Power Tools

I just got this from a sale today and is made by Kambrook an Australian appliance company based in Port Melbourne. My idea is just put the plug on a drill or whatever with a swing down locking device and walla, there you have it. It looks like a caravan input plug as well. It makes storing tools easier without the cords tangling. I have done most of my power tools with short leads and the only problem is the extension some times pulls out but doesn't it save heaps of time. Goes to show that nothings new only applications.

Stewart

Scraper

A tip I found on the website of the ukulele guild of Hawaii https://www.ukuleleguild.org/luthiers.php#building

To reuse broken hacksaw or bandsaw blades, cut them into short lengths, mount them saw edge down into a small cut in a scrap of hardwood, using 5 minute epoxy (or whatever else is on hand) sharpen the blade bit that sticks up and you get a great handy little scraper. Attached is the one I made. I just put a roughly 45 degree angle edge on mine. It is surprisingly effective at tasks like scraping off excess dried on glue. Better than a number of store bought ones I have.

Ian Titulaer

Foam Roof - Surf's Up

This one amazes even Crazy Steve. I was planning on making the roof for the fantail launch the normal way, plywood with glass on top and then put two inches of insulation under that and then some kind of ceiling. Well, we've talked about making small boats with this blue foam glassed inside and out and how strong it is so I figured why not make the roof out of the same foam but make it two inches thick, so I am. Either that or it's a really big surfboard. It's 6 1/2 feet wide and 15 feet long. We're going to be really tempted to throw it in the river and try it out when it's glassed. We've found that the glass will pull off of the foam because it peals a thin layer of foam off so here I am "raking" the surface before I glass it. This puts little groves all over so the epoxy has more to grab on to. This will take care of the roof and the insulation in one shot, got to keep the a/c in.

David Lucas

Lucas Boatworks and Happy Hour Club

Fill That Wine Bladder

I had tried so many ultimately unsuccessful ways to get the water into the wine-box bladder, but just taking the nozzle off the kitchen sink "spritzer" and turning on the water resulted in a small stream of manageable size, coming from the now spritzer less hose, perfect to feed into the open valve of the wine bladder... viola !!! The only thing tedious about the procedure is holding the connection together, and that can be done with an elastic band.

Of course "your resuts may vary...." as probably we don't all have the same sink plumbing, but the flow rate is probably universal, and can be worked with....

Now to make a carrying case for the bladder.

Scott

Mountable Bag

Many simple to build boats have a bulkhead at the aft end of the cabin, or in a cabin-less craft, at the forward end of the cockpit with some framing on the interior side. My Jim Michalak Frolic2 design has 1
-by and 2-by framing on the inside of the main bulkhead, including a 2x2 frame that runs the width of the boat. Too narrow for a shelf, it still seems like wasted space. I've run shock cord across the area, with the idea of containing such things as chart books and the like, but it was makeshift and not terribly secure in rough water. The idea of a mountable bag seemed like a good solution. The pictures show the first one done; more are planned for the lower part of the bulkhead, probably sized to store specific items. The first picture shows the upper starboard side of the bulkhead with its frayed shock cord.

The second shot shows the bag, sized to fit the somewhat trapezoidal space. Since this is mounted just below the deck, I made the opening at the side so the contents can easily be removed. A strip of Velcro seals the side opening in bouncy waters. To help stow small items, four pockets were added to the outside.

The last picture shows the finished bag mounted inside the bulkhead, holding some small custom-made charts. The pockets would be a good place to clip on a book light or other small LED light for some extra cabin illumination. I used turn buttons (which were a tight fit on the 1-by framing) to attach the bag, although snaps or Velcro would work as well.

I think these are particularly useful in a cabin boat, but they would help organize the inevitable clutter in smaller boats - like Michalak's - that have fore and aft storage and buoyancy compartments.

Gary Blankenship

Rudder System

Here is a great video showing how to rig a rudder system on a kayak that does not come with one.