Moving to The Dark Side. Pilot House w/F300. Just because... it's Atlantic Northeast.

[drewkaree]

Question about your drive and pad for the boat, is that stamped concrete or actual pavers? If it is pavers are you worried about them shifting with the boats on it?

I can't vouch for @swatski and his stuff, but pavers are quite sturdy, if laid properly. It's also the reason you don't often see pavers used for driveways, because it's so dang expensive to do properly. I don't have a brick driveway, but I've helped on two. The main difference between doing a patio and a driveway is the depth. For a patio, you're going 6-10", depending on the site (usually right in the middle is perfect), but for a driveway, IIRC we were about a foot deep or maybe a little more.

The polymeric sand is going to lock everything together quite well, and your edging is going to contribute to the overall stability, but if something were to shift or heave, brick is going to be easier and less expensive to get back into shape - the average homeowner could do it themselves, although they might not trust themselves.

I have to redo my little patio because my kid wanted to do it for the wife character for Mother's Day 11 years ago, and it's just now requiring serious refurbishment. It's because he didn't do it properly, and it still held up this long. He did it while I was working, and although I left him instructions to help him out, and got him the materials he needed to get it right, he told me (months later) "it was too hard to do it that way, so I just eyeballed it".

It's heavy lifting crap work. I know what we charged for work like that 15 years ago, so I'm guessing that's stamped, but if not, I can only imagine how costly his drive was!

 

[zipper]

I saw this picture this morning, B4 coffee, and the first thing that came into my head were the chorus lyrics of this song. A goodie and an oldie, I don't know why, but it is now stuck in my head. The mind is weird, at least mine is, lol.





Must have something to do with our current brown grass and it is snowing lightly again...cabin fever.

 

[zipper]

Yall look very happy and Swatki's Angles seems to have grown a lot.
I do have a request, thought it is more of demand. You must stop posting pictures of both your boats parked next to each other. It is not fair for the rest of the us, the plebs.

I scratched my head on this one and then realized you meant to spell Angels not Angles. It makes sense to me now.

 

[swatski]

I scratched my head on this one and then realized you meant to spell Angels not Angles. I makes sense to me now.

Yep. It is Betik's vignette.
AKA - Greek state of mind. It is a beautiful thing!


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[swatski]

Question about your drive and pad for the boat, is that stamped concrete or actual pavers? If it is pavers are you worried about them shifting with the boats on it?

Good question! @drewkaree beat me to it, what he says is more or less exactly the case, there is actually over a foot of base under those (super premium) pavers. I won't tell how much the darned thing cost, suffices it to say it was ridiculous (for comparison - that driveway cost more than the other entire patio which is larger, elevated, has a retaining wall, and a gazebo, lol).

The idea was to make it tank-proof which it may or may not be but so far nothing budged, at all, and yes, I abuse it. I've been most impressed with the sturdiness of those granite curbs, actually, as I frequently violate them at different angles. FIngers crossed it will stay that way.

BTW, Kate (wife) has been horrified by all the lubricant stains etc.
Whenever she seems ready to pounce, before she starts complaining, I simply provide a detailed explanation of the work I'm doing that leads to stains... and then - I encourage her to get quotes to contract the work - away from our driveway.
So far it has had an immediate effect, and I don't even make stuff up.

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[tim h]

Awesome and congrats !!
Very exciting times for sure.

SO............. Is it "crooked" ?
I would hope not.

 

[AZMark]

BTW, Kate (wife) has been horrified by all the lubricant stains etc.
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You can get pretty good sealers for pavers these days. Not at the hardware store though.

 

[swatski]

Awesome and congrats !!
Very exciting times for sure.

SO............. Is it "crooked" ?
I would hope not.

Not at all.
I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality, so far. I did some touch up, probably totally unnecessary, but those were dealer, not factory, add-ons.

These are simple boats but fit and finish is top notch.

Here is the kicker: couldn't find any raw fiberglass - anywhere, lol. not even the bilge. love it.
Then, looking inside the armstrong bracket - I found the cutouts were actually sealed; very cool.



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[swatski]

You can get pretty good sealers for pavers these days. Not at the hardware store though.

I wish I thought about it earlier. I'll probably try some degreasers at some point, and make it right, it really is appalling. I never plan on spilling stuff... it just happens, tried tarps and foam pads but they always roll the wrong way, it's like working with 3M 5200 - no matter how careful I am it's going to shmutz up everything in sight, lol.

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[ourlee]

Love that boat!

 

[the MfM]

@swatski have you measured to see if the pilot house is crooked yet?

 

[zipper]

Have you tried out the radar yet? Love it. Will you move it up once you install the flying bridge? Hate to see anybodies brain get fried like an egg in a frying pan. You know like the old drug commercial... "This is your brain on Radar". lol. Will you need a radar reflector so others can see you? I see them up in the shrouds of sailboats quite a bit.

 

[swatski]

Have you tried out the radar yet? Love it. Will you move it up once you install the flying bridge? Hate to see anybodies brain get fried like an egg in a frying pan. You know like the old drug commercial... "This is your brain on Radar". lol. Will you need a radar reflector so others can see you? I see them up in the shrouds of sailboats quite a bit.

We did test the radar, it is impressive.
Unlike Garmin GPS or Yamaha command link, which are rather intuitive, the radar is a different story. I'll need to learn to understand the signal and various distortions, both critical and a bit involved.
One issue is - those things are very power hungry, so I'm trying not to play with it too much in the driveway (don't have a charger in this boat and probably will not, for simplicity).
I don't actually know if we will need a radar reflector with the Parker, good reminder for me to check on that! in general, it is required on small vessels in our marina (inside the Kill channel).

EDIT: finally got on the list for the autopilot install; initially planned for a simpler model and DIY but ended up with this Garmin marvel/monstrocity which is wonderful but a bit intimidating for the uninitiated; too many things that can go wrong, plus the warranty requires a licensed tech to install, figured I might as well bite the bullet... Installer are busy this time of year, it will be mid-May.

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[Betik]

I scratched my head on this one and then realized you meant to spell Angels not Angles. It makes sense to me now.

at least I learned how to spell St. louis. That should buy me some credit

 

[zipper]

We did test the radar, it is impressive.
Unlike Garmin GPS...

EDIT: finally got on the list for the autopilot install; initially planned for a simpler model and DIY but ended up with this Garmin marvel/monstrocity which is wonderful but a bit intimidating for the uninitiated; too many things that can go wrong, plus the warranty requires a licensed tech to install, figured I might as well bite the bullet... Installer are busy this time of year, it will be mid-May.

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You are going to like auto pilot alot. The Ram is meant for heavy duty use/seas. It is a step up from the wheel pilot I put on our Bene. With ours as you get up near 20kt. winds, it gets a little hard for it to maintain course. But that is ok, as we don't intensionally go out in +20kts. winds. And I would want to be at the helm for that anyways, if we were. A FB friend from San Diego on the Beneteau S group, set his and went into the cabin below and was not paying attention nor anyone else and ran into a channel marker/can, not a nun. The nuns hit you, lol. Same boat as ours, and now is on the hard having a few thousand $$ of repairs to rebuild his bow. Expensive lesson to learn. And he needed to replace the rusty hardware on the chainplate anyway. A PO had put a cheezy bow eye on the outside of the chainplate and did not use 316 SS hardware. That whole assembly attached to the forestay keeps the mast up.

 

[tdonoughue]

@swatski , hint: don't hit a can in the new boat.

You're welcome.

 

[swatski]

What a great weekend, couldn't hit the water but driveway boating doesn't get any better! 60's weather, finally getting well acquainted with this new Parker.
I scoped a few things to understand bilge/bulkhead structure and plumbing, used my borescope and factory pics they sent us of our hull being built. I feel like I finally have a clue which way water flows and cables run. Also, destickered the boat.

I finally decided where to install the new ProMariner for the dual bank and did it.






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[2kwik4u]

@swatski Is this a right angle drill attachment?



Does it work worth a dang or is it a pain? I've used some in the past and they always seem to end up more hassle then they're worth.

 

[drewkaree]

@swatski Is this a right angle drill attachment?



Does it work worth a dang or is it a pain? I've used some in the past and they always seem to end up more hassle then they're worth.

I can verify that it is indeed a right angle attachment. Looks to be the same one I have, which means it'll only take the quick-shank type of drill bits, not the smooth, round "regular" bits. I bought mine for the lake house because I don't have a right angle drill, and that works sufficiently for my needs. Comparing them to my other right angle drills (Milwaukee 12V right angle drill and Milwaukee 12v Installation drill) isn't a fair fight. The Dewalt attachment is sufficient for semi-occasional use, but you'd be better served, IMO, with going with the Milwaukee 12v Installation drill. While it's a lot more money, I've gotten WAY more use out of it due to the other attachments than the Dewalt. The Dewalt got me out of a pinch, and for that, it was worth every dime, but I now leave my Installation drill there for situations where I need a right-angle drill.

The Dewalt attachment is $20-30. If they had the Installation drill when I had to buy the Dewalt, I would have put that $20-30 towards the Installation drill. The Dewalt has a small magnet to help keep the bits in the chuck, but I found it to lack strength on bits larger than 1/8", and there were times I accidentally tripped the release because of the placement. I have it because it was the best option for me at the time, but I would never buy this again. Now, I'd loan it to a buddy if he needed something like this, before I'd ever give him my Installation drill. It's the best right angle attachment I've used, but that's like saying you found a way to pick up the clean end of a turd. It's useful, but not the right solution. The right solution, IMO, costs more, but raises its usefulness by a factor of eleventy brazillion over the Dewalt. My two "right" solutions are below, and the best of the two is the Installation drill. Bosch also makes a darn-near-identical model of the Installation drill, if you're invested in their 12v line of tools.

The right angle drill is sometimes too cumbersome and large, but it's only $89 right now.



If you already have any Milwaukee 12v items, the bare tool price on the Installation drill is $179, otherwise it's $229 for the kit with batteries and a charger. The heated jackets make for a good reason to step into Milwaukee's 12v ecosystem. They didn't have the Installation driver when I bought the drill, otherwise I'd likely have never purchased it. The additional heads for the Installation driver make it the clear winner in my book, and I would choose it over the right angle drill despite the additional cost.

 

[swatski]

@swatski Is this a right angle drill attachment?

View attachment 146128

Does it work worth a dang or is it a pain? I've used some in the past and they always seem to end up more hassle then they're worth.

@drewkaree is right on! In fact, you can see a dropped drill bit in one of the pics, lol.

Like he said, it works. I find it useful, glad to have it about twice a year on average. it needs no charge!
Requires quick change bits, and you have to hold onto the attachment and the drill, so it is best for infrequent use.

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