Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[sean Buick 76]

Hi Bob sorry if I missed it but how are the Corvette projects?

 

[Bob Heine]

Does every guy go through a boat phase?

Kirk, I can't speak for every guy but quite a few in my family have gone through or are still in a boat phase.

I am hoping so. Trip is tomorrow, getting prepped today. Small craft advisory was called today with waves of 3 to 5 so that is a little tough.
We are taking the city route.

I don't mind fast cars, boats at high speed need survival cockpits, I would rather fish in peace than rocket on the water and sound like a race track.

I don't know if every guy goes through a boat phase. But I was born in Hull now live in PW and both are surrounded by water on three sides and both are nautical towns so that helps fuel the boating desire.

Michael, boating can bite both ways. If you have a great experience in youth it can become the chosen hole in the pocket book. I was always a powerboat lover but my wife didn't share my enthusiasm. A boating weekend on Lake George changed her mind and we were active boaters for a decade. We didn't buy the waterfront home in Florida that I wanted ($20K over our $60K budget) and launch ramps in nice weather are a hassle. Without electronics and a second engine I wasn't comfortable offshore and the yacht traffic wakes on the Intracoastal was like navigating a washing machine. The number of No Wake zones also made travel into a long and boring outing.

Some do, some don't. But my Dad did and now it's my phase. Planning to go out fishing 2 times this weekend if the weather holds out. Taking the kids with me so hoping to make it a decent trip.

Cody, the beautiful boat you inherited is a great story and re-living the time with your father on his boat with your family is priceless.

I gave up that anchor tugging **** with last boat normally the guest would get the job. But now all I do is disconnect safety grab the remote and lower the anchor.
The other option is use spot lock will keep me in same position, many of the boats are adding trolling motors and using the spot lock features but it is built into the Yamaha.

Michael, my boats didn't even have wells for anchors so they were stored in the gunwales. We got caught in a surprise thunderstorm and when the wind and lightning got too close I gave up tugging on the line and just let it and the anchor become another decoration on the bottom of the Hudson.

Yep, I currently have a trolling motor that has the "Spot Lock" option as you mention.

Cody, things have changed a lot. I think the one constant is if it's meant for a boat it's twice the price. I remember marine speakers and everything electronic on the boat being a shock.

Technology sure changes things. I have a picture of my boat route coming into dock the trace goes into the apt building about 100 feet away. I showed it to the teacher and said the boat buffed right out. So I want to be double sure how well it holds fishing next to a rock pile.
My hot fishing spot GPS mark in Rye has been moving since I marked it. I look at my forward scanning sonar get a picture of the rock pile and when I look at marked point it has drifted west ward I had marked top of rock pile.

Michael, not sure what the problem is but I am constantly surprised by the directions I get from the navigation system in the Cadillac. I trust it like I trust the guy on a bicycle who gives me directions.

Hi Bob sorry if I missed it but how are the Corvette projects?

Sean, I have no excuse but progress on the Corvette projects is stalled. Every day I think I'm going to go out into the garage something breaks or needs attention.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Sean, I have no excuse but progress on the Corvette projects is stalled. Every day I think I'm going to go out into the garage something breaks or needs attention.

Well, stop breaking things.

 

[Bob Heine]

Well, stop breaking things.

Thanks Dad!

Actually, the repairs I've been doing are not fixing 'broken' stuff. It has been restoring stuff that has taken some wear and tear. I didn't think they were worthy of a lot of documentation but I have a couple of pictures of two of them.

Sometime before COVID, actually before some of our grandchildren learned to eat with implements, a plate of spaghetti came off the dining room table and landed in said grandchild's lap. We laughed it off and quickly wiped up the crime scene. It taught us the importance of Dexter-Decorating when the wee ones were coming over. That grandchild is now in college so the stain is old and requires expert forensic analysis to detect. OK, Liane got her eyes fixed and bought new glasses and spotted it from the bedroom.

A trip to the attic to retrieve the fabric roll and a little sharpening of the little nail/staple pry bar and I was able to remove the 12,000 staples and two layers of fabric. Turns out a pneumatic 1/4" stapler with the regulator set to 100psi will blow out the back of a piece of plywood very nicely. This go-round I used my Milwaukee M12 stapler and attached the new fabric without destroying any plywood. Because this is a PG site, I am not showing the actual crime scene, just the restored chair. In fairness to our grandchild, the waterfall edge on the table helped to bring about the disaster when he moved the plate closer to his mouth to save time and effort scooping the spaghetti from plate to mouth by hand.

From the dining room, Liane spotted the chairs around the patio dining table. Years of morning sun, downpour spatter and chlorine fumes from the pool eliminated the finish on the chair legs and turned the wicker (rattan?) from blond to gray with touches of black mildew. A few days of sanding and four cans of spray spar urethane improved the four chairs' appearance enough to pass inspection by SWMBO. I don't want to do this again so hopefully the $100 set of chair covers will protect the chairs for the rest of my short life.

In Heinesight I should have invested in individual chair covers when we first got the set but I saved money by just getting a table cover that hung over the tops of the chairs. Live and learn.

 

[casmurbax]

Hi Bob, nice job on the chair....

Why was the Mrs. focusing on the chair you should have repositioned her so she wouldn't see the chair. er wait yup read that again still doesn't sound right.... still asking though.

Maybe I asked you this before, why cholerine pool and not saltwater? if I did I apologize.

 

[driftpin]

Bob said:
Cody, things have changed a lot. I think the one constant is if it's meant for a boat it's twice the price.

Hah, ain't dat de truth! The only vessel I've owned was a straight-hull Sol-Cat sailing catamaran. Sailing that in the Atlantic offshore was an exhilarating experience. When you came-about and the sail caught the wind, it would quickly accelerate to where you could fly a hull, if you chose. Yes, you got wet, because you're on a trampoline, but being used to monohull sailboats where hull speeds were usually <10 knots, it was a thrill.

One of my friends who like me, was a firefighter/paramedic, but at a neighboring dept, was a machinist, and he made more $ at that than he did on the FD. He was an expert at fixing the Arneson Drive systems that the powerboat racers used-to tear-up with frequency. Unfortunately, he is deceased.

Here's a vessel which belonged to my friend who's a G.C. It was two Chevy marine 454's and a 35 ft hull. On a calm day he could make it from Miami to Bimini in under an hour. I forget what he said the GPH was but obviously things like this are $$$ to operate. After he sold the Cigarette, he bought a Bertram sport-fishing boat, which was much-more accommodating for overnight use.

Now, he's trying to get a spec house built on Little Torch Key outside of Key West, but with the materials shortages and the typical FL Keys mañana worker attitude, he's finding it slow-going. The foundation is in, he's got his column forms built, but finding a crew to get them set is taking far-more time than he thought it would.

A good at-home job on the chairs! We have a very-similar set, also with a rolled table edge, and our 3 y.o. grandson usually makes a mess of the place at the table. He gets an 'unbreakable' melamine plate to use, so if it and the food both end-up where our Manchester terrier get to dine-in (off the floor) we don't worry about the grandson sustaining soft-tissue trauma from a china plate lacerating him. Our table also has the glass inserts. My wife keeps dropping hints about buying a new dining room set, but knowing that's probably a $5K+ expense, I always counter with, "I'll sand-down the (table and chair) frames and use some spar varnish, and save the $!" I have an upholstery place I've used on Calle Ocho in Miami, he's done motorcycle upholstery for me, so I know he can re-do our re-finished chairs perfectly.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hi Bob, nice job on the chair....

Why was the Mrs. focusing on the chair you should have repositioned her so she wouldn't see the chair. er wait yup read that again still doesn't sound right.... still asking though.

Maybe I asked you this before, why cholerine pool and not saltwater? if I did I apologize.

John, I was asleep and Liane had taken the dog out. The morning fills the house with light and one beam hit the chair cushion perfectly, like a theater spotlight. Had I been more involved I might have avoided the whole project.

No one I know who has a pool is using salt and a chlorinator so I haven't felt the need to become that person. I looked into the salt water pool thing and it just doesn't make financial sense for me. The Sodium-Chloride converter runs about $1,000 for a pool the size of mine and the salt to get started is another $300 with extra $40 bags when the salt level drops. Every three to five years you have to replace the salt cell for another $300-$500. You still have to test and balance the water, more often because the wrong pH ruins the salt cell quickly. According to the manufacturers you need to add a "salinity surge shock" weekly (@$6 a bag) and a "salinity multi-purpose algaecide" 24-hours after the shock as well.

I've gotten used to the chlorine smell but it is nothing like a hotel or municipal pool that makes my eyes water. The pool maintenance I do is also pretty simple and takes me very little time. Because the pool is inside a screened enclosure, the only leaves that fall in are from patio plants. I probably empty the pool skimmer basket once a month and that takes about two minutes. This month I collected about a dozen leaves from the Desert Rose.

Twice a year I pop the lid on the pump strainer basket that traps things sucked off the bottom by the pool cleaner or the main drain.

When the pressure gauge on the pool filter gets to 15psi I take the cartridge out and blast it with a fire-hose style brass nozzle on the garden hose. Takes around five minutes. It has been pretty dry and windy lately so there has been more than normal dust in the air that falls in the pool. The pressure has gone up from 8psi two weeks ago to about 12psi today so it will get blasted tomorrow or Sunday.

I run a water-powered pool sweep six hours a day and it seems to keep everything but the steps clean. Every two or three months I brush the steps off.

To chlorinate the pool I put three 3-inch tablets in the dispenser tethered to the edge of the deck. The screw-eye and chain are stainless steel (chain is from an old toilet valve) so they should last a long time. I tether the dispenser and thermometer so they don't float in front of the skimmer and break the water flow. Most of the year the three tablets last three weeks but only two weeks when the hot summer weather hits and the pool gets over 90°F. A 40-pound bucket of chlorine tablets costs me about $120 and lasts about a year. The tablets contain a water clarifier, stain inhibitor, algae preventative and de-scaler so I get the pool water tested when I buy a new bucket of tablets and it rarely needs anything.

On the rare occasion I forget to add tablets I dump two 2.5 gallon jugs of liquid chlorine to shock the pool, followed by three to twelve ounces of algaecide to get rid of the green. Chasing problems with pool water is a good teacher and avoiding problems means a whole lot less work. I think I spend more time cleaning windows than caring for the pool.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob said:
Cody, things have changed a lot. I think the one constant is if it's meant for a boat it's twice the price.

Hah, ain't dat de truth! The only vessel I've owned was a straight-hull Sol-Cat sailing catamaran. Sailing that in the Atlantic offshore was an exhilarating experience. When you came-about and the sail caught the wind, it would quickly accelerate to where you could fly a hull, if you chose. Yes, you got wet, because you're on a trampoline, but being used to monohull sailboats where hull speeds were usually <10 knots, it was a thrill.

One of my friends who like me, was a firefighter/paramedic, but at a neighboring dept, was a machinist, and he made more $ at that than he did on the FD. He was an expert at fixing the Arneson Drive systems that the powerboat racers used-to tear-up with frequency. Unfortunately, he is deceased.

Here's a vessel which belonged to my friend who's a G.C. It was two Chevy marine 454's and a 35 ft hull. On a calm day he could make it from Miami to Bimini in under an hour. I forget what he said the GPH was but obviously things like this are $$$ to operate. After he sold the Cigarette, he bought a Bertram sport-fishing boat, which was much-more accommodating for overnight use.

Now, he's trying to get a spec house built on Little Torch Key outside of Key West, but with the materials shortages and the typical FL Keys mañana worker attitude, he's finding it slow-going. The foundation is in, he's got his column forms built, but finding a crew to get them set is taking far-more time than he thought it would.

A good at-home job on the chairs! We have a very-similar set, also with a rolled table edge, and our 3 y.o. grandson usually makes a mess of the place at the table. He gets an 'unbreakable' melamine plate to use, so if it and the food both end-up where our Manchester terrier get to dine-in (off the floor) we don't worry about the grandson sustaining soft-tissue trauma from a china plate lacerating him. Our table also has the glass inserts. My wife keeps dropping hints about buying a new dining room set, but knowing that's probably a $5K+ expense, I always counter with, "I'll sand-down the (table and chair) frames and use some spar varnish, and save the $!" I have an upholstery place I've used on Calle Ocho in Miami, he's done motorcycle upholstery for me, so I know he can re-do our re-finished chairs perfectly.

Philip, I think the appropriate line is "A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money."

When we moved to Florida I had three watercraft: the Century Raven runabout, an MFG Sidewinder sailboat and an Old Town cedar canoe. Shortly after our move IBM changed the rules and they would pay shipping for one recreational item (camper, boat, etc.). The Sidwinder was MFG's most popular sailboat back in the '70s.

I'm sure it wasn't as fast as your catamaran but with the roller furling jib you could put out a lot of sail and the aluminum dagger board and rudder were thin enough to slice through the water and the thing would plane pretty easily. Lots of fun but hauling all those lines one-handed made it a foolish young man's toy.

The 454 marine engine puts out plenty of power but even one high performance one will **** gas like there's a hole in the tank. If I got 10mpg on my 454 Corvette I was happy. Two of them would cost a fortune to run wide open.

Funny thing was, my 1959 Evinrude 50hp outboard on the back of our first boat used more fuel than the biggest cabin cruiser in our yacht club. I carried 3 nine-gallon tanks with a stupid amount of oil mixed with the gas and it was good for a weekend of water skiing. The Century Raven with almost four times the horsepower would give us four weekends of water skiing with that same 27 gallons of fuel but without all the oil.

 

[mybigwarwagon]

I have never owned a boat. Well not a sea worthy one. I do have a marine repair shop that wants me to take about 20 junk boats, but they are fiberglass.

 

[casmurbax]

Thanks for the write on your pool experience. Owning an inground in the northeast sure is different then owning one in the south.

 

[rixtrix1]

We get our second on Monday. Both of us had sore arms for 2 days. I had a nasty headache the first day. but other than that, no big. I don't know anyone who's had any real side effects, and I know a few dozen who've got their shots already.

We got our second on Friday, After the first I had NO energy, extreme joint pain from days 2-4, then midmorning on day 4 the pain and exhaustion disappeared and I felt better than in weeks. so good, I rode my bicycle for 2 miles after work. So far, just a sore arm for all 3 of us from Pfizer #2.
Good to see the tree came down successfully, Bob!

 

[pi_guy]

Kirk, I can't speak for every guy but quite a few in my family have gone through or are still in a boat phase.

Michael, boating can bite both ways. If you have a great experience in youth it can become the chosen hole in the pocket book. I was always a powerboat lover but my wife didn't share my enthusiasm. A boating weekend on Lake George changed her mind and we were active boaters for a decade. We didn't buy the waterfront home in Florida that I wanted ($20K over our $60K budget) and launch ramps in nice weather are a hassle. Without electronics and a second engine I wasn't comfortable offshore and the yacht traffic wakes on the Intracoastal was like navigating a washing machine. The number of No Wake zones also made travel into a long and boring outing.


Michael, my boats didn't even have wells for anchors so they were stored in the gunwales. We got caught in a surprise thunderstorm and when the wind and lightning got too close I gave up tugging on the line and just let it and the anchor become another decoration on the bottom of the Hudson.

Cody, things have changed a lot. I think the one constant is if it's meant for a boat it's twice the price. I remember marine speakers and everything electronic on the boat being a shock.

Michael, not sure what the problem is but I am constantly surprised by the directions I get from the navigation system in the Cadillac. I trust it like I trust the guy on a bicycle who gives me directions.

I just did a cruise to city and stayed high and dry and with the closed cockpit and side curtains the ride was not cold at 40mph at 50 degrees with sun going down. One of the advantages of now most boats are just taking off shrink wrap.

I ordered the system with a speed sensor and the sales guy was everybody uses GPS. I said GPS can be unreliable and I can use it to measure current flow. On the trip from Westhampton he observed that the GPS and speed sensor never matched and if you were in East river with the current flowing you could see the impact flow had on speed.
Had some interesting output from GPS data on race cars and a lot of errors get corrected by software. At 24 hours of Daytona the high speed section GPS is not accurate so wheel speed sensors are used.

That is one of the joys of where I keep the boat it is a 5 minute trip out of the slow zone. The other marina that we looked at is 20 or more minutes in slow zone. I don't mind cruising the bay at 5kts just like to be dragging something too.
I have configured the boat for offshore trips was some of the justification for all the electronics and it didn't help that I have been playing with electronics since high school including data logging systems. We were using the radar and had the AIS displaying ferries so when the radar scanned them you got the radar signal over the AIS helped with how ships appear in clutter. Having all the electronics and not being able to use it is a common story. But I practice with radar in visibility makes it more understandable when you need it. The hot sensor I have is the forward scanning one I can watch a fish swim from in front of boat out the stern. But it is great for spotting rock structures and there is a depth alarm.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Chair looks good Bob. Ginny dropped one of the brass finials I made into the pond yesterday. We spent several hours trying to drag it with a piece of chain link fence with no luck. I had to make another one. Could have seen the bottom in the old pool.

 

[driftpin]

I have never owned a boat. Well not a sea worthy one. I do have a marine repair shop that wants me to take about 20 junk boats, but they are fiberglass.

Boathenge!

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Boathenge!

I lived about 10 minutes from Carhenge in Alliance, NE at one point in my life.

 

[rixtrix1]

Chair looks great. Now, guiltily, I have to go do the yearly BLO and mineral spirits treatment on the bent willow chairs and table on our patio. Thanks, Bob.

 

[xtremek]

I need to figure out the right way to take care of a pool. You wanna come to the Land of Covid Idiots and teach me?

 

[madison069]

Cody, the beautiful boat you inherited is a great story and re-living the time with your father on his boat with your family is priceless.



Cody, things have changed a lot. I think the one constant is if it's meant for a boat it's twice the price. I remember marine speakers and everything electronic on the boat being a shock.

Thanks Bob! The kids seemed to enjoy the fishing trip yesterday. We caught a mess of blue gills and one crappie. Took some blue gills home since they were big as my hands so they will be good eating.

As for the cost, you ain't kidding. I hit something in the water yesterday by the boat dock with the propeller. ended up taking a piece of the blade off and bending another blade. I was able to get it loaded with no problem but didn't want to risk anything going wrong during the next trip on the water. So i replaced the prop with a spare I had and thought well I should order another one to have a spare again. $180 later and I got a new propeller coming in the mail. Didn't expect something that can get damage easily to cost that much.....

Oh and with three batteries on this boat I just enjoy the thought of spending $400 on new batteries when the time comes. So far I've already replaced one at the cost of $120 for the starting motor. The old one seemed weak as per the gauge and multimeter with only 11.6 volt after being charged. When I installed the new one it now reads at 12.7 volts after being charged so should it be trouble free now.

Yes I jinxed myself......

 

[madison069]

Looks like the maintenance projects are going well. It's always the little things that takes up most of our times.

 

[Bob Heine]

I have never owned a boat. Well not a sea worthy one. I do have a marine repair shop that wants me to take about 20 junk boats, but they are fiberglass.

Uncle Willie, you are wise to let someone else take those boats. As expensive as boating accessories are, most depreciate like a chocolate cake in the Sahara.

Thanks for the write on your pool experience. Owning an inground in the northeast sure is different then owning one in the south.

John, I couldn't agree more. We had a 24' x 4' above ground in Wappingers Falls and I had to check it daily and often had to adjust the pH and chlorine. The filter used Diatomaceous earth and it seemed like it needed changing every time a crowd got out of the pool. After I installed the pool we decided we needed a deck out back. Made it 32'x16' with a gang plank to the pool. I stained the deck ebony so it would heat up in the winter -- we could sit out there in T-shirts and shorts when it was calm, regardless of the temperature. The trees shaded the deck in the summer so it wasn't a giant hotplate. The trees also turned the pool into a petri dish, which was why it was so hard to maintain.

The day I took that photo was the day I found out I had a job at IBM Boca Raton. I had a bunch of things to do on the deck, like handrails for the stairs and bench seats along the railing so it was harder to fall through. I also dragged the sailboat and canoe out from under the deck for the shipping crew that was coming in a week.

We got our second on Friday, After the first I had NO energy, extreme joint pain from days 2-4, then midmorning on day 4 the pain and exhaustion disappeared and I felt better than in weeks. so good, I rode my bicycle for 2 miles after work. So far, just a sore arm for all 3 of us from Pfizer #2.
Good to see the tree came down successfully, Bob!

Ric, we just got back from the grocery store where we got our second shots. Fingers crossed we don't have dramatic reaction -- so far so good.

I just did a cruise to city and stayed high and dry and with the closed cockpit and side curtains the ride was not cold at 40mph at 50 degrees with sun going down. One of the advantages of now most boats are just taking off shrink wrap.

I ordered the system with a speed sensor and the sales guy was everybody uses GPS. I said GPS can be unreliable and I can use it to measure current flow. On the trip from Westhampton he observed that the GPS and speed sensor never matched and if you were in East river with the current flowing you could see the impact flow had on speed.
Had some interesting output from GPS data on race cars and a lot of errors get corrected by software. At 24 hours of Daytona the high speed section GPS is not accurate so wheel speed sensors are used.

That is one of the joys of where I keep the boat it is a 5 minute trip out of the slow zone. The other marina that we looked at is 20 or more minutes in slow zone. I don't mind cruising the bay at 5kts just like to be dragging something too.
I have configured the boat for offshore trips was some of the justification for all the electronics and it didn't help that I have been playing with electronics since high school including data logging systems. We were using the radar and had the AIS displaying ferries so when the radar scanned them you got the radar signal over the AIS helped with how ships appear in clutter. Having all the electronics and not being able to use it is a common story. But I practice with radar in visibility makes it more understandable when you need it. The hot sensor I have is the forward scanning one I can watch a fish swim from in front of boat out the stern. But it is great for spotting rock structures and there is a depth alarm.

Michael, I built a Visquine shelter for the wooden boat so I could sand and varnish (and paint) a month ahead of everyone in the yacht club. I was launching the same weekend as the fiberglass guys.

The New Hamburg Yacht Club was a 4-minute drive (1.0 mile) from our house and a quick row out to our mooring. Once we left the dock the river was wide open with no speed restrictions. Floating logs and similar debris was the speed limiter.

I think boats are like cars today, with more electronics than the Apollo moon landing machines.

Chair looks good Bob. Ginny dropped one of the brass finials I made into the pond yesterday. We spent several hours trying to drag it with a piece of chain link fence with no luck. I had to make another one. Could have seen the bottom in the old pool.

Bobby, it doesn't take much to turn a pool into a hidey hole. I dropped a pair of sunglasses at a launch ramp in the Florida keys and dove in after it. Gone in 60 seconds.

Boathenge!

Philip, perfect for Key Biscayne!

I lived about 10 minutes from Carhenge in Alliance, NE at one point in my life.

Marc, that's pretty cool. Did you visit it often or was it like the typical New Yorker who lives close to the Statue of Liberty but has never visited.

Chair looks great. Now, guiltily, I have to go do the yearly BLO and mineral spirits treatment on the bent willow chairs and table on our patio. Thanks, Bob.

Ric, sorry you couldn't dodge that bullet. Like you just did, I should paint the trim on our house but if I don't look up when heading into the house it must look fine.

I need to figure out the right way to take care of a pool. You wanna come to the Land of Covid Idiots and teach me?

Kirk, the secret is to move to Florida and buy a house with a screened-in pool.

Thanks Bob! The kids seemed to enjoy the fishing trip yesterday. We caught a mess of blue gills and one crappie. Took some blue gills home since they were big as my hands so they will be good eating.

As for the cost, you ain't kidding. I hit something in the water yesterday by the boat dock with the propeller. ended up taking a piece of the blade off and bending another blade. I was able to get it loaded with no problem but didn't want to risk anything going wrong during the next trip on the water. So i replaced the prop with a spare I had and thought well I should order another one to have a spare again. $180 later and I got a new propeller coming in the mail. Didn't expect something that can get damage easily to cost that much.....

Oh and with three batteries on this boat I just enjoy the thought of spending $400 on new batteries when the time comes. So far I've already replaced one at the cost of $120 for the starting motor. The old one seemed weak as per the gauge and multimeter with only 11.6 volt after being charged. When I installed the new one it now reads at 12.7 volts after being charged so should it be trouble free now.

Yes I jinxed myself......

Cody, I carried a spare prop as well and the guy at the local marina could repair them for a lot less than a new one. He also offered a service to cup the blades so you could adjust the cruising speed. The Century Raven had a cruising speed of 52mph at 4,200rpm and with a tweak mine would run 56mph at the same rpm. Because they are less prone to breaking (just bending) I thought about buying a stainless blade but I decided no when I saw the price.

Sounds like you're a candidate for a really good battery maintainer setup.

Looks like the maintenance projects are going well. It's always the little things that takes up most of our times.

I actually did an upgrade yesterday and cleared one small project from the list....

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Marc, that's pretty cool. Did you visit it often or was it like the typical New Yorker who lives close to the Statue of Liberty but has never visited.

Only when visitors came to town, otherwise I would just pass it twice a day without a second thought.

When I go back and visit the Gering Valley where I grew up in Nebraska now, I'm amazed at how beautiful the area really is...things you don't appreciate in your youth!

 

[Bob Heine]

Received a request to put more lights in the yard. Our bedroom sliding door leads out to the patio and there's a screen door just outside so before bed the dog goes out in the yard to relieve herself. We have a pair of floodlights to light the area up but Liane wanted some subdued lighting to put the dog in a better mood at bedtime. I happened to have four LED fence path lights and mounted them to the frame of the screened enclosure. Thanks to Kay (kaymccampbell) I have a new wire stripper that made the job a lot easier. For decades I've been using my Ideal Stripmaster and it has been great. It has a drawback for me. When I am stripping a wire it has to be set in the notch carefully or the blade can nick a wire or three. I also have to carry a pair of cutters to trim any excess wire. Kay mentioned a Klien Tools 11061 Wire Stripper / Wire Cutter. It stripped both conductors on the 12-gauge low voltage wire without a nick and stripped the 18- (22-?) gauge pigtail on the light fixture without any adjustment. The built-in cutter made quick work of the excess copper. Here are my two go-to strippers with my new favorite being the Klein. Not bad for $20 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXKOEQ6/?tag=atomicindus08-20).

Not sure the dog cares but Liane is happy and that's all that really matters.

 

[Bob Heine]

Only when visitors came to town, otherwise I would just pass it twice a day without a second thought.

When I go back and visit the Gering Valley where I grew up in Nebraska now, I'm amazed at how beautiful the area really is...things you don't appreciate in your youth!

Marc, I know what you mean. I yearned to live somewhere else when I was a kid. The summer-long road trips my parents took us on exposed me to the whole North American continent and I realized I could learn to love living anyplace (OK, maybe not a couple of places in Mexico). If you set your mind to it, you can be miserable (or happy) almost anywhere.

 

[casmurbax]

Darn you Bob, you did it again. New strippers on the way.

 

[bolensboneyard]

Received a request to put more lights in the yard. Our bedroom sliding door leads out to the patio and there's a screen door just outside so before bed the dog goes out in the yard to relieve herself. We have a pair of floodlights to light the area up but Liane wanted some subdued lighting to put the dog in a better mood at bedtime. I happened to have four LED fence path lights and mounted them to the frame of the screened enclosure. Thanks to Kay (kaymccampbell) I have a new wire stripper that made the job a lot easier. For decades I've been using my Ideal Stripmaster and it has been great. It has a drawback for me. When I am stripping a wire it has to be set in the notch carefully or the blade can nick a wire or three. I also have to carry a pair of cutters to trim any excess wire. Kay mentioned a Klien Tools 11061 Wire Stripper / Wire Cutter. It stripped both conductors on the 12-gauge low voltage wire without a nick and stripped the 18- (22-?) gauge pigtail on the light fixture without any adjustment. The built-in cutter made quick work of the excess copper. Here are my two go-to strippers with my new favorite being the Klein. Not bad for $20 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXKOEQ6/?tag=atomicindus08-20).

Not sure the dog cares but Liane is happy and that's all that really matters.

Bob I have one just like the top one. Has worked well for years. No more cut fingers; at least not from stripping wire.

 

[shortykorte]

Darn you Bob, you did it again. New strippers on the way.

Hope you post pictures of said strippers. Any redheads?


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[driftpin]

Hope you post pictures of said strippers. Any redheads?l

Always ask, " do the drapes match the rug?" If you can't see for yourself.

 

[Bob Heine]

Darn you Bob, you did it again. New strippers on the way.

John, so sorry for leading you astray. I sure hope you like them as much as I do.

Bob I have one just like the top one. Has worked well for years. No more cut fingers; at least not from stripping wire.

Bobby, I always thought my Ideal Stripmaster was the be-all end-all and for single wire stripping it still is. It does touch my OCD bone at times when I'm stripping lamp or speaker wires. I have to separate the two conductors and strip them one-at-a-time. When I go to crimp connects on the ends of the wire, one insulator is stripped back a fraction of an inch more than the other. I go back and trim the long one and pray I haven't trimmed too much. More than once I've stripped an extra three inches of insulation.

Hope you post pictures of said strippers. Any redheads?


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Stewart, not sure why you want to see my redheads but they are normally out of sight.

Always ask, " do the drapes match the rug?" If you can't see for yourself.

Shorty and Philip, my red-headed wife is watching and recording all the shows Oxygen is running on serial killer week and I have caught her taking notes when I unexpectedly walk into the room. This could go sideways real quick.

 

[xtremek]

Bob, who are you kidding. If she offs you, who would take care of her yard projects? Now, if she suggests hiring some part time help, it's too late, especially if he's young.

 

[shortykorte]

Thanks Bob.


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[Toolfool]

Geez, now you have me buying strippers. Glad my wife doesn't frequent GJ.

 

[madison069]

(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXKOEQ6/?tag=atomicindus08-20).

I have both styles of wire strippers and I like them both for different situations. they both have pros and cons but they are better then those sire strippers that comes in the big assortment boxes of crimp terminals.

Speaking of crimp terminals I also have a pair of Klein pliers that is leaps and bounds better then the standard pliers that comes in the terminal assortment boxes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006M6Y5M/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I prefer these pliers when I'm crimping terminals.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, who are you kidding. If she offs you, who would take care of her yard projects? Now, if she suggests hiring some part time help, it's too late, especially if he's young.

Kirk, I hadn't thought of that but you may be on to something. I have a roofing job to do on the shed and she suggested I go to Home Depot and find one of the young day laborers to help.

Thanks Bob.


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No Stewart, thank you for sharing your co-workers at those restaurants. I assume you work there or at least get paid for being there that often.

Geez, now you have me buying strippers. Glad my wife doesn't frequent GJ.

John, maybe we should call them 'insulation removers' but that could start something as well: "It's hot enough in here already, leave the insulation alone!"

I have both styles of wire strippers and I like them both for different situations. they both have pros and cons but they are better then those sire strippers that comes in the big assortment boxes of crimp terminals.

Speaking of crimp terminals I also have a pair of Klein pliers that is leaps and bounds better then the standard pliers that comes in the terminal assortment boxes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006M6Y5M/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I prefer these pliers when I'm crimping terminals.

Cody, my first wire stripper was one of those adjustable ones and I still have it (not sure why) in a drawer in the workshop. Then I bought a screwdriver with a built-in stripper and I still use the screwdriver all the time. I upgraded to the one with three crimp notches and multiple stripper notches and the threaded holes for cutting screws. I thought I was done. Then came the Ideal Stripmaster, the Chinesium stripper and now the Klein. At some point coax cable for the TV and stereo components made me get a special stripper for RG58, RG59 and RG6 cables (also useful for shielded RCA). Somewhere along the line I found a telephone cable stripper but I've never actually used it.

The crimpers are a whole 'nother rabbit hole. I started cheap, using slip-joint pliers and fought to get acceptable results. I learned to leave an extra inch or two on each wire because my light tug test often resulted in failure with a broken wire or three. The multi-function tool that now comes with connector assortments was my only crimper for decades. Main drawback was the narrow crimp wasn't always enough so I had to crimp in two or three places. I thought a better one would solve the problem but it still wasn't great. Had to get a crimper for spark plug wires but that wasn't a great tool. The short crimpers are for coax connectors and the ratcheting one to their right is what I thought was my final crimper purchase. That's when I discovered a crimper for weatherpak connectors that crimps the wire, insulator and rubber seal in one squeeze. At around $100 it seemed like a lot but my previous method of doing weatherpak stuff was a 90% failure at one of the three crimps.

Not sure I need the coax stuff but it is helpful to be able to make custom length cables for the entertainment stuff. Once you are done they kinda sit in the tool drawer. Maybe someday I'll make some custom phone cables.

The whole crimper thing got out of hand when it was suggested that I needed different crimp heads for different kinds of crimps. That suggestion resulted in a Pertonix crimper that does a bunch of different crimps and offers additional styles if I go deeper into an obscure tunnel in the rabbit hole. Well, that should do it....

Turns out none of these crimpers do a good job of crimping ferules on steel cable. You need a bigger and better crimper so I have a hydraulic one so I can make custom cables for tensioning the gates around the yard so they don't sag or become hard to latch. You can tell by the wear that I use this crimper a lot.

In my defense, all these strippers and crimpers (except the hydraulic one) fit in the corners of two tool drawers. The majority share space with my crimp (and solder) connectors.

The coax and telephone stuff fills a bin in my miscellaneous and small pliers drawer.

 

[Bob Heine]

Looks like Cody's post disappeared. I like that Klein crimper but I'm not sure I can squeeze it into my collection. It's also a little spendy considering I only paid $31 for the hydraulic crimper.

 

[shortykorte]

Fixed it for you Bob

Cody, my first stripper was one of those adjustable ones and I still have it (not sure why) in the closet in the workshop. Then I bought a screwdriver with a built-in stripper and I still use the screwdriver all the time.

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[xtremek]

I hadn't thought of that but you may be on to something. I have a roofing job to do on the shed and she suggested I go to Home Depot and find one of the young day laborers to help.

Dude, you're toast. Flowers, or donations in lieu of flowers? If the later, which charity?

 

[mybigwarwagon]

All this talk about strippers is perverse.

 

[cbacres]

Bob, great job, there’s probably at least 3-4 of these guys placing orders for stuff they didn’t know they needed. Nothing like being a good enabler.

I’ve have a different brand of those new strippers and I really like how they work. I also have used the ones in the top of the picture since the 80s when my Dad introduced me to a Mac dealer to buy a pair.

My favorite crimpers are of the ratcheting type.

 

[Robey5]

I love Klein stuff, it is some of the nicer electrical tools out there. I have both types of stripping tools, and I owned a non Klein (knock off) version of the 11061 that went in the garbage after one of the handles cracked. That was a mess.

 

[bj383ss]

Oh Bob is absolutely an enabler. I can't even count on my 2 hands now how many things I have purchased because of his Amazon links or copied his projects.

Bret