Omarsea Update

Back in 2008 we were blessed to find ourselves in the company of some serious bluewater cruisers on the island of Bonaire. They were "headed around " as they say. Nearly all of them had these stainless arches on their boats. The fellas would often spend hours discussing the best designs and features. I being without an arch, felt somehow left out and later developed a serious case of Arch envy. It is a curious disease I must say. It begins with minor neck pain. Most likely the result of straining to see how the neighbors arch was made. Then it creeps down your back right into your wallet. There it rummages around looking for the zeros needed to buy an arch of it's own. I being the homeward bound kind of sailor that year, found that the envy just stayed there in the cracks and crevices grumbling about how nice it would be to have an arch. Then last winter I decided that I would build my own. Of course!, how hard could it be after all? Remember those 9 little words from Hitch hikers guide to the Galaxy? "It seemed like a good idea at the time". My family being the wonderful people they are just smiled at me and said nothing.
     And fools rush in. I spent the Spring looking for the stainless steel tubing needed for the arch. Finally I found a good deal through Defender Industries. If you every need stainless, email me and I will put you in touch with the person who really made this possible. But I digress. After receiving the tubing I spent a week looking for the right bender to make those pretty curves at the corners. I purchased a pipe bender from Harbor Freight. But, that was a real mistake. It mangled the sample tubing badly. I then found an outfit online, Speedway Motors, that has a really good bender at a decent price.  A week later I had my nifty new bender all setup and was ready to get started. Keep in mind that I was running under the assumption that I could do this even though I had no previous experience. Being an ex-rock climber I was used to steep learning curves. Even so I started the project very slowly. I measured the pieces a dozen times before cutting them. I wanted this to not only work well but look good too. After all what would the blue water types say when the Omarsea pulled into the harbor and dropped anchor. Hey Mate, is that a jungle gym on the back of your boat?  I hate to think of myself worried about what other cruisers would say but deep down I knew I had to get it right.
     The tube bending turned out to be a slam dunk. The kids and I spent a day carefully putting 60 degree curves in the pieces and I was pleased with the outcome. Now for the next step. I had to cut the cross pieces and somehow notch them to fit the larger curved bows. I found a professional tube notcher online and ordered it along with several bits or hole saws. I then tried to cut the tube with my chop saw and a metal blade. Whoa that was a joke! The blade smoked, the metal glowed red and the saw strained to make even the smallest cut. I needed a serious tool to cut stainless steel. So back to Harbor Freight I went and picked up a proper metal cutting saw. After some messing about with setting the saw up I was able to make decent cuts in a few minutes without my tools going up in flames.
Notching the tube was another long story I will save you from. To save you the gory details suffice it to say I wasted all the 1.25" hole saws that Home Depot had in stock. At 8$ a pop it was very painful. Finally I went online and watched a few Youtube videos of the pros notching stainless steel. What I was doing wrong was I had been holding back when cutting through the tubing. Your supposed to ram the saw through with metal fragments flying and smoke everywhere. Go Figure!  So I do this and sure enough I am able to use one hole saw to notch all the ends of the cross sections verses the lifetime supply I had just scrapped and thrown in the recycle bin. By now I am sold on Youtube and the educational value it presents.
     So that just leaves the easy part. Welding Stainless Steel Tubing at all kinds of crazy angles. I was a willing victim in this process because I had experience TIG welding. 16 years ago I had worked with some very experienced welders that showed me the basics. But I didn't count on the fact that 16 years and three children later I couldn't remember what end of the torch was what. Now that is an exaggeration I will admit. I know how to setup the equipment and get everything ready but I had lost the knack somewhere in those many diaper changes.
But being one to try anything I pushed on and began welding on some sample pieces. Not sot pretty. So I changed the heat and other settings and did some more. Worse! I was pulling gray hairs out now. So I went back to Youtube and watched every video remotely related to TIG welding. Then went back to my samples. The first few welds were OK. Nothing to write home about but they would work. So I started in earnest on the arch. Oh Big Mistake!
I was so anxious to get the arch put together I tacked all the pieces together in one go-round. Later I realized that it caused me to overheat critical areas and warp the overall curve of the bows. I welded and welded all summer. Then I ground away the rough spots and welded some more. By August I had made such a Frankenstine I was ready to throw in the towel. Those of you who know me well may remember to call Guiness and report a world record. I don't give up on tough things. So it was that Jean suggested I do the unmanly thing and call someone for help. Get a welder to coach me on how to make it right again. So I did. Bruce my welding teacher showed up an hour late for our first class. We spent a few minutes talking and he went over my welding equipment and showed me some of the basics I needed. As I welded he would give me tips and get me to lift the torch just so or hold the filler rod in such a way to make the bead flow across the weld better. After four hours of instruction I was back on course and ready to clean up my Frankenstine.
     It was that week that the weather turned wet. It stayed wet for the nest four weeks. I was forced to move the arch into the container to work and later onto the side porch. I spent all my spare time grinding off the bad welds and making new welds. There are some 120 welds to this arch so it takes a whole lot of time to do this. This is  my greatest mistake with building the arch. I believed going into it that I could have it done in July. Now I realize that to make a really decent arch it takes three to four months of welding and finish work.
Throughout the process I learned patience and an appreciation for the effort the people who make their livings  creating these works of engineering art.

PS: Tomorrow Ben and I will be installing the completed arch on the Omarsea!