a half-finished dolly

Offending elbows in the foreground.
Old Blue's stern in the background.

Well.

User error.

I can't blame this on anyone but myself. Out of 8 45-degree elbows, 6 were the correct size. Apparently I should pay more attention when pulling parts out of the box.

So, I couldn't finish the dolly tonight, but that's okay, because Hubby is going to run to Harbor Freight tomorrow to get some other tires on sale, which will likely lead to cascade of exchanges in regards to the rod, washers, and lock nuts. That's what receipts are for!

However, it looks like this thing is going to come together pretty well, once I'm done with the loose fitting. I've got the PVC adhesive, foam, and ties, so I should be able to finish this tomorrow, sans painting. Haven't quite decided if we're going to do that or not. I'd like to, but we'd have to destroy our tarp in the process, so we don't get it on the grass. Our house is for sale after all.

The awesome thing is that this thing takes an episode of House Hunters to construct, minus the gluing. Mike and I cut the PVC and I fitted stuff together with some last minute measurements in there. We only have one cutter, so it was still a one-person pace. Of course, this is without the painting, gluing, and fitting the foam on, so maybe it's a 2 episode deal. Basically, 40 minutes! And, cutter included, will be around $80 dollars, potentially less if we get the HF tires tomorrow. Better than the $500 dollies out there!

Also this weekend, our sailing club is hoping the weather will hold out for an opening weekend regatta of "sail what ya brung" plus a potluck and drinky drinks. We've decided we won't try to have the boats ready by then, because the water is still going to be friggin' cold. We'll be hitting some 70s this weekend, but the night still gets down to the 30s and 40s, and Saturday is supposed to be 58, so I'm thinking that water is going to be mighty unfriendly. Maybe we can hitch a ride on one of the day cruisers.

On the bright side of this stubbornly cold winter, it buys us time to get the ports put in (yeah, I know, I know) and I bought some Marine-Tex putty today to help with some of the chips in Woody's hull and in daggerboard trunks and mast steps. We are being Come What May about Old Blue's drinking problem and will patch some probable causes of her dampness and just dry her out between sails. Yeah, we're duct tape sailors.