and then it was gone...

Apologies for the frequent absences of late...you'll remember I've been flat out at work -

AS you can see however, the Chair-0-planes have finally gone.  The workshop seems enormous now.

It's been a hellish week, delivering and erecting the things down at Dreamland in Margate - without blowing my own trumpet, we've done a sterling job in the time available...  many 70+ hour weeks... 1 and a half stone in weight loss in my case and a few more wrinkles.

Here are  the photos I took as we were erecting it in the glorious Margate sunshine earlier this week.

for whatever reason, I don't have the completed photos showing on my phone - so much for technology!

I'll have to check on the Dreamland website and see if they've put up any promotional stuff yet.

Good news too - the hostile Estonian is shortly heading back home - never to be employed again...  I'd have gotten rid of him a long time ago if we'd not been so up against the wire.

In more sad news, yesterday I was tasked with the job of sacking the apprentice.  He's been driving us all mad for the last couple of months  and despite TRYING to give him the benefit of the doubt... him being "young" and all, enough is enough.  Whilst you CAN train people to do specific jobs, I don't believe you can instil common sense or a work ethic.  We've been talking about getting rid of him for a few weeks now and up until this week, I've always tried to champion his cause... his lazy attitude this week down in Margate was the last straw - coupled with deciding to go home early yesterday whilst the lads were cleaning and tidying the workshop because 'there's nothing left to do' .

I must admit, I felt sick during the journey from the office to the workshop to give him his marching orders - in the end, I phrased things "nicely" and rather than crush him, I genuinely feel, I couldn't have done it better.

SO - he's gone now too.  Next week whilst I'm off, we have a work experience lad coming to get in the way  help out and also a friend of the boss who recently lost his job - he's mid 50s and has come in a few days last week to help out.   No word of a lie, he is a pleasure to have around - doesn't need telling to sweep up or empty a bin (nor does he moan about doing so) ... he just gets stuck in to anything required... our sort of chap!

Sorry this is nothing to do with boating - that said, we're off to see the boat builder this morning to finalise a few decisions and see if we can get a more definite delivery date.

I'll report back in due course.

NEXT week however, I'm taking back the Easter and May day bank holidays I worked through and a couple of extra days before we get stuck in to the next ride.    I've a fence/posts to replace between us and next door at some point and also need to do some decorating around the house ... so much for resting!

Until next time.

Ship's Anchor...

Finally I've had a few hours spare (well not really spare but you know what I mean) this weekend to  “think” about the boat again.

I've been looking down my list, and I came to Anchors! – not the most exciting subject but given we’ll be on a river quite a bit, something that’s very important…  well something very important in an emergency.  Given my tendency to prepare (and no I wasn't a boy scout)  my research tells me that an anchor needs to be big enough to be deployed by anyone on board.  

Initially, I’d thought about getting a 20kg Danforth type – 

Like this...

NOT this of course as it’s stainless steel and costs about 600 quid.

Trouble with  something this heavy is, that what say either of our mothers were needed to deploy it in an emergency situation – WOULD they be able to lift 20kg of anchor and chain over the front of the boat? – I doubt it…  it’s a tough one… they could probably manage 10 – maybe 15kg  at a push but would that “do” enough to stop the boat going over a weir ? … I don’t know…

I’d hope to have enough notice of the need to deploy one to be able to get to the front of the boat myself to chuck it in but you never know.

I had thought about having 2 smaller ones but we’ll struggle with storage then…

Usually when I can’t decide what to do – I do nothing… on this one I can’t  so having had a few cups of tea this morning and time to think,  I've gone with my original plan and ordered the 20kg one

This galvanised one was only £75 – by the time you add in the cost of the chain and rope it doubles the price but once again… something that NEEDS to be done.

Next week when we go see the builder, I’ll make sure he makes a note to make a proper fixing point on the front – some folk just use the front t-stud but I’d rather make sure I can fix it to a proper place as t-stud welds have been known to fail when the anchor brings the boat to a halt.

Ours will be permanently attached to said point...Hopefully we’ll never have cause to use it and simply frequently bruise our legs on it!

Until next time…

cressendo al fine...

What a hectic, tiring but rewarding couple of days this has been - the Chair-o-planes is finally completed and ready for delivery.

Yesterday was the operational testing day for the adips certification... i.e., proof that it's safe.   Sorry the photos are a bit blury in parts but the ride had to be running.  Without the cert, the ride cannot be installed and used.  Luckily, all was fine... well when I say all, I'm ignoring a little glitch with the computer that runs the slow down process - it turned out not to be up to the job in hand so I had to head over to Boston to collect a couple of resistors to wire in to the main control unit - on full load (48 x 75 kg people) it now slows down properly... only a 5 hour journey after a long day!

The chap in the photo is the man who legally signs it off as safe.  As you can see, we'd loaded it up with 3x25kg bags of gravel per seat (which is shortly to become part of our drive and garden paths) and spun it on full speed.

No word of a lie, my heart was in my mouth...  3.6 tonnes of gravel swinging round at 12rpm may not sound much, but trust me - the wind noise it created was quite impressive.

Prior to the load test, we did a lighting test... and I'm pleased to say that out of the 384 lights I wired in, only 1 was a duffer... and I rectified that today when we took it down.

That's the sad part about things being so close to the wire - when a ride is finished, we never get the tinkering time we'd like to "play" with the thing.  

We got some volunteers together *read  forced the workers to have a go* and it seemed to go down quite well - I'd been on the 1st run as "crash test dummy" before we loaded it up - it creaked a bit but bedded down ok and I survived... in hindsight, perhaps a load of gravel first might have been a better idea.

After I took this video, I got into the cherry picker and took a birds eye view of it here:

We're currently dismantling it and piling it onto pallets ready to take down to Dreamland in Margate on Monday.  I'm taking a van with all the art work carefully wrapped in blankets separately.  

All in all, we've done a good job and despite the hostile Estonian (he's buggering off back home in a couple of weeks thank goodness and I'm going to make sure, we NEVER have him back again) we're all pleased to see it completed and looking so good.   Dreamland will be very pleased with it I'm sure.

Sorry I've ignored "the boat" lately - there just hasn't been any time or waking hours to think/do anything about it...thanks for bearing with me though - I'm trying to arrange a visit to the builder for Saturday the 21st so will hopefully be able to report back positively then.

With luck, I'll also be able to take a few days back the week after next  to rest, before we get stuck in to the next ride that we are supposed to have ready in July...  oh well - it'll soon be Autumn.

Until next time....

Ride Test Day...

Just dashing off to work  but if I make it through the day, I'll update you on the BIG DAY ahead - safety test day for the ride .... sorry still no boating update but there should  only be 1 week more of this ride totally taking over my life and I can get back to more important things.

photos to follow :-)

Photos as promised...

Good Morning,

As you might have guessed, I didn't get in until late last night...  I've been up since 4 this morning stressing whether or not I removed the crocodile clips from the truck battery I've been using to test my lighting strips - on Wednesday, my prototype went up in smoke when someone dragged a bit or metal accross the floor shorting it out...  now although no one should be there, we do have a mouse in residence and if she's scurried past... well, this morning we could be turning up to a bigger pile of smoking timber!!!

I was going to go in and check, but (given the yard was broken into the other night, by truck driving, bad-uns, wielding "gas cutting gear") I've decided to take a chance... the mouse may be having a lay in anyway.

SO - As we've not had time or energy to plan anything boaty, this week, here is a photo stream of the nearly finsihed chair-o-planes that have taken over my life for the last 3 months...

At the moment, it's looking like this:

Centre pole of the ride being craned into position - prior to this, we were trying to balance a few pallets on a fork truck, along side a scaffold tower... the grim reaper left a message so I stopped things and ordered the "right tool"

Centre pole finally erected and the build up around it could now begin.

1 set of steps down... 19 to go.

24 NEW swifts ... in 6 coats of paint.

Roger wandering around looking worn out - oh, the green thing is a grating (platform to walk on) -  20 of them ... each slightly different to make the walkway under the chairs.

Speaking (well writing) of chairs, the 1st batch of 24 in Royal Maroon after being repaired.

Trial run of swift, bars and chair - Roger doing the honours again.

4, 6 way light distribution boxes that end up at the top of the pole  through breakers. - fiddly as heck to do and my finger ends are still sore.

Lighting strip number 1 - 

Original light holders that "clamp on" to the wire - as you can see, made in 1965... we have 1000's in new boxes for the vintage rides... the modern stuff is all  leds.

Build up of top frame

I'm bored with these by now...and still had 20 to go.

Top frame completed. Now for some pretty stuff.

Rounding boards going on - 24 boards, with retaining panels between them.  All newly decorated.

Half way there...

Close up of Rounding boards 

The other 24 chairs - British racing green (ish) colour number 226.

Trying out some ceiling panels and trying to work out the best way of fixing them down without damaging them.

These are the newly made hangers the chairs attached to.  The originals were too far gone to be safe so we cut 48 new ones from 10mm plate  - they weigh a ton.  All new shackles and if you look closely in the bottom right hand corner, you can see a little black safety chain - this is in case the big one ever failed...it's certified to 2 ton and costs a fortune.

Another coat of green 

Fitting the centre droppers - these are heavy and the cherry picker is more hindrance than help really...

And that is where we left it last night...

Today, we somehow need to give all 80 steps another coat of gloss, do the edges of the platforms,  finish the lighting strips, fit strengthening bars to the steps, rig up the lap chains and leg belts to stop folk falling out, do the remaining  47 safety chains, cuprinol the undersides of the steps and gratings, fit the rest of the droppers, attach the chains, attached the chairs, drill holes in each swift to accommodate the light strips, make a few brackets for the light strips... - oh you get the picture I'm sure....

5.15 now so it's time to sing *Hey ho.., Hey ho... it's off to work I go...*

until next time...

Awol...

So sorry dear friend...  we've not disappeared off the face of the earth - I'm stuck trying to get the ride finished for today's operational testing... which is not going to happen.

If I'm home before stupid o'clock tonight, I'll upload some photos of it - now it's nearly up, it DOES look impressive.

Porthole Bug covers...courtesy of www.bugsout.co.uk

After (well during) a very hard week, I decided it was time to re-visit the shopping list for the boat.

I'm still feeling down in the dumps about this ruddy fairground ride 

I can't recall whether I've shown you it or not - it's a 1930s chair-o-plane... or in layman's terms, swing chairs.  Anyway - it has to be finished, tested and dismantled by this time next week... and it's not even put together or painted yet. I can only do so much :-(

ANYWAYs - BUG SCREENS.

I've no idea how or when I found these, but I stored a link to them ages ago and decided they'd be useful when we got the boat.  They're one of those things you look at and (being Yorkshire) think: HOW MUCH?... then decide they'd be a luxury....  well after this week, luxury is just what we need.

Andy and I had a chat about it and discussed whether we should be frittering money (which is tight as a result of all the 'extras' we keep adding to the basic boat) but agreed if we didn't get them now, they might get over-ruled altogether so I ordered a full set for "Ellis".

On Thursday, Eric next door (86) struggled round with this lovely big box:

I'd just come in from work but couldn't resist opening it..

WELL wrapped is an understatement!!! - with no word of a lie, it took me longer than it took Andy to cook tea to get in to it.  

and at the end of all the unwrapping:  Tah Dah:

well not just the 1, but 10 porthole covers and 4 mushroom vent covers (although I've not actually checked the vent covers are in the pile.... I'm sure they will be) - total cost: £264.95 including carriage.

We're very pleased with them.  There was also a lovely note with them and some fridge magnets.

I'm a sucker for a personal touch.   Unfortunately, as we won't have the boat for months, they'll have to stay in storage but I did slap one on a radiator to see how strong the magnets are... and can confirm they are plenty strong enough!

There's a video on their website http://www.bugsout.co.uk  demonstrating them.

You can also buy replacement nets - which we'll probably do but it will have to wait until  after payday...

Today, if I had the energy, I'd be going in to work to get a head-start on tomorrow... alas, after a 72 hour week (32 of which were unpaid btw) I'm not... instead, I'm going to cook a leg of lamb as Andy's sister and kids are coming over to visit - they plan a trip to Ikea in the morning (on bank holiday Monday???) whilst I'll be heading off to work - as normal.  Hey ho...

Until next time...