It's Up!

After spending all day Friday waiting in Te Aroha, we finally got the kayak rack up and bolted to the roof. Unfortunately we came across a bit of a problem and after discussion, I agreed to come back on Monday to get it fixed. The side rails which were so beautifully done, had a lot of flex in them and as the kayak was going up or down there was some danger of causing some damage if the sides flexed too far. The next run will have a folded edge to alleviate this, but we decided to bolt a pair of angle strips to the sides on Monday and see how that behaved.

Over the weekend I managed to get a bisc firing done in the kiln. Found a little error in that as the kiln heated up the interlock moved away from the switch and so didn’t allow the kiln to heat up efficiently as it was turning off every time it got going! So adjusted things and off she went and had a good result, with nothing cracked or broken.

Sunday was spent gathering produce from the garden and the pantry ready for the run up north and making sure that things were in order.

So Monday was heading back to Te Aroha for the adjustments. They removed the carriage from the loader and headed off into the workshop. I then headed into my books, a series by Clive Cussier around a character called Kurt Austin. Pretty interesting series based on some clever science.

Anyway, a long hot day and a book and a half later, I had a working kayak loader on the roof again and at 4pm I headed off back towards Huntly to say Merry Christmas to my old boss. She invited me to dinner which was great and I spent the night at my old work and then had breakfast of yummy bacon, eggs, spaghetti and toast with the old crew.

Was good to catch up with them again. 

Tuesday I headed up to see my son in Whangaparoa and parked at the Gulf Harbour Marina. I then cycled across to visit them as I was worried about loosing my spot in the car park due to the large number of motorhomes and caravans arriving, I had a lovely dinner with them after a neat visit to the beach with everyone. The kids were having a great deal of fun in the lovely warm water.

 I then spent the night at the Gulf Harbour Marina.

Looking towards Auckland

Auckland in the distance....zoom in....

So finally the kayak loader is up and operation well.

As I had promised Mike from Cullen Engineering a video as soon as possible I headed back to see my friend Dave from Badger Films and we managed to shoot and edit a video for the kayak loader in his front yard. 

Didn't realise how much I missed editing (NOT) as we finished it off at 1am! But it was good to know that I haven't lost my skills and was able to slot into the new Final Cut X without too much effort. Some interesting changes and some strange changes, but the principles remain the same. 

Quite weird editing yourself and hearing yourself! Doesn't sound at all like me!!!!

So go have a look at Kayak Loader 

So I'm sitting here updating this and ready to head north, but I've been invited to stay for dinner at Dave and Yana's again tonight so will head off up north tomorrow, heading towards Mangawhai for my Aunt's 90th birthday on Sunday.