Two Towers

Actually this post has nothing to do with the Lord of the Rings or anything of that sort.
But still, towers.

When we got here to Topsail Beach there were a couple of these towers, right next to each other.
So...

One evening The Fuzz was out and about, and chanced to meet some of the town workers.

He remarked that there had been a lot of activity lately in the area behind the fire department/town hall.

This was also the location of these 2 towers.

They told him that they were preparing to remove one of them.

It seems that tower "B" was only temporary, which explains the apparent redundancy.

In fact a crew was coming to work on it in the morning.

The Fuzz chatted a bit and it was pretty much agreed that none of them had any desire to climb up there themselves.

The Fuzz didn't think much more about it.

The next morning, while The Fuzz was out for his morning walk, he saw a crane arriving.

Then as he and His Sweetie were on their way out for a trip over to the Big City, they saw this out of the window.

Then, she drew his attention to the fact that there was a man on top of the tower!

Now this was something one does not see every day.

(Unless I suppose one is in the business)

Naturally at this point The Fuzz grabbed his camera and went out looking for a better vantage point.

And then he realized the man on the top was not alone. 

There was a second guy below him, halfway up.

He worked his way up and around.

And hung up his bucket of tools...

Then went up to join his partner.

It was a long way up.
As interesting as this was, The Fuzz and His Sweetie did have a sort of schedule for the day...

And these guys seemed to have things in hand.
So they left them to their work.

By the time they got back that evening, Tower "B" was gone.

The next morning the crew was out there bright and early finishing up the job.

But this time they got to stay on the ground.

They were even taking up the base that was under the tower...

Loading it up...

And carrying it off.
Later, The Fuzz watched as the crew headed  on out of town.

 
  

  

The Rest of Boat Works Stuff

When we left off last time, the centerboard had made it into the boat, but was propped up by a timber.

This of course would not do for the long term-

or even the short term.

(The need to get back on the trailer)

It was necessary to provide a way to raise, or lower the thing as needed.

So a Temporary Winch Arrangement was provided.

This would serve while the rest of the work on the boat continued.

This pix shows what was finally put together.

But several earlier attempts were not as successful due to the weight of this massive piece of steel.

This winch is what will be used when finished, but probably not in this exact set up.

The final arrangements will be made as the boat is finished up.

But this will work for now.

All that was left now was to get her back onto the trailer.

This of course was the reverse process of taking her off.

And eventually accomplished.

The Fuzz would like to thank everyone involved, for letting him observe.

He does have a bit of interest in the subject.

Who knows?

Perhaps someday he may be involved in these things himself-

But probably not on this scale!

More Boat Works Stuff

We left our last post with the Boat Guys breaking for beer and burgers.

But now it was another day, with a big job ahead.

Cinderella had to get off her trailer somehow.

But these guys had a plan.

The plan involved supporting her with "Poppets"-

And a lot of patience.

(An example of a Poppet)

The  patience comes in because these nifty little stands will need to be placed between the cross members on the trailer;

Which means, that the trailer can only be moved as far as the next cross member.

At which point...

The whole thing must be let back down...

And the poppets moved back to the next section.

The process is repeated until the trailer can be pulled clear.

Now it was time to get to the centerboard-

which was the reason for all of this!

A template had been made;

And now it was used to determine exactly where the hole for the mounting pin needed to be drilled.

Everything had to be lined up perfectly and drilled through the solid oak keel.

The pin for the centerboard had been specially made with a flange to help secure it.

It needed to be inset into the keel.

Meanwhile, another hole had been dug for the centerboard.

Now the centerboard was raised into position in the centerboard trunk.

(Note the 2x6 being used to lever the 3/4 thick solid steel centerboard into place- that thing was heavy!)

Then the pin was installed, and the centerboard raised and propped up with a timber.

So far- so good!

But this post is getting a bit long-

Maybe it's best to break off for now.

To be continued....

Moving Day

This  weekend The Fuzz and the whole family met to celebrate the wedding of the Younger Son and His New Bride.  It was an excellent affair.  But that is not what this post is about.

The subject at hand is moving a piano.

Some years ago, there was a group effort to move a piano up into a second story apartment.  If anyone wishes to be reminded of this, they can click HERE (1) (2) (3).

But of course that is all in the past.  Yet, as it has been said, "What goes up, must come down".  And so that time had come.  And this time it was not The Fuzz's problem.  After all, he's retired.

Any project like this requires planning, and the proper equipment.  (More will be said on this subject later)  In a situation like this, which requires lowering a huge (and heavy) object down a flight of stairs will benefit from any type of mechanical advantage.  And so a close friend of the owner made up this impressive set of blocks for the occasion.

The first task was to get the thing out of the apartment.  This was accomplished with little trouble.

In this shot we can see preparations being made for the next critical step in this operation.

The blocks were attached, the rope secured, and the piano was slowly guided down tis specially designed system of ramps.  Now we were safely on ground level.

Of course it was still necessary to get the thing onto the truck.  Here you can see this flexible ramp system reconfigured for this purpose.  The steps in the walkway were utilized to eliminate the need to lift the thing up into the truck.  It was simply rolled on, and strapped down securely.

One does not want something like this sliding around back there once on the road.

Naturally, getting the thing into it's new home presented it's own challenges.  The truck was backed up to the doorway, and once again, the ramp used to move it to the porch.  Note the dolly at the arrow.  The key to moving a piano is a good dolly.  Unfortunately this was not a good dolly.

Unfortunately, there are not any pix of this next phase of the move.  As the piano was being pulled up the ramp, one wheel slipped off of the ramp.  While the piano did not fall, the dolly broke.  It seems that plastic is not the best material for this sort of task. 

The piano was successfully moved the rest of the way up the ramp where the dolly was reinforced with a piece of plywood.

Here it can be seem in the tight quarters at the top of the last flight of stairs.

And finally in it's new home after an adventurous move.  

Here's a look at the equipment that did not fail.

And what did.

This will be going back to the Home Improvement Store, with a complaint!   

Kayak Kart 1

When The Fuzz and His Sweetie took his Kayak to the river the other day, they discovered that carrying it any appreciable distance could be a chore.
(They're not as young as they used to be)So The Fuzz slipped into that Infamous Home Improvement Store, and collected this stuff.
He figured he could just glue up a light framework of PVC pipe, slide an axle through, and, Voila! Here are the pieces cut and ready for assembly. At A are the "T" fittings, B are the elbows, and at C the main frame pieces.
It was a simple matter to stick it all together.
And here is another of The Fuzz's Amazing Techno-Tips*. To make sure everything lined up corectly, these short conecting pieces were first assembled without glue, whilst the rest was glued together. It was then an easy matter to go back and glue them permanently once everything else was lined up.
Below you can see the finished frame, without axle and wheels. The plan is, to attatch this to the Kayak with straps. Then The Fuzz hopes that it will be an easy matter to roll the whole thing to our launch (and lunch) point.
We'll give an update when available.*The Fuzz likes to give these Techno-Tips from time to time to make everyone's life, just a bit easier!