Antipodean Boats Connection

[Phil Y]

Lions clubs and the like often do this. Can get a bit crazy though. When I was in PNG the local government medical clinic had been donated an old X-ray machine some time ago. It was sitting ona verandah gathering dust. No way ever were they going to be able to afford the cost of calibration, training, consumables and a safe room to use it in. It contained radio active stuff, so in the end we dug a huge hole for them and buried it in concrete. It was a significant liability for a desperately struggling health facility to deal with. But crutches, wheel chairs, even basic stuff like bandages, can never have too much.

[Phil Y]

Took another ferry yesterday, this time along one of Bangkoks smaller canals. The ferry was maybe 60 or 70 feet long, huge diesel, but non turbo. Maybe 12 fot beam. The channel varies from about 20 to 40 feet wide, and of course there are only 2 throttle settings on the diesel. Idle and WOT. Life in the fast lane!

[brucemoffatt]

I've just completed another handyman day, busting my old body for enough lucre to stay in the black for a few more weeks. It's very satisfying to see the budget spreadsheet ripple down black for the financial year when a pay is added.

I have another job to do tomorrow if i can figure out how to do it. A friend has a pontoon out front of their house at West Lakes. I've stripped and oiled all the timber, and the next issue with it is that the allegedly 316 stainless stanchions have tea staining and surface rust in small pitted spots. My job is to un-rust it. Another friend has suggested Penetrol. I don't know what that is or if it works and if so how to use it. All suggestions welcome.

[PeterSibley]

I'd suggest a general question in Building Bruce, no, I mean Building comma Bruce .

[suzyj]

Maybe a quick wipe of phosphoric acid...

Be careful going at stainless with wire brushes and the like. Although you can get things nice and shiny, you leave behind mild steel from the brush that's embedded in the surface of the part. Then that mild steel rusts like crazy.

[PeterSibley]

A rotary brass wire brush on an angle grinder ?

[Larks]

I've just completed another handyman day, busting my old body for enough lucre to stay in the black for a few more weeks. It's very satisfying to see the budget spreadsheet ripple down black for the financial year when a pay is added.

I have another job to do tomorrow if i can figure out how to do it. A friend has a pontoon out front of their house at West Lakes. I've stripped and oiled all the timber, and the next issue with it is that the allegedly 316 stainless stanchions have tea staining and surface rust in small pitted spots. My job is to un-rust it. Another friend has suggested Penetrol. I don't know what that is or if it works and if so how to use it. All suggestions welcome.

Phosphoric acid to get rid of the tea-staining as Suzi suggested Bruce, and no wire brush. If the SS is tea-staining the welds/cuts were most likely never passivated or polished, rather than try and explain passivating in a few words, google it and see if any of the options are of use to you (essentially either polish or soak in a passivating bath). It may be just easier to hand the guy a spray bottle of phosphoric acid mix to clean them every now and then.

[auscruisertom]

Hey Bruce we just used a product called Ormonoid heavy duty brush on bitumen coating on WB 's chain plates. Steel boat owners used to call it coal tar. Can be brushed on no priming required also used for gutters retaining walls ect. I just ended priming and painting, along with the hull paint. Cheers Tom

[brucemoffatt]

Thanks all. Phosphoric acid - like in Coke? Don't tell me there's a use for Coke as a SS tea stain remover

[Larks]

Or better still, oxalic acid, if you aren't able to passivate it afterwards......or vinegar if you want to try something more easily available

[brucemoffatt]

Oxalic acid, like in sour sobs? I have a garden full of them. Also vinegar. I reckon I could concoct something to try tomorrow, a secret brew known only to me, you, and the internet, and maybe I could get work as Spruce Bruce, the Stanchion Man. Yep, onto something. Or maybe it's the Coopers and I'm talking rubbish again.

[brucemoffatt]

So, to extend the plan a little, after another Pale Ale, here's the plan. I flog myself and my 'products' to the wealthy burgers (I don't think it's spelled that way the way I'm using the word) at West Lakes as Spruce Bruce and the Amazing Stainless Steel Shino Treatment. For a fee, I come to the establishment and revive the SS that is encrusted in 2 years of chlorination and tea stains. I give it a wash down to 'prepare' the material for the Shino Treatment. Then using those $1 squeezy spray bottles from the local $1 shop I spray Shino Part 1 (dilute phosphoric acid) on the SS part, wait nonchalantly for the magic to happen, wipe off with a flourish and the Shino 1 Green Microfibre Miracle Cloth (also $1 from the $1 shop). Next I treat the material with a spray of Shino Part 2 (dilute oxalic acid) from a similar spray bottle, wait with a devil-may-care attitude, wipe off with the Shino Orange microfibre cloth. I then offer to 'manage' the material with a regular application of Shino Part 3 (filtered water) and a Shino 3 white microfibre cloth, or if the customer prefers, I sell them the Shino 3 kit for self application. Wiping the salt encrusted SS down once a month fulfills the requirement to keep the salt off it and should deliver a longer term result.

Off to the $1 shop and Bunno's in the morning...

[brucemoffatt]

... and a logo that, if seen in a certain light, seems to show me laughing all the way to the bank.

By the way, don't tell anyone, OK?

[RFNK]

Burghers.

Is it easier to use acid than metal polish?

Rick

[brucemoffatt]

Apparently (according to my son who has a sore neck from shaking his head) I am not to sell bottles of water as Shino 3. Unless Shino 3 contains the secret ingredient Placebox. Which of course it totally does. Homeopathically prepared.

[PeterSibley]

So, to extend the plan a little, after another Pale Ale, here's the plan. I flog myself and my 'products' to the wealthy burgers (I don't think it's spelled that way the way I'm using the word) at West Lakes as Spruce Bruce and the Amazing Stainless Steel Shino Treatment. For a fee, I come to the establishment and revive the SS that is encrusted in 2 years of chlorination and tea stains. I give it a wash down to 'prepare' the material for the Shino Treatment. Then using those $1 squeezy spray bottles from the local $1 shop I spray Shino Part 1 (dilute phosphoric acid) on the SS part, wait nonchalantly for the magic to happen, wipe off with a flourish and the Shino 1 Green Microfibre Miracle Cloth (also $1 from the $1 shop). Next I treat the material with a spray of Shino Part 2 (dilute oxalic acid) from a similar spray bottle, wait with a devil-may-care attitude, wipe off with the Shino Orange microfibre cloth. I then offer to 'manage' the material with a regular application of Shino Part 3 (filtered water) and a Shino 3 white microfibre cloth, or if the customer prefers, I sell them the Shino 3 kit for self application. Wiping the salt encrusted SS down once a month fulfills the requirement to keep the salt off it and should deliver a longer term result.

Off to the $1 shop and Bunno's in the morning...

Never ever sell Shino 3 ! Someone might drink it !

Think of the children .

[RFNK]

Is a homeopath the way home?
Rick

[PeterSibley]

It's the journey, not the arriving .

[Duncan Gibbs]

Sounds like a cunning plan Bruce. Put a tail on it and call it a weasel!

I purchased a nut and tail and a length of suction hose from the local rural supply store today and tested the pump. It takes about two to three seconds to prime with half second strokes of the pump handle and about three seconds to empty a 10 litre bucket of water.

I'm happy!

[PeterSibley]

Thanks Duncan, that saves me buying a length of hose .

Check your PMs Dunc.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

Thanks for my first Forum laugh of the day, Bruce.

Mike

[Phil Y]

Maybe if Bruce got one of them pumps he could pressure blast the west lakes stanchions

[Phil Y]

Been having lots of dental work done. Very impressed with the standard of the dentists and their efficiency and service. I had a long session in the chair today, which ended up being a bit longer than expected and actually fell asleep in the chair with half a dozen instruments in my mouth. The main plan was to have one broken tooth capped and 3 gaps filled with implants. All good except one of the implants hit a snag. Apparently my upper jaw is very thin where a tooth came out a few years ago, so the procedure involves drilling through the jaw, pushing the sinus lining up a bit and grafting some artificial bone in, so there is something for the titanium screw to hold onto. Apparently the sinus lining had a thin bit which didn't want to get pushed up, and instead perforated, which means we can't do that tooth this trip. The rest is going fine, and we'll have another go at that one when we come back to put the teeth on the screws.

[PeterSibley]

Thanks for the dental update Phil, if I break another chewing tooth I'll be very interested in the same procedures.

[RFNK]

It's the journey, not the arriving .

So, you think it's a bit of a stretch?

Rick

[PeterSibley]

Longer by the day ..... shorter by night ?

[Phil Y]

Thanks for the dental update Phil, if I break another chewing tooth I'll be very interested in the same procedures.

I think financially you need to have a few at once to make it worthwhile. And with the risk of one being a non-starter, it's certainly good to have something else to be going along with. Of course if you want to go to Thailand anyway cheap dental work is just a bonus, but in my case we are only here to get the teeth done. Our cost for for the 2 trips that this will be, is in the order of $12,000 all up including accommodation and airfares. Done at home it would have been around $20,000 maybe a little less. We'll also have spent maybe $500 at home for a preliminary visit with our dentist there to get an X ray and on his recommendation a CT scan, which was a very good thing to take with us, and he'll take some stitches out in a couple of weeks.

They also decided while we were here to remove and replace a couple of huge old amalgam fillings which were at risk of failing, which was a bit of a bonus.

The facilities and processes here seem to be the same or better than at home.

Pity about the sinus perforation. Normally they can have a go at putting a synthetic patch over that and proceeding, although there is a higher risk then that the bone graft will fail. But because we are flying home next week the dentist was concerned about pressure changes which could easily dislodge the sinus patch and therefore the bone graft. He didn't want to take that risk. Which was fine by me. It probably means next visit I get the screw and bone graft at that site, and the dentist at home will attach the tooth a few months after that.

Weve,had some fun fery rides, and now off to the beach for a few days before a final checkup back here then fly home and see what our children have done in our absence.

[brucemoffatt]

Shino #1 success. Some stubborn spots left to tackle with the old #2.

[brucemoffatt]

First day of Spruce Bruce the Shino Man. A big success.

I couldn't find the oxalic acid, but I did get some expensive branded phosphoric acid, and as I posted above, I duly shone the SS. Lessons from day 1
- the phosphoric acid doesn't want to squirt out of a $1 squirter, so must be applied by hand and cloth.
- the phosphoric acid is not pixie dust. It did eventually remove all but the worst of the blemishes from a handrail, stanchions and boarding ladder, however a lot of elbow grease was also applied, and all up it took an hour.
- buying someone else's branded SS miracle cleaner based on phosphoric acid is an exercise in throwing good money away.

After wielding my magic wand at the SS I also set to work oiling the client's timber front fence. It's a big fence and it has lots of horizontal slats, spaced apart, so it took another three hours. On the strength of a half day in the sun I raced out to Whitworths and bought the last of the Scamp hatches. This is the one mounted vertically in a bulkhead and opens to the large stowage area under the foredeck and the fwd section of the cuddy. I couldn't find the size I wanted so I went up a size. I will have to reinforce the bulkhead to allow for the fact that a sizable hole is now going to be cut out of it.

It was a lovely day outside by the lake in perfect weather. Quite blissful really, even though my poor tired bones are complaining.

[PeterSibley]

Bruce, should you find yourself doing the ss gig often a ScotchBrite pad on an angle grinder may prove useful, they are available through abrasive supply shops.

[Phil Y]

Bruce I reckon oxalic acid is readily available under some other name, but not sure what it is. Pretty useful hey. I also seem to think that the Oleander bush which you'll find at the end of 90% of Adelaide driveways has oxalic acid in its leaves. Just boil up a brew. Check with Google first.

[RFNK]

This is mainly for Greg:

A new H28 in Port Stephens:



Bought at a bargain basement price (has a brand new Yanmar 20HP engine, no less) from Lake Macquarie. Strip planked with ....... hoop! in Brisbane in the 1980s, sheathed with dynel. Hull and sheathing look perfect. Great boat! Has tan sails, covered in cast bronze fittings. Just needed cosmetic work and a few minor repairs to the deck where fittings were causing issues. Enjoy:











Rick

[brucemoffatt]

I just picked out a perfect piece of celery top pine from Mike C for the next Scamp job. Dragging out the saw bench tomorrow if it stays dry

[Phil Y]

That H28 looks pretty nice. How much is a bargain basement price?

[PeterSibley]

Resorsinol glued Rick ? She looks like a beauty !