Anchor points on my car.

OK, If you don't know me, then you don't know that I'm not terribly concerned with appearances and I really don't give a crap what people think.

I have recently started kayaking pretty regularly. In the beginning I put the kayak on my tiny trailer and dragged it behind the car. This was not a terribly good solution. It bounced around a lot. I decided to put anchor points on my car to hold it on the roof instead.

I started with a soft anchor on the front. I needed somewhere to attach the strap that holds the nose of the kayak pointed straight into the "wind."

I took a length of tie-down webbing and cut a 2' length. I doubled it over and put a grommet in the open end. This fashioned a loop that I could hook a tie down strap into. An elegant solution if I do say so myself.

I had originally intended to pull the bolt that holds the hood latch put the grommeted loop in the blot hole with a fender washer and be done. Unfortunately, when I looked under the hood, I found there was no exposed bolt to do that with. 

Time to improvise. I drilled a hole. I put it where it would have little chance of interfering with any of the workings.

Next came bolt selection. I found the appropriate length bolt a small washer for inside, a large fender washer for outside and a nut.

I put it all together and done! 

Now when I don't need the anchor point, I just open the hood, flip it in and close the hood. I also made a spare loop in case the first fails. It's in the glove box taking up almost no space at all.

Permanent hard anchor points on the roof were a little more involved. 

First I collected the materials. Some swiveled D-Rings (4), Philips head screws and My favorite permanent adhesive... J-B Weld! Love that stuff. 

I marked out where to drill the holes...

Drilled the holes too small and then forced the screws in to make at least something of a tapping for extra bite.

Now my favorite step; I mixed up the J-B Weld and applied it to the back of the D-Ring holders as neatly as possible. I did not want to epoxy the D-Rings so that they can't move.

Finally I placed the D-Rings on the roof, put the clasps over, put a dab of J-B Weld on the screw holes and screwed them down tight.

The rear strap was easy. Just ran it from the handle on the kayak to the safety chain loop on the hitch.

Kayak cart

I wanted a kayak cart. Something to carry my kayak around on with little rolling resistance. I wanted it to syand high enough off the ground that I could walk naturally while holding one end of the kayak without the other end of the kayak bumping into the ground.

I sketched out a design. (Incidentally one of my more complete sketches)

Oh, the bike! I needed a bike to use as the wheels and forks for the carrier. A friend of mine found me a tiny little girls bike with 12" rims. Perfect!

I cut the back of the frame off the bike ad pulled out the front fork

So, today I got myself four 4 foot lengths of 1/2" rebar to cut up and weld into the cart. 

First I welded a rectangle.

Added a cradle to hold the boat.

Added some eyes to attach tie downs to.

Then I added the forks

The finished rack. Needs paint, tires and pool noodles.

Paint going on!

Completed cart!

GPS mount for the kayak

I needed a GPS mount in the kayak, so I broke out my trusty printrbot and printed one.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:322918

Printrbot Simple

The latest thing I'm drooling over.

http://www.amazon.com/Printrbot-Simple-Printer-Filament-1-75mm/dp/B00HLSR0O8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1392666639&sr=8-2&keywords=printrbot+simple

Making my Utii-kilt

I decided to make a kilt. I wasn't interested in a tartan and I decided on a box-pleat kilt. A knife-pleat kilt seamed like overkill. I bought some khaki duck cloth and laid it out how I thought I'd want it.

I (as usual) didn't bother with a pattern. I more or less visualized what I wanted and went from there.

I cut the fabric leaving the selvage at the bottom. I folded it over and stitched a hem with a double needle. Then I began folding the pleats.

I finished folding the pleats. Stabbing myself at least 45 or 50 times in the fingers with pins. Great fun!

Then I sewed belt loops onto the apron part that I was going to put at the top of the pleats in the back of the kilt.

Then I attached the apron to the top of the pleats. 

I sewed the front panels. I lined the inside panel so I wouldn't have the rough duck cloth rubbing against my, well, you know...

I assembled the front panels to the pleated back

Note the lining on the inside flap below. Reduced chafing!

I'll get better pictures of me in it as soon as I can.

Folded for storage. The stitching across the pleats is to keep them intact until August. I'll pull them before I plan to wear it.

 It still needs buttons and I need to make a "sporrin", but for the most part I'm done building it.

Melted crayon art

A very cool project that came from a picture I saw on the interwebs! I'm just going to post a list of materials and the pictures. I think you can figure this one out on your own!

1 box 128 crayons
White glue
Easel pad
$14 heat gun from Harbor Freight (Many uses!)

Ta Da!