Killing time in a small "2 car" garage

[BoilermakerFan]

Subtitle 1: Just waiting until we can move so I can have a bigger, higher quality garage!

Subtitle 2: Putting lipstick on a pig.

I've lurked on GJ for years. We live in the city on a lot and a half. We bought the house in March 2000. We only planned to be here 5-7 years. Many of you know how that goes. During the last 17 years we have almost torn down the existing garage and built a new one in a better location on our lot 3 times, but I've also had a few career changes that put wrenches in those plans.

The existing garage barely has an 18'x20' foundation with a single 16' door. The interior floor only measures 17'x19. It has an 8' ceiling with a 3/12 pitch roof. It is absolutely the smallest "2-car" garage you can build. When we bought the house in March 2000, I completely rewired the house. 200A main breaker panel with all the lighting coming into a close-coupled sub-panel, a 90A sub-panel for the kitchen (house had a Jenn Air that needed a 60A circuit), and a 60A sub-panel out in the garage. I hung four 4' double T12 light fixtures in the garage then and had the provisions for an air compressor, welder, and heater. I picked up the air compressor in 2001. I added the heater in 2014. I still do not have my welder... yet. I had also pulled two runs of Cat5 and coax for cable out to the garage in 2000. It's nice to have a phone in the garage since it's 40' from the house. Now that it's 2017, the ethernet in the garage is unused if not a little dated, but in 2000, it was high tech!

Two years ago we put our house on the market and had a contingent offer in on another house. We had three "pre-approved" buyers fail to get qualified to buy our house before we lost our "new" house. At that point I was done. I decided we're staying put until we can move out of Indiana.

My wife asked about possibly building the least expensive new garage we could this fall and I said no. I decided I didn't want to invest too much money into a garage that would barely be an upgrade to what we have when we won't fully recover the investment in 2-3 years when we move out of state. In our neighborhood, a one car garage only drops the home value about $3K. Most of the houses in the neighborhood have one car garages and a larger two car garage adds no significant value over our existing garage. Tough decision to make, but financially it was the correct one to make.

We will recoup all the investment we make in landscaping, refinishing the basement, and replacing the old black iron water pipe with PEX... so that's the path I'm taking on this house... That way we can build the house and garage we want for our next house in our new state of residence.

So... with the background story done, here is how I've been killing my time with my small garage.

Over the last 17 years we have only had one of our daily drivers parked in the garage for maybe a total of 2 years. Most of the time, the garage was/is used as a big shed.

About 4 years ago (June 2013) my wife agreed that having a project car for my son, my dad, and me to work on could be fun. I found the car I loved and I had to clean out the garage to make room for it, so here are pics from back then:

And the car I hauled home? A '56 Ford Fairlane Victoria:

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Hmmm... I'm having trouble getting my pics to size from DropBox. They are either small like above, or huge!

*EDIT* - Got it sorted...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I held on to the Fairlane for a little over a year. My dad had no interest in working on the car with my son and me. I had lined up a mentor to help, but his work schedule changed and he had no time to help. And the final nail in the coffin was cost. I discovered that the body was going to have to be dipped to remove all of the backing coating Ford applied to the sheetmetal and the rot was worse than I realized. Instead of $100 patch panels, I was looking at $300-$600 panels. A couple of key radiator support pieces were missing too and they are near impossible to find.

So I cut my losses, kept the 351W engine and did a 3-way trade to get a '95 Mustang GT Convertible with a Cobra front end already on the car, a Centerforce clutch, bellhousing, and a TR3550 transmission.

In 1995 Ford made 200 Cobra Rs. They were 351W with TR3550 transmissions. But they were only sold to holders of SCCA licenses and all of them sold out in about 2 weeks after Ford starting accepting orders. All of them were hardtops.

My plan was to build a Cobra R Convertible.


The only problem is... SN95 Mustangs, well, they didn't really hold their value. Sure 1995 was the last year of the pushrod V8 in a Mustang, but I had no plans to keep the car forever... I came to my senses. I was going to have a lot less money invested in the Mustang, a LOT less, but I would still take a $6K-$8K hit when I sold it unless I found just the right buyer. It's not all about the money, the time with my son in the garage is great, but the garage is so small, even the Mustang took up too much valuable floor space.

So I did what any other guy would do, I traded the Mustang off! I just happen to meet a friend of a coworker who was looking to get rid of a couple project motorcycles. We had originally worked out a trade for 2 motorcycles. Then I jokingly mentioned trading all the bikes for the Mustang, engine, clutch, and transmission. Well, it turned out he was a Ford guy and his wife wanted a convertible that was faster and handled better than their Jeep.

So the deal was done. I helped him push the Mustang onto his trailer and into his garage. He helped me push or carry 7 motorcycles into a rented U-Haul trailer and then into my garage.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Before I moved the Mustang into the garage, I moved in a nice steel workbench from a coworker. It had come out of warehouse area at our office.

And I was getting better shelving. All of our company's inventory had been moved to a centralized warehouse so we had a lot of heavy duty metal shelving in our warehouse area. The office manager wanted it out. After my coworkers took what they wanted, I cleaned out the rest... I gave away the grey 3-shelf units as I replaced them.

I kept one of the large 3-shelf units for storing totes and other bulky items:

The garage and shelving as it stood right before I brought home the motorcycles with just the remaining car project parts in the foreground:

I had purchased the heater a year before I finally got it installed:

 

[BoilermakerFan]

So after I cleared out my garage from the cars, it was time to refill it with motorcycles.

I started with 7...

1972 CB350 twin
1977 CB550 SS
1981 CX500
1981 GL1100
1982 Titled GL1100 Frame
1982 XV750
1985 XV1100
and a mid-80s Interceptor 500 wreck that I salvaged the swingarm off...

I traded the Virago 1100 off for a 1981 CB650C parts donor, a 1982 CB650 parts donor, and a 1981 or 1982 KZ440 Twin plus some engines.

The CB350 and CB550:

The CX500 after a lot of work:

The '81 GL1100:

The KZ440:

My garage filled with old motorcycles (the Virago 750 is still at a buddy's place):

I started to tear down the bikes to make room to work on the GL1100, but first I needed to add storage space above the ceiling. Pics of that to come.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Over the years I had put up a couple sheets of OCX or plywood up on the ceiling rafters for some storage, mostly all my spare wire from when we rewired the house, coolers, camping gear, outdoor Christmas decorations, etc.

But I had the space towards the front of the garage that I could use if I braced the ceiling joists and added more plywood. The old garage door opener broke and I never used it anyway, so I took it down. I salvage the motor assembly since it still worked and I'll use it to make a large tumbler polisher for my motorcycle parts.


So I brought home some 2x6s

And plywood:

Then I started installing the braces and lifting up the plywood:

I left an opening in the center 48" wide bt 50" long so I had an opening to lift things in and out.

I fabbed up strap brackets to mount a lifting eye as close to the peak of the roof as I could:

Then hung a 1Ton chain hoist. I don't plan to lift anything heavier than 500 pounds, but when a chain hoist is given to you, you don't act ungrateful.

Motorcycle frames aren't heavy, but they're bulky, so the hoist made it easy to lift it up and slowly lower it as I pushed it back into the loft storage area.

There are now 5 frames in the loft and I didn't leave these two stacked on top of each other, but I don't have any current pics of everything stored in my new loft storage. But there 5 motorcycles in pieces in the loft area except for the engines.

I did try to lift an engine into the loft, but I couldn't get the leverage I needed to push the pallet into the storage area once I had it hoisted. And then the thought occurred that the neighbor's Pin Oak tree is notorious for dropping limbs on my garage. If a big enough limb fell, I could lose everything in the loft and risk having an engine fall through and down onto anything under it including my running CX500 or my GL1100. So I decided to go with Plan B. Most of the engines are now under the heavy duty steel work table or on the bottom shelf of one of my shelving units.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I hauled home a large load of old 2x4s from my office that were in the warehouse area.

I'm building 3 work tables/benches from all the wood. One is a 30x60 bench for my basement hobby area. It needs to be beefy and multi-purpose so I started on it's frame. I had originally planned to make a frame from dimensional 1x hickory and maple, but then I was given a set of really cool legs, so I just had to build the top. The top is 2x4 framing with a 3/4" maple plywood bottom, a 3/4" AC plywood sub-top, and solid, unfinished hickory T&G flooring. The bench top will be wrapped in 1x solid hickory with dovetailed corners.

Here is a video of my work bench legs in action and you can see all the internal bracing of the frame:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f2f5cobai60hbfl/20161031_133252.mp4?dl=0


The legs are electric actuators and they have 3 memory presets. The legs can support about 180 pounds each. After the weight of the top is subtracted the bench will capable of supporting and lifting about 400 pounds. It will support over 500 pounds if I lower it to the bottom and do not try to raise it.



The second work table top is for my mom. It's 2'x4' and she builds miniature houses and needed a good table that could be adjusted for height. I have a set of manually adjustable legs for it.

The last work table top is for the garage. A motorcycle work table. It's over 7' long and 2' wide to accommodate the GL1100. It will be put on a frame with six 4x4 legs and will be about 20" high.

All the frames were sanded smooth and leveled as much as possible with my belt sander. The top of the motorcycle work table was sanded down as well. It's not perfectly flat, but it is good enough for it's intended purpose.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Here is the top of the basement bench after I installed and trimmed the hickory:

And here is pretty much where it is at today:

I teach adjunct at the local University on Tuesday and Thursday nights in the Spring semesters, I coach NASP archery, and I coach varsity high school girls lacrosse... so from January until May I'm pretty much ******* everyday. Not a lot got done this winter. I tried to apply a lacquer finish to the benches, but it was too cold in the garage without the heater cranked up. After I received my first electric bill when it was two weeks of sub-30degF weather I decided I would wait to finish the benches this May.

I need to get the benches done so I can free up the floor space in my garage again. I also need to continue to get rid of stuff and put stuff away.


I've waffled on putting thick 3/4" grooved plywood paneling around the bottom half of the garage and 1/4" paneling on the top half then blowing in cellulose insulation. But I'm not sure the cost and time are worth it if we can be out of here in 2 years. I'd like to put a wood paneling on part of the ceiling too, then finish off the front part of the garage that doesn't have a ceiling per say so that my heat stays in during the winter and it's cooler in the summer.

But that is a really hard decision to make. That's where I feel like I'm polishing a turd or putting lipstick on a pig. I don't know that I would get a return on the investment within 2 years.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Our current house is 1600sqft Cape Cod with another 430sqft of finished basement. We want a smaller, more efficient house plan for our next house. Here is the house plan my wife and I really like and plan to build with a few small changes when we move.

It was designed by Shawn Dehner who runs The small HOUSE CATALOG website. I reached out to Shawn with my ideas for modifications to the house.

What's missing on the house? A garage! I asked Shawn if the rear porch off the kitchen could be made into a 8'x12' mudroom that could then be connected to a 24' x32' garage with guest quarters and storage loft above it. He said, sure, no problem.

Then I asked if we could extend the upper dormers as far as possible to gain additional square footage in the front bedroom. Again, sure, no problem! Finally I asked if the basement foundation could be extended under the new mudroom so I would have a nice root cellar area. While we're at it, lets make the mudroom a full two stories high and tie it into the upper roof line, then extend the dormer roof line over the mudroom to gain another walk-in closet off the master bedroom. The rear egress window will have to be moved over towards the opposite side from the closet, but Shawn's answer to these questions was that we could make it work. The roof of the mudroom/WIC will be tied into the garage since it will also be a two story structure except it will be perpendicular to the house.

The garage will mirror the basic look the house including a small overhang above the garage doors to mimic the porch on the front of the house and the extended eve on the roof, but this was the closest pic I could find of the concept online:

Instead of the hayloft doors, there will be a window like the front of the house and the dormer windows will match the house as well.


The changes to the house plan add about 150sqft and make it just about perfect for what we want. Since the house will have a full basement, I will finish about half of it at the front of the house for a family room/media room. My basement hobby shop will be at the back of the house and I may add exterior access doors at the rear to make it easy to bring in the furniture and my bench. Or if the new lot has a hill, it will be a walk-out basement.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

So, I'll admit my current garage has enough space to do most of the stuff that I want to do and motorcycles, even 10 of them, do not take up that much room. However, this is why my garage is just way too small:

I scored not one, but two vintage Mercury outboard engines!

The green one is a 1955 Mark 25 with the rare remote steering and controls hoop. It's about 18HP stock, but after a little tweaking on the rebuild and restoration it should be closer to 20HP.

The red one is a 1957 Mark55E. It's rated at 46HP, but it should be closer to 50HP after a rebuild and restoration.


The engines don't take up too much space either, especially after I get the stands built, but the boats they'll go on do.

The first boat I plan to build is designed called the Volare and it can be built with a stepped hull. It's the largest length hull you can build with two sheets of 4x8 plywood at 15'4". I reached out to the designer and asked about adding a stepped hull to another one of his designs. He said he had designed a wider and deeper version of the Volare. He sent me a SketchUp 3D image of the bigger Volare and I decided that for a first build, the 2-piece two 4x8 sheet long hull was the way to go. I'm planning to get the frames and plywood cut this summer so I can build it with my son this fall when his sister goes off to college. He's going to miss her terribly, as will I, so this is a great project for us to focus while we adjust.

The Volare looks like this:

The problem is with the boat for the Mark55. I wanted a 21'-26' hull. A design that could handle rough chop at any of the regional lakes or reservoirs and also be capable of going into the Great Lakes to fish. I wanted an efficient hull that could carry 4 adults for fishing or 10 adults for just cruising at a leisure pace.

I probably researched and reviewed two dozen designs before narrowing it down to three and finally one: A Blue Jacket 24 that will be built as an open bow without a cabin. There is an option to push the outboard back out of the main hull so it hangs off the transom. That's the version I will build and it extends the overall length to almost 26'. I purchased my plans for the Blue Jacket 24 now, even though it will be 3-4 years before I can build it because the designer is older and I wanted to make sure I could get the plans.



Here are a couple of pics of Blue Jackets. The first one is the one on the cover of my plans and the designer's personal boat. My "Scotch Tape" drawing is what I cut and taped together to send to the designer to make sure it would work. The 150HP engine is a joke. The hull is designed for a 50HP outboard but can handle up to 100HP. I will start with the Mark55 to get it in the water, then I will save up for an Evenrude E-Tec 75HP or 100HP.

When the Blue Jacket has been upgraded to an Evenrude E-Tec, I will upgrade the Volare to the Mark55 engine. Then I will probably build a small runabout called The Rifleman by a designer out of NZ. It was designed for up to 20HP so the Mark15 will be perfect for it. And at that point I will have to decide which two powerboats I keep...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

So this week I've spent a lot of time in at night on GJ, so many great build threads since I've really spent any time on here in years.

Like several others with threads going right now, I'm weighing every option heavily to decide if it's worth pursuing now in this little garage. And I think a little insulation and some OCX/OSB may be a justifiable expense with a decent ROI in electric savings next winter. This summer I'm going to start insulating the walls, garage door and most of the ceiling.

I'll have to build a insulated cover for my lift opening and build an access area for the other part of the storage loft so I can keep the heat in the lower portion. I have a large section of the garage at the front that I didn't make attic storage because I use it for storing my extension ladder and other tall things. I have to decide which path is the best to take, either extend the attic storage and complete a ceiling, or insulate up the roof and finish off the front section like a cathedral roof.

 

[cash68]

Nice Mercs! I'm reading Iron Fist right now, the story about Carl Kiekhaefer and how Mercury came to be. Pretty wild stories that almost seem fictional. IDK how set you are on those boats, but after restoring a few, I think it would be much easier to start with an existing boat than strart from scratch. Boats don't have suspension, the wiring is usually simple, and they don't rust, so I think it's pretty easy to find a neglected one and bring it back to life without too much effort.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks cash68. I'll have to read Iron Fist. Kiekhaefer was definitely different.

I'm flexible, but those boat designs were selected to maximize efficiency, space, strength, and weight for their given size. I've looked at a few old 'glass boats and I missed a local Aquaplane by a day that was in super condition and only $1200. The problem I've seen with a lot of glass boats is that they are much heavier than the wood composite hulls. Also, this area doesn't have a lot of old boats around. I have a couple local marinas that have some older boats needing work, but most are beyond what I want to do. Long term plans are to restore a couple bigger boats, one larger powerboat in the 30'-40' range and an old sailboat in the 27'-35' range. A lot of my future plans will be determined by where we move to and how close I can get to a lake. The big boats require a bid tow vehicle or big slip in a marina.

Right now I will only have space to build the small boats. I'm starting with the Volare because of how it is built and it is a relatively low cost and simple hull. I feel like I need to build a couple from scratch so that restoring an older Chris-Craft cabin cruiser or the like won't seem so intimidating or difficult.

 

[cash68]

The upkeep of a wood hull is ... obnoxious. I would take a restored glass boat over a wood boat any day of the week. Additionally, the durability of wood boats is not very good at all; very soft compared to glass or aluminum. And, you typically cannot leave them in the water very long.

If you want lightweight hulls, look for aluminum. Some of the aluminum boats from the 50s and 60s are pretty interesting. This is just my experience, follow whatever floats your boat.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

The upkeep of a wood hull is ... obnoxious. I would take a restored glass boat over a wood boat any day of the week. Additionally, the durability of wood boats is not very good at all; very soft compared to glass or aluminum. And, you typically cannot leave them in the water very long.

If you want lightweight hulls, look for aluminum. Some of the aluminum boats from the 50s and 60s are pretty interesting. This is just my experience, follow whatever floats your boat.

Just realized you are in Milwaukee. Love that city! My wife and I lived there for 18 months right after we graduated college and were married. I worked for Cutler-Hammer at the time and we rented a townhouse in Whitefish Bay. But we would have bought a house near Pettit National Ice Center if we got to stay.

We've been back several times for Summerfest.


The boats I shared aren't wood boats but a wood composite of plywood sandwiched between glass. The Volare and Blue Jacket are modified Stitch&Glue, the Rifleman is a lapstrake style, but all 3 are glassed.

A neighbor down the street has an amazing aluminum boat. It looks like it's a wood lapstrake build but it's aluminum. I have first right of refusal if he ever decides to sell it. I don't dislike any boat, and I love the glass boats from the '50s and '60s. It's just easier for me to build a Stitch&Glue boat unless the right boat comes along... in which case I'll jump on it.

My plan is to get a couple of my bikes rebuilt and sold to recover funds that I can roll into other toys.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Last weekend I noticed a puddle on my floor. We had had a lot of rain so I thought it was muddy water...

Then I saw the tell tale signs of a drip

Well, that's not good:

The bad part is, I didn't realize I had this stuff in the garage. I also didn't realize it has a limited shelf life before it eats through the can.

So if any of you guys use this stuff, be forewarned, it's nasty and it has a limited shelf life!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Came home for lunch today to look at the front of my garage to see whether it was better to just extend the attic loft for a solid low ceiling or whether I need to box it in and make the front a cathedral ceiling.

After looking at it, it needs to be a cathedral ceiling because it would be a royal pain to extend my attic loft in that direction and I need the vertical height for storage. But this way I can put a bathroom vent fan up in the peak and run a flex duct over to the front of the garage and circulate the heat.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Friday I called a buddy of mine just to shoot the breeze. He's a customer of mine and over the years we have become good friends. We trade a lot and give each other stuff all the time. I gave him a bunch of shelving when I redid my basement shelves and the garage shelves. I called him to tell him about another deal I'm working on that I will hopefully have secured by Tuesday. It involves a couple pieces of larger wood shop gear.

I made a comment that I have to make room in my garage for them. He laughed and said your poor garage, you need to move so you can build your bigger shop. I told him I was going to go ahead and insulate the garage then just cover the walls with 1/4" or 3/8" OSB because I can't justify the 3/4" and 3/8" bead board plywood I'd like to do. He said he had a ton of different sizes and mixed sheet sizes of bead board in his storage loft. He wants it gone so he's going to load up his trailer and haul it to my place (about 75 minutes one way).

Woohoo! I finally scored a freebie! Since I'm getting the bead board panelling, I'm probably going to make my walls Mooney walls like Jess did to maximize my insulation. The cost for that will pay me back within two years just on electricity to run my heater in the winter.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

We have projects that keep us out of the garage...

This has been my latest that I'm finishing up. We put a new floor in the basement. I finished laying the floor yesterday and got one threshold and one bi-fold door rehung today. I still have to put all the baseboard trim back up and replace some door trim. I had planned to paint it, but my wife likes the wood because it matches the floor well. I wanted to paint it so the floor popped more. Of course SWMBO rules so I guess that's that. But I *DO* have to paint the walls and the doors, SWMBO did not like all the hand smudges.

I did get a couple new tools out of the project though, so that was good.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I found a bumper sticker that I need!

In my defense, I do have one that runs... except now it needs the fork rebuilt.

 

[Squashfest81]

Just read through.
Those Mercs are gorgeous!
I feel you on the Fairlane to Mustang to bikes. I went through a 76 Trailduster in the early 2000's, now it's been untouched for 7 years while the kiddos have taken over. I just don't feel like I have the time and I'm not sure I want the headaches...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks Squash! If the Trailduster is going to cause stress or headaches, I would let it go. It took me a while to come to that decision with the Fairlane. I waffled on the Mustang a while too, really trying to decide the lowest cost way to get it running and what I wanted the car to be. But in the end I was still going to lose money so I cut it loose. Once I made the decision it was easy, but every time I'd go out in the garage with the cars in there it caused me stress.

I just got REALLY lucky to get the bikes in the trade. I won't lose any money on the bikes. It also helps that wife views the motorcycles as the nest trade I've ever made.

I have been really happy with the motorcycles. They're MUCH easier to work on and for the most part, you can stop where you are when working on them unlike a lot of steps in working on cars. The parts are generally cheaper too. All of the bikes I own still have a strong demand, so I can recoup my costs pretty easily. I won't get paid for my time, but I'm not building them to make money, just recoup my costs. The time I spend working on them is my creative outlet, my decompression time.

I have to build stands for the Mercs so I can start working on them. I need to get the Mark25 running then it will be polished and clear coated with KG Coatings. I'll probably have the old Merc green color matched in KG Coating and then clear coated so it should hold up much better than paint. The plan is to start on the Volare this fall and winter.


This past weekend was my daughter's high school graduation, so they last two weeks have been a blur. I spent more than a week before getting the house, yard, patio, and basement straightened up for company. I did get the basement floor finished and now I just have the plumbing to tackle on the new sink.

I took last Thursday and Friday as vacation to get things ready for the party on Saturday. I managed to squeak in a 15 mile scoot on the CX500 Friday afternoon before her graduation at 8pm.

I am looking forward to getting some time this weekend to clean out the garage again and get some things put away properly. My buddy will be hauling down the paneling to me soon too, so I'm really excited about finishing the walls in the garage.

 

[cash68]

Just realized you are in Milwaukee. Love that city! My wife and I lived there for 18 months right after we graduated college and were married. I worked for Cutler-Hammer at the time and we rented a townhouse in Whitefish Bay. But we would have bought a house near Pettit National Ice Center if we got to stay.

We've been back several times for Summerfest.


The boats I shared aren't wood boats but a wood composite of plywood sandwiched between glass. The Volare and Blue Jacket are modified Stitch&Glue, the Rifleman is a lapstrake style, but all 3 are glassed.

A neighbor down the street has an amazing aluminum boat. It looks like it's a wood lapstrake build but it's aluminum. I have first right of refusal if he ever decides to sell it. I don't dislike any boat, and I love the glass boats from the '50s and '60s. It's just easier for me to build a Stitch&Glue boat unless the right boat comes along... in which case I'll jump on it.

My plan is to get a couple of my bikes rebuilt and sold to recover funds that I can roll into other toys.

Milwaukee is a good time, tons of stuff to do, affordable housing, and none of hte crime or traffic of chicago. Love it.

Ah, so typical balsa core construction.

Still, I urge you to find an old boat and restore it. 50s-60s fiberglass boats are EXTREMELY cheap, and they are very easy to restore. If you need to replace the wood core, you just cut along the edge, pull up the layer of glass, scrape it out, sand it, lay down some new resin, and put in new wood. Then seal with another layer of glass. Weekends worth of work, tops.

I've restored a few boats now, and this is a far more efficient use of your time than building from scratch, PLUS you get the added benefit of having a boat made with molds, so it will have features and curves you cannot get by doing it yourself.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Milwaukee is a good time, tons of stuff to do, affordable housing, and none of hte crime or traffic of chicago. Love it.

Ah, so typical balsa core construction.

Still, I urge you to find an old boat and restore it. 50s-60s fiberglass boats are EXTREMELY cheap, and they are very easy to restore. If you need to replace the wood core, you just cut along the edge, pull up the layer of glass, scrape it out, sand it, lay down some new resin, and put in new wood. Then seal with another layer of glass. Weekends worth of work, tops.

I've restored a few boats now, and this is a far more efficient use of your time than building from scratch, PLUS you get the added benefit of having a boat made with molds, so it will have features and curves you cannot get by doing it yourself.

Plywood core...

I have had my eye open for a late 50's-60s glass runabout for a while. In southwest Indiana where I live they just aren't very common. I'd love to find a Larson or Glastron. Only thing I've found are a few aluminum boats, 80s tri-hulls, and houseboats. An old houseboat is on the list for the future when we have moved, I have a barn shop big enough to restore one, and we're close enough to a lake where I can really use it.

For now, I'm going to focus on my GL1100 and getting the old Mercs running. Once they're running it's easier to justify the boat project.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Finally had a little time today to clean the back part of the garage. My son and nephew managed to spray water under the garage door today too so I had a bigger mess to clean up than anticipated. But it needed to be done anyway.

I finally got around to installing the other Feit Electric Direct Replacement LED bulbs in my three remaining T12 ceiling fixtures. Had to run to Menards tonight and swap them. Managed to buy six 4100K lights instead of the 5000K. After exchanging the bulbs I installed them tonight. Huge improvement!

These pics are without the flash on my phone at 10:30pm. Nice and bright.

I still need to clean up the spill of the epoxy stripper/cleaner that ate through the can... then I can get some things put back where they belong and get back to finishing my bench tops. The disassembled grey shelving frame in the last pic is going to my friend that is giving me the plywood paneling. I'll probably haul it up to him this weekend just to get it out of my way.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

The forecasted rain held off today so I tackled the Bix Tuff-Job Remover spill on the floor.

Scraped the majority of the spill off, but still had to find a cleaner to get the rest off. Turns out the only thing that worked was carb cleaner. That and LOTS of scrubbing. Hours of scrubbing later:

After that was finally done I could tackle the mess from the mice this winter. Then I had to rearrange the garage to make the bicycles easier for my wife and kids to get to... because apparently I have to share my garage space with the family.

Half the garage is now clean and straightened up.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Made it to HF yesterday to use my 25% Super Coupon on a new 10' lift 1Ton chain hoist. My previous chain hoist was given to me but only had an 8' lift so it didn't reach low enough for some items I needed to haul up into the loft storage.

Success! This one touches the floor.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, after cleaning out the right side of the garage I think I gave myself a sinus infection... It came on like a freight train Memorial Day, caved and went to urgent care last Friday. Finally feeling better. So how did I give myself a sinus infection? I didn't wear a mask while using my blow gun to blow out all the dust and mouse ****.

From now on... an N95 dust mask!

I decided that since I will eventually be putting up bead board plywood on the walls and ceiling, I should probably seal/paint the block course of the wall and I had a little bit of wall sealer left over from my basement walls so on a whim I painted a bit on the clear wall to see how it would work a week ago.

I've been catching up on a few threads here and found the two threads by dhubbard422 and NedNorton. Subcribed to both of them and their approaches helped give me the patience and direction I need to go in this garage while I Kill Time until we relocate...

If you look closely above, I dripped and slung sealer on the floor, and I haven't really been too careful about spills on my floor before... so after I have my walls and ceiling up and painted, I'm going to follow in the footsteps of others and grind, then polish and seal my floor.


And of course, we never get to dedicate all our free time to our garages, so the wife wants to build shelving for the basement on each side of the TV and under the TV for my audio equipment. I thought she wanted taller shelving units on the side of the TV. Boy am I glad I asked! Turns out she just wanted 3' tall shelving units because she wants to hang "pretty things" on the walls next to the TV. She also wanted to build the shelves as inexpensively as possible. So no poplar or aspen... pine it is... We're going to seal it and paint it anyway, so it was a compromise I was willing to accept.

Menards had the wood on sale Sunday so we hauled it home.

The side shelving units will be 36" tall x 42" wide and 12" deep. The span under the TV will be 36" tall x 54" wide x 16" deep.

The TV is a 4 year old Toshiba 58" LED unit that my neighbor was throwing out! The screen just went dark on her one day and her husband kept pushing off having it repaired (the house next to ours is their second house, their main house is about an hour away and he's a GC in that area). She got mad and went out and bought a new LG 55" 4K TV. I asked her if I could try to fix it. She said sure, take it, it's yours, free even if you get it working...

Well, one of my hobbies is building audio equipment and restoring vintage audio gear... so for $3.42 in a new transistor, diode, and a capacitor I already had it was working again. The power circuit for the backlight had a bad diode, which toasted a capacitor and the transistor.

The TV is huge. We don't watch a lot of TV but scoring this for the basement is what kicked off the whole basement remodeling project to give our kids a place to hang out with friends to watch Hulu, Amazon Prime, or play XBox... and my neighbor loved that I fixed it for under $5. I'm sure she rubbed that in her husbands face.


So that's where I'm at at the moment. I need to finish sealing the block course on that wall. I need to finish my three work benches so I can start on the shelving...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Sometimes progress comes in very small increments:

I had a chance to put a second coat on the block I sealed earlier and then finish sealing the rest of that wall. It was more of a test to see if the sealer could cover and lock in the Tuff-Job solvent mess. So far it hasn't bled through and that was just one coat, so I'm staying optimistic.

I ran out of sealer too. But it's nice to know that I had enough in the bottom of the can to do almost two coats on one course of block. I'll buy a new 2-1/2 gallon bucket for my remaining basement wall, then use what's left over to do the other two walls in my garage.

I haven't decided what color I'll paint the blocks once my walls and ceiling are up and painted white. I know I'll add two stripes on the walls about midway up, but I'm thinking about a dark royal blue color on the block.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Last night I got put things back where they belonged along the wall where I sealed the blocks... then I put the last coat of Watco Danish oil on my mom's work table so I can put the legs back on and wrap the sides with trim:

The weather was fantastic today so I had a chance to continue cleaning the garage and get more things put back away where they belong. I rolled out the motorcycles and carried the Mercury Mark 25 outside. Then swept and blew the dust out of the remaining section of the garage. I pulled my little tool chest and a couple of the motorcycle engines out... and remembered I had had an oil leak that I just dumped kitty litter on to soak it up, oh, about 5 months ago. Swept up most of the kitty litter then grabbed the shop vac to finish the job.

Can you guys name the 4 engines in the pic?

After that I spent time cleaning out my shop vac and it's filter. It's been a while so the filter was pretty caked. Nice to have a clean shop vac ready for the next project since I believe I now have all of my spills and mishaps from the last year cleaned up. (I generally deep clean the garage once or twice a year, but it does get swept or blown out regularly.)

I need to tackle the top of my garage work bench, but I ran out of time and I need to get rid of some stuff to make room for that stuff piled up on the work bench.


I rearranged the motorcycles to make the GL1100 easier to set up on my work table once the other work bench projects are out of the way and the motorcycle bench has legs.

And Wednesday or Thursday I made it past Lowes to pick up 4 bags of clean, all purpose sand to feed the HF sand blaster.

I just stacked it on my dolly in the driveway, then rolled it into the garage. I'll roll it out into the gravel portion of our driveway when I go to sandblast the fan parts. I'm testing it on the fan parts because it doesn't have to be a great job and if it pits the metal it's ok... it's just a garage ceiling fan.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Today I worked on the adjustable height work table for my mom.

I put the legs on and tested it...

That isn't an optical illusion, the one leg would go up and the other would go down. ****. I know I tested it a year ago and it worked... but apparently with my desired layout the Left leg wouldn't work directly coupled to the Right leg.

I took the left leg apart to see if I could just flip some internal parts. Nope. Then I remembered I had the Center leg that had a little caster wheel on it. I tested it coupled to the Right leg. Success! They moved up and down in unison. So I took off the caster and swapped the support foot to the Center actuator base.

The top of the table is 27-1/4" high fully lowered and 42" fully raised. That will give my mom plenty of range to adjust the table height as she builds her "miniature" houses. IIRC she builds in 1:10 or 1:6 scale. The houses are pretty big.

With that table supporting itself, I was able to apply the final coat of Danish Oil to the bottom and inner sides of my basement work bench.

I'll attach the legs, PSU, and controller to my bench top, then bribe my neighbor with bourbon to help me flip it over and put it back on it's legs. I may need 2 or 3 neighbors... I bet it will weigh 300+ pounds. I haven't decided if the legs will come off one more time when it's ready to be hauled the 50' from the garage to the house and down the basement stairs. Come to think of it, it may not even fit into my basement hobby shop area with the legs on...


This week I'll set up the PC dovetail jig so I can route the dovetails into the ends of the side trim for the tables. After I know they fit, they'll all get a couple coats of oil on the back sides before I attach them to their work tables. Once that's done I'll sand the tops for their finals coats of oil.

I can't wait to get these done. They've now been in progress for over a year!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Reattached the legs this evening...

I'm really happy with the color of the finish on the maple plywood. Of course, once it's flipped over it will never been seen, but I know it's there.

Tomorrow my neighbor is helping me flip the beast over.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

And... it's standing on it's own legs.

My neighbor and I estimate it weighs well over 275 pounds, probably over 300...

I sat on it, then raised and lowered it without any issues or strain.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, I have to make a decision on which type of dovetails I'm going to use on the trim of my workbench top...

Through dovetails are easier to setup on the dovetailing jig but I have to cut the boards vertically for both pieces. My front and back pieces will be over 5-1/2' long. If I use Half-Blind dovetails I can put the long boards in the horizontal clamp and you cut both pieces at once... but it requires a lot more setup and adjustment before the final cuts can be made...

Either way will take a little creativity but I have a solution worked out:

The P-C dovetailing jig is clamped to the top of my WorkMate which just happens to fit on the top of my workbench.

Note: The big 2x4 frame standing up behind the step ladder in the background is the top of my motorcycle work table. I'll build the lower leg frame for it once these other two work tables are out of the garage...

To cut the through dovetails means I have to raise the workbench (no problem with the actuator legs - ):

HOWEVER, it does mean that I will have to route the dovetails with the aid of my step stool or step ladder...

I like the look of the through dovetails better, but once the jig is setup, the half-blind dovetails are easier to cut. Decisions, decisions.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I came across this older Maytag Wringer E2 washing machine at a salvage shop while looking for vintage industrial lights and old fluorescent light fixtures pulled from schools (the kind with the metal fin diffusers).

They are asking WAY TOO MUCH for it in it's condition but they claim it still works.

I have no plans to use it as a washing machine... but I can probably repurpose it to be a sweet wet tumbler for polishing and cleaning parts. I'll probably stop back by later this week, inspect the wash drum more closely to see how bad the corrosion is, then make a low ball offer if most of that **** inside is just hard water deposits.

 

[Bob Heine]

I have no plans to use it as a washing machine... but I can probably repurpose it to be a sweet wet tumbler for polishing and cleaning parts.

BoilermakerFan, you also have a nice chamois/microfiber wringer.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

BoilermakerFan, you also have a nice chamois/microfiber wringer.

Bob, that may be a great idea. I'll have to inspect the rollers when I go back. There are ways to refurbish them a little, but if they're too far gone then they're shot.

Those wringer washers were made up to 1983. I did a bit of research on them last night before posting. While the one in my pic is in bad shape, I can get ones in really nice working order for the same asking price or less. So my thought was to see if I can get that one cheap enough, then buy another one later on that would actually be used for washing my shop rags. Apparently they're really popular with hippie granola moms for washing cloth diapers. I can say that because my wife is a hippie mom and we had our kids in cloth diapers in the late '90s and late 2000s.

What I like about the one in the pic is the late '50s MAYTAG logo and just the style of it. I know it will work great for tumbling fired brass cases, but I'm not sure if I want to try putting any motorcycle parts into it until after I've run several test tumbles to watch for damage from the agitator.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well Bob, I'll have to wait for my Maytag Wringer washer donor. Stopped by today and made my offer, which was less than a third of their asking price of $150. Told them what like new or restored units go for on eBay and CL ($100-$175). My offer was really twice what it's worth too considering it's condition. They said they had twice my offer invested in the thing. I couldn't help it, I chuckled. I said I would stop by again in a month and see if it was still there but my offer would be the same.

 

[Bob Heine]

BMF, you did the right thing. If your experiment doesn't work, you don't want to be trying to sell it for a crazy price.

My wife's first washer had a small drum next to the main one for spinning the water out of the cloth diapers. The driveshaft on the main agitator was missing its retainer so it would occasionally drop out the bottom and flood the kitchen floor. Luckily the kitchen was an add-on with no foundation and had settled -- the water just ran out the ill fitting window on the low side of the kitchen.

We had our children in 1962 and 1963 when Pampers were a brand new item from Procter & Gamble. We used a package once on a trip to visit my grandparents so we wouldn't have a steaming pile in the car.

I'll have to remember that logic next time I put a car up for sale. I'll base my price on what I paid for it plus the thousands of dollars worth of gas, oil and parts I put in it.

 

[madoc1]

jut found this thread thru hubbard's and the boat talk caught m- attention. i have been reading wooden boat for about 20 -ears and have most of the issues. love devlin's stuff, but am not familiar with the boat -ou want to build. is there a plan or pic -ou can show? now to go read -our thread!

am missing a letter or two-sorr-.

jim