grendel

gosh nearly a whole week at work, and no updates I hear you cry - well I have been doing a few bits, I now have 13 of the 18 handrail stanchions done, when I am working I can usually only get 1 done per evening, but it is good fun. every night a pair of side deck supports have been added, so really its just more of the same as I have posted earlier this week.

looks like their UK dealers are in Crewe

http://www.craftsmanmarine.com/propulsion/engines/cm442/ from this it would seem you are correct that it is a marinised mitsubishi engine.

and if you really do ask a stupid question, you can be sure to receive a stupid answer - well to be honest you might get a stupid answer to any question from some of us here.

left hand down a bit - right hand up a bit - Crruunnch.

just dont do it in the boat.

never

this year my resolution is to not make any resolutions - Doh - Failed again.

Well having taken an hour extra getting to work queuing for the tunnel, as they shut the right hand tunnel - 'in case they had to shut the bridge' we finally got moving when they re-opened the right hand tunnel at 8am, after the queues on the M25 reached swanley, and the A2 was backed up solid almost to Rochester, once I got through the traffic was flowing nicely across the bridge southbound, with no queue whatsoever, so they shut one tunnel in the rush hour - for what? all they did was create huge delays northbound, while the flow southbound - even if they had shut the bridge would not have caused more than a 30 minute delay while they swapped over, and the traffic would have been flowing Northbound instead of causing a huge tailback. Rant over.

I thought Wherries were designed to be sailed by a man and a boy?

we will need to shield you from this topic marshman.

So while I have been knocking out a couple of handrail stanchions a day, the work on the side deck supports has also been progressing, over half way now.

my memories of last year on the broads was camping at Salhouse for the meet and sailing model #1 on salhouse broad, then attending the wooden broads cruiser show at Beccles and once again sailing the much more complete model #1 on the broads.

belated Happy New Year (I fell asleep and didnt even hear the fireworks)

well we are up to 8 stanchions, I have printed a new drive pulley for the lathe to give me a higher top speed.

I think its series 3 episode 2 but i might be mistaken.

This morning we take you through the production of a handrail stanchion. First the work area, working at the lathe using an illuminated magnifier, this not only helps me to see the part I am making, but acts as a shield to protect me from the brass swarf flying off. so the part has the hole drilled near the end, then mounted into the lathe, the end is faced off and the whole turned down to diameter. The end is rounded off using a handmade lathe bit shaped with the curve for the end. next we cut the inner curve and shoulder, another special lathe tool. After this the inside of the shoulder, turning down the section to 4mm for the thread. next remove the drive pulley and fit the threading gears and crank, then its time to cut the thread. once its nearly there we transfer to a 4mm die and clean the thread up, extending it as close to the shoulder as the die will allow. then just thread the nut on the end, and another handrail stanchion is ready.

oh, a few days of quiet from me, that of course doesnt mean I havent been doing odd bits - around all the other things that have been going on - car brakes, Christmas, boxing day et al. Its been a bit cold in the workshop (warmer than outside working on the car) but a ceramic heater has raised the temperature to a workable 10 degrees. anyway I have finally cracked drilling a hole through a 10mm brass rod, exactly central, I managed to drill a hole endwise into a section of rod, with an 0.8mm drill in the lathe, close enough to central that this tiny drill did not break, then enlarged out to a 4mm hole, this section then goes into the drill vice at right angles to the rod, the drill is now held central and dead vertical in both planes allowing perfect holes to be drilled through. Additional work on the special lathe bits for turning the ball end was done, these are now cutting better and make turning the ball end easier. Then the shoulder is turned and the section below turned down to 4mm diameter. after this it is parted off the lathe, taken out and turned around. the lathe is reconfigured and the hand crank and thread turning gears attached, and the 4mm section threaded on the lathe. this can only put the thread to within a couple of millimetres of the shoulder, so a 4mm die is then used to clean the thread and continue it as close as possible to the shoulder, then a nut is threaded on and one of the handrail supports is finished. I managed two of these today, along with some more side deck supports, and the front brakes on the car.

Today was bright and sunny, albeit cold, so the front brakes have now been changed, pads and discs, neither were too bad, but I have had some judder braking at 70mph. you could see some spots where the outline of the pads was visible on the discs, and the pads were nearly down to half the original thickness.

the other problem I see is when the moderators do step in and remove an offending word phrase or post, is everyone coming back and repeating the phrase asking where and why its gone, to my mind that just negates all their hard work, and draws even more attention to the original faux pas.

its funny, some things are just not talked about, and I feel that if they had passed them on there would be a whole generation that would be more adverse to war and such. My dad is only now (in his 80's) starting to tell the story of his time in the navy (post war) - he has it all written down - getting the detail from the daily letters he wrote to my mother while he was at sea. I thought the film good, but really it wasnt as good as the old version in my opinion - the whole thing was handled differently in the old version- with the boat owners ganging together, rather than just taking it into their heads to take their boats as portrayed in this film.

I am certain that I have easily been quoted as many if not more times than that, and yes Ricardo has contributed a number of those. I dont see that as baiting, I see it as someone being kind enough to make sure that he knows which part of my post his answer refers. So please can we all just accept that others see things differently than we do and everyone give a bit of leeway, when reading others posts, and see the good side rather than assuming the bad.

been tipping it down since late yesterday, glad I got half the brakes done yesterday (the worst ones) while the weather was still good.

its the one from Martham boats

salvage hunters on broads on quest right now