Yard Camping Ramblings

"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
07/13/2018 at 22:07 • Filed to: None

I’m camping in the yard with my kids. It’s literally a perfect summer night; it was above 80 today but now that the sun is down it’s quickly cooling, and will likely be 50 by morning. I’m sitting in a chair between the house and the tent with a gin and tonic and listening to the Red Sox via my laptop, so I figured I’d check Oppo, etc. and say ‘whats up’ so here we are.

My neighbors were inexplicably cutting down small saplings with a freaking chain saw until after 9:00, which was just... inexplicable. I wanted to go over with my chain saw, cut down a huge 6 0' oak tree and be like, “THAT is what a chain saw is for. You want to borrow some clippers and be quiet now while I’m trying to get my kids to sleep?” But you know, civility, etc.

In semi-car-related news, I am flabbergasted by a friend with a mechanical issue. He’s got an older carb’d 351 in a 90's boat, and he loaned it to a friend of his . It was running great. The friend ran the boat out of fuel. He put fresh fuel in, but the boat wouldn’t run right. The owner of the boat, my friend, has since changed just about every electrical part in the ignition system, BUT SOMEHOW STILL DOESN’T BELIEVE ME THAT IS IS A FUEL PROBLEM. I mean, it ran great, ran out of gas, ran like crap after. How could that NOT be fuel related? But now, of course, he’s changed a bunch of other stuff, so it could be something else too, if the point gap isn’t just right, or something like that. So... I give up on that one.

Diagnose your problems BEFORE throwing parts at it, people!

And this weekend looks to be a good one, hanging around the house, doing chores, etc tomorrow and then lake/boat on Sunday. Should be good. We haven’t had a quiet weekend as a family since before the 4th. Our new shed is done so I’m sure I’ll be working on organizing that, getting yard tools hanging up, finding places for all the crap that’s been scattered in the yard, basement, and other random places for the last 10 years.

I guess I don’t have pics of the shed, they’re on my phone which is in the tent. Another time then.

Have a great weekend, O ppo. Cheers. I’m gonna let my eyes adjust to the dark and look for shooting stars before going back in the tent.

DISCUSSION (13)

jasmits > functionoverfashion
07/13/2018 at 22:23

Could be electrical if the bilge pump quit pumping when the engine died/friend killed battery trying to restart it and things that shouldn’t have gotten wet got wet

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > functionoverfashion
07/13/2018 at 22:29

If the tank ran dry, the pump probably sucked up some crap. Sounds fuel related to me.

functionoverfashion > jasmits
07/13/2018 at 22:31

ah, true - but I don’t think any water got in, really...

shop-teacher > functionoverfashion
07/13/2018 at 22:49

Sounds like a dang good evening and weekend to me! Enjoy!

sdwarf36 > functionoverfashion
07/14/2018 at 00:10

Ahh-yard camping with the kids. Happy memories there. Now I’m looking forward to doing it with the grandchildren.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > functionoverfashion
07/14/2018 at 00:10

I recall lawn camping from childhood. Parents would be like let's go camping! But not go anywhere! Though with the humidity there it was definitely 80 during the day but feels like 90 at night. Truly awful to camp in the middle of summer. So different here in the desert now, nice and dry all the damn time.

smobgirl > functionoverfashion
07/14/2018 at 00:54

My parents were inexplicably against yard camping when I was a kid, although I remember our scout troop camped in my backyard once.

And on your chain saw discussion...my yard is full of saplings (?) that are too big for me to cut with clippers but I’m not really fond of chainsaws. Is there an in-between option?

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > functionoverfashion
07/14/2018 at 00:59

I’m also camping in a back yard. We had a wind warning earlier but now they’ve ended it because it’s only going to be 30mpg gusting to 45 instead of 40 gusting to 70. Setting up the tent was like a class on sail building.

But yeah, I drove 250 miles to the city to try to solve an (actual) electrical problem on his truck. Camping in his sister’s back yard because Stampede and every bunk in this city has a drunk waiting to vomit on it.

functionoverfashion > smobgirl
07/14/2018 at 13:26

Hmm I’d just use a small hand saw. I keep one in my backpack while mountain biking and use it all the time on downed trees up to about 6” diameter. Blade is shaped kind of like a crescent moon.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > functionoverfashion
07/14/2018 at 22:04

Sounds fantastic. Soak it up! Need to do that again soon with my kids.

functionoverfashion > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
07/16/2018 at 10:15

Talked to him yesterday; he’s run the engine on a separate tank. He’s done every other thing I can think of, but it won’t throttle up - it just stumbles and sputters above idle. We talked about it for a while, but it’s hard for me without having my hands and eyes on it. Like, is base timing right (he changed the distributor). Is it advancing?

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > functionoverfashion
07/16/2018 at 11:11

Did he use the same pump for the other tank? If it’s holding idle but sputtering with throttle input, it could be a throttle body problem. If timing is off, the engine management system (do boats even have those? I don’t do stuff with boats) might be leaning it and p ulling timing if there's any weirdness.

functionoverfashion > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
07/16/2018 at 11:21

I’m... not sure about the pump but I believe he changed it.

Some marine engines certainly do have engine management systems; this one does not, it’s old-school carburetor stuff. Might even have points!