fractalnavel

• speaking of hoisting, jeep says if other cars can get bras, he wants a jockstrap
• upon hearing this, self put in a request for a leather straitjacket.

and you thought kids were bad...

jeep is itching to take its top off, and has started bugging self about it.  now self is bitching at me to do something about it.   the problem is the that i have a two car garage and more than two cars' worth of crap to put in it.  well, it's not quite that bad, if i could suspend the hardtop in there somehow.  of course, there are hoist kits to buy, and ideas to rig one of my own.  but this garage was finished by one of those bozos that felt it necessary to put in dry wall, so the rafters, studs and so on aren't exposed.  so i have to put big ol' holes in the ceiling for bolts or what have you to do anything like that.  and this is a rental place. 

but, hmm, perhaps a handful of heavy duty eyebolts aren't that big of a deal.  then i could rig whatever i wanted to those.  the cheapest home-built hoist approach i saw was to use a bunch of trailer tie-downs.  not the most efficient hoisting system, though, ratcheting each corner bit by bit, round and round, until the desired height was reached.  another guy rigged ropes to an old manual trailer winch, a much better idea, but requiring a mount point for the winch.  personally, i was thinking a multi-purchase rig would work as well, requiring a couple double blocks and a tie-off cleat in addition to the anchor points. at 4:1 i would need less than 50 lbs of pull.  i could also rig this set up to hoist boat if needed (the top is about 150, boat is 250). (parts list: 5 eyebolts plus nuts/washers/plates, four s-hooks, cleat and screw or other tie-off, two double blocks, four single blocks, various links to eyebolts, fairleads?, and maybe 50' of line.)

i would just put the top in the backyard somewhere, but there's no way to get back there - it's surrounded by 6 foot chainlink, with a couple 30'' gates, and besides, all access is nearly blocked by house and garage.

ok, there are various engineers and skillled trades people in the audience, what's the most efficient rigging arrangement (in terms of parts/cost, installation ease, operational ease, etc.) ?  what are some things to watch out for ?  note that the store-bought systems use a single point of suspension for a t-bar that hooks to the sides and rear of the top.  hmm - i guess i could just use a tripod harness/bridle of rope, and save three or four bolts, three or four blocks, and an s-hook.  but that single suspension point would need to be solid, and this rig wouldn't be adaptable for boat (which isn't really necessary).  and the top would swing/rotate, need to restrain that as well (easy, i would think).

yeah, that's it, a single center eyebolt connected to a harness on the top by a 4:1 pulley system (one eyebolt, two double blocks, 30' of line).  ideas ?

arrrrghh!  what is that bright thing in the sky ?  what right does the mercury have to rise that high ?  what's this green growth showing up everywhere ?  and there's these noisy things in the air, in the trees...

i miss the white.  i miss the dark.  i miss the quiet outdoors.  i miss the empty world.

* * * * *

i figure it's better to get my whining done here than to bother people with it directly.  they just think i'm weird when i express things like that.  or maybe it has nothing to do with expression, but anyway...

well, there's sailing to do, at least.  i could do it during winter, but i'd have to spend more.  summer is easier for many things.  but everyone else feels that way as well. 

work to do on boat, car, outside.  things to buy to be able to do the work.  and so on.  winter allows such things to slumber, it seems to whittle things down to necessities, there's less concern for appearance, the pretense of excitement...

even with all this attention to things “extreme”, most folks tend to spend months inside.  i'm glad for the all talk, no action people.  hmm... i keep thinking places like colorado and alaska have lifestyles that would appeal to me more, but then those tend to be year-round outdoors people, right ?  well, maybe more than in other places.  but i hear that a lot of people also hole up for the darkness there too.

such a fair weather race.  can't say i did anything more than hole up lately either.  but i like holing up; i could do it indefinitely.  or i could hang outdoors.  that's an equipment thing, is all.  just give me the world to myself.

the empty beaches.  especially the empty beaches.  empty woods.  empty.  so, i wonder - maybe doing the cruising thing is the way to go, really.  single-handed sailing, i mean.  a matter of getting started.  so many unknowns. 

hmm, is that fear i detect ?  not as in shaking in my boots, but a discomfort with uncertainty ?  or is that perhaps simply a recognition of my (current) limits ?  time to stretch those limits, then.  not sure where to start.  i have, like, no experience in such things, and the same for outside help.  books only get you so far.  so, i'm going to make a lot of stupid mistakes that those with a different background would scoff at.  ahh - fear of ridicule, that sort of thing.  well, suck it up, i guess, or go nowhere.

in an empty world, there is no ridicule, and only one fool...