Killing time in a small "2 car" garage

[BoilermakerFan]

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

Thanks for following along and reading through my thread. I'll be building the two outboard engine stands in a couple weeks. I have to get my benches done, then build the basement shelves first, but the outboards are high on the project list.

Which boat Jim? I posted two... actually planning to build 3 in time...

I've been reading Wooden Boat since I was in my teens. I check every months issue, but only buy it when there are enough articles pertaining to my interests. I've spent the last 7-10 years researching boat designs for what I wanted for my needs. After speaking with Tom on several occasions and reading everything on his web site, the Blue Jacket was the perfect set of compromises for my needs.



The first boat is the Volare by Andrew Walters:

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/index.htm

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/volare-c/index.htm

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/volare-s/index.htm




The second is Tom Lathrop's Blue Jacket:

http://bluejacketboats.com/

http://bluejacketboats.com/planing-boat-theory/

http://bluejacketboats.com/info/designing-liz/

http://bluejacketboats.com/bluejacket-in-various-sea-states/

There are a lot of threads on the wooden boat forums about the Blue Jacket.




The third I haven't posted, but it's John Welsford's Rifleman:

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/jw/rifleman/index.htm

I won't build the Rifleman until I have the 75hp or 100hp Evinrude for the Blue Jacket. Then the Mark 55 will be put on the Volare and then the Rifleman will get the Mark25. Do I really need 3 boats? Nope, but I plan to give the Volare to my son when he's in high school or there after. Then I'll just have the small runabout and the big fishing/cruising Blue Jacket. At some point I'll probably step up to a bigger boat and sell the Blue Jacket, but the Rifleman will stay as the dingy for the bigger boat.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day.

Here's what I did on Father's Day:







































That's right, NOTHING! It was a great day! I've been working on so many projects that I just spent the day being a bum. My son and I straightened up our tackle boxes and put away a few new lures we bought Saturday. Then we went out for dinner to great burger joint. I didn't even ride the motorcycle. I just spent the day watching TV with my son (my daughter had to work) and browsing threads here on GJ. ALL DAY LONG.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thank to Denwood and his Woody's Works Garage thread, I found a perfect solution for my floor... eventually...

<snip> My pal Dean at Kam Industrial (local) suggested Increte stain-sealer which will give me a floor that is bright, resistant to brake fluid, gasoline, oil, salt etc, but a penetrating finish that won't be affected by large temperature swings above and below freezing.

http://www.increte.com/professional-products/stains-and-dyes/concrete-stain-sealer/

This is just what I'm looking for for my low budget garage face lift! And he used a HD polisher with a home mod dust collector that worked well enough... so that also fits my low budget desires too!

 

[Denwood]

B, you've got a shop there with great potential...and lots of good ideas already. I can tell a ridge beam project might be in your future

My first motor project was a 70's vintage 65hp Evinrude on a 17ft glass boat. It didn't run, so my dad basically said get it running, and the boat was mine to go water skiing with, jet about with girlfriends etc. We purchased the motor manual and shortly after was skiing on the lake with my buds I may or may not have also made use of the boat for other romantic intents...ha. Living on Lake Superior with some rather idyllic islands close by was not so bad.

Building a boat sounds like a simply awesome project.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

B, you've got a shop there with great potential...and lots of good ideas already. I can tell a ridge beam project might be in your future

My first motor project was a 70's vintage 65hp Evinrude on a 17ft glass boat. It didn't run, so my dad basically said get it running, and the boat was mine to go water skiing with, jet about with girlfriends etc. We purchased the motor manual and shortly after was skiing on the lake with my buds I may or may not have also made use of the boat for other romantic intents...ha. Living on Lake Superior with some rather idyllic islands close by was not so bad.

Building a boat sounds like a simply awesome project.

Thanks Denwood, but no ridge beam for me in this garage. If I did that, Murphy's Law would kick in and then the big oak tree in my neighbor's yard would drop a limb big enough to flatten my garage. I'd love to have the beams and a trolley for hoist though. The next shop will have it for lifting and turning over boat hulls.

I thought about painting the floor, but I drop tools all the damn time and I have painted the floor in my basement shop area. I love the color and the look, but when stuff drops on it, it chips. The only advantage to paint is that I could paint a big ol' Scurvy Tick logo on the floor, then paint over it when the house goes on the market.

Great story about the Evinrude. I've had show great restraint lately. I found a late '50s 10HP Evi that only needed a little work. I was so tempted to pick it up to use a trolling kicker on the Blue Jacket. But I resisted! I have enough projects to last me the next 15 years and I'm probably bringing home another one tomorrow.

But I am looking forward to rebuilding and restoring the outboards this winter.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, two steps forward, one step back as the saying goes. Or in my case, yet another oil spill to clean up.

I had these cut offs stacked in front of and around 2-1/2 gallons of used motor oil in gallon jugs that I hadn't had a chance to recycle.

Apparently one of the 2x4s fell or slipped and landed on top of one of the jugs and it was enough weight to collapse the top and allow some oil to spill out.

Not a huge amount of damage, but it did manage to run under the garage door seal and wick down about two feet and it spread under all the wood and empty boxes from my 4' LED bulbs. Boxes were wiped off and put in the recycling. I can still salvage most of the wood too, just a PITA to have to pull it all out and dump kitty litter down, press it into the spill with my shop shoes, scoop it up, and repeat.

I left the second coat of kitty litter on it for tonight. I'll clean it up tomorrow.

Another lesson learned... take the damn old oil to the recycler after I'm done draining it out of an engine.

 

[OzarkMan]

Great Thread!

Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing at the spilled incidents! Way too familiar I must say!

Looking forward to your boat build/restoration or whatever path you take.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Great Thread!

Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing at the spilled incidents! Way too familiar I must say!

Looking forward to your boat build/restoration or whatever path you take.

Thanks Simon! Oh, if I couldn't laugh at myself I wouldn't share the big spills. You can see in my pics that my garage floor is covered in small spills and leaks. Doesn't really bother me, I just dump kitty litter, grind it in, and wipe them up. But that last one, I thought WTF now...

I have a lot of projects on the schedule for the next ten years or more, but restoring the Mercury outboards is high on the list. My son is really excited about the Volare boat build too. My daughter starts college in August, so the boat build will help keep us occupied.

I have ADHD so I always have 2 or 3 concurrent projects going. I have to or I get bored and nothing gets done. I've learned having 2 bigger projects and one small one going for me allows me to get all 3 done faster. Probably because I'm thinking about the next steps for the projects I'm not working on while working on one if it's a rather boring step like sanding, painting, or cleaning. I also work on multiple projects so that one can progress while I'm waiting for paint, sealers, or oil coats to dry.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

And speaking of projects, another motorcycle is coming home this weekend:

It's a 1980 KZ650E that runs rough and needs a few things done right away, but I'll have it road worthy in a couple weeks. Then over the winter it will be torn down to have the frame powdercoated, be painted, and the fork rebuilt. It's going to be restomod done in stages so that it's always in riding condition during the warm months.

 

[OzarkMan]

I'd be figuring out a way to mount one of those engines in a Go-Kart frame! First thing on my mind when I saw the first lot of bikes

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I'd be figuring out a way to mount one of those engines in a Go-Kart frame! First thing on my mind when I saw the first lot of bikes

Actually, I was thinking adult big wheel! A trike with cart wheels at the back and a big front wheel. I've seen a couple done so, yes, the thought has occurred and it may happen once I'm proficient at TIG welding.

 

[madoc1]

thx for the info on the boats. i am a little familiar with duckworks but haven't looked in a while. that sure is an ambitious schedule of boat building you have! i will give you my unsolicited opinions and you know what they are worth. i understand the volare as an easy to build starter, but i'm too old for it. Blue is interesting in the way he describes the bottom. sure wish he had shown some pics or drawings of it. i am not a fan of the raiseddeck, except maybe like on a lake union dreamboat. the sheer as shown on the cover of the latest Wooden Boat (pogo) is more to my liking. how about Blues bottom and Pogos topside?
my fav though is rifleman. it will be a bit harder to build than volare, but the lines are right on. as i said, these are just opinions. do you have the drawings of Blues bottom or know where to get them? lathrop seems to keep them pretty close to his chest. did Wooden Boat ever have an article about Bluejacket that you know of?

good luck with garage and keep us up to date on the volare build -pls.

jim

 

[BoilermakerFan]

thx for the info on the boats. i am a little familiar with duckworks but haven't looked in a while. that sure is an ambitious schedule of boat building you have! i will give you my unsolicited opinions and you know what they are worth. i understand the volare as an easy to build starter, but i'm too old for it. Blue is interesting in the way he describes the bottom. sure wish he had shown some pics or drawings of it. i am not a fan of the raiseddeck, except maybe like on a lake union dreamboat. the sheer as shown on the cover of the latest Wooden Boat (pogo) is more to my liking. how about Blues bottom and Pogos topside?
my fav though is rifleman. it will be a bit harder to build than volare, but the lines are right on. as i said, these are just opinions. do you have the drawings of Blues bottom or know where to get them? lathrop seems to keep them pretty close to his chest. did Wooden Boat ever have an article about Bluejacket that you know of?

good luck with garage and keep us up to date on the volare build -pls.

jim

Jim,

I looked at Pogo just yesterday. The hull is what I'm building of the Blue Jacket. My interior will be more like the Nina and Ninigrette, open bow with an a canvas top when it's needed or wanted. I have the plans for Blue, but I can't really share too much detail. I know he studied Weston Farmer's Simplex and SureMike II to simplify the lines of the hull while keeping the performance improvements.

I the Rifleman too, but it's a more complicated build and I plan to finish it out very nicely so I want a couple of boats under my belt.

I'll keep my thread updated.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Got both KZ650s home yesterday. The one front is the 1980 KZ650E the one in the back is my 1982 KZ650H parts donor bike.

Today after doing a little yard work I tore down the donor bike. Started around noon and worked on it on and off all day. Finished at 8pm but it probably only took 5 hours max, the extra time was spent cooling off, eating, running with my son, and just waiting for the Kroil to do it's job and free up the seized fasteners.

It was just a frame by 6pm. I sprayed the fasteners with Kroil then waited:

Took about 20 minutes to get the engine free of the frame after the Kroil did it's job:

I still need to remove the center stand and side stand for my spares box, then I'm cutting off the rear triangle of the frame so I know the mounting locations of the tabs, locks, and mounts I'm removing from the donor frame to replace all the pieces butchered off the running 1980 650E.

All of the wiring, cables, taillight, and controls went into the trash. They were too far gone or damaged to salvage. The wiring connector of the ignition was damaged, but I kept the ignition so I can get a key made since it fits the other locks. I'll have to put new connectors on the ignition and the factory harness of the running bike or just have two keys.

When I was working on the disassembly I noticed the block of my donor was damaged:

I'm bummed, but everything else on the donor engine is intact and functional, so everything but the block is a spare. My plan is to pull the donor engine apart to have the crank balanced and lightened a little, the bore the upper jug out for an 830cc kit. I'll research cam swaps, port the head a little and have a valve job done, then rebuild the head with better performance goodies so it will be ready to move into the running 650E when the time comes or I decide I want more power.

The fork on my '82 donor was in great shape, much better than I expected and it has air preload so that fork will be rebuilt as well as the one on the 650E. The tank on the running bike is from a KZ440, so I'm pulling it to save for my KZ440 project bike. I'm trading for a KZ750 Twin tank that should fit the 650, but if it doesn't, I'll buy the correct 650E tank for it. Looking into a dual front disc conversion for the front wire wheel hub too. Rear wire wheel drum brake will be upgraded grooved pads. Clutch will be upgraded to EBC goodies in time too.

 

[Knyte Tyne]

Actually, I was thinking adult big wheel! A trike with cart wheels at the back and a big front wheel. I've seen a couple done so, yes, the thought has occurred and it may happen once I'm proficient at TIG welding.

Motorised Drift Trikes for the win. I think those engines may be a bit large for what they normally use though.... Go big or go home!!!

Great progress on the Shop btw. Love the boats, always great seeing the different interests of the different members on GJ. Such a awesome way to learn of new things and interests

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Motorised Drift Trikes for the win. I think those engines may be a bit large for what they normally use though.... Go big or go home!!!

Great progress on the Shop btw. Love the boats, always great seeing the different interests of the different members on GJ. Such a awesome way to learn of new things and interests

Thanks KT! I'm done hauling home motorcycles for a while... My buddy giving me the plywood paneling is still out of town for another week so I really need to get some more stuff organized in the garage before I take delivery of all the paneling.

I really can't wait to get started on the Volare boat this fall. The hull gets built in two sections so it's easy to tackle in my garage and I have access to a 4'x8' CNC router so I don't even have to cut out the panels... just haul the plywood to the university, load up the program, and hit run. I'll need to save for the 'glass and epoxy over the several months...

That's what I'm thinking. I have a KZ750 Twin engine that needs a few parts and a rebuild that will go into a hardtail boardtracker frame:

But I also have a CB550 engine, two CB650 SOHC engines, and a spare KZ650 engine.

I haven't decided how I'm going to build the CB550 yet. I have no title and can't title it in Indiana, but I have a BOS and clear VIN report so I could build it as a dedicated AMHA vintage 500cc class bike. The other option is to find a CB500, CB550, or CB650 titled bike/frame and build a custom retro-vintage sport bike using my CB550 and one CB650 engine, and +3mm 750 overbore pistons to assemble a hybrid engine of 754cc that will get my Interceptor 500 monoshock swingarm, CBR600 F2 rear wheel and a complete CBR600 F3 fork.

So that leaves at least one CB650 and the KZ650 engine to put into a low, big wheel trike... I have had these pics in my project ideas folder for over a year though I don't know who built these trikes:

 

[BoilermakerFan]

The other night I finished separating the rear triangle from the donor frame. Normally this is the part that is discarded when guys customize the frames, but for me, this is the part I need to keep because it has all of the tabs and locks I need for my restomod of the running KZ650.

Then I took the "muffler" off the downpipes to see if I could add any baffling for a temporary solution...

Nope. It's literally an exhaust tip. There is no easy way to modify it...

So now I'll be getting SS downpipes and a muffler from Kinetic Motorcycles sooner than later. Then I'll have Mike Le of Kinetic make a SS connecting tube for me once I know the length and bends I need in it.

I need to get the KZ650 on the road so I can do a bit of PM on the CX500 and put it up for sale to fund the rest of my GL1100, KZ650 restomod, and KZ440 builds.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My coworker also tagged me in a post on Facebook... a 1980 Honda CB650C that needs work for sale for $500. I messaged the seller to see if it has a clear Indiana title. If it does, well... I needed a titled frame for my CB650.

See why I'm not making progress on getting the garage straightened up?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I had to "work" today so I drove about 75 minutes to visit a friend of mine who is also a customer. We had done some horse trading that we needed to finalize so I hauled home the rest of my loot:

We have 2 other Carrera 132 slot car sets and I had bought the digital conversion kits for a dozen cars years ago... so now we finally have the pieces to make a large digital track layout. My son and dad are excited.

And the receiver is in fact a Pioneer SX-3900! It's dirty but worked when my buddy put it in storage. It will get a good cleaning, check the bias on the output transistors, and the bottom metal of the receiver needs to be repowdercoated silver. No biggie, I'll have it done when I have parts for my motorcycle done.

When I got home this afternoon my neighbor sent me a text asking if my daughter wanted a part of a sectional that didn't fit in their house. It's perfect for under her loft in the dorm:

My neighbor and I picked it up and dragged it down to the basement.

I sat down for maybe ten minutes when my wife said she scored some classroom bookcases off a Facebook Buy/Sell page so we had to drive 15 minutes to go pick them up...

I scored 4 NSF commercial wire shelves for $30. And a $300 commercial 3 bulb 4' light fixture for $10!

My wife scored 5 bookshelves for her classroom for $20 and a HON office chair for $5. We got my mom a commercial office 3'×6' table for $10 too. Two trips in the Pilot and one in the Forester... I got home around 8:30pm. A long, dirty, sweaty day of lifting and hauling old stuff, but worth it!

I'm mostly stoked about the light. I'll put LED bulbs in it and put it over my steel workbench. Should be sweet to have that much diffused light over the entire top of the bench.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Today I got some time in the garage to work on my mom's table and my work bench.

I cut the trim for her table first and went to setup the router for the Porter-Cable dovetail jig. Doh! My dad's Milwaukee router doesn't have a template base so I'm going to have to order a universal base. So after that I measured and cut the solid hickory trim for my workbench. Both sets are laid out on my bench.

The best part about using solid hickory for trim? NO WASTE! We were grilling out chicken for the Fourth, so I grabbed the small cut-offs that were too small to use for anything else and split them with my machete. Tossed two pieces on the coals initially, then added a third when I flipped the chicken. Perfect!

I also started both the KZ650 and the CX500. I think the KZ650 might have bigger issues; I couldn't tell if it was just running way too rich or if there is a little oil getting by the rings or past the valves. There was definitely a hue or vapor present in the exhaust... but not enough to tell if it was oil or just really damn rich. Oh well, I'll be opening the engine this winter anyway when I tear the bike down to have the frame powder coated.

I took the CX out for a quick scoot around the block. It was running really rough, which it still does when it hasn't been run regularly. I need a new resistor cap for the left spark plug. The bike only starts on one cylinder when it's sat for more than a week. A little while later my wife came out to sit on the patio and told me in no uncertain terms that I am to never sell or trade the CX off. She loves the way the bike looks. I told her she can have it when she gets her endorsement because I was planning to sell it to fund the builds of my other bigger projects. She said, "Nope, you can fix up the CX really nice for me then, I want all of the rust off the frame, and I want it a little quieter so add a muffler or two." Amazingly, she didn't say anything or ask how much the other bikes would cost to fix up.

I guess she knows me well enough to know that I'm going to build them the way I want anyway, it will just take longer to do so since we'll be on a REALLY tight budget starting in August when my daughter starts at Purdue. Hopefully that will only last about a year and my daughter will get scholarships, grants, and a co-op her sophomore year since Purdue doesn't offer any scholarships to incoming freshman in engineering unless it's needs based.

I had a great Fourth and hope my fellow GJ'ers did too.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I ordered a template router base from Home Depot. $8.99 incl. tax with free shipping to the store! That's half the cost of any other options I found and it's a P-C brand with all 5-star reviews.

The dovetailing jig is a buddy's and he didn't want to part with it so he's letting me use it. It was brand new when he handed it to me. So I'm going to put the template base in the box when I'm done so we'll both have it when we need it.

I really can't wait to get the trim done for these two tables/benches.

 

[cash68]

Holy **** man. You might want to consider selling that Pioneer, that's a super powerful, super rare version that is worth like $500-700. I would seriously sell it and buy something way less badass for general garage use.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Holy **** man. You might want to consider selling that Pioneer, that's a super powerful, super rare version that is worth like $500-700. I would seriously sell it and buy something way less badass for general garage use.

Cash... Oh, I know. 150W/ch. The apex of Pioneer analog tuners and near the end of the VF displays.

It's not for the garage. Have you seen how many spills I've had in my garage?

I'm going to clean it up, get everything dialed in and working within spec, then put it in the basement family room next to my 1976'ish Yamaha CR-625. I will eventually sell it after I restore it.

The little Yamaha CR-625 is rated 35W/ch but it punches WAY above it's weight class and has one of the best phonostages I've ever heard, plus the headphone jacks are designed to drive orthodynamic headphones which are my specialty. They need a lot of power but sound amazing when refurbished and retuned. I used to refurbish and tune ortho headphones as a side gig... Shipped headphones all over the world and have one customer in Indonesia that has bought or paid me to do 7 pairs.

My garage system will be a bluetooth receiver going through a tube preamp feeding a little Gainclone chip amp stereo with a set of EPI speakers from my folks. 20W/ch.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My stack of shelves looks more impressive piled up in the yard:

I need to wipe several down before I move them into the garage. The legs for the shelves are two pieces that join together a coupler. I had hoped I could make the three deep shelving units into two 3-section high units, but the tops of the leg sections are not threaded... And I don't think I have the tap needed to cut the threads if there is enough material to even cut them.

 

[madoc1]

Thanks for following along and reading through my thread. I'll be building the two outboard engine stands in a couple weeks. I have to get my benches done, then build the basement shelves first, but the outboards are high on the project list.

Which boat Jim? I posted two... actually planning to build 3 in time...

I've been reading Wooden Boat since I was in my teens. I check every months issue, but only buy it when there are enough articles pertaining to my interests. I've spent the last 7-10 years researching boat designs for what I wanted for my needs. After speaking with Tom on several occasions and reading everything on his web site, the Blue Jacket was the perfect set of compromises for my needs.



The first boat is the Volare by Andrew Walters:

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/index.htm

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/volare-c/index.htm

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/walters/volare-s/index.htm




The second is Tom Lathrop's Blue Jacket:

http://bluejacketboats.com/

http://bluejacketboats.com/planing-boat-theory/

http://bluejacketboats.com/info/designing-liz/

http://bluejacketboats.com/bluejacket-in-various-sea-states/

There are a lot of threads on the wooden boat forums about the Blue Jacket.




The third I haven't posted, but it's John Welsford's Rifleman:

http://duckworksbbs.com/plans/jw/rifleman/index.htm

I won't build the Rifleman until I have the 75hp or 100hp Evinrude for the Blue Jacket. Then the Mark 55 will be put on the Volare and then the Rifleman will get the Mark25. Do I really need 3 boats? Nope, but I plan to give the Volare to my son when he's in high school or there after. Then I'll just have the small runabout and the big fishing/cruising Blue Jacket. At some point I'll probably step up to a bigger boat and sell the Blue Jacket, but the Rifleman will stay as the dingy for the bigger boat.

boiler, thx to you i have now spent almost 3 days bj research. that is a really nice boat. in fact 2 have been built in my backyard of lake travis texas. but after reading multiple accounts on the build i know i am too old to build one. the average build time seems to be about 4 years and about 40k. plywood-4k, epoxy 3.5k and then finishing. add a trailer and a motor.

i do now understand the bottom shape now. very nice idea that seems to work well. like the 28' footer that did the great loop. that would be fun! only took a year and 7500 miles. anyway thx for the heads up.

jim

 

[BoilermakerFan]

boiler, thx to you i have now spent almost 3 days bj research. that is a really nice boat. in fact 2 have been built in my backyard of lake travis texas. but after reading multiple accounts on the build i know i am too old to build one. the average build time seems to be about 4 years and about 40k. plywood-4k, epoxy 3.5k and then finishing. add a trailer and a motor.

i do now understand the bottom shape now. very nice idea that seems to work well. like the 28' footer that did the great loop. that would be fun! only took a year and 7500 miles. anyway thx for the heads up.

jim

No problem Jim!

The $40K build cost usually includes a 50HP motor. I have my starter motor already and I'm not building the cabin, just a walk through double console so my build complexity is greatly reduced. I'll be outfitting mine with vintage NOS display gauges and salvaged hardware (bow rail, bimini top frame, and windshields) except for the running lights. Mine will come at the very bottom end of the build cost ($12K-$18K), but that's mostly because I intend for it to be more of a working Great Lakes fishing boat that can also carry 10 people for simple lake cruising. I'll be building simple bench style seats and sewing my own cushions. I'll probably have 3 removable pedestal fishing seats, 2 in the back and one in the bow. I won't be going crazy on the electronics either... I don't need a 15" touch screen when a 7" does the exact same thing... eventually I will upgrade to a 50HP or 75HP Evinrude E-Tec DI motor, but I'll buy that used too.

On the flip side, once they are built in $40K-$50K range, they typically get insured for $90K-$120K replacement value by insurance companies after appraisals.

Yes, the couple that did the great loop in one was pretty sweet!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My wife and daughter left this morning to head to Gulf Shores. Yesterday I changed out the spark plugs, then in the afternoon I changed the wiper blades and replaced the burned out 3rd brake light bulb on the Pilot. The headlights were really oxidized and the Deep Woods Off trick no longer worked. AutoZone had an inexpensive restoration kit from Rustoleum on sale for $7.98. I thought, hey if it lasts a couple months or even makes a little improvement it's worth it to buy me time before I pull the lights and use one of the better kits...

Well, I guess I didn't get all of the oxidation off and the headlights were too hot because it streaked and then hazed. Not as bad as before and not as bad as the just sanded lights, but it pissed me off so I bought a second kit when I returned to AutoZone to exchange a wiper blade (wrong blade in the package). I waited until the temp dropped to about 85 and the sun was setting. Then sanded and polished until it really felt smooth.

That did the trick! HUGE improvement! You can still see a little haze on the top by the turn signals, but the critical part in front of the headlights is clear. For $10 regular price and $8 on sale I'm hugely impressed!

My template router base for the dovetail jig finally arrived at my local Home Depot too so now I can finish my trim on the work bench and work table!

Menards had Sylvania direct replacement T8 LED tubes on sale for $6 through today so I opened the commercial light fixture to make sure it only needed 3 bulbs and not 4.

It is a 3 bulb light so I picked up the LED tubes and I'll hang the light over my workbench and soon as I can.


And once the work bench/work table are out of the garage, I have to make room for this:

It's the Dewalt Hybrid table saw. My dad bought it and used it maybe 3 times. He's going to let me "borrow" it permanently. My mom has been on him to give it to me for a few years since he never uses it. I'm looking forward to having a decent table saw for cutting sheet goods, dadoes, and rabbits.


I've also decided to replace my MLO sub-panel in the garage with a higher circuit capacity 60A main breaker panel so I can add a few more dedicate 240V circuits. I'll never use more than two at a time, but I need provisions so I can move a welder around or run 3ph motors off a VFD with the 240V single-phase input. I need to get the garage rearranged again for the table saw and then I'll finish up some wiring before I start finishing the garage.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Well, I discovered the smallest main breaker panel is 100A. I don't need 100A in this garage and I'm pretty sure I sized the conduit and wiring for 60A and not 100A when I installed it in 2000. I oversized most of the wire in the house when I rewired everything, but only by one size to keep voltage drop to essentially zero. Oh well, I can just buy a larger MLO panel and cover, then move everything into it to get my extra circuit provisions. I'll just have to do that before I start putting up the plywood paneling. And no idea when that will happen so I have plenty of time.

My wife and daughter left Saturday morning for Gulf Shores with friends so it's just my son and I at home until Wednesday night. But of course work has me buried this week. And it's been hot and muggy so I have ZERO motivation to go out and sweat my a$$ off in the garage.

My son and I bummed it all weekend. We ran a few light errands and that was it.

We did make it to the library book sale first thing Saturday morning. In years past I have always scored some nice technical, hobby, or fishing books. Kind of slim pickings this year. I only found 3 for $1 each:

The garage book really doesn't give me much, if any new info, especially since I've been on GJ for over a decade. However, it is nice to have it so I can leave it out in the garage and use it for a couple of the project plans in it.

The motorcycle book has nice chapters on suspension setup and brakes that will be good for my builds, especially since a few bikes are getting sport bike forks.

Sunday afternoon I went out to the garage to really look at the ceiling and roof to determine the best course of action for the storage and my planned cathedral roof section since that is one feature I really like in -Brent-'s garage. I can't do the cool shelf and lighting like he has, but I can actually put the cathedral section in the middle of the garage and possibly add sky lights later.

I also decided I'm going to take out the last 6' 3-shelf HD shelving unit and replace it with a new 4' long, deeper HD unit from Menards. I need it deeper to better support the motorcycle engines and I'm going to cut down pallets to fit each engine so I can store them on the shelving instead of under my steel workbench. That also frees up the linear space I need for one of the black wire shelving units so I will actually gain a lot more storage space.

Menards is running the 11% rebate again tis week and I seriously thought about bringing home a new exterior man door for the garage and installing it before the wife returned... But then I thought the better of it. They run those sales often enough I can wait until October and grab the door and new storm doors for the house before it gets too cold.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My wife and daughter got home this evening from their vacation down at Gulf Shores. My wife said the Pilot ran great and that the quick restoration job on the headlights is great. So much more light now from the headlights.


It's been STUPID hot here this week. 96deg today with very high humidity and I was at a customer site starting up a new hydraulic unit in a big building with no A/C. Fortunately the building is huge so it wasn't an oven, but I was still sweating like crazy. However, my garage has been an oven all week and there won't be a break in the heat or humidity until the middle of next week at the earliest. So no work in the garage for me until this heat wave breaks.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I haven't done diddly in the garage for weeks...

I had to get a couple of projects at work wrapped up, then on 7/26 my 11yo son and I started a week long vacation together. For Christmas we got him tickets to DiggerlandUSA in New Berlin, NJ which is about 12-1/2 hours away. We made plans to meet my cousin and his son there on 7/28. So on that Wednesday we left and headed to just outside Dayton, OH to go to the Air Force Museum and Wright-Patterson AFB. Spent most of the day there and had a 3-1/2 drive to Wheeling, WV. I didn't know it, but there was a Cabela's at the exit of our hotel. Thursday morning we hit Cabela's and I got him a youth fly rod and reel. I *may* have picked up another fly rod for myself too. Then Thursday we drove 7 hours to Mount Laurel, NJ which was 15 minutes from Diggerland. Spent all day at Diggerland on Friday then drove 2 hours to my cousin's house in central NJ.

Another cousin was still in the States with her 7mo baby girl so it was great to see both of them. I hadn't seen my cousins in 15 years and had never met my cousin's kids. Saturday and Sunday were spent fishing, hanging out with the family, and teaching the kids how to tie flies for fly fishing. My son loved meeting everyone and playing with his second cousins.

We left Monday morning and drove 5 hours towards home and stopped at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house in PA. That was incredible and it had been on list for things to see for over 25 years. My son loved it too which was great. Then Tuesday we had about 8 hours of driving left to do, but we stopped at a toy & model train museum in Wheeling, WV for a couple hours, then drove to Cincy and stopped at Jungle Jim's to pick up Cincy Brats and Mets. That also let us kill time while rush hour traffic cleared out. We got home Tuesday night around 10pm after about 11-1/2 hours from when we left the hotel that morning. Our trip was fantastic and my son really couldn't pick a favorite part about it, even though the trip was centered around Diggerland. He loved Diggerland, but also loved everything else we did too so that was great. All told we drove 1900 miles in a week, but it never felt rushed or tiring. Wednesday we both just took it easy.

And then my Mac crashed when an update didn't apply correctly. The Time Machine backup restored the Mac, but my Win7 virtual machine in VM Ware didn't restore correctly, so I've spent the last 3 days trying different things and now I'm just copying the entire virtual C: drive to a USB HDD so I can reinstall Win7. I had gotten really lazy on backing up my email and documents in the Win7 vm because I had never had a Time Machine backup not restore both sides perfectly. Doh! Now I'm having to use the Command Prompt to do everything in DOS... Do you know how long it's been since I've had to use MS-DOS? Over 19 years! But so far it's working! Fingers-crossed.

I have two more really busy weeks ahead of me both at work and with my kids. My son starts middle school this Wednesday and next Wednesday we move his sister up to Purdue.

With everything going on my garage is a disaster again. I kind of just threw stuff in there over the last 4 weeks so I have to straighten it out... again.

 

[dchance]

Sounds like a great trip. I know that you are back but if ever close to Cincy there is a large model train museum in West Chester called Entertrainment. They are working models covering train history and development.

Dwight

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Sounds like a great trip. I know that you are back but if ever close to Cincy there is a large model train museum in West Chester called Entertrainment. They are working models covering train history and development.

Dwight

Ah cool! My uncle used to live in West Chester. We live about 3 hours from Cincy and my wife's aunt still lives there so we visit a few times a year, but I will definitely look it up and add it to my Things To Do with my son list.

Thanks!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Finally a little progress in the garage.

Saturday our weather was beautiful and perfect to spend a little time straightening the garage. I took advantage of it and finally assembled my NSF wire shelving units then pulled out the last of my old HD 3-shelf units.

The last of the old shelving units in the garage:

After taking everything off, tossing what I no longer use or needed, and disassembling the beast, the corner was clean:

I assembled two units using all of the shelves from the three units I bought. I measured the heights of the things that needed to go in the shelves to maximize my space and make sure I had enough height for my totes, 35 gallon water tank, and my plastic coffee tubs:

Moved the two new shelving units in place and leveled them. Man is it nice having leveling feet on these shelves. I still need to pick up the little tie clamps that hold two units together, but my local Menards has them so it's no big deal, I'll grab them this week:

Then I started putting things back on the shelves. Wow, does having more shelves at the right heights help! I actually have more stuff on these two units than I did on the one old one, but I have a lot of open shelves for stuff I plan to put up there. Hardest part was hefting my golf clubs up on top again. The new top shelves are about 6" taller and that made a bit more difficult:

I was amazed how much these new shelves improved that corner! It looks more open or light. Maybe it's because of the black color versus grey, or maybe it's the better organization, but the difference was surprising.




And one last pic of my three amigos. My running CX500 on the left, my KZ650 in the center that runs (but needs a new exhaust and a few minor things fixed), and my project GL1100 Goldwing:

 

[sean Buick 76]

Very cool bikes! My dad has a KZ650 he bought new and it still runs great!

You are not the only one who is making do without thier dream garage, many of us are. Hang in there!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Very cool bikes! My dad has a KZ650 he bought new and it still runs great!

You are not the only one who is making do without thier dream garage, many of us are. Hang in there!

Thanks Sean. The KZ650 was one of my bucket list bikes. I can't wait to get it finished properly.

I know, and it's better than no garage, but in a lot of ways, I'd rather have a deeper, narrower garage with a steeper pitched roof. I could use that space more efficiently for what I want to do. I'm just in a place where I can't justify spending much money on my current garage or building a new one.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Last Saturday was my county's ToxAway Day. Took over an hour to get through the line but I was able to dispose of 4 gallons of used motorcycle oil, 8 dead motorcycle batteries, and 20 old T12 fluorescent light tubes! I only have two 4' T12s and two 2' T12s left in the house in the laundry area. I thought about pulling them to get rid of them, but they're not easy to get to at the moment and my wife was doing laundry... so they'll have to wait. I really can't wait until all of the lighting in the house is switched over to LEDs. I switched to CFLs for most of my lights years ago, and now I'm switching to LED. The LED outdoor lighting is finally becoming equivalent to the halogen bulbs so I will be replacing my outdoor motion lights soon.

My wife is out of town tonight and tomorrow so I thought I might have a chance to work in the garage. I might get some time tomorrow afternoon. But, tonight I took my soon to a HS football game and tomorrow we're going to a Vintage Bus Rally then a British Car Show.

The weather also got really hot and muggy starting last weekend. Grrr. It's September. Bring on the cool Fall weather! Between my weekend schedules of family stuff and my buddy's, it doesn't look like I'll have a chance to get my plywood bead board until mid-October now.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

The vintage bus rally was really cool! My son loved it. I have about a dozen pics to post later...

 

[BoilermakerFan]

A few pics of the busses from the rally this past weekend...

The very first Greyhound "bus":

A 1931 Mack:

A row of Flxibles:

A 1926 Mack that was restored with amazing detail:

A Benz Limo:

And a whole lot of other busses, some restored, some converted to personal coaches:

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Learned a valuable lesson tonight...

The Sylvania SubstiTUBE LED T8 bulbs are only compatible with certain electronic ballasts. So while they are inexpensive and bright when they work, they aren't a universal direct replacement bulb like the Fein Electric bulbs that cost 3 times as much...

I put the SubstiTUBE LEDs in a nice hanging shop light I have in my basement work area last weekend. They came on for about 30 seconds then turned off. They did this multiple times. So I figured it was the ballast when I saw the fine print on the box.

Now the intersting part is, I put four of the SubstiTubes into two other T8 shop lights I have in my garage which are identical models bought from Menards. In one light they work great, no issues. In the other, they will kick off from time to time.

I had bought 3 more of the SubstiTUBE bulbs for my fancy 3-bulb ceiling fixture that will be replacing one of the garage shop lights. But now I have to completely open the light and check the ballast inside to make sure it's compatible. Sylvania has a list published on their web site, so at least it will be easy for this light. But if it's not compatible, I'm just going to return the SubstiTube bulbs and buy the Fein DR LED bulbs...

EDIT: I found a more complete compatibility chart and the Osram QTR ballast I bought IS compatible with the SubstiTUBEs. So I am going to replace the ballast in my basement shop light and see if that solves the issue.

Here is the link to the Sylvania compatibility chart: Sylvania SubstiTUBE Compatible Ballasts

So for dual tube T8 lights, it is cheaper to buy two SubstiTUBE bulbs and a new QTR ballast than it is to buy just the two Fein Direct Replacement bulbs. However, the Fein LED tubes are compatible with T8 and T12 ballasts, which is fantastic since they put out more light in T12 fixtures and I have six 4' T12 fixtures and one 2' T12 fixture.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

My motion activated lights on my garage are 17+ years old and (2) 75W bulbs per light... So 300W when both were on. Lately the bulbs were burning out quicker than they used too and I always install them with gloves and a fine rag to keep oil off the bulb. The one on the corner of my garage by the man door wouldn't work 2/3 of the time or it would stay on all night and trigger during the day to boot.

It was time to replace them and I wanted LED lights. The ones that are bright enough run $90+ and well, I'm a little cheap sometimes. So I decided to try a cheaper $35 PAR38 motion light and $10/ea 1300lumen 5K dimmable LED bulbs...

Getting them adjusted was a PITA, the sensor has limited range, but I managed to get them to an acceptable position. The sensor detects motion at our side gate too so that's a bonus. They don't have the full brightness adjustability of the most expensive LED motion lights, but they do have the option to be DtoD or come on at 50% for 3hrs or 6hrs at dusk. I set them at the 3hr setting which covers us for most of the time we would be coming in after dark. Once the time changes I may bump it to 6hrs, but I'll probably leave it at 3hrs since my wife usually goes to bed around 10pm and it does light up or back bedroom window a little.

So far I'm really happy with the light and the inexpensive LED bulbs. Definitely nice to save at least $40 over the cheapest 2000+ lumen LED motion light and I have the same lumen output as the $110 lights for half the cost. I'm going to go ahead and buy a second light and bulbs for above my garage door to replace that light too now that I know this less expensive option is working well.


And now that it has finally cooled off I've been going out in the garage more. Tonight I was able to empty out 2 more totes! So that is 4 emptied from the garage and one from my basement.

I have about 6 more totes to tackle and I'll be happy if I can get those six condensed down to 4. I also discovered that I still had three 1000' boxes of Cat5 wire out in the garage from when I rewired the entire house and garage 17 years ago. I'm not pulling any more Cat5 and probably won't even pull any new hard wire runs in the house except for a couple short runs of Cat6 in the basement for the GigaBit router so I'm hauling the wire to the recycling center. My buddy said it should at least put a few gallons of gas in my car or maybe cover the cost of a 6-pack of hard cider.

It's supposed to stay cool through the weekend, so the plan is to get the dovetails routed on my trim boards for the work table and work bench, then route the channels for the T-Track going in the top of my work bench. That should be the last of the huge dust generating operations in the garage. I'm planning to do all the cutting for my remaining projects out in the driveway with the doors closed.