Above 1200 Sq/FT Plugger Workshop

[Jacko264]

The anchor you use is the same as we use when narrow boating .
The boats we hire are 68ft long and we have done it for about 10 years

 

[Prospecter]

We love watching the narrow boat videos, especially the ones narrated by the actor and actress whose names escape me at the moment. It all looks so pleasant, relaxing, and fun. (Just remembered the actress is named Prudence.)

 

[sawduststeve]

We love watching the narrow boat videos, especially the ones narrated by the actor and actress whose names escape me at the moment. It all looks so pleasant, relaxing, and fun. (Just remembered the actress is named Prudence.)

Prunella Scales and Timothy West.

Sadly Timothy has recently died and Pru has such advanced dementia that she more than likely doesn’t realise.
It’s all very sad.
Purenlla was Sybil Fawlty, to John Cleese’s Basil.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I got a kick out of the “Moaning Chair”, I will have to rechristen my chair with the new moniker.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I got a kick out of the “Moaning Chair”, I will have to rechristen my chair with the new moniker.

Lately, every chair is a moaning chair.

 

[Jacko264]

I’m not stalking you I promise.
but did you know in four days it is a year when you started this
thread

 

[Prospecter]

I’m not stalking you I promise.
but did you know in four days it is a year when you started this
thread

Thanks for mentioning it. I hadn't even thought about it! I just meander from project to project as time, needs, energy, and interest dictate. It's good to have stuff that needs doing, even in retirement.

 

[Jacko264]

I know what you mean I’m 69 years young in July and work harder then before I retired 🫣🫣

 

[rharman]

Lately, every chair is a moaning chair.

Yeah, but they're just that when you try to get out of them.

 

[Mr onetwo]

the true seat of high contemplation

 

[Jacko264]

I can’t remember posting that picture of me on the loo

 

[Prospecter]

Some photos from the past week.

Assembling a rope organizer from a piece of old cherry cabinet, and some salvage stainless hardware.

Repairing a splitter tire. It's annoying how often they fail, but since I have 10 tires of this size and split rim style, it is a relief that it is so easy and inexpensive to change tubes. I have a few spare rims and treads, and keep the tubes in stock, so I replaced the flat and then changed out the tube at my leisure.

Safety wires (3) for a shackle connecting anchor chain and rope.

Bulbs are in bloom at our house, but not yet in the Katahdin Region. Plenty of snow still on Katahdin. It will be there well into summer.

Next step on the porch project (up north) is to replace shingles destroyed by the previous owner's dog. Much easier to weave in replacement shingles, than to reshingle the whole wall.

 

[Prospecter]

A small amount of snow left in the fields up north..

Some chairs that I worked on last winter have found a home.

Porch shingle repair is done. I ran out of shingles, but some some I had left over as shims from another project. The left overs were exactly enough. . . Zero left overs!!!!!

 

[Prospecter]

A sample of the wiring mess I am slowly getting sorted out. No box. Overloaded circuit. Maybe the NEC doesn't apply up here?

 

[Prospecter]

This is a good time to find and clean up assorted old dumping spots before they are covered by foliage, and then snow. (Northern Maine has not yet leafed out.) Quite relieved to discover that all but one of those 5 gallon pails only contained rainwater. The one filled with some sort of gear oil was still intact, so disaster averted. All the trash, pallets, buckets, metal, tires were moved to the cement pad where I sorted everything. The pallets can be burned on a wet day. Metal, buckets, and trash will go to the transfer station. Not sure yet about truck tires and watery lube oil buckets.

While picking up assorted trash, many interesting rocks were discovered which followed us home for the garden.

 

[drivesitfar]

Great to see it’s warming up for you. I bet you’ll be very busy the next few weeks and months so I guess rest season is about over for you.

 

[Prospecter]

I always like your invariably positive comments! I don't think I have a rest season, though definitely we have seasons! Furniture repair season, plow season, and boat repair season are over. Planting, mowing, and firewood seasons are beginning. Always family stuff to do. But mostly, every day is busy and purposeful, and leaves me content. From where I stand, your life appears similar.

 

[Prospecter]

Over the years, I've noticed folks I've followed on GJ seem to post less May - September. Now I am guilty of that, too. So some catching up to do. Here's a start on activities since we last tuned in.

Close up of "Pretty" rocks for the garden.


I reworked the travel supports for the boat mast, so that I could get through my 7' garage doors without taking off the mast.

Oil change. Last one for this van, probably, since a replacement is pending.

Emergency repair to a hummingbird feeder.

More mast hanger work. (Pics are in chronological order. I sometimes skip around a lot on projects.)

 

[Prospecter]

More mast work. The standing rigging needed some love, including bent turnbuckle parts, which came from my stock of salvage parts. Racks for fenders and miscellaneous lines also were assembled from salvage stock, and glued in place with 5200. I avoided 5200 for years, until I discovered the de-bonder spray that makes repairs with 5200 reversible.

 

[Prospecter]

The mast clears the doorway.
Mast is up for the first time. This took some finagling to get all the shrouds adjusted so they could be connected.
Progress on "The Great Clean-up!"

 

[Jacko264]

Hi Mate
I am so jealous You have every thing you need.
keep up the great work and keep posting
G

 

[Prospecter]

More garden rocks

.

Spring foliage.
Sails up temporarily to determine condition. (Not bad for 50 year old sails!)
Hose guide as requested. Welds are fair on one side, bubblegum on the other. Good enough for now.

 

[Prospecter]

Hi Mate
I am so jealous You have every thing you need.
keep up the great work and keep posting
G

We're very content. Thank you.

 

[Jacko264]

You are more then welcome
Graham

 

[Prospecter]

We filled in some skips in our fruit trees. One apple, and 7 peach trees.
Sorting turn buckles at Maine Marine Salvage. I emptied the black bin in the back of the picture. Put all the large (heavy) ones back, and sorted through those that would work for us. Saving on turnbuckles was a big deal. Two TBs paid for gas, pizza, tolls, and everything we bought at the salvage place. We needed 6! We also sorted through shackles and pins, matching the shackles from one bin to the pins in the other. We picked up quite a few other pieces of hardware, and a fair amount of mostly mahogany.

 

[Prospecter]

More salvage yard photos and some of our booty!

 

[Prospecter]

And salvaged wood.

 

[drivesitfar]

looks like you are very busy and that your weather looks great again. just curious if you've ever tried to keep your fruit trees short even if not a dwarf variety? We have a fig tree we keep to 8 foot tall and we get about 100 good figs in a crop if the birds don't get them first. we've thought of putting Toule (not sure the correct spelling) type net over ours when the figs get close cause OMG they are tasty if you let them ripen on the tree.

I saw a video where a guy took an apple and a pear tree and cut them off at the first bud or branch when planting them to keep the fruit at reasonable height for harvest/picking them when they are ripe. not sure if it might work, but we have a few spots we can put in a few more small fruit trees and we love fresh fruit.

that marine salvage looks like my storage unit almost. I have more hardware than I'll ever need that is for certain, but a long time ago I bought bulk and estate sales because I never wanted to have to run to the store to get anything. the issue with that is not only space to have it handy, but also to know where to find it. I kinda know where most of the stuff is, but I know i've bought things at HD or the Tacoma Screw that I had a hundred or more of and couldn't find them when I needed it.

I might have heavy duty turnbuckles about a foot or more long without the end screw in pieces you might need if you might need a few more you can have for shipping cost. the bigger ones take a 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch screw, but I have a few smaller ones too.

have a great day!!

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Looks like you found the honey hole for sailing hardware. Years ago I had an old wood sailboat which came to rest in a variety of locations.
Brass hardware went to South Carolina
Egyptian Cotton sails (mottled red) California
Trailer stayed local
The boat itself was sunk in a northern Saskatchewan. Lake. This lake has a diving bell and used for scuba certification. At the time my boat went down it joined another old sailboat, airplane, skidoos and I guess a mess of porcelain bathroom fixtures. These just added interest and something to swim about while diving. This was about 30 years ago so I don’t know if more articles have been added or not. Any grease, oil was removed/cleaned so not to disturb the eco system.
Boom, rudder assembly and mast - I kept

 

[Prospecter]

looks like you are very busy and that your weather looks great again. just curious if you've ever tried to keep your fruit trees short even if not a dwarf variety? We have a fig tree we keep to 8 foot tall and we get about 100 good figs in a crop if the birds don't get them first. we've thought of putting Toule (not sure the correct spelling) type net over ours when the figs get close cause OMG they are tasty if you let them ripen on the tree.

I saw a video where a guy took an apple and a pear tree and cut them off at the first bud or branch when planting them to keep the fruit at reasonable height for harvest/picking them when they are ripe. not sure if it might work, but we have a few spots we can put in a few more small fruit trees and we love fresh fruit.

that marine salvage looks like my storage unit almost. I have more hardware than I'll ever need that is for certain, but a long time ago I bought bulk and estate sales because I never wanted to have to run to the store to get anything. the issue with that is not only space to have it handy, but also to know where to find it. I kinda know where most of the stuff is, but I know i've bought things at HD or the Tacoma Screw that I had a hundred or more of and couldn't find them when I needed it.

I might have heavy duty turnbuckles about a foot or more long without the end screw in pieces you might need if you might need a few more you can have for shipping cost. the bigger ones take a 1/2 inch or 5/8 inch screw, but I have a few smaller ones too.

have a great day!!

Drives: Our trees are mostly semi-dwarf. I do prune them short. . . more so now than in the past. They arrive pre-pruned, so I don't take anything more off the first year, (although our deer do sometimes help out with the pruning more than I think necessary). Eight feet is also the top end of what I am trying for. We also are running out of room. Lots of ground, but not so much suitable for growing fruit trees. We have maybe 50+ fruit trees, so mostly we are doing replacements as needed. My Dad (son of an apple / cherry tree farmer) always said that if you always plant trees twice as far apart as you think you need to they would be almost far enough apart. I find that to be true. I did not finish pruning this year. I have a difficult time "seeing" how to prune the trees, so I do all the trees lightly, then come back around again for another go. It usually takes about four cycles to get everything the way I want it. This year, I only got in two cycles. Too busy.

Deer, turkeys, coyotes, and crows have discovered the apple trees, which is a good thing. They mostly leave the fruit alone until we harvest, and will clean up all the leftover fruit, which limits disease and pests. We don't do cherries anymore, because we can't control the alternate disease hosts. (Rust, I think?) The birds were more of a problem for those. Figs would be wonderful. I don't think I can grow them here.

Thanks for the turnbuckle offer. The shipping would be more than I pay for the hardware at MMS. The trick there is to be nice, and to buy lots. Most people haggle, but they are so nice, and so fair, that I just pay what they ask. I actually think I do better than the people who haggle. Even so, I saw a guy offer $20 for some rope and hardware worth at least $400. He got it for $30.

I wouldn't even know how to estimate how much I saved, except I think I pay maybe 10% of new? My theory on hardware is 1. to let the vendors store it for me until I need it. 2. When I buy, I usually buy a box, since having used it once, I will need it again. At this point, I usually have what I need, and not what I don't need. I like open bins with labels for storage.

The boat hardware is an exception. MMS is going out of business either this month or next. At 10% of new, I am stocking up on stuff I might need. Going back down to Portland tomorrow with measurements for sails and winches.

 

[Prospecter]

Pontiac: A U-Pic and Salvage for sailboats is unique. I have been fortunate. MMS' plan is to sell their location, and save their antiques, and brass stuff for a store more centrally located and tourist friendly in Portland. The folks "From Away" have more money to spend on brass and antiques. Many big boat owners don't have time or interest in salvage. Those that can afford those boats don't need to worry about the price of new.

I have less in my boat (if you don't count my time) than the sales tax on a new one.

Wooden boats are very pretty, but take soooo much love and work. I think their hole in the water is much wider and deeper, so more room to throw $$$$, than the holes for fiberglass and aluminum boats. Still, I think I would display the sentimental parts saved, at least in my shop.

I had a larger, 26' fiberglass sailboat. Sold to a guy who cut the keel off, and sold it as a ready made tiny house.

 

[Prospecter]

3 Day weekends aren't quite the big deal now all days are weekend days, but still. I am closing in on my Northern list. I burned wood from a farm dump yesterday. Raining, so I just sat in the car and read a book while I kept an eye on the fire.

My Maine Marine Salvage U Pic boat junkyard is going out of business. I made an extra trip for more mahogony, some sails, and extra hardware. Also picked up a parts winch, since mine are unobtanium made by a company long out of business.




Planting time on the Mid Coast. Mrs. P. is planting her saved seeds. She cuts the sides out of bags of potting soil (Sam's Club size bags) and plants one kind of seed in each bag.

Meanwhile, I was able to begin tilling. The soil looks quite a bit better after the amendments last fall.

 

[Prospecter]

Marigold seed half covered. Hummingbird feeders are busy. A hardy azalea in amongst the daffodils to provide some interest as the daffodils go by.
Junk guy taking away some old steel and aluminum. Aside from the big stuff, I also accumulate my scraps, bent nails, cross theaded bolts, stripped screws, etc. He takes it all. Included was the broken gooseneck that I replaced from the boom. (Connects the boom to the mast.) Took some finagling, lots of pliers, and a cotter pin puller to make the change. The new gooseneck fitting is much stronger.
Mid-coast has greened up quite a bit.
Burning junk wood up North. Very nice to burn in the rain. No risk of the fire getting away from me.

 

[drivesitfar]

I’m wondering if you had maybe a greenhouse or somewhere to start your seeds growing before you plant if it might help them produce more since I think your growing season is even shorter than ours?

Sorry to hear that one of your favorite second hand stores is closing cause I know how valuable those are.

I used to love throwing branches, brush and such on my gramps burn piles when he was clearing land cause he did that a lot. He was a logger but in off season he’d put his big bulldozers to work in the valleys while the mountains were full of snow around here.

Have a great holiday weekend even if your days are mostly Saturdays and a Sunday now.

 

[Prospecter]

Burn piles are fun. Mostly. Our holiday weekend is typically rainy. As long as we have lived here, it seems like rain figures prominently in Memorial Day Weekend weather. It is also the official start of Maine gardening weather.

A greenhouse would definitely make a difference for seed starting. My Dad always got his seedlings into cold frames as quickly as possible to harden them off. I've been playing with starting seeds in milk bottles. The seeds just sit inside until conditions are right, and then they begin to grow. Since the milk bottles are outside, the plants don't need to harden off, other than to sit in shade for a couple days after I cut the tops off.

 

[Prospecter]

These are the wood portions of the Farm Dump in Benedicta. I took a trailer load of metal to the transfer station today. A lot of tractor trailer brake shoes, clutches, a 55 gallon drum of parts, a truck bumper. Easy to load with the tractor. Hard to unload. An Amish fellow and his son were waiting for me to unload, and came over to help. Much appreciated. I have decided not to pursue a career as a truck or heavy equipment mechanic.

Not everyone's thing, but I am quite partial to dandelions in bloom. I mow around the thickest patches until they go to seed. I also avoid the violets and wild strawberries, which bloom in the lawn at the same time.

Managed to get stuck, twice, mowing the grass. These are actually tractor ruts from pulling out the zero turn. When I get stuck in the mud, I am serious about it!

A little bit of farm spiffiness.

 

[drivesitfar]

Just for the fun of it google dandelions and see how healthy they are?

One of these days I’ll catch up on your thread but in the meantime keep up the great work and take a little time to smell roses with your bride even if it’s a sit down on the cool porch.

 

[Prospecter]

The trillium are in bloom.
Picking the mast off the boat. The mast is 40 lbs, so not super heavy, but awkward. Using the tractor and forks is very convenient.
Pansy volunteers are in bloom. These self seeded from last year.
The pale flowers are "Cuckoo Flowers) and are native. We transplanted some to the foundation and lawn, hoping they will spread.
Some river birches in the field. We don't plant trees in the numbers we used to. Only 15 this year.
It's been quite chilly lately, which gave me an excuse to burn some wood scraps. Good to be Mia's hero.

 

[Prospecter]

And today's efforts. . .
Picking bits of metal for the metal run to the transfer station. The trailer load doesn't look like much, but it squatted the springs and tires. I made a second run with household trash and a rain soaked old carpet. (Too bad it didn't go to the transfer station when it was dry!) Generally I sort the trash at home. Just metal in one trip. Just trash in another. And so on. Saves picking through the trailer when I am in line.

I have started another wood burn pile. I can get a burn permit for a 20'x20' pile, which is much as I want to tackle at one time. The concrete sections are 10'x10', so it is easy to estimate the pile. No height restrictions, but I try to keep the pile below the top of the wall.

Wishing you many adventures ahead on this official start to the summer season. And good memories of our friends and relatives who served.

 

[jon72vega]

You captured some very pretty flower pictures.
Those are some deep tractor tire ruts.