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     The weather was rainy, cold and just all around miserable so I didn't get anything done on the power boat.  Working outside in that crap isn't very appealing to me.  I figured I could go work on the sailboat a bit, but after my 36 hour shift and having to go back to work tomorrow I didn't feel like doing much.  A beer and a book sound like a good way to spend the day.

     I did stop by the store and pick up my epoxy and supplies.  Some resin, hardener, filler, dispensers, mixing sticks, and a mixing cup.  $175 sure doesn't buy much of this stuff.  At least now I'll be able to start making some better progress in the next couple of weeks.  A cooler seems to me to be a required item before sailing season starts.  How else will I have ice for drinks and nice cold beer?

Not Today

     The forecast was calling for some pretty crappy weather today so I decided to sign up for some overtime.  I got hired for 10 hours so no boat updates today.  I figured I wouldn't want to be working outside today anyways, and at least this way I can make a little extra cash.  The way I look at it is I'm working today for some epoxy, paint and varnish.  How can this stuff be so damn expensive? T

Wrong Boat

     The power boat just came back from the engine shop, so for a while (including yesterday) I will be working on its projects before moving back over to the sailboat.

     Yesterday was spent combing the frame of the old bimini top with the cloth from a new (to us) one that got delivered Sunday.  The new frame didn't fit the boat and the old one had cloth that seems to be 80 years old with multiple rips.  After more aggravation than this should cause and only one trip to West Marine it is installed.  I only have a little tightening of the straps left to do and it will be finished.

     I am going to have to work on a bilge pump that has stopped working as well as resealing the whole center part of the boat.  At the end of last season I had to lift the floor up so I could install a new shift cable and never got around to finishing.  I would like to have it done before putting it back in the water for the year.  The worst part is the paint. The bottom is due for a coat and showing it badly, so I'm going to figure out how to lift a boat off a trailer and make it all pretty.

    

More icebox

     I decided to use several pieces of wood to cover the bottom of the icebox rather than one large piece for a couple of reasons.  The main one is that it should be easier this way.  Figuring out how to get one piece in place was difficult even before trying to get it to bend to conform to the curve.  I was planning on cutting a bunch of lines in the back side to make the bending easier, but now I won't have to.  This also makes it a lot easier to get a good fit, even though it means more paper, cardboard, and tape. 

     I started with the piece on the bottom because it is the most difficult.  Not only is the shape not even close to being square, there is the drain to deal with.  As you can see in the photo, I used a piece of scrap first to cut the drain hole to make sure it would work the way I envisioned.  It worked!  I could even screw the pieces together with this piece set in place.  Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten to push the side pieces of plywood all the way out when I made the template for this piece.  When I installed it I was left with a nice gap on the back side.  That means the piece you see in the picture here is trash, and I had to cut a new one.

    

     Because I had to redo the first piece, I didn't have enough wood to continue.  Plenty of cardboard laying around though.  It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but I fit in another three sections in cardboard.  I'm going to need to make another trip to the store before I can continue here.

     I also spent some time fitting the top pieces to get them to seat properly.  I'm not there yet, but getting pretty close.  I still need to add another inch of insulation on the top to get it up to the three inches, but I figured it would be easier to move around the way it is.  This also allowed me to get a better idea of how big the icebox will be when it is finished.

     While I am impressed with the size as a whole, I am pretty disappointed in the size of the access hatch.  I thought I had it figured out pretty well, but I seem to have not figured in how far in the insulation sticks out.  I can fit my arm in easily enough and can't envision any problems putting food or drinks inside, but there is no way a block of ice would fit in.  I'm not sure I could even get a bag of ice in without some serious work.  This called for a beer and some time pondering the situation.  Thankfully it is Friday, and the local bar has a hell of a happy hour.

    As I sit here typing this up, I think I have come up with a solution.  The access hatch in the cockpit that used to be for loading ice is still there because I will be using it as the top of the mini cooler I am building.  The floor of this mini cooler is actually the top of the icebox.  I am thinking I can make a section of this removable so I can load larger stuff from outside.  It is kind of a long reach, but it should be a pretty easy solution.  At least it sounds easy in theory.  I guess I'm going to find out about how easy it is in practice because I can't think of any other solutions besides starting from scratch.  And that ain't happening.

Not today

     I got hired for some OT at work this crappy, rainy day.  That means no boat work, but maybe a little bit more money to sink into it.

Back at it

     I've been slacking lately but got back at it today.  I continued work on the icebox; what a pain that is turning in to.  If I had known how bad it was I would have just cut out a spot for a cooler and called it good.

     I cut out the lid on the top and added the supports to hold it up when it is set in place.  Of course this also involved trimming a bunch of the already installed insulation to make it fit properly.  I also put insulation on the bottom side of the top, although right now I only have two inches.  I'm not sure if I am going to bring this up to three to match the rest or not.  After I finally got everything to fit I took it back apart so I could start working on the liner.

     I am using 1/4" plywood to line the inside of the box and then plan covering it with epoxy to seal it and then glassing over everything for strength.  After that it will need to be sanded down and painted, but compared to actually building this nightmare that should be no problem.  I wanted to make sure that the pieces fit nice and snug, but it is hard to reach in there and make a good template.  I ended up using a bunch of newspaper and tape to get the forms, then transferring that over to cardboard.  When I was finally satisfied that the fit was good I cut out the wood and put it in place.  It isn't attached to the insulation yet but is nice and snug just from the tight fit. 

     I got the front, back, and starboard side pieces done before calling it a day.  I saved the most difficult for last.  It covers the floor and curves up to the port side.  The curve is going to suck, but I also have to have a nice tight cut out for the drain.  I think I'm going to end up doing this in two separate pieces just to make it easier.

     Most of the pictures I took today didn't turn out very well, but at least this one gives you and idea of how it is coming together.  Notice all the crazy cutouts on the left side for the supports and insulation that will be on the lid.  Lots of fun.

1" Insulation

     I bought a sheet of the same insulation I used earlier, but this one is 1" instead of the 2".  I had to bring it home in my mustang, so I had to cut it in to quarters and put it in the back seat.  Have I mentioned that I need a truck?  I also bought a couple small pieces of 1/4" wood to cover the insulation with while I was there.  I have yet to buy the epoxy and fiberglassing material because I'm cheap and am having a hard time coughing up that much money.  My wife likes to joke about my "free" boat.

     I cut out the insulation using cardboard templates again and fit them in to place.  No pictures today though, sorry.  Just look at the last one and add a layer.  Not too exciting.  I cut out the hole for the drain pipe to make sure it still fit.  I then picked up a LOT of insulation pieces, cardboard cuttings, and other random junk that seems to accumulate and made a trip to the dumpster.

     I had time to do more, but the nice weather screamed gardening to me so I headed home and started getting the beds ready.  I pulled up a bunch of weeds and laid down a layer of black weed barrier cloth.  One of the parts of the garden was grass last year and I am hoping this will help kill some of that off without having to pull every piece of grass.  Then I got to do what I have been holding off on...planting maters!

     I used a bunch of little plastic cups as my planters and went to town.  I'm sure I won't have space for all of them, but I started a bunch of different varieties.  Lets see if I can remember what they are.

1 - Roma - The work horse of the garden, the only non heirloom tomato planted.  I need to rectify that situation.
2 - Brandywine - One of the best tasting tomatoes, ever.
3 - Black Brandywine - First time growing this one, not sure what to expect.
4 - Yellow Brandywine - We love using this to make salsa with.  Very sweet and colorful.
5 - Mini Brandywine - This is an experiment I am working on.  It is cherry tomato crossed with the yellow brandywine.  They are cherry sized, but shaped and taste like the brandy.  It worked well last year and I am trying to stabilize it.
6 - Dr. Wychers Yellow - First time growing this one as well.
7 - Classic - Just a good old tomato with lovely taste and very few seeds.
8 - Big Guy - No idea what this is really called.  This is from a pack of assorted seeds I got a couple of years ago.  Similar to the classic, but bigger and doesn't produce as well.
9 - Marglobe - A classic, but the first time I'm trying it.
10 - Nicholson Red - A large cherry that I have been growing for a couple of years now. 

I also have some non tomato plants started.
- Peppers - several varieties including hot, medium, and sweet
- Sugar snap peas - These are actually already in the ground and doing well
- Potomac Beans - An heirloom string bean that puts out like crazy
- Flowering Vine - Has edible flowers, but unknown what the actual name is.
- Basil - Can't live without this
- Lavender
- Swiss Chard - Love eating this, but never tried growing it before.
- Cucumber
- Zuchini

Who knew this was a gardening blog?

Dentist

     I was hoping to plink around a bit at the boat today, but it seems like I will have to wait until tomorrow.  I just got back from the dentist and am leaning over a cup letting my bloody drool leak out without spitting.  I thought about a picture but decided against it.

Treading Water

     I seem to be at a point where I am not getting much done.  A big reason for this is that I don't have access to a truck.  I need some 1/4" plywood and more insulation to continue on, but that is kind of difficult to do in a Mustang.  The wife's car helps, but it is still a pain.

     I did get to the hardware store today and I think I may have come up with a solution to the icebox drain.  In the pictures you can see how it is put together and its location.  The black piece at the end is barbed to accept hose that I can run down to the bilge or where ever else I decide to go.  Another option is tying it in to the drain for the sink.  I haven't really looked at this yet so I don't know if it is feasible or not.

     I trimmed out the filling foam from inside the icebox from the other day.  I think the second layer of insulation will lay pretty close to flat on the existing layer.  Now to get some... 

Short day

     I did get out to the boat again today, but didn't get to spend a lot of time out there.  I got my spray foaming done though, so at least I made some progress.  I filled in the crevices from piecing together everything, leveled things out a bit, and tried to make it all just a bit more even for the next layer of insulation.

     The only other boat work I got done was going to West Marine and finding something I could use as the drain for the top cooler.  The clear hose I already have on hand won't work with it (of course), but that shouldn't be too hard of a problem to evercome.  The drain on the bottem is still driving me nuts though.  I'm going to have to take the pieces I have to the hardware store and try to piece something a little better together.

     The rest of the afternoon was filled with stuff I have been putting off for too long, including a trip to the dentist and a bath for the dog.  He seemed to enjoy it about as much as I did.  Of course I did balance that out with a little bit of gardening.  I seem to catch the plant bug pretty bad this time of year and today I got some of the early stuff done.  The snap peas seem to be doing pretty good so I stuck them in the ground along with some chard.  I also started out some herbs and a couple other vegetables in their little planters.  However, I'm having to fight the urge to start the tomatos.  Every year I seem to start them too early and end up regretting it.  Mid March.....mid March.  I can wait.

Back to the icebox

    
     I finally went back to the icebox today.  I cut out a bunch of templates on cardboard then transferred them over to the insulation, then trimmed them all 8 gazillion times before installing them.  The first layer I put in today is 2 inches thick, although it doesn't look it in the picture because I had to cut out a bit to fit them around the top supports.  I also cut out the holes for both drains in this layer. 

     There will be another layer on top of this one, but I haven't decided if I will do 1 or 2 inch.  I'm kind of leaning towards 1 inch right now just to keep this as roomy as possible.  Cold is nice, but if you can't fit anything it seems a little pointless.  Either way, I need to buy the insulation so it isn't going to be in the next couple days.

     Tomorrow I am planning on buying some spray foam to fill in the little gaps left behind and try to even everything out a bit better, but you all know how my plans tend to work out.

     It seems like the nicer the weather gets the less I get done on the boat.  I spent this morning and early afternoon getting a windshield replaced, and of course it took three times as long as it should have.  When I got home Steve was here waiting for me.  We hooked up the fishing boat and brought it in for service.  We beat the spring rush so hopefully we'll be out on the water soon.  Maybe not sailing, but still out on the water.

     I've also been working a bunch of overtime lately.  Or as I like to call it, my furlough recovery plan.  Stupid economy.  Back to work tomorrow, then it it my Kelly weekend.  I should be able to spend at least a couple of days out here and start plugging away on the icebox.