hardwarestore to open so I can buy a 18mm concrete drillbit. Most of the wiring is done, so I can basically power it up now..

 

[plexxarn]

Nice build ! I love the roof sheet metal lifting rig !

 

[mburrus]

wazza, excellent thread, ive enjoyed reading on your progress and always like to see how it is different across the pond.

i work in the electrical field, and was curious about the printed wire labels in your breaker box. are they heat shrink? what machine do you use to print them.

 

[wazzza]

Thanks guys! The liftingrig worked great. I have no idea how we would get the plates up otherwise..

The labels har heatshrink yes. I use a machine at work thta makes those labels. It is a standard Dymo Rhino 5000. It can print on many different types of labels.

 

[rixtrix1]

I like your workbench. Those top boards seem nice, straight and strong enough to hold up to a lot of abuse, even if temporary. Funny thing, I never thought of using a label maker on shrink tubing; great idea!

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: your new bench is looking good so far. i'll be working off the 5 pounds I gained this last week eating lefsa, pies and cookies. Hope you had a good Christmas and good to here your Grandma is still alive and well and bringing you some of her goodies.

Have a great 2015 and looking forward to more posts as you start to fill up your awesome garage.

cheers

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: i found a easy way to lose the 5 pounds over the holidays. i got the flu, but feeling better now. I bet living that far north in Norway you never get the flu bugs like we do here in the big cities. or do you have anything to worry about other than frostbite?

i hope it hasn't been too cold and maybe you are getting a few hours of light now.

 

[wazzza]

Hi guys. Long time since my last update. I have not done a lot, because it has been crazy cold and a lot of work both offshore and at my onshore job. BUT, I now have power in the garage.. It was a great feeling to just push the switch and have lights without a bunch of extensioncords etc..

I am also restoring my house as well, so that takes most of my spare money these days

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: the true Northern lights have arrived and looking great i might add. i just noticed the wings on the sides of your garage to help keep the snow from blowing into your garage. i might add that to my next garage since rain and wind is just as bad and we have a lot of that in Seattle.

nice to see you are still pushing forward and if you want to add a few pictures of your house's remodel and ask questions that should be ok since you are the thread's designer.

only a few more months and the sun and warm weather will be the norm in your area. Hang in there.

 

[rixtrix1]

Lights are definitely looking good; a nice layout. Definitely interested in home reno pics, too, as construction methods vary and are always interesting, if you feel like sharing.

 

[MacTexas]

Pictures of your house restoration would be of interest.

 

[vegar]

Nice lights. Are they that yellow, or do the camera make them that way??

 

[funflyer]

Nice work on your garage, I enjoyed reading the entire thread. well done!

 

[wazzza]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I will post pictures of the house-work aswell, but my phone died with all pictures of the progress to this point..

The lights on the garage is not as yellow as they appear. They are all LEDs but I am very happy with the color.

The sun is finally back. Not for long each day, but it is back

 

[Rsharp66]

Hey Wazzza
Are you in Tromso? I am going to be doing the Nordkapp up the coast in a couple weeks and we have 4 hours there on February 26 I think. Any bar or must see suggestions?

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: I (we) love the view pictures almost as much as your garage pictures. sorry to hear you might have lost all your old cell phone's pictures and hopefully one of your techy friends have a fix for that.

good to see you have a little daylight today.

 

[treefiddy1]

Looking real fine there bud, good work on your shop! I like the hard work and dedication, seems to me a lot of us oil and gas patch folk can be quite creative on days off, thanks for sharing.

 

[rixtrix1]

Nice views of the new sun. I guess your two jobs are different enough to not become boring. Much like some of my fire fighter acquaintances; one would never guess what their first job is from their second. Hope you can save your pics. Thanks again.

 

[AAlex]

Subscribed...

 

[wazzza]

Hi Guys, and thank you all for the feedback, I appreciate it a lot.

I finally had a day of work, so I have made good progress today. The back wall is insulated, plasted, wires are run, plated and mounted some more lights. I ran out for wallplates, so I need to buy more to make more progress. I scored some free toolboards and more shelves so I have started to get more organised. I have actually come to a point were I can actually do some work IN the garage, not just ON it.

We had a storm roll through a few days ago. Plenty of snow to play in

 

[wazzza]

Hey Wazzza
Are you in Tromso? I am going to be doing the Nordkapp up the coast in a couple weeks and we have 4 hours there on February 26 I think. Any bar or must see suggestions?

Hi, I have forgot to answer you. Yes I live in Tromsø. If the weather is good you should take the cablecar up "fløyen". From there you have a great view over the city and the mountains around it.

Check out this link. It is a link to a zoomable image over Tromsø. It is made out of 2000 still pictures. You can see the cablecar to the right in the picture

http://gigapix.no/881/gigapiksel/utsikt-over-tromsø

I am not much of a drinker myself, but "Skarven" is a known pub straight across the road from were the hurtigruten docs.

 

[rixtrix1]

Garage is looking great. Once you get the ceiling covered, it will be much brighter. Open trusses or rafters are light sponges, allowing no reflection.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Check out this link. It is a link to a zoomable image over Tromsø. It is made out of 2000 still pictures. You can see the cablecar to the right in the picture

http://gigapix.no/881/gigapiksel/utsikt-over-tromsø

Quite a picture. With maximum zoom in I could read "Volvo" on a backhoe on a ship's deck and "MACK" on a (beer ?) truck on the far side of the channel.

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: your bench and tool racks look great. nice work. can i remind you to mark where the conduit is behind your sheet rock so you don't accidentally put a nail or screw in a wire?

i'm always impressed when members get more done with below freezing temps and so much snow on the ground because i like to curl up in a blanket and watch a movie with some popcorn or krumkakka when we have those days here. i guess because we have so few of them and you are used to working in the cold, but I'm still impressed.

as always i enjoy visiting your thread and seeing what you've done in your garage. any pictures of the house remodel to post?

cheers

I picked up a couple nice chunks of steel that i think i'm going to use for a grinder stand. i'll have to figure out a way to move them because they were a challenge just getting them off the bed of my trailer onto this table that is about 3 inches higher. i think they are 4 inches thick and i would have loved to see that piece of plate these were cut out of.

 

[wazzza]

Hi

I hope to get the ceiling covered during this winter, but most of my money are currently beeing used in the house. I dont have much pictures yet, just demolition. I am offshore now, so not much will happen the next weeks.

Wow, those are some big pieces of steel! is the plan to use those pieces to act as a foot or counterweight?

U use what you have, for example old fenceposts.. This wall was made by the previous owners..

 

[Bib Overalls]

Are you hauling that wood off to the dump or will it be salvaged?

 

[wazzza]

All that wood is what came out of one room that I demolished. It was old and not reusable so I took it to the dump...

 

[drivesitfar]

Wazzza: thanks for the house pictures and post more when you get time because it's all building. is it nice to have a shop now so any projects like painting trim or storing material will be inside and not have so much clutter inside the house?

i might have saved a few of that lumber pieces you took to the dump especially if material is a little scarce and very expensive, but that's just me.

take care and stay safe on that giant platform at work.

i was at a house yesterday helping a client get it ready for sale and it had a pretty decent view.

 

[wazzza]

Thats a nice view! Is that a private peer for small boats? Looks like some sort of crane-assembly..

Speaking of cranes, the new deckcrane is coming along nicely. New "king", drivesroom, A-frame and operators cabin was all in plase when I came onboard las week. Yesterday they had a good wheaterwindow and got the boom hoisted onboard from the supplyvessel. Because of the wheight and size it was brought out in two pieces and bolted togheter on deck. They are currently mounting the boom to the "king" now using both the other deckcrane and the mobile crane to lift the boom in place.

It is hard to visualize the size of this crane, but you can see some people on some of the photos.. The boom itself is over 60 meters (200 feet) long.

 

[Bib Overalls]

How many cranes do you need on a platform like that? 200' of boom is a lot of reach.