Neftaly

We bought a house! It has lots of bush and an unconsented derelict pool 🥳

This might be of interest!
bsky.app/profile/vick...

Nef holding some dice and paper models, with a computer showing code and 3D models in the background.

The maths behind the piece rotation system is working! This is a UI control I've had in my head for literally years but never been able to implement. Here is a picture of me having it working.

A radical skeleton telling you "Just start. You don't need permission. Art, craft, 2nd book, cake, writing, that show, any new skill, making friends. If it sucks, ask for help. The time will pass anyway"

🎹

Accidentally dressed like a user interface today

Nef showing a game of checkers on an old iPad in Probability

Ambushed Sam with some Probability player testing 🎲

🎵 2021 pancake throwback 🎵

We saw lots of Dolphins and a couple of Whales on the way back.

Anchored at Kawau island for the night and went strainer fishing with Georgia off the duckboard.

The generator failed and we couldn't cook anything so we did the last leg back to Auckland at 6AM. I slept through this 😊

I'm driving back to Whangarei tonight but decided to check out Panda Mart in Pakuranga... Have decided to buy a juicer when orange season returns haha.

Back to the big smoke

Heading to Auckland... Uh oh, engine trouble.

Luckily they remembered to pack a Nef!

Diving at Sail island.

I'm going to set up my evil lair here.

Spider-skull island

Drove back to Whangarei and went aboard AWOL. I've been to Tutukaka hundreds of times as a kid but this is my first time leaving the harbour.

The Poor Knights Islands are known as one of the best diving spots in the world.

Theres a massive cave, you can fit multiple boats inside.

Daz and Georga going for a little trip.

Poor Knights

Headed over to Ras Jas next.

Lovely little aft cabin to myself!

Fixed their watermaker, repaired their outboard, and cleaned the head!

Ohhh yes please!

Ras Jas

It was a good place to watch the sunset.

💩

In the morning Port Royal split off do some fishing.

We headed back to Waiheke in the evening and I spent the night on the mooring.

Last day at Coromandel

I tried to keep up the appearance of productivity...

... But, given the circumstances, this was rather challenging.

Later on I went for a solo mission and checked out a headland.

Looked like a good place to watch the sunset.

Chilling

We did a little mission up some mangroves and stopped for lunch.

We went all the way up the mangroves. Some locals were hanging out by the banks with a rifle, I didn't take any photos but they seemed friendly.

First shower after a few days!

We stuck torches in the water and fished for whitebait with a metal strainer. It was really pretty.

Checking out mangroves

I hung out on Chris' boat Icky Thump, we were also joined by Port Royal

Left from Waiheke and headed over to Coromandel. I swam ashore and had a beer after we arrived.

We had various problems (as you do). Port Royal crashed into a sailboat and put a hole in their hull while retrieving this RIB (fixed with ply, screws, and glue). Icky Thump had problems with the hydraulic system which we eventually got on top of.

Boating is basically just fixing things in exotic locations. We had to patch some holes and re-glue our RIBs.

Had a lottle holiday boat adventure! First stop, Coromandel

Nef on a laser sailing dinghy, with Poor Knights Islands in the distance

Out for a little dinghy sail!

Bram invited us to a practice session for "Mermaid Bait & the Brass Monkey", they were great!

A container full of purplish potatoes, with 2 hands in the foreground with a bunch of smaller potatoes on top

Harvest time! Regular sized potatoes and giant hands

Went to cut some steps and the 🤬🚽🍆💥 wasps showed up again, stung my hand and my legs 3-4 times. I had to squash several trying to sting my jacket. Vengeance! I swear it!

I've been clearing a path down the valley behind my house. It's going well but a wasp stung my leg a couple of times 🐝

A recycled felt laptop case with horizontal quilting

Same but open

Another laptop case. This one took way longer, I wasn't really happy with it so didn't bother adding closures.

Nice and grunty!

No-brand cordless circular saw with a home-made aadapter and battery

The adapter

The dump shop had a 18v cordless circular saw with a busted battery for $10, I hacked together an adapter

Ragged quilted recycled felt laptop bag with white felt "eyes" and black snaps

Open bag showing name badge and a button for securing it to my backpack

Opening on side for charging laptop without removing it from the bag

I've been making laptop cases, this is my favorite so far

6 rows of glowing paracord stiched with zig-zags into webbing tape

The same glowing green in the dark

Turned more glow-in-the-dark paracord into webbing. Not sure what to use it for... Watch this space

Checking the power meter works

Finished pack next to a drill+adaptor and plugged into a laptop charger

Et Viola! Thanks for your help guys

Yay! We can finally screw everything together

Dammit fogot the spring, why didn't you tell me?

Decals... Hmm, these are kinda tacky

Much better

Final assembly

These stickers seem to cover the bus bars

We'll screw down the BMS then bend down the tabs once it's in place

Into the case!

Solder the battery meter to the terminals

Almost there...

Let's put a bit of flux on each bar, to remove any oxidation and make soldering easier

A big dollop of solder goes on next, we're trying to do this really quickly as there's a bit of thermal mass that will absorb all the heat and ruin things

Now we do the BMS leads

We gotta wipe the flux off with meths, as it's mildly acidic and will eventually make everything rust

Soldering time!