Santiago a hot day and were travelling tonight

Today Howard and I have been walking the town looking at the sights, there are some very grand buildings, lots of parks and fountains.  

 Its a seriously hot day by my standards, probably around 35 deg C, and while the humidity is low its warmer than Im comfortable with.  Id have given a lot to be able to strip off and sit alongside these two, but that guy leaning on the pole in the background though that it might not be the best idea.

 One of the many ornate and imposing buildings here, theyre well lit up at night and this part of the city is well worth a walk just to see them.

 There is a park with walk and cycleway right through the city, it runs alongside the river below which is carrying the last of the summer melt from the mountains you can ( just, look hard and youll see them) see in the background.  

Weve changed some money, got packed up and checked out of the hostel BellaVista ( recommended by the way, good place if you like hostels) and are shortly off to catch the overnight bus to Porto Montt. That’s way south, about a 10 hour drive so we’ve booked on an up market bus with lay down seats and more space per passenger.  Yes it has a restroom!

 While walking the town we met some very nice gentlemen, mine is a policeman, Howards was sitting in what might have been a barbers shop.  While his friend was better dressed mine was a bit more active.

In the morning we’ll pick up a Chevy Spark rental, actually a Kia Picanto with a Chevy badge on it, and from there we drive to Punta  Arenas to do more toward the “expedition “  that will happen next Southern Summer.  We need to find storage,  sort things out with customs, find accommodation and check out things like launching and docking facilities for the boat. 

We’ve been told that the drive is something special, there will be pics!

Its really hot today, so I’m in the hostels upstairs courtyard where there is a little breeze, looking over toward the mountains and the cablecar that runs through the zoo.  We’ll check that out when we get back on 23^rd,  its not until 26^th that we fly out so there will be time to do some tourist things after the government things are done.

Bulkhead 2

Yesterday and today I worked on BH2. This went smoothly, with no problems. I spent some time shaping the side frames down to match the curved bulkhead. I was pleased with the result, though my plane is not working as well as I would like. Ive got a sharpening problem I have to deal with-- as in I have to learn how to sharpen my blade iron better.

During the construction of BH2 I realized that I screwed up on BH1, cutting a 19x19 mm piece for the bottom frame instead of the 45mmx19mm piece that the plans call for. I have not decided yet if I want to keep the original piece or put together a new one. The question is pending on the Storer forum. Im OK on wood, but I dont have a lot of extra, and cedar is pricey.

On the road for the next 8 days.

Specificity ahead

Time for a little cleaning up. I took care of a lot of little items that needed doing.

I went back to the kick-ass guys at Maine Coast Lumber and got hooked up with some more cedar, primarily for the chine logs, so I can just keep moving on assembly. I also picked up extra cedar just in case. This hopefully is my last cedar purchase, the stuff is getting pricey. I also picked up a good piece of cedar for the STEM. I bought many feet so I can have many attempts, this I feel, is going to suck.

I also bought:

pumps for the epoxy, dammit, I forgot with my initial order.

inspection ports for the bulkheads.

the sail, holy cow, I just had to press the buy button and be done with it.

Next up:

finish the top frame on the transom, which is out of Douglas Fir, which meant that I had the wood for it all along in the form of that long fir plank. Then, when the pumps come in I can glue and epoxy this piece all up.

frame the remaining bulkheads

glue together el bottom and el side-os. This will mean chine longs. I found a 17 foot long piece of cedar, but it was a weird dimension that was going to have to be ripped several times to make it the appropriate size. I have decided to scarf two 9 foot sections together. This will keep one side more uniform (less ripping) and it will teach me a new valuable skill. The scarf joint as spied by gimpslayer3000, but with cedar. This is going to be interesting, because it needs to come out tip-top. Sacramento GIS has built a scarfing jig, which is a fascinating idea, but Im really not interested in that, but it would probably be the best bet for the cleanest scarf. Im wondering about how precise I can get on my own...

and then at some point... the dreaded STEM.

Thats it for now, on the road again. Waiting patiently.