Side Projects - Certainly Won't Float

Good At Things

Between working on my house, my actual job, and some less-than-glamorous side jobs, I like to work on fun projects. Some of my own, some for other people. They almost always involve wires and something with motors because they're simple creatures that I understand. So here is a post about one of my more shiny accomplishments.

Sub $500 Deals

I'm a sucker for any form of a vehicle that costs less than $500. They're just too much fun. It's kind of like a one bedroom house. You can have lots of fun, do real things, learn some stuff, and if you mess it all up...you're not out much. Turns out this is true for boats too. So, I got a boat.

The only picture of it in its previous condition

It isn't fancy, it isn't impressive, it's just a 14ft flat bottom Lowe. Similar to my house, I have high hopes for this one. I want a bass boat, dad wants a stripped down shell of a Jon boat. So we both win on this one.

Step one: jump the gun and start playing around

I wanted two batteries that would be out of the way

Carpet Burn

The next 10 steps have carpet in them. I don't like gluing carpet. It sucks. But it goes pretty quick and the results are large. After building a proper deck on the front of the boat, and laying some fresh carpet, I had somewhere to put my fancy electric anchor winch and trolling motor. 

I want to caption every one with Boats and Hoes

Many years ago, the previous owner had a great idea. Instead of using plywood flooring he lined the bottom with Styrofoam and laid aluminum sheeting over it. Genius! Lightweight, extra flotation...except Styrofoam.  It actually sucks up water and rots out. So I replaced that with closed cell foam and recovered the floor with nice carpet...and it looks decent.

What you can't see is the 500 hours of aircraft stripper and burning skin involved. 

Like all projects work, its the same handful of processes over and over again. 

So:

-Rip it apart

-Strip all the old things out

-Strip the paint

-Paint

-Glue the carpet down

Here we go!

Stripped, painted.

Oh that looks better than I thought it would.

LEDs, Switches, and 100ft of wire

If you've ever read my previous posts(pretty sure you're the only one, mom!), I like to be a little excessive. But it doesn't seem that excessive to me.
Logic lesson:
-Flash lights are annoying, batteries suck, and you lose them. So wire the lights into the boat.
-Air horns go bad, whistles are for kids. Wire the horn into the boat.
-Bilge pumps are for big boats, or my boat. So I put one in.
-Nav lights are needed for night things, but you can get battery ones. Again, not my style.
-Electric anchors are for exerting no effort, add a switch 3ft closer to you.
-You're gonna want a live well. Well maybe not. But if you do, put a timer on that recirc pump.

Good conversation guys. Now its just wires and more wires and fancy switches.

I LOVE SWITCHES.

Also I'm pretty good at wires.

Fast Forward One Year

I didnt really take any more pictures after this. I just kinda piled through it, put it in dads garage and forgot about it.  

Other things I did:

-Rebuild the trailer

-Add new fenders

-Weld up light brackets to avoid that generic trailer lights

-Buy dope ass wheels for it

-Forgot that I owned it for like 8 months

BUT HERE IT IS! 

Maybe the only project I have ever 100% finished. Because its a boat, and an unfinished boat is bad.

This is the day Ty puked all over my truck.

It's a 14 foot boat. It holds 2.5 people. It ain't worth much. It don't do much. But every once in a while,  it's everything a person needs.

Things that make sunday's even more perfect.

He cannot swim. We learned the hard way.

Never Nothing

Talking To Myself Again

I recently had a weird sit-down talk with myself. I have too many projects. Everything I own needs something, I haven't completed anything in a long time, and I'd like to park in my garage again. I made a six month plan to get my house complete(minus kitchen), finish the boat, and get the 1 ton finished. But I realized something.

23 Years Of Projects

I don't have projects because I like completing things. I have projects because I like to have a half dozen things to focus on. Something to research, something to learn, something to do, something to ignore so my Netflix and pizza nights feel more justified, something to blow all my money on. Here is all of my projects that have at least two wheels. I'm not sure I document my other projects well enough to post about them.

Before we get into all that, bask in this piece of America.

From My First To My Most Current

I know you guys like pictures. Here comes buckets of them.

My first and most expensive car. It was a poor decision. Four front bumpers, three rear bumpers, and lots of shades of red. Met its ultimate demise to a well placed tree.

And shortly after, I bought my first truck.

But it was ugly, so my brother and I made this.

Then Phil wrecked his truck. Naturally I bought it.

Years later, still have it.

Then I bought one like this, sans the whole front end. Had it for 2 weeks, added a fuel pump and made $900 on it.

The blazer. My pride. I love this truck more than most things.

The "Zombie Outbreak Response Vehicle" stickers made this thing internet famous.

Seriously. Google it. This truck is kinda famous.

I'm starting to lose track of the timeline. But I think this was next. My first motorcycle. It was pretty, never rode it.

Then I got this one. But I think there was some vehicle in between these.

Jew wrecked it. Time for apartment living room rebuild.

Wasn't joking.

The duct tape stayed forever. I rode this thing at sturgis. Got so many weird looks.

Oh yeah. The Rac'n mower. Built that in highschool shop class. Never finished it, still have it.

Christine. This car was a devil. And my first 3.1L headgasket job.

We left at 10PM for a 6 hour(read 12) road trip to trade the monte for this thing. I will own another. I loved that thing.

Traded the LS for this. Long story. Not happy about it. I hated that thing.

Sold the Taurus to buy this beauty. Sold it for dumb grown up purchases(read: houses are expensive)

This fits in somewhere around this time period. Man did we have some fun with all 125cc of that bike.

I wanted a tractor. Bad mistake. Shouldn't have done that.

Easily top three favorites. Ugly as sin. So fun to drive. Bought it for $400, put $100 into, drove it for 60,000 really hard miles.

Bought this from a coworker with good intentions. It was so cool. Had too many irons in the fire.

I LOVED THIS TRUCK. But the PO really fucked me. Traded it for a .45

I only drove it twice, I swear.

Maybe a mistake. But it was fun for the 2 days that it ran.

A little love, aircraft stripper, and plasti dip and it looked way better.

Upgraded to this beauty. Had 16 hours on it. Rolled it. Ran it hard. It was stolen.

The 300C. Put 50,000 miles on it in under two years. Still proud of it.

Ok, ok. I know it's a ninja 250. But it was $250. I taught dozens of folks to ride on it, and spent many nights cruising dirt roads on it.

Remember the raptor that was stolen? Replaced it with a sportsman 850 with power steering. Real dope wheeler.

But I kinda wrecked it.

And my bones just couldnt hold it together.

So now I have some muffler strap and 7 drywall screws in me.

THE OLD DODGE! Probably the coolest first gen cummins in the county. Love that crusty bitch.

It's a v6 station wagon. It shouldn't be cool. But it's so cool.

Wagon life tho.

When my friends wreck their trucks, I buy them.

Real smashed. 

Currently in the process of cab swapping that truck. You'd never imagine the work that goes into that. It will receive its own post when I'm done. In the mean time, here is a few pictures of the progress.

Step 1: Purchase new cab.

Step 2: Leave cab there to make your yard more trashy.

Find neighbor with A-frame.

And you're gonna want a chain hoist.

In case you were wondering, I'm as trashy as you thought.

This was 20 hours more work than I thought it would be.

My truck is so dope.

There might be a couple I'm forgetting. This doesn't include the 100(probably literal) other vehicles that I've done work to that I don't own. At some point most of these have been sold. I currently only posses the Dakota, First Gen, K5 Blazer, and the 1 Ton Ford. The 300C and the Magnum are still around, but owned and driven almost primarily by my father.