Oriental, NC

Just sharing a turtle photo....

 

The cover that I had made a couple of years ago for our riding mower has started to fail....literally falling apart.  Looks like a ghost costume, haha.

 

Over to Jerry and Donna's again!  They're so sweet to put up with me!  Tedious to seam-rip the old cover since it was so rotten.  But that accomplished, I simply laid it out on the new tarp and traced the edges.

 

Just a look at the old rotten tarp.  This webbing is underneath and ties the cover snuggly to the mower.

Tracing the "pattern" and notes for re-assembling.

 

Cut it all out.  (Note that it's not symmetrical - the different sides have levers, etc that make it lopsided.)

 

Re-used the same webbing on the underside.

 

And a few hours later - finished!

 

Should be good protection for another couple of years and you can't argue too much with the $15.99 price tag. 

 

Oriental, NC

Finished with the final piece of the enclosure vinyl replacement.

The usual process....the old center panel.

 

Removed the clear.

 

New vinyl cut out.

 

I must admit at this point that I made a mistake and sewed this panel into the frame turned 180 degrees.  Silly mistake, I assumed it was actually rectangular.  It is not....there is a slight angle  on the sides and it just doesn't fit properly with this mistake.  No worries, just a bit of seam ripping and re-sewing....Everything is clear now looking out of the boat!  (It rained overnight so the photo is just for reference...)

 And just wanted to share our lovely view off the back of the boat this morning!

 

Oriental, NC

 Just got another piece of the enclosure finished.....it's exactly a mirror image of the one on the port side so you've already seen the tedious process.....

One more piece, the square center one is remaining.  It will be a bit easier since it's smaller and easier to handle.  Duane is tidying-up the area that is accessible now because the washer/dryer is not installed. (And he'll complete the install on that soon)  He's also working out the route/placement/requirements for our new Starlink unit that has been shipped!!

Oriental, NC

 Getting back into the swing of projects!

Over at Jerry and Donna's workshop.....

 First of all, I want to tell you that I absolutely LOVE their machine and setup!!!  So much easier to use than my bulky machine in the confines of the boat.....you can't see it in this photo but there is also a table to the left and behind the seated operator that fully supports the bulky item as it feeds thru the machine.

I may not have discussed the purpose of this project.  The clear vinyl is about 5 years old and has been exposed to the sun for every one of those days.  As a result, it has lost some of it's "clearness".  It is slightly discolored but the biggest problem is that it has developed a slight "waviness" for lack of a better word - and it slightly distorts your vision thru it.  Anyhooo, I don't like it so I'm replacing it!

There are two really large panels at the front of the cockpit.  I am using "leftover" vinyl from the side panel project a year ago.  Unfortunately, none of the leftover pieces is large enough....so I am going to piece it together.  The sheets cost $250 each so I'm literally saving $500 just by making this one change.

Here's the old panel. (The blue soft blanket is to prevent scratching the vinyl).

 

Making some preliminary cuts.

 

The two rough cut pieces.

 

The two pieces sewn together.  We measured the position for this seam on the boat.  While sitting in the cockpit at the helm, there is a 2" roof support pipe that is always in your line of sight.  This seam will be virtually invisible from the helm chair because of that pipe.

 

Fabric sewn over the seam to give it a finished look.

 

Next was the tedious task of using a seam ripper to completely remove the old vinyl.  I was careful not to tug on the Sunbrella "frame" because I don't want to distort it.  Once I had the old vinyl separate I traced the outline onto the protective paper that wrapped the vinyl for shipping. 

 

 Then I used the tracing to cut out the final shape of the vinyl.

 

 

 Carefully inserted the vinyl into the Sunbrella frame.  There was leftover very sticky basting tape that held the vinyl in place quite well.  Ready carefully sew around the perimeter 2X. 

All done!  It still fit nicely and I'm pleased with the placement of the extra seam for the $$ saved.  I can see clearly now - very happy.

Hopefully we'll get another 5 years out of this enclosure.  I expect by then the Sunbrella will fail and I'll be looking at a new install....one down and one to go for now.

Oriental, NC

 Time to get started replacing the clear vinyl in the enclosure.  Jerry and Donna have graciously offered their air-conditioned workspace 2 doors down and I have enthusiastically accepted!  

But first this morning I decided that the panels must be washed/bleached before taking them over as they had some dust and mold on them.  

 

While those panels dried out in the hot sun, we tackled another issue with the enclosure on a couple of the newer panels.  A couple of the DOT twist hardware sets have worked themselves into bad situation with the wind pushing/pulling on the enclosure.  These need reinforcement (a design error on my part, obviously).

So I made several little "patches" from Sunbrella and very strong UV resistant thread.   I know, they're not really pretty!  But it's hard to work with the thick Sunbrella material in such small shapes (and I have no iron on board to help me).  They're good enough and will be very tough!

 

 The re-installed hardware with the re-enforced patch.  Much stronger setup as that V92 poly thread is extremely tough stuff!  Don't worry about the dark marker - it will fade as soon as it gets wet. 

 

Eventually the washed enclosure pieces were all dry - I packed up all my materials and drove 2 minutes over to Jerry and Donna's.  We had a lovely chat to catch up.

 Jerry introduced me to their industrial sewing machine.  I made some measurements for tomorrow - I'll be back at it in the morning!

Oriental, NC

Back at the happy place! Seems a little lonely without any other Mantas around!!  

 Hot as Hades here - was 99°F in the boat when we arrived.  The A/C is pulling the temp down slowly.  A little stormy right now but tomorrow is supposed to be pleasant.  We're just re-grouping right now, will formulate a plan tomorrow!  Time for Silo's 2-Fer pizza night!

 

Pittsboro, NC

We're both back to the house now!  Some minor chores to before we head to the boat in the next few days.  Lots to do at the boat though!

I had to work today at Siler City to cover for an employee that needed to attend a funeral.....

I hadn't mentioned earlier that a nearby larger airport, Burlington, NC - closed down completely for a month in order to have their runway resurfaced and strengthened.  As a result, all the airplanes that "live there" had to go somewhere else.  About 15 of them came to the Siler City airport.  

I didn't have enough tie-down ropes installed on the ramp, so I pulled out an old rode that we had from some previous boat.  I cut them to length and melted each end to prevent fraying.

 The ramp is pretty full for the month....nice to have the extra activity.

 Soon we'll have boat blog entries!⛵

 

Hendersonville, NC

 Driving back to my moms last night past the Asheville Airport. Pretty skyline!

Pittsboro - Concord - Hendersonville, NC

I know, I'm terribly delinquent in my blogging!

At the airport, my coke machine has been on the fritz for about a year....we've just been having the pilots go to our employee fridge in the utility room and grabbing a soft drink.  Obviously, this is not ideal....we have very low traffic and I just couldn't find ANYONE in the area to fix the machine!  So, I decided to go another route and sell this machine.  Facebook Marketplace did the trick within just a few days!

 

 

Two nice young men that have a vending machine route bought it and carried it away. 

My (hopefully) fool-proof solution was to just get this little glass-front fridge and have the pilots pay for their drink at the counter.  Pilots are extremely good people in general - I don't think we'll have any problems.

 

I got on Duane's tractor and did a cursory mow-job....not perfect but at least the house looks lived-in and not abandoned...

After my stint at the airports for vacation coverage, I made my way to Concord for another sissie and BIL visit.  I told them "I'm that bad penny you can't seem to get rid of!"   They insisted that was not true....

Sis made some delicious vegan Reese's cup bars.  Sooooo yummy and really tasted like store-bought!

 

And then quickly it was time for another drive to the mountains!

 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 Not a huge amount going on since I am filling in for an employee on vacation every day. I took my sissy’s lead and used my George Foreman grill to cook some of the last squash from Keith & Denise’s garden. It turned out lovely!

Lindy invited me to come up to her garden and pick cherry tomatoes. Wow, and this is just a drop in the bucket. So nice to have on the counter for carefree snacking. I’ll go back in a couple of days and get another bunch.  

Pittsboro, NC

 I was doing some errands in Asheboro a couple of days ago. There is an Aldi there, so I popped in to see what was on sale. They had avocados for $.50 each! And they were nice so I picked up four knowing that I couldn’t eat them all. I had read about vacuum sealing them, so I let them ripen nicely, then dunked them in lemon juice.

And then just did a normal vacuum seal. Into the freezer for later use. I’ll update you on how they turn out. 

Hendersonville, NC

At the airport for a few days....neighbor Dick Parr visiting in his Piper Cub.

 

 And Bill unfortunately ran into a cool falcon on his way to the airport with his truck.

 

 

 So happy to get to visit with Richard a little while.  He also worked in a short visit with my mom!

 

 And with Granny of course!

 

 

 

 The next day Robert and Granny visiting.

 

And Miranda too!

 

Back at the McCraw house - all the kids and family visiting from Indiana too.

 

And there apparently are pretty sunsets in the mountains as well!