Canoe Trailer - Cross Bar Brackets

I finished machining my cross-bar brackets for the canoe trailer.  They turned out pretty nice and I'm happy with how strong it all is.  

Here are my pieces all layed out nicely.

And how they will work together.

Fully welded.

And attached with cross-bar in place.  

I have this cross bar on the front of the canoe trailer, and 94 inches back at the rear.  This will provide a nice stable mount for 2 canoes.  

The next step is to take them back off, and prime/paint the bare metal to keep rust away.  I'll wait for warmer weather for that jobby.

Sunday Afternoon Skating

Sunday was an ice skating day for us.  We drove out to Tapawango Park in light freezing rain and fluttered around on the ice for a couple of hours.  Kids did really well, and started picking it up towards the end.

We were all pretty wet at the end of the session, but it was a ton of fun.

Pinewood Derby Results

Both boys are in Cub Scouts, and the Pinewood Derby is the best event of the year.  Today was the day.  They are both ready to go! 

Kiddo #2 (Boy #1) ended up with second place within his Den.  While he was pretty happy about it, I think he was slightly frustrated his car didn't do better.  This will be his last year at the Pinewood Derby for he graduates into the realm of Boy Scouts for next year

The big news was Kiddo #3 (Boy #2) ended up with second place overall.  He was as surprised as us, as evidenced in the picture below.  And of course, his tiger (Mr. Schnuggs) was right along with him every step. 

It was a good day for everybody.  

Yet Another Instrument

Kiddo #1 has undertaken Jazz Band in the last few months.  But because tubas are not allowed in the jazz band, she has taken on and is learning the trombone.  Evidently tubas just aren't jazzy enough.  

A few days ago, we stumbled upon a trombone on ebay for a decent price.  And as a bonus, it was local.  Somehow we won the bid, and picked it up a day ago.    

She says it plays real nice, and the slide works better than her instrument at school.

Pretty cool!

Trailers and Trebuchet

I managed to rip down some free crates from work and salvage the nicer portions of plywood.  With this, I skinned out my project canoe trailer. 

I have yet to do the front and the back doors.  That is the next part to do.  Thereafter I plan to finalize the cross bar connections

We have also been busy working on the trebuchet for Kiddo #1's Science Fair.  She's had 2 months to build it, but she managed to wait until the last minute to get it done.  Luckily, the weather has been fair. 

With 60 pounds of counterweight, she can launch a baseball 90 feet.  I think she did a real good job in the construction!

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.