More repairing: Dowels to strengthen a broken table leg

| September 18, 2022

Who hasn’t needed to repair, or re-repair, a broken piece of furniture? In today’s world, most furniture, as well as other items, are throw-away after they break, but there are still a few of us who enjoy getting the last few useable years out of a well worn piece of furniture. My like-minded son-in-law showed […]

Repairs: Contemplating an electric pool pump motor rebuild

| September 16, 2022

Besides noticing that a new school bus driver has decided to use our driveway as a turn around spot (should not be “the norm”) … I took apart the old 2017 pool pump motor. Last week I replaced the old motor with a new one (again) suspecting the shortened life (in my opinion) is due […]

Expensive maintenance: Let the pool opening repairs begin

| April 10, 2022

We have put off replacing the pool tiles long enough as I’ve long ago burned through the spare tiles and have made repairs and replaced the damaged tiles so far myself, but there is only so much that can be done to salvage what still exists. It is time … or as most rational people […]

Encore diesel repair and last minute haul out in February 2021

| February 27, 2021

This past week was a semi-rushed haul out week for Encore in Florida. I headed south for 3 days of work on the “running hot” Volvo diesel auxiliary, as my assumption was that the heat exchanger was plugged up/calcified and needed to be taken off and cleaned (something I’ve never done). I met a friend […]

Tech Friday: Our small Echo Dot on the Home Theater ceiling

| January 29, 2021

Now that the wiring in the basement is no longer laying on the floor in order to feed the kitchen television cable extender and ceiling repairs are finished up, I’ve been cleaning up and moving things back into the home theater and game room areas. With some fresh paint everything looks pretty good, so I […]

Made a new car guy connection when discussing the Packard

| August 29, 2020

On Friday afternoon I stopped in to talk with Rick Benhase, the guy looking at the Packard transmission for me. He is a truly old car nut and can’t seem to get rid of his “fleet” once he buys or fixes them. This applies to more than just cars, too (read below if you must […]

To complain or not to complain, that is the question …

| November 5, 2019

This past summer we replaced the gutters on our house with a premium GutterShutter version. I particularly liked the heavier gauge aluminum, larger size, strong hangers and sensible “shutter” to keep out debris. So far we are happy with the upgrade. Current Nov2019 condition vs the Previous Aug2019 complaint Unfortunately after three service calls to […]

Falling back on fiberglass and autobody skills for house repairs

| July 30, 2019

The summer of 2019 around our house has meant more repairs and maintenance updates than usual. This means weekends have been busy with house projects and in also finding and hiring help to complete the updates that are too overwhelming for this one “aging” guy to handle on his own (although my 60th birthday celebrations […]

An old newspaper clipping and a great summer job #TBT

| July 25, 2019

When talking about the wide spread damage in the Dayton area by a tornado earlier this year with the guys putting on our new gutters (Raspberry Pi cam picked up one of the guys’ legs and tweeted it to me) …  I mentioned that I once did some tornado repairs in my hometown. I couldn’t […]

The yardwork theme continues with a sump pump to pool bypass

| June 18, 2019

With steady rains (and downpour storms) over the past week, the ground was soft enough for even this 60 year old guy to trench. I’ve been wanting to work on the “sump pump to pool” bypass ever since testing it with a temporary pipe to 2” roll up hose a few years ago. The water […]

Chasing vacuum leaks in the Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel

| August 22, 2018

It is probably something one should get use to with an older Mercedes Benz, but it can be frustrating and tiring to say the least — that is fixing vacuum leaks. The 1982 MB 300D Turbodiesel is a great car and has a limited number of electrical components compared to newer vehicles. That in turn […]

The week that was – Encore is back in the water

| 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 […]

Painting and sharpening and changing chainsaw chains

| November 16, 2017

A few of the late fall repairs to go along with splitting wood for winter is to keep my “collection” of old chainsaws running. Although I gave away my small old tiny McCulloch trimming saw from the 1980s, I still reluctantly use my bigger (translate = heavier) 20″ McCulloch Pro Mac 610 (PDF manual) with […]

Repairing the AC on the BMW X5 35d in the middle of winter

| February 10, 2016

My timing is probably not the best considering the temperature is in the teens this week, but since the BMW X5 35d is in the shop, I’m addressing as many “squawks” as possible. One of the known issues was that the air conditioning wasn’t working (paid less for the vehicle) … so after checking the […]

Archive: Encore improvements and repairs from March 2015

| April 5, 2015

The advantage of having a “desultory” blog is that  I can archive any and everything without guilt. This post includes a collection of photos from last weekends’ projects aboard Encore. First, I added a small semi-permanent shelf to the galley for our Sodastream device. Although I haven’t convinced Brenda to give up her cans of […]

Rain, leaks and cold showers

| March 2, 2015

Just as it was in the French Revolution, I’m back and forth telling A Tale of Two Cities and “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so to speak. I spent the weekend taking care of a condo rental issue in Delray Beach, Florida and of course was staying on […]

Spending more time looking for things that doing things

| March 7, 2014

It seems as if I’m spending more time looking for parts and pieces that actually getting repairs done these last few days. Besides testing Raymarine components for Encore, I’m spinning my wheels looking for a shut-off solenoid for the propane locker, liquid silicone and port visors to seal a couple challenging water leaks (hatches and […]

The floor of the Mercedes Benz 300D is wet again!

| July 17, 2013

With the heat in the 90s and humidity high this week I noticed the driver side and rear passenger floor in the Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel soaking wet again. A few weeks ago I thought that it might be due to a leak in the windshield gasket or possibly the drain in front as mentioned […]

Continued maintenance and repairs on the Mercedes 300D

| June 23, 2013

Since I’m on a car repair roll at the moment, I’ll continue to update the condition of my 1982 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel. It has come apart this weekend primarily to set the clearances for the valves, something that has to be done regularly and manual as this is a pre-hydraulic valve adjusting kind of […]

Jury rigged trunk mechanism for 2001 VW Jetta TDI

| July 6, 2010

The electrical and mechanical release locking mechanism on my daughter’s 2001 Volkswagen Jetta TDI’s trunk malfunctioned last week and after further digging I noticed a broken plastic part. The complex linkage has both an electrical plunger and key lock that controls the latch. Unfortunately the poorly engineered (IMHO) plastic part broke off (click image below […]

Handling small parts – a “How to” suggestion

| January 1, 2010

There come a time when having even small fingers and thumbs isn’t good enough, let alone bigger finger like me, isn’t to repair. Here’s a time tested technique that might just keep your frustration level down. When you’re tinkering with small parts like electronic devices screws, try a dot of silicone sealant on the end […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog