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.

Happy New Year to all

As I write, sitting in my bunk watching the sun set over the estuary, its 8 15 pm on New Years Eve.  Traditionally a time of good wishes to all, a time for making resolutions about what will or will not be happening next year, a time for family and friends and a time for reflection.

To be sure its only another marker on an artificial calendar, but it’s a useful marker, one that is close to the longest day of the year where I live and the shortest where a lot of my friends live. It’s a time when we get holiday breaks, some of which have theist backgrounds, some that are pagan but its still the end of year break.

Its also a time when advice tends to be handed out, much of which causes me to look at the advisor and think, you should take your own advice buddy and if you did you’d be better off than you are, but occasionally there is a gem.

Heres one that I heard yesterday.

“When making New Years Resolutions, don’t make ones you know damn well you wont keep, don’t make ones that you know are beyond your ability, but try making one, and ones enough, that is well within your capacity to achieve, and work on it until its done.  You’ll get a lot of satisfaction from that, whereas to vow and fail just reinforces a defeatist position.”

That’s good advice, a bit wordy though. I’d put it thus--- “Get yourself a mouthful of lifes good things, but don’t bite off more than you can chew”.

All the very best to everyone for 2016.

John Welsford.

Framing the transom

Ooooh boy, Im in it now. I got home after being on the road for almost two weeks and immediately picked back up on working on the boat. I decided to frame the transom. I cut the cedar parts to frame the sides, the bottom, and the seat cleat in 2:45. I thought it would go significantly quicker, but it didnt because it was a little more complicated than I thought, and my framing was fraught with multiple mistakes. I also do not have a solid piece of cedar for the top piece, which needs to be wider than any of my stock. Maybe Ill use two pieces, maybe that will have to wait.

The first mistake was correcting an old one... the transom needs 7mm of extra on the sides of the ply and 12mm extra on the bottom. I figured this was extra that was going to be cut off, so I threw in a few extra mm to make round numbers. Turns out the 7 and 12 is important, because I will be basing the bevel of the sides and bottom off these numbers. Fortunately I read the section first before, cleaned up the lines to the correct length, and then cut and sanded smooth.

After that, it was a comedy of errors cutting the cedar to fit appropriately. In the end, it looks good, tight, and straight. Next up, I have to glue it all on and/or seal the ply in epoxy and then glue it on. I also do not know how to bevel any of this stuff. This is something I am going to have to ask about for because I dont know how to do it simply and without screw up. Time to phone the collective.