Attempts at amateur gunsmithing, citizenship, and other skilled trades
Now that the trailer was all set, it was time to get started on the boat.
First I removed all of the old hardware: more than half of the bolts on the boat were rusted to the point where they wouldn’t turn and just sheared off.
I also removed the old battery rack. It was well put together (other than the corroded bolts), but I needed to get at the deck under it to clean and paint.
My only complaint about my 12′ MirroCraft is that it’s a little cramped.
Although I usually go to the lake alone, I thought it would be nice, once in a while, to invite a buddy along without worrying about snagging a hook in his ear or, if he was of any size at all, about foundering the boat under our combined weights.
So it was that less than a year after buying my first boat I started checking the listings again. I was looking for another MirroCraft–but bigger–since I knew and trusted that brand. I thought a 16-footer would be about right.
Unfortunately, none were available, at least not in my price range. I eventually widened my search and found this 1976 14′ Gregor all-welded aluminum boat online.
Continue readingI previously claimed that the boat project was complete, but it turns out that was a lie.
I took my freshly-painted rowboat out several times last month.
Late October brought freshening winds, and the last time I went out I had to crab so severely into the wind to hold my course that I made very little headway.
To add insult to injury, the fish were moving to the far end of the lake, out of range of my trolling motor, and–unless I had a lot of time to spare–of my oars.
Continue readingWhile I’d managed not to melt the boat with my brazing experiment, I worried that painting would be a problem.
I can fake a rattle can touch up (like the one on the boat trailer) as well as the next person, but tend to get myself into trouble with more advanced finishes.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I bought a 12′ rowboat this summer.
It was a turnkey operation: in addition to the boat and trailer, the seller threw in a trolling motor, a couple of deep cycle batteries, a pair of oars with rowlocks, an anchor and line, a couple of Type II life vests, and some fishing equipment.
A smart man would’ve been happy with the setup as is.
Naturally, I immediately set about replacing EVERYTHING.
I’ve noticed my performance at “twitch” computer games has fallen off of late. Rather than blaming my aging eyesight and/or reflexes, I’ve singled out my old Razer 3lue Mazer gaming mouse as the likely culprit.
He was a young farm hand born in Blanco, Texas, in 1922. His family had only been in the U.S. a couple of generations–German was his first language and his English would always carry that accent.
He’d never really been out of the Texas Hill Country until the Army drafted him in the fall of 1942, assigned him to the Ordnance Corps and put him on a troopship bound for China.
I recently bought a 12′ boat and trailer.
The boat’s a 1976 model: I plan to refurbish it when the weather cools down a little. The trailer, however, is from 2002 and appeared to be in good shape when I brought it home.
However, since my total experience with trailers up to that point had been living in a single-wide with my parents and brothers as a kid, my opinion of its condition really wasn’t worth much.
In the days and weeks to follow, I would learn more…much more…
Continue readingI found this old Dake Model X arbor press online.
I hoped to use it as a pistol sight pusher in addition to the press/stamp/rivet operations it was actually designed for.
Some quick research revealed that these Dake presses last forever and are easy to refurbish, so I took the plunge.
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