Odds & Ends, Bits & Pieces…

Winter weather keeps us inside. Oh, today's bright, sunny skies look great - but looks can be deceiving. The temperature is 5° F which makes it much too cold to do anything productive outside.

Not much "visible" progress this week. I sanded, planed and sanded the birdsmouth test piece and it looks pretty darn (that's d-a-r-n) good.

I haven't gotten back over to my BIL's shop to turn the other piece on the lathe but someday soon…

Ever notice how when looking for a tool or supplies or just about anything, really, information about that tool, supplies or whatever sort of magically appears? Some call it coincidence but it happens much too often to be coincidence. A case in point, last week I brought my epoxy set-up home from my sister's place. The condiment squeeze bottles I use for dispensing resin and hardener needed replacing. Condiment bottles are hard to come by in Michigan in late February… Amazon has bottles (they have everything except decent employment practices) and I made a note to order some. Then - and I do mean right then - I read Bob Easton's blog post about repurposing ketchup and honey bottles to dispense glue. The result? I repurposed a ketchup bottle and a mustard bottle (red duct tape = hardener):

The varnishing of the spars continues, although this may be an exercise in futility (more on this in a bit).

The mizzen boom has been fitted with hardware. Painting of the ends began with the first coat of primer.

We drew scale drawings to compare the GIS sail to the balance lug John Welsford drew up. I am pleased that the two sails are very similar in area and, more importantly, location of the CE. I plan to use Karen Ann's balance lug sail on Gardens - at least for awhile.

I have become so enamored with the prospects of birdsmouth spars that I plan to build a set to replace the original yard and boom built for Karen Ann (the reason why continued varnishing of the boom may be an exercise in futility; and yes, I will have a surplus of spars…). I mentioned this possibility in an earlier post but now I have definitely decided on the new spars. Mik Storer suggested increasing the diameter of the yard (from the plan specs) and gave me an idea for an oval x-section boom.

Those new spars will have to wait until warmer weather. I need to dig out the Volvo wagon to get the 12' lumber home from the lumber yard.

Like I said, not a lot of "visible" progress but it feels like things - odds & ends, bits & pieces -are getting done.