Stroller Re-cover, Take 3

I have a sister who's pregnant (hopefully it's common knowledge and I can post about it here), her youngest is old enough that they've long gotten rid of their stroller so she needed a new one.  I happen to be walking through the Salvation Army and saw one that would be perfect to re-cover but I was in a really big hurry so I left and sent Mom over to pick it up.  Sadly by the time she got there the next day the stroller I saw was gone and she came home with a different one.  I took one look and knew we were in trouble.  Here she is after all of my hard work which I'll explain in far more detail than you probably care about.

And how it looked when I got it.

The biggest problem with this beast is that a car seat will not clip onto it.  This is really the only problem that wasn't fixable.  We knew that this wouldn't work for Jenn and I thought we were just out the $20 Mom spent on her.  But then I gave her a push... she moves like a dream!  She has, like every other stroller, 4 wheels but the difference is that all 4 of them rotate.  There's no dragging two wheels while you wait for them to turn the right direction and it moves anywhere you want it to.  I currently have a cheap stroller and the difference was immediately noticeable.  The other feature I fell in love with is the handle, it rotates so your baby is either looking out at the road or looking out at you, I would love this feature.  Catie would have liked walks a lot more if she could have been looking at me.

These two features were enough that I figured I could re-cover it and sell it to hopefully cover our costs.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

There are usually 4 fabric parts to each stroller, a sunshade, a cushion, fabric covered supports for the cushion to sit on and a basket underneath.  My previous two strollers I re-covered the sunshade and the cushion and that was all it needed.  I of course planned on doing the same with this one.  We bought fabric (for 50% off) and then Mom brought me the stroller and I finally got a really good look at it.

She had obviously been kept outside for quite some time.  The fading in the fabric was the first thing I noticed, take a look at the edges of the photo below, nice and dark fabric where it was covered in a seam, the rest is faded from the sun .  No good.

I briefly considered trying to re-dye the fabric but that wouldn't fix the tears or the very worst part of this stroller... having been kept outside there were many remains of spider egg sacks... I know, so gross!  No one wants to put their baby in that so I went back to fabricland, bought more fabric (no longer 50% off) and about 30 heavy duty pound on snaps.

It was also incredibly filthy, there were leaves and rocks underneath the cushion and look at all the sand on the foot rest below.  The original fabric looked bad and felt just as bad.  I stripped it all off the frame (luckily it was all held on with either snaps or velcro) and gave the frame a good wash.

Eventually I ended up with this (this is pre-wash of course).

As usual, I unpicked the pieces, used them as patterns and cut out new fabric then re-assembled using the original binding.  I did make a few style changes, she was built in 1991 and apparently quilting was big back then because there is a very quilted feel to the entire stroller, especially the seat.  I knew I would replace the padded squares.  Because of the changes and my refusal to unpick the quilting I had to use my own quilt batting but I had some on hand.

So I re-sewed, I pounded on a TON of snaps (in the rain, the wind and a very mosquito infested night) and then I re-assembed only to discover that I'd put a piece on upside down.  This led to the post about postponing and after a weekend away I took on the task of unpicking and fixing my mistake.

The difference is staggering and I'm hoping someone will want to own her.  She's now so chic and stylish and just begging to be taken for a trip around the block.

The removal of the ruffle and the quilted squares really updates the look and I love the cheery yellow fabric.

This picture shows the handle in the second position and you can also see the window in the sunshade that closes with velcro.

See the nice big pocket on the back to hold anything you might need?  And the window flap is closed and lovely in this photo.  You can also see how nice and crisp and clean the basket underneath looks.  That would easily hold a diaper bag and a couple toys.

One more before and after.  I'm almost wishing I could keep her.

This is an old Avalon stroller but it's a model they don't make anymore.  Interested in owning?  Let me know and we can talk.

The Fishing is Fishfinder & GPS Installation

The second requirement was to fit rod holders. A lot of people seem to fit them up front where two circular mounting areas exist. This appears great, though try reaching them from a seated position!. It really wasn't suitable so an alternative was required. I settled upon using RAM tubes mounted just aft of the seat. With the tubes locked forwards at around a 30 degree angle an 'armchair' fishing position was achieved, perfect. They can also be angled in any position, enabling them to be pointed outwards for maximum rod spread when trolling, or folded back out of the way when paddling. 

The RAM tubes were fitted to the sides as shown, though because of the nature of their design all of the weight of the rod is rotating forward (as opposed to supporting the rod in the middle) putting quite some stress onto the base fixing. To make sure this wasn't going to be an issue a strip on nylon cutting board, maybe 8mm in thickness, was cut and placed inside the hull. The fixing bolts passed through this board providing a lot of re-enforcement. The end result was an extremely sturdy fixing. 

Rod Holders

 

A word of warning with the RAM tubes, glue the rubber end caps on!, otherwise they'll soon be lost. They do require a very good 'nip' when locking them in position, otherwise they have a tendency to droop over time. Otherwise they are a great bit of kit. 

There's a separate article on fitting the centre hatch, see the link below. Though do not purchase a 'revised hatch', fit the 'original hatch' as it's a far superior item. 



The fitting is very simple, carefully mark and cut out the aperture as per the supplied instructions and bolt in. What you end up with is a big hole enabling acees to the inside of the yak when the cover is removed. This isn't really that useful so it's worth fitting something like a collapsible bait bowl inside the yak to make is more user friendly. I fitted a washing up bowl that can either be fixed or slid out of the way when required. 

Centre Hatch Installation

Fishfinder & GPS Installation

The battery is a 12V 12Ah item, fitted into a watertight box with a marine plug & socket fitting. Originally I had the battery sitting in the battery tray aft of the front hatch, open to the elements, though this quickly lead to corrosion on the battery terminals, hence the unit was fitted into a watertight box. It is still fitted in the battery tray as shown below. 

Battery Installation

An anchor light was fitted to the rear of the kayak, a legal requirement for night fishing. As the yak is so small a fixed white light (i.e not flashing and no red/green nav lights) is adequate. A pole light was purchased and fitted as shown below. All the electrically looming on my kayak is fully sealed against the ingress of water.

The lamp, as purchased, tuned out to be rather poor in its design, and saltwater was able to contaminate the electrical connections. I modified the electrical connection introducing another marine plug socket (same as used on the battery) to overcome this problem. A waterproof on/off switch was fitted up frontadjacent to the fishfinder.

Anchor Light Installation

Note: The photo above shows the prototype loom prior to the marine plug/socket arrangement being utilised. The power loom is now fitted directly to the socket and not to the base of the lamp as shown above.

One of the last things I did was to fit some storage space in addition the the centre hatch. I've tried a couple of things, though I settled on a Yakmate 3 and a Marine Box, the latter supplied from SolentPlastics. Both are secured using bungee cord and stainless fittings as shown. Removal and fitting takes seconds.

Walkie Talkie / 20 Fenchurch Street

There's a higher level of subjectivity within evaluating the actual visual benefit of the creating, towards the degree which awarding the actual Carbunkle Mug for that U . s . Kingdom’s most detrimental creating ought to be seen having a feed associated with sodium. Nevertheless, it's difficult in order to don't agree using the honor panel’s unanimous choice to provide the actual name in order to 20 Fenchurch Road within Birmingham.
This particular year’s victor (so in order to speak) features fascinating new functions, like the focused sun light which reveal from the creating – that have been recognized to dissolve vehicles as well as fry ova about the sidewalk. In the event that that’s insufficient in order to pique the eye associated with any kind of will be extremely villains which are looking for a brand new lair, the actual curvature from the creating offers interrupted London’s blowing wind designs leading to powerful blasts that may be effective at coming pedestrians on to the street. In order to best this from the therefore known as “Walkie-Talkie” (aka the actual “Walkie-Scorchie”) can also be broadly regarded as an entire eyesore.
Therefore along with style functions which attack automobiles, bodily ethics, as well as sensibilities the actual Walkie-Talkie strolled aside using the trophy.

Easy Stove top Pizza: no Oven needed!

 This recipe is one of many (many, many) recipes that I want to make a long time ago.

 Stove top pizza! How can you make pizza if you don't have an oven? This method is the answer, you can have pizza in less than 10 minutes (I count only the cooking time ^^). I love the fact that you don't have to preheat the oven when making it this way, as you know that pizza need very high temperature, and the cooking time is longer. 
You can see that this recipe use all purpose flour, it's easy to knead and your pizza can be shaped easily too. With this recipe, you will get 2 pizza, well you can half the recipe, but it's easier to knead this amount of flour. If you want to cook it later, just shape it into round, cover tightly with plastic wrap and aluminium foil and freeze until you need it, you can have pizza any time you want.
For the topping, I didn't give you the recipe for sauce, as I think that it's quicker to use the can one (Ok, I'm lazy, haha). You can have anything that you want on your pizza, just remember not to put too much of the topping that's all. 
So, enjoy delicious pizza at home is not hard, and yes, you don't need to buy an oven too.

Easy Stove top Pizza

Make 2 (22cm pizza) 

135g ............................ All purpose flour
1/4tsp .......................... Instant yeast
1/2tsp .......................... Granulated sugar (I use light brown sugar)
1/4tsp .......................... Salt
95ml ............................ Water
..................................... Olive oil
Topping
...................................... Pasta sauce (homemade or can ^^)
...................................... Mozzarella cheese 
...................................... Ham, sausage or anything you like (Mine is Pancetta)