grendel

no, Canterbury, they finally quiy about an hour ago, so of course I am now awake. but will be trying my hardest to rectify that, iron maiden is a great lullaby.

just got to decide what time tomorrow to get the table saw out in the garden.

such a nice time of night to be breaking up timber to burn.

Iron maiden is drowning them out

So tonights not looking good for sleep, I arrived home to catch the neighbours raiding the skip across the way for wood. so now right under my bedroom they are burning it, and the smell of burning paint is strong. to add insult they are sitting round talking not quietly, and now someone starts playing a recorder, all of this not 15 foot from my bedroom window. gah, loud rock music to sleep to tonight..

Oh Tim, I should have expected that. Anyway another day, another rib fixed in place, and tomorrows steamed up and drying. Slowly progressing towards the front of the boat. having got this far, I can see that when I do the next hull, just where I need to apply more care and attention to tiny details to make it just perfect. my respect for the men that built Broad Ambition grows every time I do some work and try something I have not done before.

how about the steam powered watter otter....

you could always go for a more original look and try nickel plating, a different colour (slightly) but I seem to recall it has a deeper lustre.

to me he seems a bit aloof, maybe a bit snobbish. I just say he's stuck up...............

Is the gorilla the one that carries a roll of branded duct tape and a bottle of glue?

the Black buildings from that angle do almost appear as shadows, so dont really stand out.

left hand down a bit....

more work than usual, half way to work, I got a call, my daughter was feeling unwell and needed to get to A&E, so a quick phone call to work, and the day booked off. while I was off I did my 3 month later blood test to see if I have managed to reduce my blood sugars enough to not be pre diabetic (I did lose the 1 stone in weight requested). anyway 2 ribs fitted today, I have now completed 15" out of 40" of ribbing, another one steamed. the inserts on the proud ribs have set so these were shaved a bit to bring them to a better level, Another rib steamed, and some brass and stainless steel sheet ordered, as these will be needed to make up some parts (stainless steel for some of the deck fittings, brass to build the skeg and for the decoration on the ships wheel.)

ancient history - Timbo

did you manage to extract an apology?

typical quoting the data protection act without checking first, as per my last paragraph above.

I regularly get bills from my electricity demanding immediate payment, this is generally just 2 days before the next payment is due to go into their account. After many years where from month to month I didnt know how much they were going to take out by direct debit (always a random amount more than was owed- one time they decided to take nearly £700 when I was still in credit) and every december claiming back the £500 overpaid (while every year getting the excuse that they were allowing for winter usage) usage in advance and by several hundreds of pounds per customer - add up the interest they are getting on our money - before it is even due.... So I now pay by standing order monthly. quarterly I get a bill always saying I am about 1 payment short, always that 2 days before the payment is due. when I phone them, they try and force me to pay by direct debit (with all the profit they make by overcharging I am not surprised). My only consolation is that while I worked for them I got a staff discount of £50 per year, my last laugh was that they carried on applying it for 5 years after they sold off the part of the business I worked in - then was made redundant from that offshoot. all the while still getting the staff discount - they did not try claiming it back. Tim I feel your pain with companies not reading their notes on the particular job in hand, and thus failing massively.

one local custom in whitstable used to stop locals getting parking tickets, all they had to do was put a pebble on the roof of the car, then the local traffic wardens could not see the cars as they were hiding under the stones.

my workforce is based around the era that BA was built - before we had such stringent H&S rules (and when we still had true craftsmen in abundance) those days when common sense worked.

feeding them in upside down, then there is enough spring in the wood to turn them over, once I get to the front at some point they will stop feeding over the hog and just get notched into it (I think - thats why I started at the back)

Today was a time for more steaming and another rib in place, some remedial work was done, a few proud ribs are getting a backing piece, so I can shave them down to bring them back to level. of course these ribs would be proud right on the bend (actually its the only place they could be proud as everywhere else their position is dictated by the stringers). To achieve this some short offcuts were warmed up in the steamer, and an offcut from when I was making the bulkheads was used as a former to bend the short pieces up, ratchet clamps were disassembled, passed through between ribs and reassembled, then quickly glued into place and reclamped. I also found out that you really do have to wait for the steam to stop gushing out of the pipe before inserting your thumb to remove the timber, one scalded thumb later..... still a few more short pieces to shape and insert tomorrow, any rib that needs half of its thickness or more removing will be reinforced. before the second hull is made some of the formers for the ribs may well be tweaked slightly, I will know after planking this first hull just where to tweak.

I think the annual fee is a way of making it cheaper for locals - by the back door so to speak, locals dont have the travel costs so can easily visit more often, visitors pay the same, but are unlikely to do the return visits.

today was time to change the bending former to the next bulkhead shape, I have also noticed a couple of ribs sitting proud, so am trying to pull them back with blocks and cramps, got the workforce inspecting the prop shaft hole. 2 days worth of pictures tonight.

perhaps you need a hovercraft (are they allowed on the broads if they stick to the speed limits? (if they can go that slowly?)