Sundry, Bloody Sundry

One of the under-appreciated areas of building a boat is the many bits of equipment needed to actually build the boat. I'd consider myself an intermediate woodworker with intermediate equipment. I have, for example, a good set of power tools including: a circular saw, miter saw, jig saw, drill press, three hand drills, belt sander, random orbital sander, three routers, three hand planers, power planer, biscuit jointer, band saw, pneumatic brad / finish nailers, and a thickness planar. I may be forgetting some things in that mix. I spent quite a bit of money on that stuff, not settling for anything less than name brand.

That of course doesn't include all the assorted crap that goes with that kind of equipment: boxes of sandpaper in various grit, enough drill bits that, if smelted, could build a small shed, and router bits for every possible decor. I don't say this to brag; it's been accumulated over several years, birthdays, work bonuses, and projects. I say that because now that I've committed to building PocketShip, I still need to get more stuff!

I spent the better part of the last hour wandering through Menards. For those who don't know what Mendards is, think Home Depot for the "working man". It's impressive but I've avoided it, to my detriment apparently. They have pretty cheap stuff here (did I mention I'm cheap?) This particular Menards, a complete revision of the existing one which was torn down only to rise again, is so large, so luxurious, that it has a full time piano player. My neighbor calls it the "Taj Menards". Ever shop for 2x4's whist Bach and Manilow plays in the background? No? You haven't lived, my friend.

So, after perusing the aisles, I picked up a couple roller stands to act as an outfeed for the long bits of lumber, an oscillating tool with sand paper, compass, manual protractor and about 240' of 18 guage steel wire. I've spent more on a single blade for my miter saw than all of this put together. These bags couple nicely with the 10 spring clamps I bought for $1 each (vs. $2.49 from CLC!) And in fact, most of this stuff would have been ordered from Amazon a few weeks ago. What's changed? I've reached the point where I can't/won't spend anything more unless I absolutely have to, or if it's directly related to something really cool on the boat (I'm looking at you, brass deadlights). But at $19.99, if the oscillator stops oscillating, am I really that less off?

Between the lines from a couple weeks ago, the wire, the epoxy, the nitrile gloves, pliers, sandpaper, sandpaper, sandpaper, these various sundries are adding up to pretty good coin.

This is what 300' feet of wire looks like.

Yes, some of this can be used for the Petrel I plan to build somewhere down the line, but much of it will become landfill. That's fine - because I'll sail right by with a smile on my face. But I write this as fair warning to anyone embarking on this journey: be prepared to have enough equipment to open up your very own home supply store. Now, about that orbital sander...