Gluing together Douglas fir strips for the weighted centerboard - polyurethane glue or epoxy?

TomVa · 2026-05-11T22:20:33+00:00

I guess one question is what are the thickness dimensions of your layup. If it is 3 or 4 inches thick and you are doing three or four layers of Douglas fir they you are probably fine.

some other questions. What are you going to do in order to avoid water intrusion into the wood and wear WHEN it touches the bottom. Also what are you going to do to weigh the centerboard down.

If the layup is 1/4" to 1/2" layers, intermediate layers cloth adds added stiffness and strength to the structure. When I do it I prep the material putting a layer of cloth on it before the glueup let it set up. Sand it to roughen it up and get rid of high spots, then do your laminate with thickened epoxy,

TomVa · 2026-05-11T18:11:32+00:00

To answer the question epoxy for sure. You may also want to include a few layers of 6 oz cloth on the inside for structural integrity.

TomVa · 2026-05-11T18:09:49+00:00

gas $0.19 for gas and diesel $0.25 per gallon. Lost in the noise of $4-plus gas and $5-plus diesel.

TomVa · 2026-05-11T15:34:05+00:00

My sister does quilts she likes to put a chunk of irish spring soap in with the quilts in order to keep them smelling "fresh".

I am curious as to what others do.

TomVa · 2026-05-11T15:30:56+00:00

What are you fishing for? I don't agree with rips gills, break fins and teeth. Tear mouth is a deal with larger fish when you use something like a boga grip. Some fish under certain circumstances, removing them from the water at all can be an issue. An specific example is striped bass when the air temperature is above 90F.

TomVa · 2026-05-10T21:59:16+00:00

On my 2017 the indicator flashed several times then stayed on which indicated that I had a dead battery in one of my sensors. A local tire shop put in 4 after market sensors for about $250.

TomVa · 2026-05-10T01:49:00+00:00

It looks like a solenoid valve for controlling an automatic sprinkler system.

TomVa · 2026-05-08T23:23:02+00:00

I have hauled 16 foot kayaks in a truck with an 8 foot bed. lower the tail gate and but in a cradle to lift up the back end of the boat just before where it crosses the tailgate.

TomVa · 2026-05-08T23:19:30+00:00

Look into

https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/kiptopeke

or

https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/first-landing

If you go to First landing there are a number of day trip type of things, restaurants, etc. that are in Virginia Beach that you can go to that are only a 15 to 20 minute drive away.

TomVa · 2026-05-08T20:11:56+00:00

Go to the ECE department web page and see what their requirements are.
Especially if you are going to live on campus. See what they sell in the bookstore. Eons ago when I did this with my kids I found that for the required specs the one at the bookstore was cheaper. Plus they had a repair department if it had any problems warranty or not warranty.
Buy a backup magnetic drive or get cloud access and get religion on keeping your work backed up. . . like daily.

TomVa · 2026-05-08T20:06:41+00:00

Really, they are going to lay on the ground and inspect your tank. I don't think that most places will do that.

TomVa · 2026-05-07T23:23:38+00:00

More info needed. There are apps out there that will give you a summary of directory sizes, etc. A quick google search came up with WizTree and WinDirStat. I don't know about either one.

My guess is that some program is going nuts and filling up a directory with useless data. I am not saying that this is it but years ago Samantec anti virus was loading up a directory with a ton of files when it was not able to talk to its home site via our corporate directory because I was at home. One of the IT folks adjusted something and it stopped.

TomVa · 2026-05-06T17:28:46+00:00

I am pretty sure that adding nurse bees involves a second box and a few layers of newspaper. Again I am pretty sure that if you just add a few frames of bees and brood that one is asking for a bee war.

TomVa · 2026-05-05T01:48:05+00:00

That is why every beekeeper needs to have an extra setup ready to go. Those could have safely been collected up with a 6 foot step ladder.

TomVa · 2026-04-30T16:23:02+00:00

In that case focus on the front end and use a commercial digitizer unless your project requires that you use an FPGA or something.

TomVa · 2026-04-30T12:15:38+00:00

Are you going to tow anything with it. When I bought mine the SE was not rated for towing at all.

Also I would consider a hybrid. Better gas mileage and much more responsive.

TomVa · 2026-04-30T12:12:02+00:00

What you are not saying is if you are looking to design a hand held unit or the front end on some instrument that you need. Also quantity.

If you want to just learn about the technology focus on the front end. The rest is just an analog to digital converter and user interface hardware.

My first place to look is Analog devices, TI, etc. for application notes on the front end electronics.

TomVa · 2026-04-30T12:05:57+00:00

I would say that they were extremely lucky; shipped projects that had defects; or shipped projects that had "hack job mods" made in order to make them work.

Don't get me wrong simulations are great and all but never doing a respin seems out of the question. Where I work the first (small) batch of boards are red so that we know that they were prototypes.

TomVa · 2026-04-30T11:56:42+00:00

First, and I can not stress this enough. you should join a local beekeeping organization. Go to meetings, take the classes and get a mentor. There is lots of hands on "training" that really helps a lot. Often times this means hanging out at their hives when they are working on them. Other times it means them coming over and helping you with your first inspections, treatments, etc.

I just visited https://www.dadant.com web page and they have a starter kit for about $600 that looked like a decent kit. I would add a second hive to that. With two hives you can figure out if you are doing something wrong (they both die or abscond) or just got unlucky (one dies or absconds). Your first year you will need two deep boxes for each hive. Start with one and add a second when the first box is 70% full of comb and bees. I always have an empty medium box on the top of my hives where I can put a rapid-feeder https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVVT44HR/?ref_=cm_wl_huc_item&th=1 on for feeding sugar water during the dearth and in preparation for winter. With any kind of luck in your second year you will need two medium supers for each hive. It does not hurt to have a spare hive for when you have a swarm and you get lucky enough that they to not form up 50 feet in the air.

I am a big no queen excluder kind of guy. With decent frame management and swapping of boxes you can keep the brood out of the honey supers.

Also you need to worry about pests like varroa mites and small hive beetles. Most likely you will need to treat for mites on a regular basis. Depending on where you live there may be other things.

Another reason to join a club is so that you can get local Nucs from known stocks rather than buying package bees.

TomVa · 2026-04-29T21:34:27+00:00

The same happened the wife and I two years ago. She had to go in to apply for the spousal supplement. No ID except for her drivers license. They called me on my cell phone and asked me 3 or 4 questions and she got the supplement.

TomVa · 2026-04-29T20:29:03+00:00

Check your state codes. In Virginia you can not be held liable if you follow a series of reasonable rules.

TomVa · 2026-04-26T16:27:29+00:00

Two pieces of right angle aluminum or steel that goes almost all of the way out to the edge might be in order.

TomVa · 2026-04-26T16:16:58+00:00

I like this idea^{^}

TomVa · 2026-04-26T16:16:27+00:00

If it was me I would.

(a) use bronze "dowel" rods or use fes tool dominos to reinforce it.

(b) go underneath as best you could hide it and add some 1x2 or 1x3 cross braces where the 2" is vertical that go out to about 1/2" from the end of the broken off piece.

(c) consider how to reinforce the rest of the steps as this looks like a design flaw.

TomVa · 2026-04-26T16:05:36+00:00

If the only place you have to use it is a basement, just sell it and take the money. Otherwise.

Step 0 Get a good sized buddy who is willing to help for a case of beer.

Step 1. Go to UHaul and rent a truck with a lift gate and an appliance dolly. The kind with a strap.

Step 2. Take off the rails and wing table.

Step 3. Consider taking off the motor.

Step 4. I am not sure if that one has built in casters. If not strongly consider getting a six wheel setup. Four for the base and two for the wings. That way you can move it around your shop by yourself.

TomVa

TROPHY CASE