Lying Low

May 5, 2017  Hours spent building to date:  3,470 (still being lazy, but you will see why)

When I was working for the national newspaper USA Today, there was a huge reorganization and kerfluffel in the media department of General Motors, probably our biggest client.  When we asked the head of our Detroit sales office what he might be doing to take advantage of the situation he answered, “Well, I’m lying low.”  Considering what we paid this guy in salary and for his multiple country club memberships, this did not seem to be the appropriate answer, but that’s what I’ve been doing re the engine and systems installations on the Tardis:  lying low.

We have had an unending series of small low pressure areas spreading rain and fog for days.  Whenever we would get a break in the weather, I had a commitment of one kind of other to the people and the organizations I have neglected during the Tardis project.  So I would think, “Oh my God, what if they call today and say, ‘Hey, come get your boat,’ there was no way I could do it.

Finally, eight days after the rollout I showed up at Atlantic Outboard, to find out THEY have been lying low too, and work had just started on the Tardis.  But to their credit, they have kept her in their small shop out of the weather, totally in the way, all this time.  And the plan they have for the systems installation is great.  I thought there would be lines and cables running all over the place, but what they are thinking of totally hides everything in the steering systems box, behind the Tolla barriers and under the engine covers.  I am fine with them keeping the boat until after John’s graduation… but then.

Anyway, in the interim I have totally cleaned up and re-organized the shop, giving Ray an area for all his stuff, since his boat Skookum is now there for restoration (more on that project later).  We moved it in last Thursday from the garage of a friend that required an extremely tight turn near a small cliff in the lower yard.  We found we could move the boat easily with me pulling and he-man Bob Scott pushing.  Actually, it moved a little too easily, knocked  me on my tush and started heading down the cliff before the front part of the trailer dug itself into the ground.  But we recovered and as such things go, was a pretty easy move.

The shop from the door.

The shop now as seen from the loft.

Old Faithful — My Makita 18 volt drill finally gave up he ghost after drilling 4,000 holes in the Tardis and probably that many in other boats. A great tool.

The new model — it won’t feel right in my hand until it’s coated with about an eighth of an inch of epoxy.