Summer of Projects That Couldn't Be Ignored

Well, the summer's almost at an end and it certainly was a busy one around the cottage. It seemed like all we did was work on projects. Unfortunately, all of them were one's that couldn't be ignored. Some weren't too big: the septic line had to be repaired after being smashed by a fallen tree, and we had to buy a new toilet.

A new shed turned out to be the biggest project. In a previous post I explained that what I was using as a shed (an old, unusable, outhouse) had also been hit be a tree and needed to be replace. I decided to build something that I could also use for storage (we definitely needed the space) and built one 8 feet by 12 with full 8 foot ceilings. I took advantage of the concrete pad that was the foundation of the outhouse but put in additional footings for the bigger footpad.

The height and size got some of Deb's family saying it resembled a church. My brother-in-law even made a sign reading, "St Mike's Cathedral". Smartass! but I kept the sign and hung it inside. Actually, I can't be too upset with the guy because he supplied me with the windows which have been under his cottage for years. They actually came from a store that used to be on the island decades ago. What I like about them is that they hinge up. I had to build the frame for the sashes, but that wasn't a big deal, and the view out them isn't too bad either.

The design for the shed was my own. The large double doors at the front were built simply out of left over sheathing and strips of B-grade spruce. There is still some trim to be done, and the whole thing needs to be stained, but I think that's going to have to wait until next year as the next project cannot be put off any longer.

The same pair of trees that took out the septic line and outhouse also clipped the corner of the cottage. Right away, I used some roofing paper to patch over the damage, but I needed to get this fixed properly before the summer was over. Right after I finished with the latches on the shed doors this morning, I moved over to begin to fix the eave where the tree hit. I have a picture of the repair on the right. It turned out not to be such a big deal once I cut enough away to allow me to nail up some new wood. Obviously, this will get stained sometime, but no time soon.

The kids and I also began ripping off the old shingles. The place was due for reshingling anyway, so we figured we'd get that done at the same time as the repair. We concentrated on the area that took the damage from the tree, but we plan on tearing this side of the roof down to the first layer of shingles and then shingling on top of that layer. We won't have to rip off old shingles for most of the rest of the cottage because we had built a 400 foot addition 16 years ago, so that has only a single layer of shingles on top. We'll just shingle new overtop of the old here. I hope to get the whole thing done this week, just in time to head back to school where I'll get to relax. ;-)

Mike

Model Ship Update: Fortopsail

Did pretty good this week.

The first picture shows the fortopsail is now on the ship. I was able to attach the reefing lines without glue. In fact, once I put my head to it a bit, it was rather easy to knot the lines into the sail. I wish I had done the same with the forsail. There is still a bit of squaring to do (the braces have yet to be attached), so hopefully I'll be able to get all the yards parallel.

The second picture shows one of the forward peg boards, which is now almost half full. I've decided to only coil every second line (the other just being made fast and cut off) to keep this area from getting too messy. Picture three is the back side of the fortopsail.


In picture four you can see the plans showed for lines to run forward from the sails. These lines are bogus and wouldn't exist on a real ship. They would always bug me so I scrapped them and replaced them with reefing tackle, which weren't in the plans but do actually exist. One of the reefing tackles is closest to the camera in picture five.

Finally, picture six is just a deck level view looking forward towards the forcastle. I'm pretty much working aft with the rigging, so there shouldn't be any future lines in this view, unless I decide to put tacks on the sails (something else that is missing from the plans). I haven't decided on that one yet.

Cheers

Mike

Model Ship Update: Forsail

The forsail is now on - five more sails to go. I used glue to attach the reefing lines that you can see in the first picture (the multiple short lines hanging from the middle of the sail). This turned out to be a mistake because, as you can see, it stained the sail. I should have made a test first. Anyway, I'll be using knots to attach them from now on.

In the second picture you can see how various lines are fastened at the bottom of the mast. The kit's instructions had a circle of eyes attached to the deck, but I went with cleats on the mast. I'm glad I did.

The third and fourth pictures show the detail of where the yard fastens to the mast under the fortop. It's worth noting that there are still some more lines to come through this area once the fortopsail and the forgallantsail (the sails above this one) are put on. There are still several more control lines (sheets, braces and buntings) to be attached to the forsail, but that will come later.



Mike