What did you do today?


new2woodwrk

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Started to work on our old dock.  I built this sometime in the mid 1980's.  They let the water down low in the lake that Winter, and I built it then.

I've been trying to get someone to come drive pilings for a new large dock and boathouse complex.  I only want the pilings driven, and the bands set.  After that, I will do the rest myself.  All the dock builders are booked up for a year or more, and I don't think anyone wants less than the whole job.  Hopefully things will slow up some this Winter.

I had started tearing this one down before I found out it would be a year or more before a pile driver could get here.

While I'm waiting for that, I'm just going to re-deck this one to get by for the rental house.  

I only thought to take this picture after I had dug out for the first new step.  I have that built, and all the nails backed out of the old decking, but I forgot to take a picture.  Will do that after lunch.

 

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IMG_2025.thumb.JPG.d71a5f04a719086f7a60da2c742b93f0.JPGHere's what that cove looked like three years ago, not too long after we got that place.  We had owned the point since the late '70's, but not that cove and beach.  It was full of weeds, and gunk.  Almost all sand now.  Where I have grass now was all swampy overgrowth.  This picture was sometime after I had starting working on it.

You can see a bare red dirt hill in the background.  A guy was clearing that lot to build a house.  I gave the heavy equipment contractor a place to dump stumps very nearby in exchange for putting that topsoil there.  We both made out good on that deal.

And sometime later:

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Below shows an I beam drag.

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The water is clearer and cleaner now that it was then.  A few more Springs for flushing with a jetski, and it should be great.

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It's not dry all the way through, but had been at the building supply long enough to dry a lot on the outside.  I pick every piece, and don't take any wild grain, or juvenile wood, so don't really have that much trouble with it.  That will be taken up, and used some kind of way when I build the big dock.  I just put one screw anywhere until it's good and dry.  If any twists, it will get replaced.

There are a Lot of Bass tournaments here.  Some pro fishermen pull Striped Bass out of here, and there are plenty of Sunfish, and Catfish.  I don't know about now exactly, but for a long time both the North Carolina and Virginia state record Largemouth Bass came out of here.  I've never been that interested in fishing. 

I like boats of all types, and mainly sailing.  I'll have the Prosail Hobie 21 catamaran sitting on that beach this Fall, I hope, but whenever I get ahead enough to get it setup, I invite anyone here to come sail with me.

I ordered some folding dock cleats for it.  I've seen too many people get hurt on regular dock cleats.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EXUYT2W?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details  I think I will even recess these, and back them up with aluminum angle underneath.  I already have some angle left from other jobs.

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Tom, does the lake level remain steady for most of the year? The larger lakes in my region tend to use floating docks to acommodate varying water levels.

Of course, the 'larger' lakes are mostly those created along the Tennessee and Cumbeland rivers by the TVA. Maybe their levels vary more than others?

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I'm retired when I want to be, and when I could see the humidity in the air this morning, it was already 80 degrees, full Sun, with no air moving, this is a retired day.  No way am I swinging a 20 lb. sledge hammer in that stuff.  When the horses are standing in front of their fan first thing in the morning, it's not a good day to leave the house.

I did take the tractor down, and picked up all the old dock decking boards, and disposed of them, but that was it outside for today.

All the grass needs cutting, but I'm not doing that when it's close to 100 either.

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I learned about HVAC repair online, and with a good book.  That's the one thing I didn't do when I was building new houses because I knew they would stop working at some point, and I didn't want the calls.  We have too many units now to depend on paying someone an exorbitant price to fix them, especially with the older units at the rental house.  Fortunately, we don't have anything that still runs R22.

I'm pretty sure I have less in equipment than what we would have paid for pro repairs in two years, with what I've had to fix.

My Scientist friends do their own too.  A couple of them got their licenses, so they can buy what they need.  

edited to add:  I do have an air dryer that runs R22, but fortunately it's very sturdily built, and has never stopped working.  I have one tractor that ran R12, but I'm running R21a (which I think is just Butane) in that, and it's working fine.  The vehicles run 134a, but they still sell that at auto parts stores.

Looks like we will only have two days with the extreme heat-yesterday and today.  I'm not much good for sitting down doing nothing, so I'll at least cut grass this morning.  My "hobby" is keeping this place up.  

edited to add:   Rectorseal is a company that I have complete confidence in.  If you have a unit that has lost refrigerant slowly over a long time, I've never not had this stuff to be a permanent fix.  If it was a fast leak, the leak needs to be found and repaired.

https://rectorseal.com/ac-leak-freeze-pro-group/   I just bought it off Amazon.  

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We've had a lot of rain over the past week, and all the grass was about to get too long.  I started the mower at 9:30, and had everything we have to cut done, and the mower rinsed off and put away at 11:26.  When I got back to the house, Pam asked me if I was supposed to be going that fast.  I wasn't rushing myself, but I wanted to get it done. It's somewhere between 12 and 14 acres (rough guess) to be cut with the lawnmower.

At least I feel like I got something done today.  Yesterday was a disappointment.  It was only 90 when I stopped, and humidity wasn't as bad as it was yesterday, so it really wasn't too bad.

edited to add:  This was the first time I've had to cut all the short grass at one time.  The mower doesn't quite have 40 hours on it yet, being new last Summer, but I'm starting to get used to it.

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