Off the boat

My tools were craned off the boat at 6:30 PM. Good timing since at 7 pm it was scheduled to leave for the fuel dock and from there to Oregon to fish. Everything came down to the last minute. Before I disembarked, they moved the boat to the other side of pier 91 while I was welding some last minute brackets. Picture this. I am standing at a large machinist's vise in the machine shop. I have one foot on my TIG foot pedal, so I am balancing most of my weight on my left foot. I am butt welding 1/2" stainless hydraulic tubing, and the boat is moving, with big rolls and pitches. Let's just say if I ever teach welding at a school again, I just came up with a new training exercise. Kind of like TIG welding on a roller-coaster.

I will post some pictures soon, but for now, after 19 days of continuous work on 10 - 14 hour days, I just want to sleep for 2 days, and talk to nobody.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler
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My longest marathon was 118 days at 12+, 3 days off, then 90 on, one day off, then 30 on. Then the barge went to drydock for inspection. I took off for two weeks visiting friends in Texas and a trip to Mexico.

Eat - sleep - work. It gets to be quite a rut after a while, but I seemed to fall into synch after two weeks.

Glad you learned something new, and enjoy your time off.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

No big deal ... if you're 19 . For me, a 6 hr workday is about what I'm up to. 1 day continuous .

Bob

But ... I'll bet it was a nice paycheck!

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

There is more money in my account now than in the last 8 years. But I am not sure at 45 years old that I am ready to do this all the time. It beat the tar out of me. I survived it and I did good work, but it beat me up and down.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I can assure you that it doesn't get any better from here on out!!!! :)

Reply to
RoyJ

I had pay periods for two weeks offshore where the deductions were far more than I made in a month on a "regular" job.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

--Sooo you still planning a trip to the Bay Area or are you gonna ride the 'gravy train' some more? Big buck jobs I understand; just made a (small) pile in my shop with an interesting production job and I can't wait for lightning to strike again.. ;-)

Reply to
steamer

As we gain in knowledge, experience, age, and hopefully wisdom our resumes get shorter. I frequently claim that my resume has boiled down from a lengthy two pages to four short words; "Been THere, Done That".

Best wishes in your new endeavors.

Reply to
Nadogail

I think the window of jobs we will even consider narrows, too.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

heh heh, if you can _carry_ it in I'll _consider_it!

Reply to
Phil Kangas

Bette Davis said it best, "Getting old isn't for sissies."

As we age we hurt easier and heal slower, but experience has taught us to work smarter not harder. Good luck, and work safely.

Reply to
Private

Finger tip control! Foot pedals are good for bench work. I do alot of weird position welding and a foot pedal would be all but useless.

Reply to
Randy333

I am still kind of recovering from the ordeal. I will feel safe coming down when I have something else lined up for when I return.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Mine can be summed up in a similar fashion, "I make stuff".

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I agree, most of the time. I have done a lot of brewery work over the years, and my preferred control has been a simple button to control the sequencer in my machine. I am very good at estimating my amperage needs. However on this job, I was switching between so many pieces so fast (

3" sched 80 SS pipe, 4" sched 10 copper nickel, 3/8" SS bar, 1/2" SS tube...) that the foot pedal became far more expedient. It was just one more thing that separated me from the other pipe fitters. I was operating off of my machine, a Maxstar 200DX which has a pulser and sequencer. Everybody else was running from the basic Maxstar 200SD.

The pulser drew the most attention, and I was constantly explaining the benefits.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I built a pulser for my Synrcowave, it was discontinued so I used the schematic in the manual to make my own. It still sitting on my desk. I think I'm going to need some time to get it installed and setup and calibrated.

Remove 333 to reply. Randy

Reply to
Randy333

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