Rained out
Life carries on.
Doing the work on Selkie that I promised Brudda B I would take care of. Fixing deck chines that were broken during a strap-down for travel. And putting in new floorboards so that the ol’girl doesn’t steal shoes on exit.
There is a section of ash now glued on the bottom side of that chine, and the unfletched arrows are extras I had on hand. Figure carbon fiber tubing will do wonders for strength and flexibility to that chine. Don’t wanna have to get in there twice,,,
And I am fixing those chines before I do the floorboard (need the same access) so that I am not breaking them even more.
Hates the rain-outs. But what can you do when what you do is seasonal. Only option would be to take on a second job, or abandon this’un and take on different. Kind of invested in this one since I am now making more hourly, (but not making squat when NOT working,,, Grrrrrr) And I really don’t wanna start over again elsewhere until I can move on from this place: when I can literally ‘start over’ and ‘get it right(er)’ .
Lord knows I wanna. I call this area the armpit of Appalachia, (and its not limited to my immediate area, this covers a broad expanse) for reasons. Too many deadbeats and pillheads, too many ready to take the dole because they can, not that they need it.
sigh,,,, watching epoxy cure,,,, long cure to boot. not the 5 or 10 minute stuff. but its tougher and more flexible than the quick cure,,,,
All i have is time right now. Guess I’ll get some more reading in.
Dio's Workshop 
Sorry to hear about the lack of (paying) work Dio. I can empathize. That’s one of the reasons I got out the Trades and starting working in Facilities Management. 10x the aggrivation and headaches, but at least the checks are steady…
As an aside, have you ever thought about “hanging out your shingle” and doing independent welding work on the side? I’ve heard there is always work for welders, I’ve hired a number of them myself over the years for specialized work my in-house guys aren’t equipped or skilled enough to do. When I was between “real” jobs I picked up extra dough building fences, painting houses, doing concrete work, rain gutter repairs…anything and everything I could get my hands on. Back then I only had word of mouth and Craigslist, but nowadays with Facebook, etc. you might be able to pick up a few coins here and there without having to lose the “security” of your current J.O.B. You’ve also got some serious mechanic’s skills, a little shade tree work now and again, maybe? Don’t mind me, just thinking out loud, so to speak. I’ve been there (heck, I’m on the cusp of there myself right now with the cost of EVERYTHING going to the moon!) Just throwing out ideas, maybe something will click.
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March 6, 2024 at 8:12 pm
No offense taken, not even a little. Yes, I have thought of hanging out the shingle, DID,,, and what I found around here is that no one wants to pay squat, they want you to work for damned near free. Last freelance welding job I did paid enough to cover my materials and I fought to get that. Said no more. Same problem with the shade tree stuff. No one wants to pay anything,,, mostly because, around here, they don’t have much to begin with and usually make do on what they can.
Thats a big reason I want out of here. This place was down before the Great Depression, and never recovered much after. UNLESS, you go in the mines or politics. I guess you can understand my reluctance on both notes,,,,
FYI, you may have heard stories about ‘Company stores’ and company towns? Places where the Mining company paid in scrip and housed the people working for them. To illustrate just how low this area has been in the economic front, those were reality around here into the early 60’s Bossman tells me stories about growing up in a company town, never having anything that the company didn’t provide first (at markup) and living in a house with cracks in the walls you could toss cats through. That time of his life is why he is still stuck in the scarcity mindset so hard and raises cain with his son for spending anything on the jobs, even labor,,,
Not cryin’ a river here, I know the score, and like I said, why I want out of here so badly.
(note, I was asked once to build a kayak for a guy from here. What he told me he was wiling to pay wouldn’t have covered my materials at all, let alone my time and efforts.)
as for putting stuff up on marketplace,,, tried that too, and the problem there is on me, I don’t promote myself very well. Working on that , I am .
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March 6, 2024 at 9:06 pm