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.

DIY dolly ... project ahoy!

If the weather ever decides to warm up, we'll be wanting to take Woody and Blue out. We actually haven't had a duo sail yet with them (only with the club boats). While we need to get those darned ports installed (yeah, I know it's been all winter), I'm determined to make a dolly for (hopefully) easier launching and more flexibility at other lakes. Where crazy engineers decided to put narrow boat ramps at awkward 90-degree angles from the parking lot/road.

After lots of internetting and debate, I've settled on this PVC dolly seen in various forms on the Internet but mostly taking from my2fish.

Cue the Lowe's adventure.

So, with two plans in hand (because one had a nice diagram but had more stuff going on), I went off to Lowe's after work and the gym. Deliberated over tires in the mower area, and finally chose a set that aren't the greatest but will do, I think (around $10 each). Sand tires would be the best, but those cost more than the rest of the cart + these wheels. Since we tend to launch off the ramp and pull the boat over to club beach to rig (it's a raised beach, like a raised garden bed), I think these will do fine.

Tires read (so I know my axle size), I wander around looking for PVC. Seeing a sign that says Plumbing - PVC, I logically go to the section showing beige PVC pipe under a PVC sign. Apparently, this logic defeated me. I was perturbed to find that the thickest pipe was 1-inch, as opposed the fish's 1.25 plan. No worries, I could do the math. Except some of the parts I needed were not coming in the right size. So, I call for help. And wait. And wait. And ... you get it.

Finally, a man comes over to help and didn't believe I, a little woman, was going to build stuff. After I explain my troubles, he somewhat condescendingly says, "Well, we don't have those things in that size."

"You don't have any PVC wider than an inch?" I found it hard to believe.

"Oh, PVC? You're in the wrong aisle."

Mind you, we are standing under a sign that says PVC pipes and this stuff looks and smells very PVC-oooh-cancer-yum-like. Silly me. It wasn't. Some sort of vinyl-PVC blend and I'm a helpless woman. The next aisle had the real stuff. But it still took time getting all the right pieces and sizes, and I'm still not sure if I got the right slip and thread stuff and had to make a little plan adjustment there.

Then, I had to find someone to help me find the threaded rod. This guy insisted I wanted threaded pipe, even when I explained it was for an axle and showed him the tires. Finally, he believed me and showed me the right section. Then washers were found. But, alas, they were out of my size of lock nuts. I'll grab that and the foam tomorrow.

Oy. Now to decide if I want to paint it or not ...