An Isaan Pond

[Saint Willy]

^See we think alike KW. Its all about the details which shows it was well thought out. Those usually get someone saying " Nice touch, I would have never thought about that"..

Indeed, my friend.

In fact a true visionary would ensure 2 beer holders, and 2 fishing rod clips or holders, perhaps a cigar ashtray holder. If one had a decent missus perhaps even a wine glass holder...

[Mendip]

^^ Yeah... it'll be near enough Ootai.

It's a bit of a worry because my work is mainly numbers... that's what 4 months in Isaan has done to me.

^ KW... You seem to think I socialise with other humans up here in this God forsaken place.

Dogs don't need beer holders.

[Shutree]

perhaps even a wine glass holder...

More than a single glass holder, obviously Mendip'll be wanting to entertain out on the pier.

[Saint Willy]

I dont think Mendip is allowed to entertain 4 women on his pier... just sayin....

[Mendip]

^ Life's full of regrets... if only I'd built a jetty 20 years ago... what a party I could have had... it would have made even Headworx blush.

But anyway, that was then and this is now.

My Welsh mate has let me down badly tonight so I'm home alone with my daughter and the six dogs on a Friday night. The wife's fukked off for a drink with her friends and the gardener will already be working on putting his van in the ditch again.

But... this freed me up to see where we are. I balanced all the contributing parts of the jetty together and co-opted the daughter to take a couple of pics.



It seems that Pythagoras was on to something after all. Not a bad fit but my worry isn't the longitudinal movement but the lateral movement... maybe I need an 'X' bracing at the end to prevent that. I hate it when work experience kicks in when doing a simple garden project.



But all said and done, despite the help of an ancient Greek mathematician and esteemed engineers such as ootai, I can't help feeling that it looks a bit shit.

I'm disappointed with this... I may have to jazz it up a bit.

[Saint Willy]

I'm disappointed with this... I may have to jazz it up a bit.

Looks alright to me .

[ootai]

[QUOTE=Mendip;4267078]

It seems that Pythagoras was on to something after all. Not a bad fit but my worry isn't the longitudinal movement but the lateral movement... maybe I need an 'X' bracing at the end to prevent that. I hate it when work experience kicks in when doing a simple garden project.


But all said and done, despite the help of an ancient Greek mathematician and esteemed engineers such as ootai, I can't help feeling that it looks a bit shit.

I'm disappointed with this... I may have to jazz it up a bit.

[QUOTE]


Mendip
Don't go fukking it up by putting an X across the end piece.
Just buy enough wooden planks so you have a bit extra left from the floor and put that horizontally across the end piece not only would it be simple to do and brace against lateral movement it might also stop you from falling under the top rail after too many beers and whatever else you partake of while trying to catch a fish.

As The RKW said 'Looks alright to me".

[Saint Willy]

As The RKW said 'Looks alright to me".

[Stumpy]

I agree, looks ok to me too. Maybe it's the picture but the railing does seem to be a bit tall. Can your daughter see over it or will she have to peak through the gaps on the wood to see where she casted? I guess a step stool works too.

You know Mendy it's not a railing on a condo balcony 20 stories up. If lower and someone falls over, it's just water.

You going to run power out to the end for a few lights? Maybe a blender?

[cyrille]

Can your daughter see over it

She's getting taller with every series of photos. The pier height looks strategically chosen for Mendy to lean against it after a few jars and hold forth.

It'll do the job, eh.

[OhOh]

If you do not put x bracing in the vertical end panel you are relying on the weld quality alone.

If your x bracing is cut accurately the strength to resist is 2 fold, welds and physical contact.

Try no x bracing, if no wobbles leave it, if there is add the welded in position x braces.

Alternatively, use tensioned stainless steel wires.

A 10 mm long piece of stainless steel pipe, four holes at the centre, turnbuckles at the outer ends.

With a celebration family plaque in the centre.

[Stumpy]

She's getting taller with every series of photos. The pier height looks strategically chosen for Mendy to lean against it after a few jars and hold forth.

It'll do the job, eh.

Good Point Cyrille. Didn't consider the leaning aspect after a few. I guess a couple of foldable deck chairs are in order.

Mendy looking back, maybe a bridge was in order. This way you could fish and drink all along it. I know....I know.
Hindsight.

[Mendip]

^^ Good points OhOh... I'm trying to resist getting too technical and I don't foresee significant forces being applied from the sides... unless of course I hook one of the big catfish.

I'll see how sturdy the frame is and if there is a bit of wobble maybe just diagonal braces across the two lower corners would look OK.

I agree, looks ok to me too. Maybe it's the picture but the railing does seem to be a bit tall. Can your daughter see over it or will she have to peak through the gaps on the wood to see where she casted? I guess a step stool works too.

Don't forget I'll be 4 inches higher when standing on the frame, and 4 inches makes quite a difference.

I plan to leave the end clear... this isn't really a safety feature but just something to lean against for comfort... same as leaning on a bar, it's a very natural position to spend an evening. I plan to install one of the planks of wood to be used for the jetty floor across the top of the cross beam as a kind of shelf/bar to lean on and maybe even to place a bottle and glass of Leo upon. As ootai suggested, I may install a second plank of wood at right-angles to the top shelf for appearances sake and also to provide a bit of lateral bracing.

Hence the daughter can just look through the gap to see where she cast.

She's getting taller with every series of photos. The pier height looks strategically chosen for Mendy to lean against it after a few jars and hold forth.

It'll do the job, eh.

The daughter never stops bladdy growing and is costing me a small fortune in school uniforms. She's just ten and is now over 150cm, or 4 ft 11 inches for Americans and Shutree. I took her clothes shopping before her Birthday and she was taller than the shop assistant (who was very cute, by the way).

I think she's gonna end up tall... I'm 6 foot and my mum and one of my sisters are both over 5 ft 10. The wife's not one of those titchy Thais either and comes in at 5 ft 7.

[Stumpy]

same as leaning on a bar, it's a very natural position to spend an evening

Cheers to that Mendy,

[Klondyke]

The daughter never stops bladdy growing and is costing me a small fortune in school uniforms.

That's why the Chinese have imposed the 3-kids policy to enable recycling, avoiding wastage.

Don't you reconsider a similar approach?

[Mendip]

^ Not at my age, no!


Day 15 or so and I planned to start the welding today... but foolishly left the metal outside last night and we had heavy rain.



I don't want to risk sealing in any moisture so all I've achieved today is to move the metal parts of the frame to the gardener's garage... the designated site for the frame fabrication.

Wish I'd done it yesterday.

[Saint Willy]

His garage looks better than yours!

[Stumpy]

Yeah Mendy. Your Gardener has a nice shop area. I'd have a big center table in the middle on wheels and a drop down power box. Could fab up lots of stuff. Oh yeah and a big ass industrial fan blowing all the shit and dust out. I mentioned that I wanted to move my wifes Pajero out from our carpark area to make a big shop area for myself and I was told that was NEVER going to happen with a look to support it.

My shop is actually plenty big enough but the one side my FIL was allocated is loaded with Thai tools and crap from 35 years ago ( or longer) that haven't been used in years but I was told I can't toss it. . Any metal cutting or wood work is out in the driveway.

[Mendip]

It was a late start today and as it didn't seem worth getting into the welding I picked up the wood instead.

I won't bore you with the calculations, but the jetty frame is 3 metres long and the wood is 15cm wide (6 inch), so I made it 20 planks required (or more likely 19 with gaps). I also need 2 extra planks for the end shelf and vertical piece, making a grand total of 21.

The wood came in 4m, 5m or 6m lengths. The frame is 1.5m wide, so the 5m lengths seemed perfect... divided into three wood mean no waste! As it happened the 5 metre lengths were slightly different length but typically between 506cm and 509cm, so I measured each one and divided it exactly into three and the planks will work out around 169cm once cut, plus or minus 1cm. I think that having slightly different length planks will add to the rustic charm of the jetty.

The wood all first required sanding to remove the potential for nasty splinters.



I sanded smooth any deep splits and wrote a 'B' for Bottom against them... this will hopefully ensure that these bad sections will end up underneath and out of view/contact with feet.



I don't like to complain, but this unenjoyable job was made worse by the heat and incredible humidity we're currently experiencing which meant that my clothes were sodden after around 3 minutes. The sweat constantly dribbled down my glasses and on to the wood, making the sanding go slower than expected. I was also plagued by these tiny black flies that swarmed around my head and kept going into my eyes.

Apart from that it wasn't too bad.

And the finished lengths of sanded wood, ready to go back under cover before yet more rain expected tonight.



The next wood jobs will be to apply two or three coats of Chaindrite for protection against termites and to cut the planks to length. They're all marked up and ready for my fancy new circular saw to arrive from Lazada. I'll also need to get some wood preservative.



With all the office work I do these days I've developed real soft women's hands, and the sanding completely took off the corner of my right thumb. I also received one really bad splinter but luckily it was so big I was able to pull it out complete.



Once finished I sat back for a couple of minutes to think about how the new jetty will look... not too bad I reckon.

[Saint Willy]

It's looking like it will be brilliant. I will happily share an ale on it with you.

[Shutree]

It's looking like it will be brilliant. I will happily share an ale on it with you.

I'll happily join you both, after others have done a bit of dynamic load testing.

[Mendip]

I didn't really design it to take three people but I guess we can give it a try... I'm only small.

Just to be clear from the outset... I'm gonna be charging 20 Baht a go. That wood was expensive and I want to recoup some costs so this is going to be a toll jetty.

For 20 Baht you'll get a cup of pellets to feed the fish and a shot of the gardener's Ya Dong.

No loitering allowed.

[Stumpy]

Just to be clear from the outset... I'm gonna be charging 20 Baht a go. That wood was expensive and I want to recoup some costs so this is going to be a toll jetty.

For 20 Baht you'll get a cup of pellets to feed the fish and a shot of the gardener's Ya Dong.

No loitering allowed.

Can we heckle from the shore? I see one of these OMG videos of a bunch of people on it and it collapsing...

I will bring my recliner beach chair with a beer holder in the armrest for the ribbon cutting celebration.

[Mendip]

^ I was hoping you'd bring one of your fancy bottles of malt.

I'll waive the 20 Baht fee for a decent whisky.

[Stumpy]

^ That can be arranged. Seems like a fair deal.