Too much time on hands!

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Camper heater worked great, Saturday morning was 22*. Warmed up nice. Land Between The Lakes is a beautiful National Forrest. It's on our must go back to list.
Looks amazing and you got to see some color change still. Ours was over a month ago and was very beautiful but high winds and cold rain knocked it down rather fast this year.


Nothing like being warm inside and knowing it is cold outside. The campfire looked amazing.


We only got about 4” over night will see what we pick up today and tonight. It is 24 right now it will be a good night for the hot tub.
 
0203201505.jpg I didn't like sitting so low in my kayak. So, I picked up a cheap stadium seat at Wally World, did a lot of scratching my head on how to mount it. Took a piece of scrape ply and made a platform. I guess I'll coat it in bed liner and see how it works out. Raising my center of gravity will make it less stable, but with the outriggers I hope it's manageable. I haven't tried standing with the outriggers attached yet, but it seems stable enough to try. I'll save that for a warmer day.
 
View attachment 23231 I didn't like sitting so low in my kayak. So, I picked up a cheap stadium seat at Wally World, did a lot of scratching my head on how to mount it. Took a piece of scrape ply and made a platform. I guess I'll coat it in bed liner and see how it works out. Raising my center of gravity will make it less stable, but with the outriggers I hope it's manageable. I haven't tried standing with the outriggers attached yet, but it seems stable enough to try. I'll save that for a warmer day.


Looks great and with outriggers you will be fine. That’s the reason I’m looking at a canoe for us. Everyone around us all have open kayaks like yours. French Creek is right in our backyard but much of the year the water is pretty cold and I don’t like sitting in it. I keep telling Holly we can get in it and end up in the Gulf of Mexico. She said Good luck Tom Sawyer I will fly down and meet you when you get there.
 
Getting back in a canoe or a sit in kayak would be a chore. I've never had any water in my Yak other than an occasional drip off the paddle.
 
Keeping with the too much time on our hands theme and for the last month I think almost all of that have moved to a new meaning for time on our hands.



I got the garden rototilled and bushes trimmed shoveled a lot of snow that was supposed to be April showers. And even used the little cart I started the thread with to haul quite a bit of brush to the burn pile. As cute as the little cart was it just was better for giving the two little nephews we watch two days a week cart rides around the neighborhood. Well it was even getting a little small for both of them now that they are 2&3. I needed something larger but not too large for sidewalks and such.



You know how cheap I am and when we bought the house (short sale) the previous owner left a mountain of junk behind. One of the items I didn’t toss out yet was a fiberglass bathtub. The time on my hands light came on and I Googled “lawn cart made from bathtub”. To my disbelief I couldn’t find anything on the subject. I saw ponds and hot tubs made out of them even furniture. But no carts at least none I could find. So I had to do it how often in today’s Google world can you be the first at anything.



This tub was one of those with the fake front not a clawfoot. So the first thing I did was take the sawzall to it and cut that off. That part was made of cardboard and had glass shot over it. The bottom is .75 thick plywood with glass on both sides and the sides are solid fiberglass and about .37 thick. After I trimmed it all up to just be a tub with a flange on top I added another 3.5 depth with a 2x4 frame bolted in around the top. Then I scrounged my junk pile and used a road sign post for a tang and welded it to a 2x2 angle to make a T frame. I ordered 2 new Harbor freight wheels and tires. Not here yet because of COVID19 but should be here Monday so I used the old wheels for now. And I had to buy a .625 rod for an axle. All in I have about 40 bucks in to it thanks to HF 20% coupon. I had the JD green and yellow left over as well as raided my bolt bucket. My $50 mig welder got it all together.



Holly was most skeptical but when she saw it finished she told me the boys are going to love it. I have 2 small coolers they can use as seats and that way we can pack lunch if and when they reopen the playground.



I figure it should carry 600 lbs without a problem and I’m thinking about making a top for it for campfires it will work for a table and I can haul the chairs and hot dog and stuff inside. The drain hole will be a good thing as I will be keeping it out back.

Anyway thought I would share. IMG_0224.jpgIMG_0226.jpg
 
Keeping with the too much time on our hands theme and for the last month I think almost all of that have moved to a new meaning for time on our hands.



I got the garden rototilled and bushes trimmed shoveled a lot of snow that was supposed to be April showers. And even used the little cart I started the thread with to haul quite a bit of brush to the burn pile. As cute as the little cart was it just was better for giving the two little nephews we watch two days a week cart rides around the neighborhood. Well it was even getting a little small for both of them now that they are 2&3. I needed something larger but not too large for sidewalks and such.



You know how cheap I am and when we bought the house (short sale) the previous owner left a mountain of junk behind. One of the items I didn’t toss out yet was a fiberglass bathtub. The time on my hands light came on and I Googled “lawn cart made from bathtub”. To my disbelief I couldn’t find anything on the subject. I saw ponds and hot tubs made out of them even furniture. But no carts at least none I could find. So I had to do it how often in today’s Google world can you be the first at anything.



This tub was one of those with the fake front not a clawfoot. So the first thing I did was take the sawzall to it and cut that off. That part was made of cardboard and had glass shot over it. The bottom is .75 thick plywood with glass on both sides and the sides are solid fiberglass and about .37 thick. After I trimmed it all up to just be a tub with a flange on top I added another 3.5 depth with a 2x4 frame bolted in around the top. Then I scrounged my junk pile and used a road sign post for a tang and welded it to a 2x2 angle to make a T frame. I ordered 2 new Harbor freight wheels and tires. Not here yet because of COVID19 but should be here Monday so I used the old wheels for now. And I had to buy a .625 rod for an axle. All in I have about 40 bucks in to it thanks to HF 20% coupon. I had the JD green and yellow left over as well as raided my bolt bucket. My $50 mig welder got it all together.



Holly was most skeptical but when she saw it finished she told me the boys are going to love it. I have 2 small coolers they can use as seats and that way we can pack lunch if and when they reopen the playground.



I figure it should carry 600 lbs without a problem and I’m thinking about making a top for it for campfires it will work for a table and I can haul the chairs and hot dog and stuff inside. The drain hole will be a good thing as I will be keeping it out back.

Anyway thought I would share. View attachment 23598View attachment 23599
Nice! How bout adding a hitch to the back and you could pull both carts. Just thinking out loud...
 
Nice! How bout adding a hitch to the back and you could pull both carts. Just thinking out loud...
That’s not a bad idea and it did cross my mind. Then each kid can have his own train car.



We have an old guy in town he made a train from 55 gallon plastic drums and harbor freight $3.99 wheels. He also made his lawn tractor look like a steam locomotive. He pulls 8-10 kids behind him in the parade every year.



Actually I’m ready to get my hand truck back from the other cart. I have a small wheel one and I didn’t think I would miss the bigger one but I used it a lot more than I thought. I was about to buy a new one from HF when I got the bathtub idea.

My older nephew said I need a JD decal for the tub, but that’s a little fancy for me.
 
LOL! I was scanning the thread and went past your pix without really looking hard. I thought it was just another lawn cart. But when I got to the last post and saw talk of a tub, I had to go back and take a better look. Awesome! But I think you should have left the pipe and shower head attached just for fun. I guess if you put a JD sticker on it the emphasis would have to be on the JOHN.
 
LOL! I was scanning the thread and went past your pix without really looking hard. I thought it was just another lawn cart. But when I got to the last post and saw talk of a tub, I had to go back and take a better look. Awesome! But I think you should have left the pipe and shower head attached just for fun. I guess if you put a JD sticker on it the emphasis would have to be on the JOHN.
Thanks.



I was transplanting some yucca plants and had the cart full of dirt and plants yesterday. It worked great and after I got it fairly empty the garden hose and the drain hole took care of cleaning it up. Also hauled some wood and tools in it and the flat wood rails made for a great sawhorse to work off. I think it will get some usage. I took the PT wood box off the old cart made from the dolly to get my dolly back and will fill the box with dirt after adding short legs and she can plant herbs in it. I was going to cut the tang I welded to the dolly off but I ended up leaving it as it might be handy to use the dolly with the tractor still and the tang doesn’t get into the way when using it as a hand truck.



As for the running deer, a neighbor suggested I buy a decal set as well, and I told him I was too cheap. He suggested I hand paint it and that would be a mess. Then I thought I could print one out cut it out making a stencil and spray it on. That might just work.



You are right John is the key word.

Maybe add the shower head when I take it in the parade I also have one of those old hoops for a curtain. Hmmmm.
 
There are a lot of new members floating around It is time to bring out some old threads and see what they have to contribute. :)
 
My latest project. We are in the final stages of renovating the music room at church. It had risers that were never really used as the choir practices in the sanctuary. So we took out the steel framed risers (welded in place, with way too many powder driven anchors into the concrete floor). Today I applied the first coat of finish on the glued down cork floor.
 

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Like they say doing the Lords work doesn't pay to well but the benefits are out of this world. :thumb:
 
We have been having a week of pretty nice weather last couple day it was close to 70 out. I was taking a walk around our block and saw a neighbor out and I saw he had a canoe upside down across the top of his woodpile and I asked him how he liked it. He said I don’t know I bought it off a guy last year and never put it in the water. I told him why not and he said wife won’t go near the water and he bought it thinking it would be something they could do together. He said give me 150 bucks and it’s yours. I went home and looked it up and it is a Old Town, Guide 147 and they go new for about a grand and used I found a few around 400 and they seem to get good reviews. So I went back down and bought it and he has paddles and jackets to go with it. It is 14’7” and holds 900 pounds according to the specs. It has 2 molded contour seats that feel pretty comfortable and they come with seat backs that clip into a couple slots with a pin molded in and straps to let you change the angle. Somewhere along the line those got lost. I went to the web pages and they want as much as I paid for the canoe for each seat back. If you know me that’s not going to happen. I looked on line and there are a million kayak strap in seats and stadium seats people use and one big company that makes a $40 canoe attachment seat unless you buy it from LL-Bean and then it’s $80. It looked great and all the reviews said it didn’t last or wouldn’t work with a contoured seat.



So today with too much time on my hands and nice weather I started building a prototype seat back that’s adjustable. This is good enough to try and if I like it I can make two nice ones. I have a neoprene sleeping bag pad that’s really nice foam and I will cut that and glue it to the back. then maybe cut a piece for the seat bottom and a chunk for a kneeling pad as well. But saving that for the finished model and I will find some cheap foam for this test model.



Anyway here is where I’m at so far. IMG_1103.jpgIMG_1104.jpgIMG_1106.jpgIMG_1103.jpg
 
Nice score Bud! I bought a new fishing kayak a couple weeks ago, going to the lake Sunday morning and getting it wet for the first time. Spending some time paddling around is soothing to the soul.

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@bud16415
I have an Old Town Guide 160, I saw your picture at first and thought we had the same canoe! Mine's also green.

I've never used it, because I got it while my wife was pregnant and not in physical shape to help me lift it, or to go canoeing for that matter. It's heavy as hell, I can lift it a few feet off the ground myself but it's not easy and I'm pretty sure I couldn't get it up on the roof of the SUV alone, or back down. Definitely not one of those light canoes you can carry around on your head.

Do you have a trick for this?
 
@bud16415
I have an Old Town Guide 160, I saw your picture at first and thought we had the same canoe! Mine's also green.

I've never used it, because I got it while my wife was pregnant and not in physical shape to help me lift it, or to go canoeing for that matter. It's heavy as hell, I can lift it a few feet off the ground myself but it's not easy and I'm pretty sure I couldn't get it up on the roof of the SUV alone, or back down. Definitely not one of those light canoes you can carry around on your head.

Do you have a trick for this?
Mine is about 80 pounds so it is all I want to manhandle. I’m in the process of making a roof rack for my KIA soul also and when I get that done I will post some “How to” photos if can manage it on my own. Most of the time it will be two of us and the 147 is longer than the soul so we each take an end and press it up and walk it over. Alone I will have to load it from the back. The antenna is right there but they unscrew leaving the base and the rack will be higher than that. The problem is scraping up the back of the lift gate and I have seen people stick a piece of outdoor carpet in the crack and shut the gate on it. mine has the third brake light right there also so I’m not sure about how to protect that yet. Even then you have to lift one end and lean it up there as you side it on upside down. It has the portage beam and that’s the best way to get it started up there.



I no longer have my pickup on the road and once I sell it the plan is to get a utility trailer and then it will all be easy.



There are also DIY plans for little dollies with two wheels that make moving it around a lot easier if where you park isn’t close to the water.



We live one block from French Creek that really is a river and George Washington called it a creek when he used it to go see the French. Just north of us the water flows north to the Great Lakes and we are on the divide and this waterway ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. The trouble is once we put in say at our town we then need to place a car where we plan to pull out. Depending on the time of year and how hard you paddle you move about 2-5 MPH. You can be in the canoe for 4-6 hours and it is still a short jaunt back to get your car, but you need two cars and if only one can haul the boat one person has to wait while the other one shuttles the cars around. So if I go alone I will put in with her help and give her a call when I have had enough and she can come get me. Otherwise there are lots of lakes and dams to just go alone and paddle or fish.

Your canoe being 16’ is going to be just that much harder doing alone and I would suggest a trailer and dolly. :(
 
My new kayak is about 75 lbs. I store my old one in the ceiling in the garage. It's about 50 lbs. I have an old work table on wheels that the new one lives on and I can wheel it out to my utility trailer that I made a frame on to hold 4 kayaks. All I have to do is slide it over. We made a kayak dolly out of some spare wheels and 1-1/2" pc pipe that works really well to get the yaks across the parking lot at the ramp when it's busy with boats. My new yak has a wheel in the keel at the stern, anxious to see how that works.0225211029.jpg
 
I also bought a used kayak (Coleman) that is way to heavy to lift on my own - and my wife's back won't let her help - so I built a canoe loader, based on a youtube video, that uses "stairs" and carrier on top of our van. I just roll it off of the cart onto the lowest plastic pegs then, going back and forth, walk it to the top. When the center of gravity passes the pivot point, the stairs rotate up and I just push it to the center of the carrier and remove the stairs. I also built outriggers that make it so stable I can stand to cast. The system works great!
 

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