Canoe Trailer Progress

   I have made good progress the last couple of weekends on this crazy project.  Uprights for the box have been installed, and my home-built "trusses" that have a slight slope.  

My home-built trusses are just 2x4s ripped down on an angle to allow a pitch for rain to not puddle up.

I also added in some inside corner trim.  I thought water from rainy roads may penetrate from underneath at the edge, so I used a piece of cedar (from the old built-in shelves of the fireplace room) to trim out that potential path.  Most of this wood I've used in this project is free: from shipping crates from big equipment at work, so I'm happy to re-use some of my old scraps from the house, too.

Tuba Christmas

This past weekend was the first "Tuba Christmas" that Kiddo #1 was able to play in.  It all sounded just great!  

Here's a picture of Wife with her little bitty euphonium,

 and Kiddo #1 with her well-loved tuba.

Happy Trails, Old Pickup

My old 1964 Chevy truck is gone.  But it's not a sad day, because I'm very happy to see it go to a wonderful lady.  A friend at work mentioned many weeks ago that his wife would be very interested in it.  In the end, it went to her.

So congratulations, old pickup truck.  You found a good and happy home!  Your new owner looks overjoyed!

Canoe Trailer Progress

Busy days, so slow progress, but I do get an occasional hour or two to continue work on this project.

I have the floor nearly finished.  I used 2x4s, and made what looks like a box frame for a bed.  I chose to keep those 2x4s flat just to keep things as low as possible.

Then, using some nice plywood from crates from work, I put down the floor.

Yeah - all this is just cheap pine, but I plan to waterproof it with leftovers from my front porch project.  And if it starts rotting away in a few years, I can just easily replace it.

Next to do:  Start building the sides of the box.  I'm initially thinking an 18 inch open space will be just right - right for packs, coolers, and totes, and just the right height for loading canoes on top without pushing them over our heads.

Flying Around Purdue

This past week, a friend stopped by the office in the middle of the afternoon and asked if I wanted to go flying with him.  He had to do a couple of "touch and goes" to maintain his pilot certification.  

I said, "Sure, let's go!"  So we went!

Here's the cool ride we were in.  I think it is a Piper - a Purdue owned plane that we rented for the afternoon.

Here's a cool view of State Street looking eastward.

You can see Stewart Center easily.

We even buzzed over the house and circled around it a few times.  

It's been a long long time since I have flown in a little plane, and by the end of the flight, I was getting a little dizzy.  I recovered pretty quickly once we landed.

Drew, you're a good pilot!  Thanks for the air time!!

Pics for a Friend

Trailer progress:  Painted axle assembly, and new wheels

I also dug my old welder out, knocked off the cobwebs, and worked on my memory on how to use Flux Core welding.  It's kind of like riding a bike - it comes right back to you.

Welded up some holes in the main beam of the trailer.  A fun challenge.

Next step - add some more structural steel to the main beam - I feel it may be a little weak in areas.

Canoe Trailer - design thoughts

Drawing up some plans in AutoCad gives me a few ideas on how things will fit, and move and work together.  

My latest crazy plan is to have a little storage box under the 2 canoes with a top that tips up.  I envision needing access to the box as we travel, and the difficulty comes with 2 canoes on top.  I don't want to unstrap them to get to the storage box.  Perhaps this is one idea.  

Nothing is set in stone yet.  We'll see what evolves.

Today, I plan to weld on the axle and straighten it back out.  It was sagging a bit (about 0.75 inches) in the center.  I bought some steel, and fabricated some special supports, and I plan to attach those today if all goes well.  And if today goes well, I plan to prime and paint the axle assembly Sunday!

Canoe Trailer

What?  Another project?  But you haven't finished the last one, or the one before that?

Yeah, yeah.  I know.  I'm a collector of projects evidently.

When transporting our canoes on top of the van, it's always a bit dicey.  Sure, they're lashed down as well as can be, and having 2 canoes side-by-side seems to help each other out.  But still they are big air-grabbing kites up there.  While you can go about 55 to 60 mph, I'd like to be able to feel safer to go a bit faster for those long 700 mile treks up to the Boundary Waters. 

So, a trailer is in order.  If I can get the canoes in the "wind shadow" of the van, they won't grab near as much air.  I also can stretch out the cross bars significantly, and that will only add to the stability.  (On top of the van, the cross bars are 37 inches apart.  On a trailer, I can make them as far apart as I want - perhaps like 8 feet!). 

I got a trailer from a friend at work.  He was cleaning up his yard and found a trailer in it, so I was able to drag it home.  It's not much to look at, and it is super light duty, but it should work just fine.  I need to stretch out the tongue a bit, and pound it back to straight, and add some wiring and lights, and remove the carpenter ants, but the title is clear and good.  Price was free, so that was an advantage, too.

Two New Family Members

Welcome Guinea Pig #1 and Guinea Pig #2.  They arrived today as the result of a Craigslist transaction.  Yet unnamed, I'm sure they will have, in the near future, very interesting and silly names concocted by the kids.

Back to School

Back to the routine!  Kids are now in 7th, 5th, and 1st grade!!

My Athletic Boys

Boy #1 is showing off his high-jumping 

skills with his Stomp Rocket:

Boy #2 is showing off his muscles 

complete with intimidating face:

The Barn Loft

I've been mulling over the idea of making a loft in the barn. 
A few things have led me to this idea:

• There's alot of wasted space up there
• It could be a cool play area for kids
• It will help with storage of that divorced lady's stuff that I've been storing for 2.5 years (free of charge).  I've moved her stuff perhaps a dozen times within my barn, and I'm getting rather tired of it all.

So, in the midst of my TV Room Remodel project, I started this new big project.

Perhaps the hardest part was simply clearing out the back 8 feet of the barn to have some work area.  I had to move that big metal storage rack over to the south wall.

I decided not to move my 10,000 pounds of firewood, too.  I simply climbed over it and on top of it to work those final few joists.

The floor height of the new loft is 8 feet above the cement floor.  It will get a little short the further you get away from the centerline, but hey, this is just storage.

The loft spans the entire width of my barn (36 feet) and is 8 feet wide.  I added a stairwell (not complete) for a couple of reasons.  It makes it real easy to get up and down, and because I've never cut a stair stringer before.  I had a friend at work (carpenter) help me with the math, and I now understand it's not as bad as I initially thought!

Yet to do: 
1.  Finish the other stair stringer, and add the steps
2.  Deck out the loft with plywood

Drywall Arch for DIY

Remodeling our TV room, I wanted to give it a little pizzazz.  I've always wanted to do a drywall arch, but never had the opportunity.  Here it is.

I formed my arch with plywood sandwich a 2x4.  The actual arch is simply small chunks of 2x4 cut up and glued in place.  

Each segment is perhaps 1.5 inches long.  I glued them across the entire archway on one plywood sheets with the arch already cut out with a jig saw.  

With that plywood and glued-arch assembly, I simply attached the mating half of plywood.

Arched corner bead is nice to work with.  I simply stapled it into my wood arch area.

No picture, but mudding the arch was simple, too.  I used the good bonding mud that dries pretty hard, and it's turning out real nice.  

All is Well

I went back to my home town this afternoon for a family friend's viewing.  It was good to see all my old friends again.  When I got home, I took a walk outside after kids got tucked away in their cozy beds.  I found a nice sunset illuminating the back yard.  It makes me think we're all right where we're supposed to be.

TV Room Remodel Progress

Well, progress on our TV room is slow, but I think it is positive. 

A couple of weeks ago, we rented a drywall sander, and sanded off all the popcorn ceiling.  I have learned that what we had was not the true "popcorn" but rather just drywall compound mudded onto the ceiling, and then dabbed with a sponge for texture.  It was rock hard, and it took many hours of sweat with that rental unit.  At the end of the day, we actually blew up the driveshaft going to the sanding head of the sander.  That is definitely some hard hard spackle.

We also ordered some cabinets from Home Depot.  We chose them because the depth is correct (12 inches), and they were slightly taller to match the shelves that we were used to in that room (42" inches tall), and they were the right width (2 cabinets of 30 inches wide for a total of a 60 inch cabinet).  I brought them into the room this afternoon, and they look like a good fit.

The plan now is to add a little bump-out wall on each side of the cabinets to make them look "built in".  That little bump out section will go all the way up to the ceiling, and then I'll add an eyebrow arch at the top to connect the two.  I'll add some nice lighting for ambiance of artwork. 

I have it all drawn out on AutoCad, but to see it starting in real life is just as neat.  I hope I can take off a week from work to really jump ahead on the progress.  We'll see...

Just a few Updates

Wow - it's been a long time since my last update.  

Life is pretty full these days.

#1 Kiddo had some art selected for an art show.  

She's also showing off her new braces here.

#2 Kiddo also had his artwork selected for the same show.

We're all pretty impressed with him.

#3 Kiddo is demonstrating what happens with a lack of humidification during the dry winter months at our house.  

The TV room remodel is going well, but I don't get to spend a bunch of time on it.  I still have yet to sand/scrape off the popcorn ceiling, and buy cabinets for near the fireplace.  It looks alot better already without all the paneling!