Every time I opened the paper or turned on the radio – inflation, inflation.

Every time my wife came back from the grocery store – prices up, prices up. Time to do something. So I resolved to start making our own bread (also my own wine but that is another story). I bought a bread machine.

While it will make a 2 lb. loaf I have generally been making a one pound loaf using 50-50 whole wheat and white
flour. My cost savings, get this, 48%.

You old dudes out there will remember that saying from our youth “the greatest thing since sliced bread”. Well that is the problem with baking your own bread, it is not sliced. So using some acrylic offcuts and a bit of Starboard etc. I made a bread slicing jig. It works with an electric knife that otherwise only gets used to slice the turkey at Christmas. Drop the loaf in, crank up the knife, follow the slots and voila – sliced bread. Without this slicing solution making your own bread soon becomes a PITA.
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Have problem? Think plastic. You may find a solution there.

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, but…… I know it has been a long time since I wrote anything.
No more writings about boats. No more boat. I sold my boat. Here is why:

​My last boat was a Tolly 24, a big step down but I could handle it myself and did not need the assistance of my reluctant wife. I was anchored in Nanaimo harbour, with probably 20 other boats within shouting distance. Off I go in the dingy to get provisions. On my return I did that age old blunder, one foot on the swim grid and one foot on the dingy, and the distance is getting bigger until – plunk, I am in the water. Even at my advanced age I was able to scramble out, and there was really no danger with all the other boats at anchor nearby. But boating alone I was frequently at anchor in some bay where I am the only boat. What if this mishap occurred there? What if I could not get out of the water? Time to sell the boat. Time to move on.
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What should I do now? With time on my hands and dollars in my pocket I thought back (many many years) to my high school days in Saskatchewan where I had had worked on a metal lathe.

So I acquired a metal lathe, followed by a big geared drill press, a power hack saw, and a band saw. Heck, why stop there, so followed a mill and a wood lathe. Most of these were used items. Now what to do? After the familiarization time had passed I decided to CNC the metal lathe, a BIG project. Lots and lots of research, lots and lots of time sourcing items and then the installation which took the least time of all. And how did it turn out? The installation went fine and the machine worked fine. But programming the machine was a nightmare. I could spend a week writing and debugging a program and then 30 minutes to produce my one off part. It drove me crazy. What to do? 

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To cover up the worst of the cracks and rust stains, and to strengthen the whole area, I thought I would put a fiberglass plate on the outside and under the base of the stern light, and also put a plastic backing plate on the inside where the bolts went through.

I had previously made some flat fiberglass panels which I knew would come in handy for various projects. The panels were made using a sheet of melamine fiberboard as a layup table. Fiberglass resin will not stick to the melamine so no waxing or prep is needed. These panels were made by painting on a layer of white unwaxed gel coat, letting that set up, and then overlaying this with 2 layers of 1.5 oz fiberglass mat. However these stock panels were quite flexible, thus I added a layer of combo mat to stiffen up the fiberglass for this project.

I had made a paper template of the shape I wanted, which was then transferred to the fiberglass panel and cut out using a jig saw. The edges of the oval shaped cutout were then filed and sanded to make them smooth and to give a small radius on the top edge. (This is where I say –I wish I had taken more pictures.) Next the fiberglass shape was painted, using Endura, a high end two part paint. The colour is Oyster White, which is a close match to the Tolly off-white gel coat. The paint was left over from my cabin door project, described earlier, although for the door project I had a body shop apply the paint. Here I just brushed on a heavy coat and let it self-level.

The base of the light post was then used as a template to match drill holes in the fiberglass panel. A hole was also drilled for the wires to come through. For the inside backing plate I used a piece of 1/4” ABS, a circle 1” in diameter bigger than the base of the light post. In the ABS I then drilled a hole for the wire and one bolt hole. To the back of the fiberglass plate I applied some caulking around all the holes, which along with some masking tape held the plate to the stern of the boat. I then inserted one bolt through the metal base, through the fiberglass plate, through the wall of the boat, and eventually through the ABS backing plate on the inside of the boat, and put on a nut and washer. With everything now all lined up I could drill through the existing holes from the outside to make the final 2 holes in the ABS inside backing plate. Now everything could be tightened up, wiring completed, and the light post reattached to the base.

By the way, this project was only possible because of the air vent on the rear side of the boat. I was able to remove the vent and the hole was just large enough and close enough for my arm to reach the bolts from the inside, but it was a stretch. And I will avoid going into detail about assembling it without the wires going through and other similar distractions, such as my glasses falling overboard, and …………

This is the new very skookum fairlead. The original one in the picture is great for tying up at the dock but not for towing, and is designed for the rope to led aft only. 

Oh yes, and that alarm which led to the tow and all this fairlead business – it was my newly installed depth sounder that had not been programmed properly.

The steering seat on the upper deck lifts off quite easily, and the pedestal it sits on is a hollow tube.  Thus I can just remove the seat and store it on the deck, drop a wooden rod into the seat holder, put the fiberglass plate on top of the wooden rod and zip up the cover.  The cover now has slope to shed the rain and prevent it from ponding.

The fiberglass rods were then inserted into the tubing and cut to length to give a fan effect providing a sort of canopy over the cover.  This has proved very effective in keeping the birds off.  It has not been necessary to fasten the fiberglass rods to the metal tubes, they just slip in and none has ever worked its way out.  This makes removal easy.  I just pull the rods out and store them on the upper deck between the seats and the outside edge.  The rod holder remains bolted to the upper rail and only needs to be removed when the winter cover goes on.

This is part of the console of the upper helm station of Morning Star, my 26’ Tollycraft. Shown here is the depth gauge which I installed some time ago and holes from installs done by previous owners. I assumed the depth gauge was water tight, it is not. Returning recently in the rain the gauge began to malfunction, but luckily returned to normal when it dried out. Time for a cover up, and while I am at it why not cover up the ugly holes in the vicinity.

What I came up with was a plate which would go under the depth sounder and cover up the screw holes. A water proof cover would then go over the sounder and be glued to the plate. To cover the hole in the vertical step in the dash I would mount a box on the stepped up part of the dash, and the front of the box would come down below the bottom of the box to cover up the hole in the vertical step. The front of the box would come down to, but not be joined to, the plate under the sounder.

While it seems like the plexi stands out I can guarantee you that no one except an experienced boater will notice it. No one has yet commented on the hole that was there.

The way it was, books on top, charts buried below.  The little lip on the inside of the drawer is to strengthen the sides of the drawer where the drawer sliders are attached.  I can make use of that!
 
My idea was to make a tray that would sit on the lip at the sides of the drawer.  I would give the tray hand holds to make it easy to lift the tray out.  To contain the books that would sit on the bottom of the drawer I would make another tray.  Heck, let’s make two trays.

Now days I just give a drawing to Alex, our CNC man, and he programs and computer cuts the pieces.  The pieces will be cut from 1/4” clear acrylic (plexiglass).  I know I said I make the trays, but really I give the pieces to Jay, our Sri Lankan, Canadian lead fabricator, and Jay does the assembly.  By the way Jay is a true sailor, having worked for many years on ocean going freighters, and literally having sailed the seven seas.
 
The computer cut pieces are bent, the sides are solvent welded on, the units are dressed up by flame polishing with a hydrogen/oxygen torch and voila!

And how did it all work out – great!  One of the bottom trays holds all the books, leaving the other tray soon to be filled, which will not be a problem.  The top tray lifts out easily, holds all the charts with room for a few more, is a big organizational improvement, and looks good to boot.  A thing of beauty and a joy forever!  Hey it’s my blog and I can wax poetic if I want.