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Gulf Island Building.

1M views 8K replies 149 participants last post by  Katie Cabana 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all:
Since the summer of 1997, I have been building a cabin and house on our 1/2 acre lot here. Before I dive into that part, I am going to show a few photos to set the stage a bit. We are remote here. No services of any kind, except that which we provide for ourselves. So don't expect to see any paved roads with big trucks delivering any materials.
We live at the head of a small bay, which is both a blessing and a curse.
When the tide goes out, we have to clamber over hundreds of yards of rocks to get to our boat. When it is in, I can float logs right up to my little railway to move them onto the log deck. Well, not any more, but more about that later.
This is the bay in front of us.
 

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#5,488 ·
Yes, we get bald eagles here. We have seen up to about 60 at one time, but that is quite rare. Usually there are just a few at a time, maybe 3 or 4.

They have several favourite spots to sit on around the bay, so if I get the chance I'll have a go at a photo.

This is usually not the time of year we see too many. i think they might have headed for the rivers by now.
 
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#5,491 ·
There are 6 big windows in front of the solarium, which have never had any finish applied since day one. Not very clever.

The sun has been able to get at the wood and has caused the normally nice looking cedar to fade considerably. I cleaned it off and sanded it down, but still no colour to speak of.
 

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#5,492 ·
I sent Minwax an email asking about this water based Helmsman, and according to Jill at Minwax, as long as the old Helmsman urethane is scuff sanded lightly, there will be no adhesion problems. I rather imagine that would apply to other brands as well.

Here one of the casings has been done and the other not. I will get four coats (recommended) over the next couple of days and see what it looks like.
 

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#5,495 ·
I second that, that is some really beautiful wood.

Keith, I have used a lambs wool to apply the water based urethane, it did a good job for me and no bubbles.
 
#5,494 ·
Thanks Barb...I did all the windows...just took a pic between so I could see what the difference might be.

My only gripe so far is that this water based stuff is even thinner than the oil based. Hard to keep on the brush.

Next trip to town I'm going to look for a thick brush with fake bristles with the ends all nicely split. That should work better. Can't use real bristles on this stuff.
 
#5,501 ·
sbmfj, Lambs wool is actually lambs wool or it looks like it.

I like the lambs wool for different reasons, it holds a lot but it doesn't all bunch out at once like some paint brushes. I don't know if I said that right or not, maybe another way to say it is, it holds paint and finish well. Some water base urethanes need to keep a wet edge when applying and the wool does a great job to keep the edges wet. The water base urethane I have used dries super fast so you have to be on your toes when applying it.
 
#5,502 ·
Lost my interweb connection last night, and even the geniuses at Rogers didn't seem to have a clue as to why. One hour on the phone wasted...again.

Regardless of these annoyances, there has been a goofus uppas on one of the curved railings for some time now. About 4 years ago, the outer lamination opened up for a few inches by about 1/32". About a year later, wife number two decided to exercise her less than remarkable woodworking skills to fix it. I knew nothing about this of course.

A number of months later I noticed that she had rammed some wood filler into the crack, exaggerating the problem. After looking at this mess for the last few years, yesterday was the time to try and fix it.

First thing I did was to plane off the area in question, which meant I had to dip into the second lamination to get to clean wood.
 

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#5,503 ·
As you can see, it's a fairly long cleanup, something over a foot.

Next was to dry clamp the piece of yellow cedar. As you know, I always do a dry run first before gluing and it's a good thing I did this time. Trying to get the clamps square on the inside edge of that curve was a real bear.
 

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#5,509 ·
Last night...well early this morning I guess, right after moonset, I tried another star trail shot. I wanted to get Jupiter in this one as it was high in the sky.

Not hard to tell which trail Jupiter is! The exposure is slightly over 67 minutes.
 

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#5,510 ·
Neat picture Keith. I really have to try that with my camera some time.

I'm looking forward to seeing how you shape that piece of wood down to match the rest of the railing. Once again, I would have never thought to make the repair this way. Let alone have the talent to follow through with it.
 
#5,511 ·
#5,513 ·
Are you going to be able to see the super nova tonight? Here is a link about it, hopefully I can get out for a little while this evening if it isn't cloudy.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...e-midst-of-a-violent-bright-death?ft=1&f=1001
Thanks for the link Jim. The s/n has been reported on the Sky & Telescope website for awhile now. I sent a note to my pal Randy in Nanaimo, and he was able to image the s/n several days ago.

We are expecting clear skies here tonight, so I will take a scope outside and get it set up and ready to go.

The commentators in these articles make it sound like it's a piece of cake to spot this s/n. But note that the one well informed chap stated that you need binocs like 20 x 80, or 25 x 100 in order to see it. Even at that, you will have to have the binocs attached to something solid so they don't move.

The target isn't as easy as it sounds.

Good luck to everyone trying to get a look. In astronomical terms, this is a pretty rare event.
 
#5,512 ·
Last night...well early this morning I guess, right after moonset, I tried another star trail shot. I wanted to get Jupiter in this one as it was high in the sky.

Not hard to tell which trail Jupiter is! The exposure is slightly over 67 minutes.
Hey that reminds me...

Isn't there a Super Nova coming into view right now in the northern sky? This one supposedly burned out around twenty five million years ago or something like that and is just now becoming visible to earthlings.
 
#5,514 ·
This one supposedly burned out around twenty five million years ago or something like that and is just now becoming visible to earthlings.
Good guess, closer to 21 million light years...but what's 4 million light years among friends? :jester:
 
#5,517 · (Edited)
Yes, as soon as it gets dark look at the tail end of the big dipper...actually a triangle shape using the end two stars in the dipper handle will lead you to the pinwheel galaxy.

Once the moon gets up it will destroy the "seeing" and you will need a bigger scope to see anything. Your grandson's scope will be able to spot the pinwheel without any trouble.

I will check with Randy to see if he's going to go for a second shot. I also rather imagine Rich will be using his 14" Meade tonight. He has taken some truly professional grade pics with his scope. That's the one that is kept at the observatory at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo.

I'm going to use the 4" refractor and I may take the 10" dob out as well. Trouble is, I only have one pair of eyes.
 
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#5,521 ·
Not to worry, it isn't going to disappear overnight. It is just that this will be the best night...in other words the brightest. However, it will diminish in brightness fairly quickly.

It is clear here with no chance of any clouds. I have one scope set up ready to go. Hope I don't spot any of these tonight. :alien:
 
#5,522 · (Edited)
Well, trying to find that super nova was quite the challenge.

The trouble is here we get very long dusky periods before it gets dark. And by the time it was dark enough to make out the galaxy, the moon was already way up. However, I did - just barely - make out the pinwheel and the s/n. But it was far fainter than I thought it might be.

20 x 80 binoculars did not work at all, just too bright with the near full moon.
 
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#5,523 ·
Well, trying to find that super nova was quite the challenge.

The trouble is here we get very long dusky periods before it gets dark. And by the time it was dark enough to make out the galaxy, the moon was already way up. However, I did - just barely - make out the pinwheel and the s/n. But it was far fainter than I thought it might be.

20 x 80 binoculars did not work at all, just too bright with the full moon.
Keith, if you had problems finding it I won't have a chance.
 
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