- Joined
- May 10, 2010
- Messages
- 4,171
- Points
- 3,101
- City
- haida gwaii
- Vehicle Year
- 1991
- Transmission
- Manual
update time,but still not too much to show.
i've been working at a full time job,doing the regular jobs for my customers,and dealing with setting up my business and it's been leaving me exhausted.i'll sure be glad when i get everything set up so i can get my life back.
first of all,the squaring and levelling continues.tools used for this range from a crude plumb bob to a cheap laser level,with the trusty old angleometer and a really nice precicion machinists level i picked up.
when i started on this,i had a bit of a twist in the frame to take care of,and i spent a bit of time figureing out where to start so i could get it sitting flat.after some thinking,i decided to start by cutting the tack welds holding the cage to the frame.
lo and behold,as soon as i did this the frame sat perfectly flat on the jig.i guess it was a bit out of level when the cage was set up,and this set the twist into it.
while there were no major problems,there were enough little things that came up with all the carefull measureing that i'm needing to put some real time into getting it all as close to perfect as possible before moving back on to mounting the body.
other things to deal with at this point are details like the various brackets and such on the frame.this one is a front suspension mount,which,like most others were temorary units used for fitup.now that i have my mounting points confirmed,i need to make nice finished parts to get away from that 'cobbled up' look.
so here's how she's still looking as of tonight.
another thing that's been eating up time is the boat.halibut opens at the end of march,and chinook salmon start running about the middle of april,so i need to make sure i'm ready.i've built a new 150 litre fuel tank to replace the 40 litre unit original to the boat,so i won't need to pack a bunch of jerry cans with me anymore.
and while this hand-crank downrigger did the job last year,it was a lot of work bringing it back up from 300ft,so....
a pair of nice(used)power units will be a good change for this spring.instead of trying to hold a fish on the rod with one hand while winding up the ball with the other,i can just hit the button and fight the fish like it should be.
i also got this nice little diesel heater to keep my hands and feet warm on those early mornings out on the north pacific.should be nice.
the old boat gets a new wiring harness too.and wipers.
and i've designed a cool aluminum hardtop that folds up into a small case that can be handled by one person at sea and stowed on board so it's not in the way.that's going to take up even more gt time while it's getting made...but don't worry,the gt will still be getting done.
so will the ranger.
i've been working at a full time job,doing the regular jobs for my customers,and dealing with setting up my business and it's been leaving me exhausted.i'll sure be glad when i get everything set up so i can get my life back.




first of all,the squaring and levelling continues.tools used for this range from a crude plumb bob to a cheap laser level,with the trusty old angleometer and a really nice precicion machinists level i picked up.
when i started on this,i had a bit of a twist in the frame to take care of,and i spent a bit of time figureing out where to start so i could get it sitting flat.after some thinking,i decided to start by cutting the tack welds holding the cage to the frame.
lo and behold,as soon as i did this the frame sat perfectly flat on the jig.i guess it was a bit out of level when the cage was set up,and this set the twist into it.
while there were no major problems,there were enough little things that came up with all the carefull measureing that i'm needing to put some real time into getting it all as close to perfect as possible before moving back on to mounting the body.

other things to deal with at this point are details like the various brackets and such on the frame.this one is a front suspension mount,which,like most others were temorary units used for fitup.now that i have my mounting points confirmed,i need to make nice finished parts to get away from that 'cobbled up' look.

so here's how she's still looking as of tonight.
another thing that's been eating up time is the boat.halibut opens at the end of march,and chinook salmon start running about the middle of april,so i need to make sure i'm ready.i've built a new 150 litre fuel tank to replace the 40 litre unit original to the boat,so i won't need to pack a bunch of jerry cans with me anymore.

and while this hand-crank downrigger did the job last year,it was a lot of work bringing it back up from 300ft,so....

a pair of nice(used)power units will be a good change for this spring.instead of trying to hold a fish on the rod with one hand while winding up the ball with the other,i can just hit the button and fight the fish like it should be.

i also got this nice little diesel heater to keep my hands and feet warm on those early mornings out on the north pacific.should be nice.

the old boat gets a new wiring harness too.and wipers.
and i've designed a cool aluminum hardtop that folds up into a small case that can be handled by one person at sea and stowed on board so it's not in the way.that's going to take up even more gt time while it's getting made...but don't worry,the gt will still be getting done.
so will the ranger.