What a gift… The Mercury 90

"It’s like moving the Terminator." That’s was Daniel said when he and Jeff started to tug on the heap of metal lying in a trailer parked out on our good friend John’s back 40. The three of us then heaved it into the back of my Ford. Nothing beats a free motor, even if the electrical is fried. John was very generous in giving us this motor. Don’t let the pictures deceive you. It really is in good shape.











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The Boat Stand

I started doing some research on boat stands and how to build one. I didn’t find any good instructions. Everybody kept complaining about how out of level their garage floors were. Homebuilders don’t design a garage for boat building. They design them to drain out toward the door in the event a hot-water tank leaks or worse; a car looses all its fuel.

To overcome this people must make a boat stand that is level and then work upon this surface. Everyone was simply making a stationary stand. This is not to user friendly in a two-car garage. One person suggested hanging the stand from the ceiling. That’s just what I need, a boat hanging from the ceiling for the next 5 years. At the rate I’m going it will probably be more like 10.











So I started doing some brainstorming on how to make a stand that can be micro-adjusted in 6 different locations. I also want it to be able to cradle the boat like a trailer. This will aid in working on the interior and the deck. It also needs to hold four sheets of plywood perfectly level to allow the hull to be made upside down over the bulkheads and stringers. And don’t for get the wheels. It needs to roll so I can push it and the boat into a busy intersection when I dump the whole project out of frustration.

















The second level of the boat stand, the part that holds the boat similar to a trailer or flat on a level surface has not been constructed yet. You should be able to tell from the pictures where I’m headed with the leveling concept. The threaded shaft will receive a galvanized rod that will rest on the washer. Simply rotate the nut up and down to micro adjust the level of the stand.

At this stage we had to disassemble it to move to Texas. The good-looking fellow in the picture is my dad, Glenn. He is the greatest father one could ask for (and the world’s best architect).










Notice the poling platform in the garage? My father is also leaning on it. That was one sweet buy. That particular make runs around $1,050 delivered. I picked that unit up for $99 on eBay and only paid $56 in shipping via Greyhound. What a deal!

A 17 Month Hiatus from My Blog

It has been several months since I last updated my blog. The readers were up in arms! Here is a quick rundown of the minor changes in my life since the fist post in May of 2007.

I sold the shares in my business to my partner, Randy, the best business partner in the whole world. I then had a little boy named Colton with my lovely wife of five years, Summer.

We raised support to go into full time volunteering with Gospel for Asia and sold our home in Edmond, Oklahoma. In August of 2008 we started serving at Gospel for Asia in Carrollton,TX.











So not much has really happened. The next few posts will highlight the progress of the boat’s production from May of 2007 to October of 2008. I am also going to include highlights of the various tools I will be using as I go along. I also might share some totally unrelated thoughts as well.


Boy howdy this is good cake! My wife made a chocolate dessert. Tastes great at 11:00 PM. It is made so well it bypasses the normal digestion tract and goes straight to the midsection for later caloric energy. This will come in handy when my boat breaks down and I have to swim to shore.
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