Custom Search
   boat plans
   canoe/kayak
   electrical
   epoxy/supplies
   fasteners
   gear
   gift certificates
   hardware
   hatches/deckplates
   media
   paint/varnish
   rope/line
   rowing/sculling
   sailmaking
   sails
   tools
 
 
 
 
Join Duckworks
Get free newsletter
CLICK HERE
Advertise
on this site
Mike's
Boat
Indexes
 
 

Internat Tank Filling

Haddon was pondering how to refill a small outboard at sea that had an internal tank. I remembered seeing the following on the interesting W W Potter owners site. A site well worth browsing.

John Welsford



Screw Holding Band

My sister ordered this off of Amazon for my dad for his birthday. Obviously those aren't stainless screws, but it's a darn handy contraption when working with regular ferrous fasteners! It holds small finish nails well enough that they can be placed on the arm which swings the hammer and not get knocked off.

Could be useful for those of us that use drywall screws to clamp things while the glue works its magic.

Seth


 Painting Spars

I do not have the patience for accurate painting and have a tendency to get runs, drips, and errors. Because of this, I tried to think of some way to paint spars without the drips and errors that I usually get.

I suspect that I am not the first person to think of this but in looking at your article archives for a few years, I did not see it. If it is redundant, just trash it. If not, maybe it will benefit someone.

I got a cheap rotisserie motor and the accompanying gadgets and adjusted them to fit my needs. I cut one of the long metal rods and then epoxied it into the motor because it fit very loosely and kept coming out. Next, I bent the fork like thing that goes into the meat so that it would stay in the end of the spar. I drilled two Holes about 1 inch deep for the two prongs to hold one end. On the other end just inserted a long screw. I mounted each of these on a separate sawhorse and fixed both ends to the end of the bar as you can see in the pictures. I then turned the rotisserie motor on, which of course, is very slow. I was able to apply varnish thoroughly from one end to the other without any drips or thick places. After I finished the varnishing job I just let the motor run for about 30 minutes or so until the varnish was tacky. I was able to stop the motor at that point without any of the problems I usually have. It is a little difficult to get the rotisserie end of the gadget to stay in the wood and I am working on improving that now. I suspect that some of your readers could figure this out quickly. It has really helped me and getting a good varnish coat on my spars easily every time and I don't dread the job any more.

Bob Hatcher


Saw Horses

Super easy saw horses. No angle cuts. I made my middle ibeam component 29 instead of 30 for more clamping area.

Tom

jayscustomcreations.com/2013/04/saw-horses


Heater

Here is a simple candle heater that works well in small boat cabins! 

Roy


Mosquitos

I heard from two different people, one an employee of Cabellas and the other, Travis Raner who I met on the MS 110 this September, that this product is excellent and really works to repel mosquitos. Spray your clothing, tents, etc, and let it dry.

Travis


Tiller Tamer

Finally, got a chance to try out the tiller tamer. It's adjustable from full-lock to unnoticeable by turning the wing nut. This will make rowing into the dock a lot easier as well as keeping the helm over while heaving to and going forward to make adjustments. The line runs through the center hole in the aft cleats. I lashed it to the tiller because this way it isn't permanent if I want to make further adjustments.

Warren

To comment on Duckworks articles, please visit one of the following:

our Yahoo forum our Facebook page