Working on some projects with Friends

Jon came over after work and we played fiberglass repairmen.

Well first we unloaded the Aldi Groceries from my truck then Heath and Peanut came home and we grilled some brats and beans and cantaloupe and corn. We watched a bit of Ratatouille with Peanut while we ate.

Jon and I moved the canoes inside and just missed some rain while we were eating. It cleared off quick and we moved them back outside and Jon sanded them. The fiberglass sticks better if you sand down all the old fiberglass and get a nice smooth surface to stick to.

We tried out a new technique for fiber glassing. Usually we would get some resin down on the boat then lay down a strip of the glass and put resin on top of it. Last night we laid a piece of cardboard on the ground and Jon would spread resin on it then hand it to me and I would lay it on the boat and smooth it into place. We used a lot less resin and our patches were a lot smoother and looked better.

We had to make an O’Reilly run for more supplies and still ran out before we were quite finished. We got Jon’s all structurally done and mine close. We plan to finish mine then sand them both down just a little then add more resin and spread sand down on the resin.

The sand is an experimental technique that we are going to try in hopes it will protect the canoes a bit more from getting so scraped up on the rocks. Tony came over at dusk and helped out for the last few pieces of glass.

Then the three of us loaded up the truck with splitting mauls and a dolly and headed down to Jon’s neighborhood.

The park across the street from him is getting a face lift. They are cleaning it up and tearing out all the old sidewalks and stairs and putting in nice new ones.

The cool part about the old stairs is they were made from giant slabs of granite.

The bad part is they weigh a lot, are still stuck to the concrete and will be tough for the city to remove.

As good citizens we helped them out. After summing up all the brawn we could find we were able to get 2 large slabs and 1 small one into the truck. It was probably more weight then the truck needed and maybe more then Berry’s dog house but the Ranger did fine and now these 3 guys are in my back yard.

Now what do I do with them? They are almost 5 feet long, 18+ inches wide and 6+ inches thick. Geoff and Brian, I am expecting ideas from you two and would love to hear any ideas from anyone else.

After they were in the yard, Tony went home, I took a shower and went to bed.