Thursday, September 20, 2007

Some Days...


Do you have days every now and then, when nothing seems to go right? I went to get my rack set to put on the car. I was all set to head off to a new lake for a paddle. I found one of my car kayak racks on the floor of the shed. It had somehow fallen from its hook. Picking it up, I was surprised to see the plastic foot which rests on the car roof had broken. How could such a thing have happened? It seemed impossible, yet there it was in pieces just when I needed to use it.

I got the various part numbers and called SportRack using their 800 number. I spoke with someone for a few minutes and was told my part would arrive in a couple of days! Great service, to be sure. I was amazed at their service.

I happily headed out of the house to work on my SOF, only to discover while I was on the phone our puppy had managed to chew into the rubber pad on the bottom of the rack's foot! Back to the phone. Yup, they would include the pad with my order. What else was going to go wrong...?

So, I will be paddling on Lake Massawippi for the next few days. Meanwhile I'll be keeping the puppy away from the rack and I'll be checking to see why it fell off it's hook!

I put tung oil on the finished frame today and gave it a light sanding, checking especially that it was smooth wherever the canvas will touch the wood. Cover gets stretched on tomorrow and then comes the nasty job of sewing the long seam down the centerline. Pray for my fingers. They will suffer!

26/100

3 comments:

Silbs said...

Michael, if you can get ahold of a surgical needle holder and a curved needle, a mere turn of the wrist will drive the needle where you want it to go. Works on arteries too (smaller needle, of course) :)

clairesgarden said...

keep fingers safe! sounds like a fascinating task though and look forward to the finished picture.

Michael said...

Dick - I'm well equiped with curved needles, but the surgical holder is a new idea. I'll bother my medical friends for one! I also use artist's canvas pullers to save my hands, still it's tough going on the digits!

Claire - it's a very satisfying endeavour. I'll be sure to post pictures of the whole process right to the finish line.