Monthly Archives: March 2016

I Sugru, and You Should, Too

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A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought myself a new immersible blender. My old one bit the dust and I used it frequently. Replacing it was a no-brainer. Know what else should have been a no-brainer? Keeping the box and the receipt until I was sure the thing would continue to work well. Because that’s what I usually do. But this time I threw the box away. What could possibly go wrong?

This side got repaired with glue.

Well, actually I don’t know what went wrong, but something sure did. All I know is that the next time I took the blender out of the cabinet, where it had been sitting for at least a week, part of the plastic piece that holds the blender part onto the motor fell off into my hand.  What the what? I didn’t break it, but still, broken it was. I’m kind of used to weird things happening in our house without apparent cause, so I didn’t miss a beat. Swearing, out came the Gorilla Glue, which is pretty good stuff. I glued the piece on and waited.

How the heck? Who knows?

When the glue was cured I tried putting the pieces together again. This time the thing was split along the other side.  Huh. Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe I got a lemon? Maybe there were cracks I didn’t see? Maybe the plastic was somehow compromised? Or maybe a ghostly hand had reached through the ether and given it a whack. Crap. I had a choice of fixing this thing, or trying to buy a replacement part. I decided to fix that thing. sugru I remembered seeing this stuff called Sugru that is meant to repair all kinds of objects. It’s billed as ‘mouldable glue’ and their marketing (which is ultraslick and kicky) includes the words ‘this is going to be great’. What the hell? Why not, then? I thought it sounded like just the trick and I knew they carried it at Target. So I got some and gave it a go.  It’s kind of like playdough in consistency, but then it hardens like a flexible epoxy. The result is very nice.

It’s even blue.

We’ll be carrying a small supply on board Galapagos when we go. This stuff is not cheap, about 13$ for that little package of three, but it is quick and easy to use, is not messy, and it can be used for many small things that would be hard to fix otherwise. You also get the thrill of playing with playdough again. So that’s a bonus. I will certainly carry Sugru on board and maybe you should, too.

Aft Cabin Re-Model: Making Patterns

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We’re making progress on that aft cabin.  I spent a great deal of time making a template out of heavy cardboard and playing with all the different combinations that would make the sleeping space larger without using up too much floor space.  We finally settled on expanding the port side and the middle, and leaving the starboard side as it is. Decision made, I set about making a template for Mike to cut a piece of wood to fit in the space we’re enlarging.

Red magic marker defines the shape.

To make the pattern for the piece, I took a marker and ran it along the edge of the existing berth from underneath the cardboard, marking the shape on the cardboard. Then I flopped the cardboard over and, using heavy brown paper from a couple of grocery bags, I was able to fold and cut until I got the right size and shape.

Paper pattern

Naturally, because we don’t want to waste furniture grade plywood, we wanted to cut it from something cheap first to check fit and fine tune the whole thing. Mike bought some cheap, thin plywood and cut the pattern piece at home, then we went down to the marina to see if it would fit. On the way we took a little detour to the other side of the water way to see this:

It's the Saucy Sue! She lives down Foss Waterway from us.

It’s the Saucy Sue! She lives down Foss Waterway from us.

The is the sweet boat formerly known as Saucy Sue. She was our first sailboat and we truly enjoyed her. We felt so nostalgic seeing this little boat who taught us to love sailing so much. She was a lot of fun, easy to sail, and encouraged us to go further and longer. Some of our most ‘exciting’ times were aboard the Sue. We’d love to meet her new owners. She is called Finn du Monde now, which is the name she was given by the woman we sold her to 8 years ago. I love it that she is so close by, still sailing Commencement Bay.

Back at Galapagos after our detour we tried the piece on for size. With only a minor correction here and there, it was good to go. 

Turned out Mike had cut one side a little short, likely because my pattern got folded back or something, but that was fine as we needed to eyeball that corner on the port side and decide how to do it anyhow. That could be a thigh killer if it isn’t done right.  After a little discussion, I cut a piece of cardboard to fit, and we measured, trimmed again, and taped in place.

When we install the final piece of 3/4″ plywood, that  corner will be trimmed off so there are no sharp areas to create bruises. If you are a sailor, you know what I mean.

With the aft cabin cleaned up and the pattern in place, I wanted a visual of how this space might look when finished so I threw a blanket on it and we tried it out. We think this is going to be great and that we’ll be quite happy with it.

Read the next episode here.