I developed an interest in mechanical things at a young age, and began buying motorbikes from classifieds in my teens, and set to 'fixing' them. 'Fixing' them meant attacking them with various wrenches with my tongue poking out the corner of my mouth, then selling the dissassembled mass of parts (minus a large proportion - generally anything smaller than a milk bottle, as these were lost on the ground near my 'work' area) to fund the next project. The extent of these losses are of a magnitude that would make an large scale iron and aluminium mine on the site a viable business idea in the near future.
Eventually, however, I began to amass the skills required to put the things back together, and sometimes they did actually work! I remember at around age 15 I had a honda moped which ran after 'fixing', but would leak the entire oil capacity of the engine in around 15 minutes. I've always been a lateral thinker, so I attached a container from a recently-consumed Indian takeaway with a bit of wire to collect spillage, rather than refit the gasket which I'd forgotten to install. Now you are beginning to understand the extent of my wisdom even at that young an age, but things improve still more!
Phase three of this magical journey began when my definition of 'fixing' began to resemble the rest of the population's. I rebuilt the forks of my motorbike at around 16, and it actually rendered an improvement. Thereafter I bought cars that had been sitting for years and got them going again, learnt to weld and fill panels, learnt to troubleshoot and repair electrical systems, and got all but one vehicle through the requisite road safety test.
I'm of the belief that anyone can become good at anything, with the right attitude and carefully designed practice and research. For me it's worth developing these divergent skills, since I have a lot of time but rarely the funds to employ someone else to do these things. One such example was reading a degree's worth of books on audio engineering so I could record bands I've played in, and practicing several hours a day until I thought I was good enough. The boat has been the greatest manifestation of this principle, and I've relished the need to learn more about every aspect of this new medium. I have a launch to get cracking on after the wee boat's done, and this will take it even further, as I plan to learn to sew the upholstery and canvas, try foam sandwich construction, build a tube bender for the railings and fittings, plus numerous other bits and pieces.
I hope this blog's a useful resource for others trying similar things, or just an interesting read for those with an interest. Thanks for looking either way, happy DIYing!
