sailing the farm - join our sea gypsy commune!

[zeyang]

Newsletter Late july 2012.


Dear Sea gypsies

Harvest season has just started and we are cutting and drying the gras
old time style. Its pretty backbreaking work, but our seaygpsy guys
are a hardworking bunch, so we will finish this step soon. A few more
weeks and we will also start blueberry and raspberry picking. Then
comes mushroom and lingonberries. The autumn will sure be be a busy
one!

Last weekends it has been a dumpsterdiving craziness which brought us
lots of goodies like cherries and nectarines. Its pity to throw away
good food.. so they end up in morning porrige and cakes! mmmm.

Boatbuilding is going forward at full speed. 6 plates are on and we
are ready for constructing the deckhouse and soon we start build up
the wood interior inside the boatw. It will be nice change indeed,
swapping the welding pistol with a hammer and saw. At least the smell
of sawdust is better than weldingfume.

Ok that was small update for last weeks, hope you enjoy our pictures
and drop us a line if you want to join or gang!

a: Happy gang of seagypsy guys cutting gras.

b. Old style harvest. It seems easy but its hard pretty hard work.

c: Nice rest in hammock after a hard days work.

d. Polish grinding girl working on deck beams.

e. Sea gypsies out camping. The lake was a bit too cold for
swimming.. brr.

Love from
Sailing the farm - a sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=201311&stc=1&d=1342947792
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=201321&stc=1&d=1342947799
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=201331&stc=1&d=1342947804
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=201341&stc=1&d=1342947809
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=201351&stc=1&d=1342947814

---------- Post Merged at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:20 PM ----------


Newsletter August 2012.


Dear Sea gypsies

Then it start to rain.... July has been the wettest last 80 years up
here. Soon we dont need a truck to move the boat. We just launch her
just behind the shed.

Due to weather the gras harvest season is a little slow, but it goes
forward. Some gypsies have also been out in the forest checking for
the berries but its still some time to go.. Hopefully a week more and
it will be a fiest of blueberries during the morning porridge.

Boatbuilding has been good last weeks, due to rain. Thankfully our
shed is rainproof. We are now working on shaping in the deckhouse so
it looks nice. Most of the deckplates are welded in. I must say our
lady without a name start to looks like a proper boat.

Ahh. forgot to mention. 2 nice chinese girls has been up here last
week, feeding us proper food. Oh, I must say i really miss that
stuff. Nothing can beat homemeade chinese food. hmmm.

Enjoy our pictures. If you want to join our seagypsy and have
cabinetmaking skills - you are especially welcome. We are getting
closer to that step...

a: Real chinese dinner. Chopsticks and everything.

b. Polish girl - still smiling after a day of heavy brushing.

c: Work on the deck house. American/French team.

d. Beijing-girl helping with deckhouse welding.

Love from
Sailing the farm - a sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.



http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209871&stc=1&d=1344149640
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209881&stc=1&d=1344149645
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209891&stc=1&d=1344149651
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209901&stc=1&d=1344149655

 

[annasea]

When do you anticipate getting this boat actually launched?

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter Late August 2012.


Howdy Sea gypsies


August has been a good one.... The weather was much nicer than july i
must admit. even some of those wwoofers start to complain about too
much sun!

We have had quite an invasion from volunteers lately, and majority has
been from US, so now we have a distinct texas-slang around here.

Boatbuilding is going forward with the speed of light kind of... The
deck is on. The deckhouse is fixed. Even with the possibility to
remove to store big stuff inside. We are now working on
interior. Space for six bunk beds, kitchen and toilet/shower needs
some thinking...

We got some cool news lately. two volunteers (french/american) who met
less than one year ago here on farm, got married... even after
struggeling so hard to keep those girls and boys in separate barracks!
... some stuff must have been happening after dark... hmm.


That was big and small news from our coolest sea gypsy tribe this
month. If you fancy joining us, please drop us a line...


Some pictures from last month.

a: happy volunteers eating lunch
b: Deckhouse is soon on.
c: two pretty mermaids taking care of the raspberry field.
d: forehatch girl cleaning up inside boat.
e: wedding picture...


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=223081&stc=1&d=1346596178
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=223091&stc=1&d=1346596185
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=223101&stc=1&d=1346596191
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=223111&stc=1&d=1346596196
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=223121&stc=1&d=1346596203

Love from
Sailing the farm - a sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter October 2012.

Our big accomplishment this month was getting the winter bathroom
constructed, insulated and piped - just in time for the first big
freeze to hit the pipes in the summer bathroom. (Just in time to wash
some dirty sea gypsies.) At the beginning of September, it was just a
dark, drafty hole in the corner of the barn, and now it's a warm and
bright room with heating, double-glazed windows, a fancy new
shower... oh, and two couches, a worktable, a bookshelf and our sewing
machine. We decided it was too big to just be a bathroom, so we made
the other half into a winter living room. (If showering in the living
room and hanging out in the bathroom sounds like a weird combination,
just think of it as practice for living on the boat.)

In boat news, the deck is on, the deckhouse is constructed and
suspended precariously from the boatshed ceiling, and we've started on
the sub-deck and the insulation inside the hull. There's a lot of
infrastructure to go under the sub-deck - tanks for diesel and fresh
water, a greywater holding tank under the shower, and 5.5 tons of lead
ballast. Last week we cast another 600 kilograms of ballast in our
evil-looking smoky wood-fired crucible - only 1.5 tons left to go!

We've been doing a lot of farm work the last couple months - fall is
always a busy season. We harvested those crops we planted back in May
- onions, carrots, and 300 kilograms of potatoes! - plus lingonberries
from the nearby forest which we made into jam. And getting ready for
winter is a big job - cleaning up heaps of scrap wood, burning trash,
raking hay, organizing the bee stuff, putting snow chains on the farm
equipment, ghostriding the old tractor into the barn, and getting
things stowed under roofs before they get lost under the snow until
spring. We had our first big snowfall last night - about 15cm, and it
looks like it's going to stick around. The official end of summer
time on Saturday means the sun goes down around 4:30pm these days, but
that just gives us more night hours to watch for northern lights.
Tomorrow is Halloween, and we're going to celebrate by dressing up
like boatbuilding farmworkers and stealing candy from passing
children. Happy winter!



Some pictures and movie from last month.


This is our house band.

The Who am I Blues - YouTube


a: Beware of moose on deck!
b: Harvesting the carrot crop.
c: Making jam from local lingonberries.
d: Fishing in the local lake.
e: Fall bonfire with guitar.
f: Making Swedish pea soup for lunch.


http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=252401&stc=1&d=1351626439
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=252411&stc=1&d=1351626445
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=252421&stc=1&d=1351626453
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http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=252451&stc=1&d=1351626523


Love from
Sailing the farm - a sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter December 2012.

Dear All,

First of all, Mucho Gracias for all contribution this year - This
doesent goes just for those of you who have been flying, driving,
peddaling, walking and swimming up here to lend a hand on the farm and
the shipbuilding - but it goes also to you who have send support
mails, commented on forums, asked to help sponsoring the project and
mailed us. Without your support, we would never have come this far.

We are now going into the last year of building the Seagypsy Boat #1
and hopefully start sailing. Yes, i know some of you think she will
sail only backwards, or even upside down, but sail she will.. ..

Together we have come a long way taking into consideration that most
of volunteers coming up here have never done any metalwork or even
farmwork before, but they all share the same dream...

To sum up for 2012. We have used more than 2 metric tonns of aluminium
this year, welded hundreds and hundreds of meters of welding, consumed
a few hundred kg of Argon gas, melted 5 tonns lead. Not to mention
breathing way too much welding fumes and aluminium dust...

On the farm, we have had lots and lots of volunteers who has been in
charge of growing potatoes, sugar pees, carrots, berries and lots of
other stuff. They have got new friends and met old ones from prior
years.

They have shared and learned, maybe eating too much porridge and
waffles, laughed, cried, made love (tough I really worked hard here to
keep those sneaky wwoffers in separate girls/guys barracks!!) Some
have even taken step to marry! So in sum I think 2012 has been quite a
good year.

As we are nearing the end of this year (and not end of the world i
hope!) I wish you all a peaceful 2013 with much joy and happiness for
the coming year and we up on the farm really look forward to meet new
and old volunteers both here and out on the seven seas.

Fair winds and smooth sailing from

Sailing the farm - A Sea gypsy tribe of tomorrow.
Ze


picture: Boatshed in winter night.

http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=289481&stc=1&d=1356891300

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter March 2013. .

Dear Sea Gypsies,

Spring is slowly coming our way, Its been maybe the coldest winter for
as long as people can remember up here. Minus -30 for weeks out and
weeks for january and february and even in march we have -20 degrees
for many days. But we dont complain (at least loudly!) the shed was
filled to the brink with firewood and during evening and weekends time
have been spent reading about small pacific islands where the sun
always shine... Guess where to boat is sailing!

Last two months have been spent doing foundry work (melting
aluminium). We are now making our own portholes and all small bits and
pieces out of the all the scrap alloy we have floating around. Next
would be to make a few dolphins for decoration

Anyway, enjoy the early spring folks! .. and if you want to join our
tribe please contact us!

Pictures.

a. making a sand-cast for a small porthole.
b. Out enjoy the skiing in cold winter weather.
c. a cake? Nope. Its called cores and used for foundry work! Its a
miks of sand and linseed oil. Taste awful, but works good.
d. welding small boxes and stuff together.
e. Porthole production.

http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348001&stc=1&d=1363531570
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348011&stc=1&d=1363531577
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348021&stc=1&d=1363531582
http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=348031&stc=1&d=1363531588
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_y-Gh6_YI

 

[zeyang]

Newsletter April 2013.

Dear Sea Gypsies,

The potatoes are planted just a few days ago. Thats even earlier than
last year. It a little risky since its still frostnights up here but
they are protected under a bed of soil so hopefully they wont freeze.

Summer is coming very slowly. Still no leafs on the trees, but the
small yellow flowers - coltsfoot (tussilago farfara) are starting to
show up along the roads. They are important pollen plants for the bees
this early in season (together with salix)

Sailing the farm have 3 nice girls now (irish,zchech,french). 2 guys
(swedish/english) who have been here the first part of april.

We have mostly been working on casting portholes for the boat which is
pretty timeconsuming. It means making molds, melting aluminium and
then shape the half-finished product in the lathe. The result looks
really good i must say.

Even if not even close to being foundrymen/girls or machinists we
manage to get quite a professional result after some weeks of trial
and error.

Thats enough for now, If you fancy joining the seagypsy tribe - just
drop us a line.

Love from
Sailing the farm


Pictures.

a. irish girl making sand-castles (sort of)
b. inspecting the casting results.
c. swedish sand-crab.
d. unfinished and finished result. (with the help of a lathe)
e. turning soil.


a: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380071&stc=1&d=1367131663
b: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380081&stc=1&d=1367131670
c: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380091&stc=1&d=1367131675
d: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380101&stc=1&d=1367131679
e: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=380111&stc=1&d=1367131684

 

[zeyang]

Dear Sea Gypsies

Summer is here, its more or less rain every day but the wwofers order
sun in the weekends so weather is always nice when we go hiking during
weekends, (not sure who they order it from though)

We are now up to full speed on boat and the farm. Last week we
planted another field of rasperries, which will be give us lots and
lots of rasperries in 2 years time. Then another field with potatoes
and even more herbs of all different kind. Its getting interesting
when the weed is coming up. It will be plenty of weeding soon.

The bees are busy collecting honey, and flying all over. they seems
pretty happy now after a quite cold may.

The portholes are more or less finished - that was a long journey. Its
quite a few steps. The good thing: with casting and machining skills
there is no limit to what we can make in alloy. Plenty of blocks for the
boat is already on the list..

We are in the stage of insulating all over inside. Then make ready for
the wood deck and railings. The wood deck is not just to make the boat
look like a boat, but avoid burned feet on hot alloy deck in the
tropics - besides since we are faking everything to look lke wood, so
why not a proper wood-deck.

Lots of sea gypsies are coming next months, both returning ones and
new ones, but we still have some space, so if you have any skills you
think could be useful - drop us a line!

Pictures:

a: sorting out weed in the rasperry field. Then we planted out some
hundreds sq-meter more.

b: metal girls at work moving heavy alloy-plates.

c: casting stuff for the boat. We use sand to mould them.

d: welding guy busy welding up ears on the portholes.

e: dumpsterdiving. one night catch from the bin at the foodstore. Now
we go every weekend to stack up on free fancy food.


a: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402921&stc=1&d=1370093474
b: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402931&stc=1&d=1370093482
c: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402941&stc=1&d=1370093489
d: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402951&stc=1&d=1370093497
e: http://weldingweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=402961&stc=1&d=1370093504

 

[JohnN]

Please tell me your welding guy is a TIG zen-master. My limited experience TIG welding aluminum is that without a fresh edge (< couple hours old), Aluminum oxide makes the joint highly suspect.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

Please tell me your welding guy is a TIG zen-master. My limited experience TIG welding aluminum is that without a fresh edge (< couple hours old), Aluminum oxide makes the joint highly suspect.

The hull welds are now 2-3 years old. They'd probably be showing issues by now if they had screwed things up, wouldn't they?

I must say that an aluminum-planked self-forged tig-welded hull is just about the nuttiest and also fantastically awesome idea I've run into in a longtime. Somebody must have gotten very good at managing their puddles. I dorked around with welding aluminum, it goes from solid to dripping through to the floor in the link of an eye.