Clone of Paul's Fix All

Bass boat floats, runs

2011-05-24T16:09:18Z

GPS at 24 mph. It floats, runs and the trailer pulls extremely well. We had three adults and two children on it no problem Sunday. It does run a bit lean, especially off idle, but that is probably a simple fix most likely a piece of debris in a jet or air bleed or the float too low. The boat is for sale now and I'm entertaining all and any offers. It is a '71 Sierra, fiberglass hull with 1992 Johnson 15 hp. It has a wooden front deck two swivel seats and rod holders, fish finder hookups and extra gas and tanks. The trailer is a no-brand but it pulls incredibly straight and true. It has 14 inch wheels so its easy to move around the yard, way easier to park and manipulate by hand than my jet ski trailer. I'm asking $1,000, but you know what I paid for it...

Connelly Hook ski restoration

2011-05-10T00:03:25Z

Got a sweet deal on the wife's ski, a 63 inch Hook with good rubber in a vintage bag and matching, in-the-bag gloves. Anybody have any idea what year???

This ski was in absolute great shape, even the bag. Check out the exotic hardwood inlays. The bottom is as even cleaner with two grooves running the length of the concave tunnel.

This is the worst of the dings in the top deck. Using my previous knowledge and lack thereof from my Maha resto, I'll be touching up this ski.

Bass boat blog 2

2011-05-09T22:50:16Z

IT RUNS! But it needs a water pump.
The boat runs on its own, that is without me force-feeding it starting fluid, and that took some doing. First I had to find a reasonably priced fuel line (thanks big box store.) Then I had to find cheap used tanks (thanks classifieds man and strange alleyway deal.) Then I had to clean said tank with gasoline and handfuls of roofing nails for abrasive to get a pound of rusty scales out. Then cut said big-box virgin fuel line and hose clamp a filter over the brass nipple. Prime, then pull 70 times. No start, so rebuild the carburetor (which I can never spell correctly on the first try) and in three pulls it sputtered to life and actually idled well. The idle speed isn't controlled by throttle on these but rather by mixture.
Now I just need to hope that I didn't run it too long without an impellor and overheat it.
About 20 bucks later and I've got a water pump impeller installed. All I have to do now is put the lower unit back on, squeeze it full of gear lube and try it again.
Running the thing in a 20 gallon can of water should produce water from the, for lack of a better word, pisser on the back of the motor. When it didn't, I realized there was a problem. Come to find that the impellor vanes (six) were all broken off but surprisingly the housing was in good shape so here's to good luck.

This shot is after removing the old carpet and seat from the wooden bow. Since this shot, I've washed the boat and painted the trailer with brush-on Por15 semi-gloss black. The motor mounts and wheels were also painted. I also have a new swivel seat.

My new yard art

2011-03-31T19:29:56Z

Boat blog

It's 10 p.m. I've got a flashlight strapped to my head, another in my mouth and a fluorescent drop light hanging from the garage door.
There's an assortment of spray lubricants and a few hand tools lined up on the bench and at this point I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm on drugs.
In the previous 72 hours, I'd dragged a nasty, moldy, muddy and leaf-filled fiberglass fishing boat into by front yard next to my two ghetto jet skis where it sat with a flat tire that barely held air for 20 minutes.
Then the cleaning began, digging buckets of leafy debris, some with weeds growing from them, from the hull of the 12-foot boat.
But no, I don't toss them in the garbage. Instead I harvest the piles carefully digging through them for loose parts - invaluable bits of goodness that will save time and money on my free boat project.
One neighbor called it my new "yard art."
The boat was pretty ugly, but it has cleaned up nicely. And after numerous trips to the hardware store and plenty of foul words blurted came the moment of truth.

Compression? Check.

Spark? Check.

With two of three vitals down and being $10 and a classified ad away from a new gas tank, I spray some starting fluid down the carb and give the paint brush pull cord a good yank.

Three's a charm and the nearly 20-year-old Johnson 15 horse two stroke putters to life spins up happily and coughs out some blue smoke before running out of ether to inhale.

Success.

Scoffers may scoff, but with some ingenuity and some determination and a few hours of rare spare time I've breathed the first signs of life into the little white outboard for the first time in at least three years; and by the looks of it many more possible mothballed seasons.

As a young kid, my grandfather taught me, and my siblings, to drive with a 9.9 Johnson in a decades old Gregor aluminum boat. Before that it was mandatory knot school on the family room floor.
Able now to tie a bowline knot with my eyes closed, and having mastered parking the stick-steer fishing boat, that little rattle-trap Gregor was my ticket to youth freedom on Lake Almanor.
With it I found some of the best bass and trout fishing on the lake.
My cousin and I ran it like a jet ski jumping boat wakes and carving corners so low it would draw water over the gunnel strip.

These memories ran through my head as I wrenched on the little motor. I'd always envied the 15 horse Johnsons as a kid and heard rumor the 9.9 was a carb tune away from 15.
After years with the 9.9, someone stole it and tried to sink the boat, but that Gregor's seats were foam filled by grandpa and a 50:50 mix of buoy foam.

Well now, I'll have to relive some of those memories with this new toy, even if it is pretty ghetto.

Rare Poncho Power!

2011-01-27T01:13:53Z

What we have here is rare choice in hot rod power plants, a 1974 Pontiac 400 with dual quads. What you can't see is the wheelie bar out back and the tubbed rear.

Favorite five auto vids

2010-11-18T00:25:46Z

General news videos

2010-11-16T18:35:02Z

Paul's Video Link

2010-11-15T22:26:38Z

Here's a taste for some of the news and entertainment stories I and my colleagues have covered.

Link to my videos

Paul's video player

2010-11-15T22:16:38Z

for mikey

2010-09-24T22:14:13Z

This one's for Mike - you know who you are.
For centuries, men have sought refuge from their surroundings, from hunting and gathering trips, psychedelic trips to modern man cave time.
Plans are drawn for one serious hobbit hole, where a man can truly recluse to someplace special, secluded from everything and everyone.
From outside, the stone structure looks bomb-proof. It is sheltered on three sides by massive redwoods backing up to an exponentially steep mountainside where Sherpas envy its altitude and mountain goats live above the treeline.
It's smoothly shaped, hand-lain river rock fit perfectly together forming neat stacks forming four walls of solitude.
A low stoop provides a heavy, hand carved, solid-wood door protection from the elements and constant shade for its short height, ill advised for full-height men.
Its dimensions, diminutive - a throwback to childhood forts.
Stooping low, under heavy, rough-sawn redwood timber, three rock steps drop into an earthen floored and dirt-carved wainscoting lined bunker where immediately in the center of a rectangular, single room with no interior walls, a giant redwood tree emerges and rises up to a vaulted, yet impossibly short ceiling.
It's hollow, cavernous trunk is home to a constantly smoldering fire, of hardwoods, aromatic with acacia, poplar and incensing oak.
A blacksmith-forged iron spit holds a caldron of warm water for cooking purposes.
Simple amenities include a bed positioned in an easterly window with four panes of hand blown glass give a distinctive, distorted view of the vast unpopulated hillsides.
One chair and a single table made from green saplings bound together with whittled young bark and sealed with tree sap and boiled animal hides sit opposite the room.
Carved into the dirt walls rising one third the room height, are cubbies for holding various trinkets found on rare, fasting-filled meditative walks.
Three books line the single rock shelve found near the sleeping nook.
There's space enough for one man and his befriended, domesticated wild wolf.
Outside, a lean-to provides shelter for a stable for a gloriously white unicorn with angels' wings.
It is here on the lonely slopes where man finds solace.
Cell phones have not yet been invented, only one explorer knows the location, GPS draws blanks and one, mental map leads the man in.
Temperatures are nearly always damp and cool on the windward side of a mountain top never seen for it is always engulfed in clouds and far too treacherous for human travel.
Moss grows on the south side of the rock shelter and its otherwise raw wood roof.
Smoke constantly wafts gently from a hollow branch of the yet living redwood chimney, downwind of the hobbit hole.
No foot paths could be traced and only one man enters and leaves the place where time slows.
This is Hobbit Hole.

Break face and go home

2010-06-21T23:48:00Z

Hit it

My first ski of the season was a success, I've got all my teeth, nothing's broken and my eardrums are in one piece.
My Maha performed as expected, though I didn't but at least I didn't break my face.
Ever heard of the saying, "go big or go home?"
Well, ever since July 4 2009, my friends and I have a new saying, "break face and go home!"
I was riding with my good ski buddies at 6 a.m. on Lake Almanor before the fishermen were even out, as I'd done literally hundreds of times before.
It was like any other run. I'd strapped into my wakeboard on the dock gathered two lengths of non-stretch rope, said the familiar mantra to myself through shivers, "the water is warmer than the air."
I chucked the two coils of rope, yelled "Hit it!" and gave a quick hop and held on for life saying yet another mantra, "never let go."
I hit the water feet first with my hair dry and went into my run, a classic pattern for me, heal-side air to get the feel, landing in the flats and edging hard into a toe-side slide, back into a toe side air landing sketchy on my toes riding it out waiving a one-handed windmill.
Now for the ego moves - a succession of three to four wake-to-wake 180s with some surface tricks mixed in and then with a wide start to a really progressive cut on my toes, I keep the rope tight to my left, rear hip, knees bent hard and popping I roll forward into a front roll landing in the flats outside the wake sliding out before coming to my feet.
The first flip of the year landed, now what? I'd exhausted my lineup save for some other long-shot moves.
Back flip? No I'd been too afraid of busting my knee after the last attempt.
It was early in the season and I was out of shape and I had nothing left in the tank so I went for the scarecrow, a front roll with a 180.
It was all-bad and ugly from the start. My knees buckled into the wake as a rolled too early and slow.
I landed flat on my feet with my knees tucked tight, nearly sitting on the board. My right knee came up faster than my reflexes and with more power than my out-of-shape legs. Simultaneously my neck gave out sending my head into my knee like a whip.
My knee hit me square in my right cheek like a right hook from a heavyweight boxer.
It hurt real bad.
I immediately felt my two cheeks with two hands and noticed a depression in my cheek.
"I broke my freaking face!" was my first thought.
I couldn't see, couldn't think of anything but the pain, I felt super dizzy and struggled to get the darn board off.
Good thing my driver is literally a brain surgeon.
Between hundreds of obscenities, I tell him, "Craig, I think I broke my face."
After a brief inspection he says, "no, I think you're OK, you'd know if you broke your face."
Well by this time I had a small pressure cut on my cheek, like boxers get.
My eye was swelling and I had a splitting headache.
Long story short, I asked for a quick ride back to the dock called my then fiancé and asked for a ride home and guessed I'd be out of the 5k I was supposed to run later that day.
I spent the rest of the day at Seneca Hospital ralphing in a paper bag and at home sleeping it off.
I still get phone calls and e-mails from certain friends where the first words or the subject line say, I kid you not, "Break face and go home!"

Maha Fin

2010-06-07T16:59:35Z

Maha fin

Well again I took my Maherajah water ski project a bit further.
I started with a water logged, faded and abused Maha.
Now the ski looks well, it's clean, shiny and water tight - I hope.
The only thing left to do is glue the new rubber tip on.
Maherajah recommended using regular super/crazy glue and starting on the top center of the "m" put one dab, press and hold then do the middle, bottom. Then apply glue to the sides.
To help with adhesion Maha recommended a bit of acetone on the rubber to clean and of course removing all the old glue, which was a pain.

Here's the process:

At first I was timid, trying to restore the minimum luster of the ski with a rubbing compound, which worked, however I needed more.

I disassembled the ski and sanded out the dings and nicks.

I then used a two-part epoxy to fill the holes using cardboard as a squeegee.

Then after sanding the epoxy smooth, I sanded the whole ski lightly with a medium-grit sponge (sorry no number on it.) I scuffed it enough to break the sheen on the ski to give the urethane a bite.

Fearing for weak adhesion I use a quick-cut product, like super abrasive toothpaste, made for use as a final sand prior to paint application. That was applied with a scrubbing pad - a special one without dyes, chemicals or scents.

I washed well with dishsoap, rinsed and repeated.

After sun drying, I rolled out an end roll of newspaper over the shop bench (I've kind of got the hookup on that stuff.) It works well to create a clean work surface and cleans up easily.

With a brush I applied two coats of spar urethane sanding between them with a fine foam sanding block.

Then with 0000 grain steel wool and some automotive polish, I rubbed the whole ski down and buffed with a power buffer to give the final shine.

Using a carnauba car wax, I waxed the ski and reassembled.

Fin.

Now HIT IT!

Maha resto two

2010-05-25T21:53:18Z

My minimalist restoration has become more involved.
At last writing I was content with the miracle rub that at least partially restored a sun-beaten and water-logged finish.
I've now sanded down and epoxy filled the major chips and blemishes.

For the blackened, bare wood damaged by water, I used a wood bleach chemical solution, about a tablespoon per quart of water.
Over the course of a few days I periodically applied the solution to the blackened areas, rinsed and repeated with mixed results. Actually sanding down the wood to reveal the true hue worked better, at least aesthetically.
I used a small paint brush and followed the instructions on the can.
After a healthy rinsing and sun drying the wood ski, I used epoxy to fill in the deeper gouges.
Next step I'll sand down the epoxy and use a spar urethane to touch up the other areas, per Bob Maher's instructions.
While ordering the rubber ski tip I spoke with the man the myth the legend and he gave me good advice.
Also his helper recommended the use of a five-minute epoxy.
I received the rubber tip in one day and talking with a piece of water ski history was a treat.
I'll still be dealing with some discoloration in the damaged areas, but overall it'll be in much more sound condition than I've ever skied it, so I'll be happy.

Maha resto

2010-05-18T19:05:14Z

I brought out the old wooden Majerajah water ski yesterday hoping to bring out the shine, and I did with not a lot of work, here's what I learned so far.
First, this Maha was a beautiful ski and Bob Maher's company still makes wooden skis after 50 years that are competitive in ski racing. They still sell slalom skis that look quite similar to mine.
Though the company said on its Web site, a lot of its ski sales are to old-time skiers for wall decorations.
I'm not that type of guy I want to ski this thing again.
I grew up waterskiing and my family had this old Maha for as long as I can remember, but we really only skied it as an exhibition, to see if it still works. I'd always favored modern plastics, fiberglass, graphite and composite skis with two boots and all that.
It wasn't until I got into, then became bored with wakeboarding that I really started skiing and appreciated the sport, but still I'd probably skied this Maha hundreds of times.
After about an hour's work with a chemical restorer, I felt it looked well enough to ski again, but I was torn between fully stripping the finish and starting over or being happy with what I had. I leaned toward the easy one and good thing.
Maherajah's Web site, mahaskis.com, recommends not restoring an old ski because refinishing it could weaken it. However the site did recommend re-sealing chipped areas and bare wood with an exterior urethane-based product.
In Maha's words ... "We do not recommend refinishing an older ski. If the ski has been badly damaged or neglected we don't recommend using it. If you intend on using it, you can touch up the spots where bare wood is exposed by lightly sanding the spot and applying an exterior urethane based product, isolating the bad spots with masking tape.
We have found that refinishing a ski makes it thinner, more flexible, and more likely to break. Old skis are already more brittle than their newer counterparts."
Well from here on out I'll follow those guidelines - more or less.
After more than 50 years, Maha must know a thing or two about wood skis.

After years of baking in the sun and a bit of time spent in the oily bilge compartment of our boat after it sank, the formerly beautiful ski had seen better days.
So I dug it out from my grandmother's basement over the weekend and last night and tried, unbelieving, a minimal restoration of the ski's finish.
I had some restore-a-finish, or some kind of wood-stain restorer sitting around from a previous failed attempt with wood working.
A dab of the chemical on some fine steel wool and a couple strokes of it on the ski in an inconspicuous area yielded amazing results to my consternation.
The restorer is a dark walnut finish which is wrong, but it was what I had and there was no way it was going to come out worse so I dove in.
Before I really hit it, I wanted to document before and after progress so I could tell how it measured up.
Excitedly I started snapping pictures of the beat-up ski with my cell phone in my dark garage.
Then, with rubber gloves on I started vigorously rubbing the magic restoration juice on the ski with fine steel wool.
Then becoming evermore brave, I brought out the screw gun and took the bindings off.
Taking a break from the fumes, I tore into the bindings, spraying them down with silicone spray and wiping them with a rag made them look much better. The same fine, steel wool with a bit of polish on the stainless binding hold-downs brought out the shine.

Now with the ski, sans bindings, I really got with it and scrubbed down the whole dang thing. I masked off a small sticker reading 3.5 near the Maha logo and the rubber fin cap and went over the ski again, wiping off the excess juice as I went.
It started looking well again in little time but the torn rubber tip had to go. Using a dedicated, shop hairdryer I loosened the grip of the glue and pulled it off and started to work on the adhesive - gnarly stuff and I've still got more work to go.
Then I lightly sanded the splintered edges and gave it more juice.

Next step, order a new rubber tip boot - $24 from mahaskis.
Then some urethane, assembly and "HIT IT!"

Pride of home

2010-04-27T19:36:02Z

Cleaning up around the house isn't just for homeowners. Renters can take pride in their home too.
A few simple chores on a weekend or in spare time after work can yield significant results helping a house to feel more like home, even if it's a temporary home.
First talk to the landlord to see what, if anything, he or she will let you do.
Chances are they'll be more than happy to get free labor out of you, especially once you're established as a good worker.
Split costs with the landlord or manager wherever possible or work for free in exchange for materials if you can.
Other costs such as sprucing up the yard with annuals are probably best born by you as the renter. Perennial plants should be cleared with the owner or manager and costs shared appropriately.
Also, if the landlord has his or her own equipment, should it be needed, it's wise to ask for it.
A bag of grass seed and fertilizer can go a long way to livening up the yard just spread it by hand or spreader if available and keep it wet. Don't spread it before a heavy rain and check the forecasts.
Pressure washing front steps and walkways will rid concrete, bricks and mortar of stains caused from the winter's rains and runoff. Use high pressure and a wide, 40-60 degree tip and use caution not to send chunks flying off. Keep the tip moving and hold it six inches or so away and systematically work manageably-sized areas.
Again using that pressure washer, only this time with a 90 degree tip and lower pressure, clean the siding and windows. Start from the bottom up to prevent stains even though it seems counterintuitive. Again use caution not to blow through windows or rip paint off the house. Start at a comfortable distance about a foot or so and wet the surface. Then get more aggressive with it when you find the rhythm.
If nothing else a broom, rag and some cleanser can do wonders.
Use the broom to catch spider webs and dust windowsills. Glass cleaner and a rag will have those windows spotless easily. I prefer an aerosol can of foaming cleaner, but anything will work.
Use some degreaser and a hose to wash out window screens.
After these measures a house is more than just a building. It shows you take pride in your home. Plus you'll have some meditative time to yourself. It's good for the soul.