Posted By RichC on February 18, 2018
Sunday was the perfect day to finish up “covering” the lifts for the rear row of our new home theater seats. Now all 8 seats have a great view … even in recline mode. After building the “boxes” a week or so ago, I picked up some closeout brown polyester outdoor furniture upholstery material at Sailrite (shipping was as much as the material!) After cutting with a hot knife and using a combination of hot glue and staples, the covering looks pretty good, although one of the samples I ordered just in case, would have been a perfect match.
Brenda has not given it her seal of approval yet, but since she is calling this primarily sports and movie watching room a “man cave,” I suspect she’ll be ok with it.
Category: Archive, Entertainment, Misc, Movies, Personal, Video |
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Tags: basement, covering, daytona500, home, home theater, Movies, projects, sailrite, seating, sports, television
Posted By RichC on February 18, 2018
Too many times in life I find myself fiddling to repairs something that really just needs to be thrown away.
Case in point (see interesting idiom explanation below) … I brought home an LED fixture that replaced a higher wattage halogen bulb that works well in Encore‘s cabin, but for some reason the pin/plugs must have heated the plastic mount enough to get pushed into the lamp base.
I decided rather than scrap the small specialized bulb that a little epoxy might be just the trick? We’ll see how it holds up after I replace and it heats up again?
So I replace the bulb in the fitting with the one I temporarily hung in the galley and brought the broken one home.
You may be asking, where are the dome lights that belong in the galley (and elsewhere)? Well they are on Brenda’s "to do" list as she has been slowly giving the tarnished brass a verdigris treatment which looks great.
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Category: Idioms, Misc, Sailing, Tidbits |
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Tags: encore, epoxy, fixture, idioms, led, lights, repair, sailboat
Posted By RichC on February 17, 2018
The irritation of “the week that was” has given way to the positive memories like waking up to this kind of sunrise view … even if it was in a marina. I’m thankful to have the out of water maintenance headaches behind me and can now look forward to “escaping” to our little corner of paradise once again.
There is part of me that envies those retirees who live on their boats and socialize each day about mundane things … while the other part is so satisfied with having business to attend to, children maturing into adults who still ask me for advice and squeezing my nearly one year old granddaughter who know little more than unconditional love for those who cherish her (and feed and diaper and entertain and comfort and “well you get the picture.”)
Life is so very good at this moment. Thank you Lord!
Category: Personal, Sailing, Travel |
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Tags: encore, family, marina, morning, sailboat, sunrise
Posted By RichC on February 17, 2018
To the non-boat owner, having a sailboat sitting out of the water "on the hard" might seem like an inexpensive way to "park" a boat for a while? Well let me tell you that is not even close to being true, at least at a working yard.
Several months ago I had such grand plans for my brief scheduled maintenance during hurricane season. A quick haul at a "do-it-yourself" type yard for new bottom paint and a couple underwater minor items. Unfortunately once the bottom was blasted, I ended up having to deal with blisters again (unfortunately an all too common problem with older fiberglass boats). The process lead to hiring out the excessive labor and replacement of stuck seacocks and mushroom fitting. Finally, after adding the last splash of bottom paint to her keel once in the travel-lift and a new zinc to the prop shaft, we were able to launch. I was able to coerce a friend 
with breakfast to give me a hand so as I could putter Encore into a "new-to-us" dock … I do miss my friends Mark and Dar now that they have moved to Savannah.
It is good to be back in the water although a leaking thru-hull (never good) did make me a bit nervous. I spent a full day cleaning the dust and dirt off the boat and gave my new neighbors, Sven and Nancy, a hand with their engineless boat; they were hauling out this week to replace their flooded old diesel with a new Beta engine. I’ll be anxious to see it and am looking forward to connecting with them again once they get back in the water.
My other new neighbor was trying some new Rustoleum Rust Dissolver Gel (Walmart Quart?) on his stainless steel rails. It worked well since the "gel" seems to stay where you rub it, and he was applying it with his bare hands! Yikes … I’m going to have to give it a try since there is no way the Snobol toilet bowl cleaner can be used like that!
Category: Archive, Sailing |
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Tags: bottom, encore, florida, launch, paint, repairs, sailboat, sailing
Posted By RichC on February 16, 2018
This might be one of the greatest SUP, Longboard, Kayak, Dinghy "mashup" ideas around … I could see myself working on this kind of project! (thanks Dane)
Category: Misc, Photos, Sailing, Tidbits |
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Tags: boats, longboard, mashup, outboard, project, sup, surfboard
Posted By RichC on February 15, 2018
Using acetone to clean up after nasty messy projects such as epoxy or sealant? There’s something that works better, is cheaper AND is less toxic!
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Vinegar. (more…)
Category: Advice, Blogs, Misc, Sailing, Tidbits |
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Tags: acetone, advice, boat galley, cleaning, tips, vinegar
Posted By RichC on February 14, 2018
This content is restricted.
Category: History, Holiday, Personal, Photos |
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Tags: ani gif, anigif, annalyn, brenda, family, katelyn, valentine, valentine's day
Posted By RichC on February 13, 2018
Somewhat timely shared archived New York Times newspaper clipping (click image for larger) from 100 years ago. The February 6, 1918 article (tweet below) had me thinking about those in our country handling information that puts operations and the security of our many service personnel and undercover operatives at risk when politicians, intelligence bureaucrats in Washington DC and journalists (and wantabees) seeking to disclose information first. Those of use using social media aren’t helping as we often don’t think about the sensitive details we’re dumping out on the Internet that can put someone as risk.
The days of slower paced "just in the evening" television news or daily papers offering time to have extra sets of eyes (editors) are in the past, but we still need to evolve with some kind of AI review or individuals hired by our government should be held accountable for damage to our national security.
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Category: Misc, News, Politics, Social Media |
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Tags: article, national, opinion, security, tweet, twitter
Posted By RichC on February 11, 2018
iPhone panoramic of home theater from the rear
Finally the correct seat came in and I was able to assemble the last of our eight home theater seats for the home archive. The sizing and spacing is near perfect and even without the riser that I am planning to add to the rear row, the viewing angle is pretty good in every seat.
Perhaps the only two additions will be to replace our defunked sub-woofer and add a new screen to the projected wall image. All in all, I’m happy with how it has turned out.
Poorly married two photos from the front of the home theater
Category: Archive, Entertainment, Misc, Photos |
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Tags: basement, furniture, home, panoramic, theater
