Harbor Freight is my friend

I have heard the name Harbor Freight before, but hadn't ever really looked into them. With the snow finally plowed enough to get out, venturing to Harbor Freight was on the list! Their prices on tools I have bought before were generally half what I paid ... meaning a half-hour drive to the store is worth the savings. I bought several random things, including a tap & die set to make the quick-pins for Goat. I already modified the horizontal stabilizer AN3-30A bolt to accept two lock-nuts (low profile ones) and trimmed it to 1-1/8" long. Now my previously jury-rigged bolt actually stays in by itself! I was thinking hard about getting a drill press for making all those sheet metal parts a bit easier, eventually deciding against it since I'm almost done making those kinds of parts, heh.

In other news, I started a jig to re-bend the keel tube. I have to find some fine-grained sand to stuff the tube before I try to bend it this time. I have been told that will dramatically help reduce the kinking, along with a good jig of course.

No pictures this time.

I did give a go at sleeping inside that igloo by the way. Unfortunately, I didn't put in a secondary vent hole, relying simply on the main entrance for ventilation. After about two hours outside, I woke up extremely light-headed and abandoned it... I was quite warm, I think my CO2 was just not escaping enough without that vent. DOH.