Tools

I was busy building a garage, Ive mentioned it before.  A kitset 6m x 3.5 m one from Trade Tested here in NZ,  it came in several cardboard boxes, not very big ones, and did those boxes  not seem like nearly enough to carry all the bits needed for a building that size.
It turned out to be so lightly built and difficult to assemble that I abandoned the build half way through, it took me a couple of hours to dismantle what had taken me an awfully long time to get built,  then a day to make up a complete pre nail wooden kit from 3x2 wood including five roof trusses, and a day to stand all that up and put the cladding from the kit onto that.
Weve now got a robust and tidy building that will withstand a good blow.

The point behind this epistle is, apart from dont buy  one of those cheap garden or garage kits, is that I had some serious trimming of sheet metal to do, and tinsnips just did not cut it ( pun intended of course)

So I want off to the hardware store to find a metal cutting blade for the skilsaw,  not a cutting disc for an angle grinder, this is a sawblade specific to sheet metalwork.
Found one, near enough a hundred bucks.  That was enough of  a shock that I had to go and browse in the aisle where all the toys are ( read, power tools,  Im a sucker) to get my breath back.

I found there one of those "twinsaws" that are advertised as being able to cut almost anything,  this was very similar to the Ozito brand one in this link http://www.bunnings.co.nz/ozito-1200w-125mm-corded-twin-cutter_p00318797   but was the very cheap Bunnings brand XU1  version. $65  .  The saw blade went back on the rack., and I took the twinsaw home with me.

The thing cuts like a Samurai sword production line test dept.  It cuts anything up to about 1/8in like butter, its not a high quality tool and I dont expect it to last forever  but it pretty much paid for itself in an hours work.

I dont think Id buy this brand if I were serious, but the Ozito one is a reasonable deal and the quality is reasonable for a tool that is not in full time use.

A word of warning though, theyre not good for cutting wood, they are specifically built for sheet and light sections of metal.

Interesting tool though, useful.

John Welsford

From Desolation Sound British Columbia

Blog.

Desolation Sound, British Columbia.

Jackie and I found each other ok at Vancouver airport and the flight across to where we were to pick up our ship was quick and efficient, the cab driver who took us from the little airport into our motel pleasant and helpful, and the motel itself  (the “Port Augusta” conveniently close to both a very nice restaurant and the charter companies office at the local marina.

The crew at the charter company are wonderful, a this is a friendly and efficient outfit, 10/10, highly recommended!

It was a very rough trip across from the Charter base at Comox on Vancouver Island, waves up to about 3 ft high, but very close together.  I’d slowed the ship down to about three knots rather than just bashing on and was trying to steer into the worst then bear away and run across in the calmer patches but our ship is not as nimble as I am used to, so we got bounced around a fair bit.  Uncomfortable but there was no risk.  “Gulf Mariner” is pretty capable, she’s a “Mariner 40”, a fairly typical “Trawler” type cruising motorboat, comfortable and roomy, well appointed and Desolation Sound charters do a good job in terms of maintaining the boat, ensuring that I was properly briefed, shown all of the systems and where all the equipment is.

Navigation in this maze of channels is no so easy for a first timer here, its very easy to get lost and I have to admit to having been a couple of miles out when looking for the anchorage that we’d planned to spend our first night in, but serendipity found us a perfect spot and we didnt move for two days.

“Roscoe Bay” is a long narrow groove, cut by glaciers millennia ago. The entrance is very narrow and is only accessible from mid tide upwards. Inside there is a pool wide enough to anchor in perfect shelter. The steep rocky sides  of the pool are covered in spruce, what I think are hemlock, and a few douglas fir.  The area would have been logged in the early 1900s so the regrowth is quite tall, almost mature forest and its lovely to walk the many trails that run through it.

We’ve a small lake only a few hundred yards up what was a logging road alongside the small outlet stream from that lake, and once there the warm fresh water was so inviting that we were in swimming within minutes of arriving there.  Waterlilies, foxgloves, several berry vines with the remains of the spring flowers add colour, some of which have found their way onto the dining table in the main cabin here.

There are deer around and they appear not at all fazed by our walking past.  Compared to our New Zealand forests these are quiet, not a lot of birdsong, but peaceful. Its been perfect, but today we’re moving around to Squirrel Cove, will do a run ashore to the store there for a few bits and pieces plus wifi to email and post this to the blog, and then will head out to our next overnight stop.

The store here has to be seen, great place with lovely people.

I’m more familiar with the gps upstairs now, so don’t expect to get lost again, but in this amazing place, who cares if we do.