Dryer fixed! Paint Ordered.

So, according to "The Appliance Guy" and his website there are 4 things that usually go out on a dryer, and it's worth replacing all four while you are in there: the igniter, the gas valve coils, the flame sensor, and the overtemp fusible link. The website I ordered from was out of the fusible link, so I put three of the four parts in and the dryer works. Now, on to the boat.

Today I chatted online with 'Jack' at Jamestown Distributors. Based on his recommendations I ordered some finishes for my boat. 1 quart of Fire Red Interlux Brightside, one quart of Blue-glo White Brightside, and one quart of Epifanes CV1000 gloss varnish for the topside. Oh, and a few other things.

Now it's up to UPS.

Pedal the Cause is coming up in 9 days or so. I'm riding the 25 mile route so I have been preparing. I took the bike out for a 12 mile ride today - the bugs were disgusting and are what caused me to cut the ride short. Maybe tomorrow I'll go earlier in the day or something.

Pictures of the interior construction.

Pictures of the interior. No progress. Still collecting info.

The tasks at hand: Boat, dryer

So the few things that need to be done to this boat are mostly cosmetic. The bottom and sides need to be sanded and painted and the top needs to be re-varnished. I went poking around the internet and found the website of a highly recommended supplier, Jamestown Distributors. They have way too many paints to choose from ranging in price from 20 dollars to 200 dollars a gallon.

I suspect I will need 3 different finishes - 1 for the fiberglassed bottom, one for the wooden sides, and clear varnish for the top. I sent Jamestown an e-mail asking for recommendations. Advice is welcomed.

I'm trying to join the Wooden Boat forums, at forum.woodenboat.com, but it seems I am waiting for some unknown person to approve my account.

Not much boat work will get done this week, but I will order supplies.

Oh, the clothes dryer went out. New coils, flame sensor and igniter are on the way. Another project.

Boat Acquired!

Yesterday I bought a boat. You probably do not remember that I built a cajun pirogue last year- it turned out pretty good and was a nice looking plywood boat. I then proceeded to try and fiberglass the boat and all hell broke loose. It got cold over the weekend I was working and the epoxy didn't set up for almost a week. The cloth refused to lay down over the edges and would pop up while sitting there waiting for the epoxy to dry. It was a mess. A 12 year old girl and her father adopted the boat with the plan to sand off most of the fiberglass and try again with a very light cloth that might match the contours better. I never heard back from them... I never lost the itch for a wooden boat either.

So yesterday, Saturday September 25th, 2010, I adopted a factory built wooden boat. It's a 1952 TonkaCraft double cockpit Runabout built by Minnetonka Boat Works in Wayzata, MN. It is currently sporting a modern 25hp Evinrude, but maybe in the future I'll repower with a engine of the correct vintage? But maybe not, this thing has electric start, choke, prime, etc.

The boat has had a West System glass bottom put on it, painted red, and the sides of the boat are painted white. The eye catching (and redeeming) part of this boat is the top side. The deck is planked longitudinally with alternating strips of what appears to be light and dark fir. It's looks very cool.

The trailer... well, I dragged it home 40 miles without any issues! The two new tires that are on it are easily worth more than the rest of the trailer and it was never intended for this boat so it was about 18 inches wider than needed (that's right, *was*, I fixed it with a reciprocating saw). It needs a few bits welded and adjusted, but hey - the price was right.

Amazingly I got all three titles for the equipment and will be going to visit the tax man this week - just to keep it all legal.

More pictures to follow. For now, I need to get sanding.