Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies
Eric makes a quick trip to the lake late Sunday night on August 13th and spends two days on dock work as well as taking the sea-doo into Kenora for a repair.
At the end of day one.
The best of the old docks 2x6s are used to deck in front of the boat shed. Old 2x4s are also used in a section.
And a video review of the end of day status . Looking very good!
Shirley and I are down for the full long weekend and the rest of the family comes out for Saturday and Sunday. This weekend the hatch cover is built and carefully fitted into he dock. The rest of the weekend is spent enjoying all the hard work that has been put into this project.
Some of the dock furniture is put in place and I enjoy the view
A few pictures from the first use of the new dock
Eric is out for a solo couple of days prior to the long weekend to get more of the dock in place. It’s almost too nice a day to work with calm and sunny conditions but the build carries on even in the heat.
The hatch to allow under dock access to crayfish and turtles is taking shape.
At the end of day two the main portion of the dock is fully decked and ready for use on the long weekend!
I heard a noise in the night. It was a windy night and our hydro wires are right outside the bedroom window. They usually make some noise on a windy night, but this was different.
The next day while getting something from the shed I looked at the hydro wires and saw what was causing the noise
The insulator (middle left) had broken which released the strain cable from the under eves bracket (top centre). Now the power wires are taking the load of the line to the pole. This didn’t seem too good so I called hydro thinking they would come out a fix it.
Well, they came out, had a look and then informed me about this!
Both the red power wires have cracks in the insulation right around the wire. It’s original wire, about 58 year old. The hydro guys said they could re-attach the cable to the bracket but there would be about a 50% chance the wire would break and/or a lot of insulation would come off. In either case they would turn off the power to the house. In fact they were only OK with leaving the power on in it’s current condition if we called an electrician today and had it repaired ASAP. Turns out the wire from the meter to the top of the mast where it connects to the hydro line is the home owners responsibility.
Other Hydro guy good news was that our mast in not up to the current code which requires the conduit to go through the roof to a mast head above the roof as opposed to a bracket on the eves. However, we might be “grandfathered”. If we need to come up to code he estimated $3,000+, yikes!
So I check around for a recommendation on an electrician and make the call. He seems quite good and ready to do the work. I send my contact info an some pictures and he offers to stop over tonight and have a look.
In response to one of the pictures he says the soffit will need to come off. I ask Scott to stop by that evening and he removes the soffit for me.
While he’s here the electrician arrives and checks out the wiring. He’s already checked with the City of Winnipeg electrical inspector and I’ll be allowed to just replace the wire from the meter to the mast head, the way less expensive option. With permits and coordination the repair should get done in about a week. Hopefully, before the wires break which would be a whole new scheduling problem.
The car repair that is ?. Today, the Santa Fe was picked up, repaired and returned to our house after 215 days of waiting for a fuel pump.
How long is 215 days?
7 months and 1 day
Or:
It was a long time which included a rental car, a car loaded to us by a friend and a loaner from the dealer.
Some of the back story.
Our car has been set free and returned home after just over a five month absence.
We got a call from the dealership and they have decided to install a “refurbished” fuel pump and return our car directly to our house and pick up their loaner car. When the new OEM part arrives they will install that part. So far, there has been no discussion on exactly how much this repair will cost.
It’s great having the car back and we really appreciate the larger size, quieter ride and so much more. Welcome back old friend.
The car arrived with the snow tires installed and the VIN engraved on the catalytic converter to hopefully deter thieves. I hear it can take months to get that part replaced too!
After reading a couple of articles it makes our story seem like a walk in the park. Apparently, cars don’t like to be neglected will they are sitting around waiting for parts and it way more that a Hyundai/Kia issue.
A couple of years ago the electric start on our 1990 Mercury 25hp outboard stopped working. I’d thought about taking it in to a marina to get it repaired but that would be awkward, put the boat out of commission for an unknown amount of time and likely be costly. It still started well with the manual “pull the rope” method so nothing was done. This year it was the target of a DIY repair.
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On the May long weekend as I was checking on various cottage systems during the opening process I noticed a problem with our deck. A fairly significant issue where wood rot on one of the beams is causing it to collapse.
This issue is at the front (lake side) left corner of the deck that wraps around the entire cottage. This is also the point where the cottage and deck are highest off the ground as the ground is sloping downwards to the lake quite rapidly in this area.
I wasn’t around when the deck was being built and my dad and his friends did it all. There were some interesting decisions made in places and this is one of them. The ground right under this corner of the deck is quite uneven and has some large vertical rocks right where you would normally have the post to support the corner. A decision was made to insert two posts away from this corner and cantilever the deck out away from these two posts.
So the plan I came up with is to build a temporary beam, support the beam on several temporary posts and to use the temporary beam and jacks to lift the deck a bit and cut out the damaged beam. A new permanent beam would be inserted into place onto some new posts and improved footings. The temporary beam would be lowered and removed to complete the repair.
Step one was to tackle the far corner where there is currently is no post by pouring a concrete footing over the vertical rock structure using the rock to anchor the concrete.
The area is pressure washed and as much loose material as possible is removed. Then a sono tube is customized to fit over and around the rock.
One thing I didn’t anticipate was that cutting the sono tube like this (above) on both sides weakened the structural integrity of the tube. As the concrete was added the weight caused the bottom of the tube to flair out. Several rocks were used to hold it together preventing a blowout.
The resulting shape is a little interesting but it should do the job.
The new temporary beam is quite an engineering feat that I’m hoping will do the job. The main piece is a 2×10 – 12’ with a 2×6 – 6’ stacked on the front end to account for lack of joists in this area because of the direction of the deck boards across the front. A notch is cut in the 2×12 to allow it to fit into some other deck members.
As I’m working alone getting this 2×10-12’ up in the air about 8’ at the far end is a bit of a challenge. I create some slings from some wire and attach the sling to the deck boards above. This way I can lift one end at a time into the slings and then tighten them up to bring the beam up to the underside of the deck. With the temporary beam hanging in it’s rough position I create several footings and posts with jacks on top in preparation for lifting the deck. Did I mention this is a two story deck?
Temporary posts are installed and braced and some existing bracing is repaired on a few other near by posts. 40+ years is tough on the wood that is exposed to the elements.
The beam being replaced is 16’, my temporary is 12’, what to do? Making good use of various bits and pieces of lumber that have accumulated around the cottage from other building projects I manage to extend the 12’ by an additional 4’. I use two 2×6-6’ and a 2×6-4’ to scab onto the 12’
All of this so far has taken four days. Not exactly full working days as I start between 9 and 10am by fogging for mosquitoes, applying insect repellent and gathering the tools. I work straight through until 2-3 pm when the insect repellant is wearing off and the mosquitoes are becoming annoying and I’m getting tired. ? Things are slow as the ground is quite uneven and you’re always hunched over under the deck. With extra beams, posts, bracing etc. it’s getting to be quite the obstacle course and I’ve still managed to bang my head on various things several times.
At this point I’m ready to cut all the nails holding the old beam in place and start to lift the deck to free the old beam.
Part 2.
One summer the water connection to the washing machine started to leak.
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