Apart from filling my working days as an electrical engineer (to earn some money to pay for all my distracting projects!), I seem to have about half a dozen projects on the go...
The major project is renovating my house. This started with fixing up the basement after I had a "bad" tenant, but I completed that work well over a month ago now. But I had planned to do some other work on the house while I was away traveling (you know, lots of time while riding the bike spent thinking about all sorts of stuff... including some house renos!). So, Ive also had all the old single pane windows replaced with nice new double glazing, and Ive installed two out of three new double glass doors to replace the worn out old single pane glass sliding doors. And Ive removed most of one wall between the kitchen and the dining room to get more of an "open plan" layout... And the big job, which is still underway, has been to replace the old tile and carpet floor coverings with hardwood.
Having spent the better part of a month on this last big job, it is now about three quarters done. Its slow work because I only get to work on it about three hours a day. After I finish the days work as an engineer, I ride over to my place and spend the next three hours renovating, and then after that, I ride home (at a friends house about 40 minutes ride away), grab a bite to eat, have a shower and then the day is done... I get more work done on the weekends of course but its still nothing like working on it full time.
Its not too hard to stapple down the hardwood, but there is a huge amount of work involved in preparation... taking out baseboards, ripping up carpet, pulling out thousands of staples, jack hammering out the old tile floors and ripping out the old ply sub-floor... and then leveling/preparing the main sub-floor before the stappling starts... but its nearly done now, so here are a couple of pics of "work in progress"...
And of course, Ive also been "tinkering" away at the motorbike project about one evening a week. The latest task was to remove, sand-blast, and repaint the engine side covers... They were all scuffed up and looked quite bad, so Ive now repainted them. Yesterday I reinstalled them on the bike, and Im quite pleased with the results :)
I also changed the front sprocket over to be a 14 tooth instead of 15 tooth unit (It will reduce the top speed but will make stop-and-go city riding more pleasant and easier on the clutch). I also removed one of the front fork legs and replaced the oil seals (it was weeping suspension oil) as well as changing the engine oil filter and replacing all the oil and coolant... and bolting all the plastic pannels back on again... Busy day!
I think the weather around here is pleasant enough now, so Im going to re-register the bike this week and start riding it for the summer :)))
But, Ive also had another little side project running for a few months that is nearing completion too...
Ive been building RC model boats and planes for decades now, and I never seem to get tired of doing it. I get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from working on them and it doesnt take up too much space (I spent years living in one room basement suites!), though at times it does make lots of dust... Anyway, the latest project was started soon after I got back from my long motorbike trip, but it was while the tenant was in my house and so I couldnt work on renos...
And the project is a 75cm x 30cm scale model race boat... A 1960 prop driven "three point" hydroplane. The model is fully built and Ive been doing the painting and detailing... Just need to install the driveshaft, prop and rudder and then make a stand for it now.
... but Ive also found the time to look for some plans for future model projects too :)...
... But there's also another, bigger project "on my radar" so to speak...
