Haitus

Tomorrow, 9/25, I am heading for Block Island, RI, for four days of fishing.  Don't expect to see any updates on either the trailer or birds in the meantime.

Two fishing buddies and I, who collectively call ourselves the "White River Trout Fishing and Bourbon Society" will gather at the home of one member on Block to spend four days thrashing the water with monofilament and little result, if history is any guide.  Yet, like all fishermen, we remain hopelessly optimistic.

However, we will most certainly feed ourselves well, and have provisions for other gustatory delights.  And, I submit, what, if not for that, is the point?  Catch a fish?  Yes, that would be good.  Not catch a fish?  Well, okay.  We tried.  Slice that steak!  Pour another drink!

Meanwhile, the good people at Stick It Graphics have my trailer in their care.  I trust that they will do a fine job.

More at the week's end or thereafter.

Phoebes and a Wood Pee-Wee

My, ahem, focus lately has been on Eastern Phoebes and an Eastern Wood Pee-Wee.  Here are a few shots of the Phoebe:

And here is the Eastern Wood Pee-Wee:

 

 
These two birds are very similar, but if you look closely, you'll see that the Pee-Wee has a slight crest and a bi-colored bill, whereas the Phoebe has a smooth head and an all-black bill.
 

The Teardrop is in for Covering

Today Sean and I moved the teardrop to the shop that is going to wrap it (see earlier post.)

The trailer rode well for the 30 or so miles on the highway, and although it isn't balanced as it will be when complete, I was encouraged.

I have every reason to believe that the guys at Stick It Graphics will do a fantastic job.  We've seen some examples of their work, and it is good stuff.

American Golden Plover II

What a beautiful bird.  There have actually been several different examples lately.  Here, then, is an adult. (The previous posts of this bird were photos of a juvenile.)

 

Also today:

A Greater Yellowlegs.

A shot of both a Greater Yellowlegs and a Lesser Yellowlegs:

Birds and More Birds

While the variety of birds has been narrow lately, the opportunities have been plentiful.  Thus, a roster of the "Usual Suspects" follows.

The Juvenile American Golden Plover has been hanging around and posing endlessly:

A Greater Yellowlegs:

 
A Greater and a Lesser Yellowlegs together:

Little Blue Heron (possibly the hybrid x Tricolor):

A Great Egret with an eel:
 

A Snowy Egret:

And, finally, an American Bittern showed up but failed to offer a truly photogenic visage.  Still:

 

Teardrop Tambours

Under the hatch there are five cabinet openings that need closures.  To that end, we have been creating the slats for tambour doors.  The material we are using is left over from the underside of the hatch.  By removing the tongue from the tongue-and-groove parts, we have pieces that are 3/8" thick by 11/16" wide with two rounded edges.

We have cut them to length, sanded, and applied a sanding sealer:

Each of the five tambours will have a bottom edge of rosewood, and a rosewood slat after two oak slats to mimic the wide and narrow rosewood inlays on the drawer fronts.

 

Teardrop Update 9/14

As I mentioned in a prior post, there were some rosewood strips to be installed around the vent fan curb, and that has been accomplished.  See below:

Next, we wanted to remove the spare tire mount for the primary reason that it will make it possible for the wrap to be made properly.  I cut through the welds and used a 3# sledge to knock the mount off, then ground everything flat.

We will decide where, how and if to remount the spare later.

Sean has been working on the stove installation since I permanently mounted the drawer.  It isn't as simple as it may seem.  The stove has to mount into the drawer, but the gas feed from the propane cylinder must also be connected.  It turns out that if one wants to have the stove drawer extended and the door beneath closed, a conflict exists with the gas feed.  

The resolution is to assume the door beneath the stove will be open while the stove is in use.  Two matters suggest this principle:  

1. One must open the door to get at the gas valve on top of the propane cylinder in order to turn the gas on or off.
2. Since the door beneath is open, it provides excellent support for the extended stove drawer if the door is open to 90 degrees.

 

The next step in the cabinetry department was to create some hardware pulls.  The drawer fronts require something one can grasp to pull the drawer out from its resting place.

I took a slab of rosewood, cut it to thickness and width, carved off some edges with the table saw, then shaped the blank with the upright belt sander.  After the original shaping I cut the blank to a thickness designed to produce multiple knob blanks.  This produced eight knob blanks.  Using both the upright sander and an orbital sander clamped to a table I sanded the blanks into form.

The knobs are designed to exploit half the front ellipse and half the rear ellipse.  To review, these geometric forms share axes - the primary axis of the rear ellipse is the secondary axis of the front ellipse, while the primary axis of the front ellipse is the secondary axis of the rear ellipse. 

The teardrop's form intersects these ellipses with the platform of the trailer.  With the knobs I wasn't so constrained.  Therefore, each knob represents the intersection of 50% of the front ellipse along the vertical axis with 50% of the rear ellipse along the horizontal axis.

Well, the knobs are relatively small, and their sides are cut back at an angle, but you get the idea:

 
With lacquer-based sanding sealer, the profiles are clearer:

 
The intent is to use these knobs as pulls for the drawers in the galley, as well as cosmetic equivalents.

 

Teardrop Interior Finish, Galley Doors and Drawers

While waiting for the appointment for covering the trailer we have been working on lots of details.

Sean has been buttoning-up the electrical under the hatch.  Once that was done I was able to permanently install the doors and drawers under the counter.

On the right at top is the stove drawer, secured by a ship's latch.  Beneath that is a door that opens to the right to expose the propane cylinders and some storage.  This door is secured by a hook latch.  

In the center at bottom is a drawer holding the cooler.  Like the stove drawer, it is secured with a ship's latch.  The panel above that drawer drops into a slot in the front of the drawer, and can be removed and stowed on the right side of the drawer beside the cooler.  The top of this panel is secured by two hook latches.

At left is a door (with a false drawer front to look like the stove drawer) that opens to the right, revealing the water tank, sink, etc.  This door is secured by a hasp.

We installed some oak trim inside the cabin to conceal a major vertical seam in the plywood side, and we placed some trim around the window openings.  I couldn't get the precise trim ring for the windows I needed, so this very thin trim pads the wall thickness just enough.  We added baseboard on both sides and the back wall, as well as trim pieces between the back wall and the sides. 

Once all the trim was installed and sanded, I coated it with polyurethane, then later coated the walls and ceiling completely with a final coat of polyurethane.

The above shot shows the wall and window trim, the ceiling trim, the baseboard and the rear wall trim.  This has all received its final coat of polyurethane.

The above shows the ceiling trim detail.  Missing yet are some rosewood trim strips that will fit around the vent fan curb in the ceiling.

The above view is of the cabin front with final polyurethane coating.

This view is inside the cabinet under the stove holding the two propane cylinders.  The cylinder closest to the observer will be the active cylinder; the one behind it will be the spare, either empty or full.  The panel at the very back conceals much of the wiring distribution in the rear of the trailer.  The metal panel above the cylinders is the bottom of the stove.

The cylinders are positioned by pieces of plywood cut to fit the base of the cylinders, and held down by line tied off to a cleat (difficult to see in this shot, but between the cylinders at the right side partially concealed by the black hose.)   

Birds, Birds, Birds!

Whoa.  You spend a couple of days not posting birds, and guess what - they back up on you.

Here, without further ado, are the past couple of days' worth of birds.  If you have questions as to identity, please hover over the image.  Click on the image to initiate a slide show.

Little Blue Heron:

Snowy Egret:

 

 American Golden Plover:

Great Egret:

Greater Yellowlegs:

In this image I love that the Greater Yellowlegs is superimposed over the Snowy Egret reflection; the reflected bills end up parallel with each other, and the Snowy's legs and feet are in the image but out-of-focus above the GY.

Below we have both the Greater Yellowlegs and a Least Sandpiper:

Little Blue Heron (immature):

More Snowy Egret:

And, I have omitted many worthy images.  All things considered, it has been a couple of nice image days!