Monday, October 24, 2005, 09:25 PM - Domes
It was going to cost a fortune to rent a skid steer loader long enough to complete Trinity Dome, let alone the other projects we have planned. So it seemed like a natural idea to go ahead and buy one.
;)
After lot of shopping and consideration, we decided upon a Thomas 175 from Schuurmans Farm Supply instead of more mainstream brands (Deere, Bobcat, etc.). This was mostly due to the five year warranty and easier maintenance schedule.
;)
It's a fairly basic machine without some of the fancy bells and whistles, but tough as nails -- and at least it has a heated cab for our South Dakota winters. So far it looks like it will be a great tool that will last many years building domes!
;)
Here's a shot of Grandpa Pat in the cab. As you can tell from the grin on his face -- it's pretty fun to sit in the skid steer. And even more so to operate. For those of you with broadband, you can see a video of me running it here.
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Tuesday, September 6, 2005, 10:52 PM - Boats
After much ado, I decided I didn't like using two tillers and a shifter with less than three hands, so a wheel steering conversion seemed in order. Here's what I opted do do:
1) Upgrade my tiller outboard to a different one with remote
2) Install a factory pedestal setup from a Macgregor 26M.
3) Use a dual cable rack and pinion steering system -- with one cable to control the motor and the other for the rudders.
That's the basic plan. It turned out to be quite a job -- defintely not for the faint of heart. So please don't take this simple presentation to mean it was easy. I think I invested about 80 hours and $1,000 plus the motor upgrade.
Step 1 - Here's the first set of about a dozen or so holes I added to the boat -- this batch went into the cockpit floor -- which gave me quite an odd feeling as I drilled.
;)
Step 2- Meanwhile I assembled the steering pedestal, complete with controls and cabling for the new outboard and the steering system.
;)
Step 3 - Bolted on the pedestal and custom made support plate, then ran the cables through the floor, across the bilge, up the aft panels, and out the hull. This took some trial and error, and I actually went through the bilge area because my cables were too long. In the end, it looks quite clean and didn't take up any sleeping space.
Step 4 -- We fabricated new rudder control arms to adjust the "throw" distance so it better matched the steering setup. Otherwise the cables pushed the rudders too far.
;)
That's it in a nutshell. I still need to fabricate a permanant link arm for the rudders and attach the motor well boots, but it's pretty much ready to go.
;)
Here's the finished product from the port side. Incidentally, you might notice I used thumb screws to secure the side panel of the pedestal. This will make it easy to access for future upgrades.
Lastly, for those of you with high speed -- here's a video of the rudders and motor turning in perfect synch.
Next up, a helm seat..
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Tuesday, August 30, 2005, 11:47 PM
Well, nobody (including me) seemed to like the new webmail client I originally chose. So, I've updated it to a new one through the E-mail link on the right -- same passwords apply. I think you'll like it better as it has more features like address books, etc.
If you liked the old one, you still can use it here. Enjoy!
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Sunday, August 28, 2005, 01:41 AM
Say hello to the new look for meylor.com. After several years of same 'ol same 'ol, it seemed time to mix it up a litle. I've had good success with this blog software on other projects, and thought it would work out pretty well here too. Plus, it makes it easy for me to speak my mind now and again -- which I'm sure you'll enjoy.
Speaking of enjoyment -- for those of you wanting a meylor.com e-mail address, please use the 'Contact Me' link above and I'll be glad to set you up. Incidentally, though you can no longer receive messages on the old setup, you can still acess old e-mails here.
Enjoy,
Kevin
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