Haulout Spritzig II

[Ozzie]

We really need a thread Geoff
“Best freebie on the throw out”

Pictures of your tiller extension . Please.

[Geoff]

LOL Ozzie,

My input would be historical only. For the last 20 years I have lived in small towns and rural areas. No council thowouts and nobody throws anything away that's any good.

But in the late 70's when I live with my parents in Canberra - WOW!

We lived only about 5 minutes to Mugga lane tip. It was like Mitre Eleven. Right next door to all the embassies, plus public servants who couldn't replace a tap washer. Man, the things people threw away. About one Saturday or so a month the old man would say, c'mon son, we'll go to Mugga Lane and have a scrounge.

It was busier than your boat ramp on a public holiday with mostly depositers.

Once, the old man saw someone trying to unload a barrel mower. We went over and gave him a hand. He said the clutch was buggered. We lifted it from his trailer to ours, took it home and dad backed off the clutch adjusting screw half a turn. We mowed our lawn with a bowling green quality mower in our housing commission house for years.

We would dump our crap and bring back heaps of goodies, never came back empty-handed. The old lady would just shake her head.

[Geoff]

Just thinking. They reckon economists can tell how affluent a place is by the price of its Big Macs. I reckon you only have to go to the local tip.

[Geoff]

Great to know its not just me. Low tech and low-cost solutions give me such a buzz. Sure, sometimes you can save a lot of time with an off the shelf product, but ghost it feels good to do it on the cheap with a bit of nouse. My boat didn't come with a boom vang, but a couple of pulleys from RTM and Robert's your mother's brother. Heaps cheaper than buying a prefab, and more fun too.

David, you had some great scores there. That's never gonna happen in Monto.

[Ozzie]

Ive read these posts to Mrs Ozzie to prove I’m not unusual :lol:Actually she’s going to need more convincing.

My late dad was a technical person but a real DIY bloke, pretty much everything short of dentistry and a pioneer of recycling but it was my great uncle Bob1895- 1977 who had a real impact on me. As did my maternal grandfather. These blokes lived through the depression and knew the real meaning of scarce resources so rarely turfed anything but they ( both coal miners ) could also build things from the junk they saved.

I built model aircraft from early childhood and graduated to designing and building control line flying planes in my teens. I learned a lot of skills from that. I haven’t modeled for over 30 years but I occasionally wander through a model shop with my young nephew and lament the fact that it’s mainly old blokes buying stuff. Younger people are more interested in preassembled drones and the like. I built from flat balsa sheet. I worry such interests and skills will be lost to future generations who will be experts on Mail ordering from Asia. Rant over

[Geoff]

My dad was a fervent aero modeler. I flew control line as a young boy. He made his own, I can remember helping him dope his tissue paper wings, every rib cut by hand by him. He died a few years ago, but right up till he went he was an active member of the Bundaberg model club. He had Parkinsons but he still flew, he had a buddy setup on his transmitter so his mate could take off and land for him.

I have a 20 foot container in the backyard that is full of his tools and rc models. One is a big sucker, 1/8 scale, has a wingspan about 8 foot. My goal was to get it all unpacked this winter... but along came Timeless.

[Raya]

I replaced the windows in my Investigator a few years back. The trick to cutting the perspex is to use a jigsaw perspex cutting blade. You can buy these at Bunnings. I bought new tinted perspex and used the old windows as a template. I left the protecting paper on when I cut it. There was very little chipping. You need to sand back the inside edge to get a good fit in the surround. I used a belt sander for this. The windows fitted well after a few test fits.

I used Fix200 sealant, a purpose made black sealant for perspex windows, (available at Whitworths). Sikaflex makes a similar product which you get in white if you want. I masked around the windows and held the perspex in place with tape while the adhesive set. You probably don't need the screws but I put the originals self tappers back in anyway. If you use new ones, you will need to shorten them.

The job went a lot easier than Ozzie's, I guess because the perspex was new and easy to work. I think the cost was around $60 for the perspex, $10 for the blade, and $20 for the sealant. It really made a difference being able to see out the windows again.

Paper was left on to prevent scratching

[Ozzie]

Blade sounds like the go Ray . If there is a next time I’ll get new poly and use that method. The metal blade has the advantage of not chipping the old stuff as it slightly melted it. You just had to be quick enough to not let it get too hot. Hence the “get close” method and then clean up on the bench wheel. I intend to actually make a small easy to fit tarp to cover the side windows and the hand rails plus keep bird guano off the cabin top, which is always a pain spot to de-fowl cockpit and foredeck are usually a few minutes with a bucket of seawater I’m looking for longevity on this stuff now...and me too.

[Ozzie]

Sounds like what I’m after David and certainly priced right. I’ll have to cut a slot to accommodate the mast but if it’s rubberised it should glue well with my polypropylene glue. I’m not in a hurry to do these windows again so the better protection the better.

Put the curtains back in today. Makes the windows look better

[Ozzie]

Thanks David, I wasn’t 100% sure I liked them after I finished but they are growing on me.

Today I replaced my masthead light. The previous one has lasted maybe twelve years. It was the old bulb type that came on the right angle stainless bracket from Bias. Somewhere down the line I replaced the incandescent bulb with an LED bulb. However the pop rivets turned to talcum powder and probably aided by a fat seagull I found the remains sitting in the cockpit when I retrieved the boat.

You can’t get the mast top bracket style anymore that suite the 563 style mast so a did a bit of surgery to the old one and sawed it off till I had a flat base. I then bolted and glued the new light on top of that, only trouble was the LED unit I bought off eBay which look like a sealed LED unit turned out to be an old style bulb unit with an LED bulb – curse you Red Baron. This time I’ve used stainless screws and sealant.

The wire was replaced when I did the unit but I thought it was due again so out it came, it was actually still serviceable. I also wanted to try and stop the rattling of the wire inside the mast which is a b**ch when you are trying to sleep. You can tension it sometimes and make it stop which it what we do with the main halyard but the accepted wisdom on a lot of forums is to put three wire ties radiating out at even spacings and repeat this every metre or less. This then supports the wire from crashing into the side of the mast which sounds like a bunch of stoned mice playing a tin didgeridoo.

My mast wire, for those wondering is the cord of an old Flymo electric mower I used to own. These are perfect for the job as they are well sealed, only two core, round to go through holes and slightly thinner than a standard electrical lead. Flymos used to come with a specific cord with a special plug on the end. Why so that Darwin Award Candidates could not use an unearthed extension lead to run their welders. Although I’m sure many of them got round that issue after the mower died.

I’ve got two lots out it now with enough for a third go if I live that long. I know conventional wisdom says you have to use tinned wire or you will go to hell but this has lasted 10 years on a mooring with no issues and I could really have just reterminated it again if I hadn’t wanted to add the wire ties. Never throw anything away. To keep the elements off I’m covering the lower bit that pokes out of the mast and goes to the cabin top plug with some thin flexible pipe I took out of the dishwasher when I replaced it last year, knew it would come in handy.