funstuff.unixdude.net

New vehicles: 2010 Lincoln Navigator and 2013 Ford F-150

2022-04-05T00:00:00-04:00

This isn't my typical "funstuff" post, but it's still pretty fun.

Until recently, we owned a 2013 VW Jetta TDI (his) and a 2009 Chevy Suburban 1500 (hers). That began changing about a month ago, when the Suburban died of old age... the transmission went at 210k miles. We were able to get a modest sum for it in trade on a 2010 Lincoln Navigator, and this is my wife's new vehicle. We bought it with about 146k miles on the clock, and have added a few thousand to it already. So far so good with that one.

Except for one thing: our family culture includes hauling our 18' travel trailer on trips to state campgrounds, and I had a really bad feeling about towing with the Navigator.

See, I have learned that there are vehicles that "can tow," and there are vehicles that are "made to tow." I've done "can tow" before (pulling a popup with a minivan), and I've done "made to tow" (pulling trailers with our Suburban and a friend's Dodge Ram 2500). After towing with "made to tow," I didn't want to go back to "can tow," so we had to decide what to do about this. (Our Navigator does not include the tow package, so the transmission cooler, brake controller, and whatever else would have to be added to it.)

I didn't want to do all that work on the Navigator (again, "can tow" vs "made to tow"), and we didn't want to stop going to state parks. Eventually we decided that, rather than modify the Navigator or change our family culture, we'd change my vehicle -- this was always the eventual plan, it just wasn't today's plan.

I have been looking for a crew cab pickup truck for a while, well over a year, to replace the Suburban. Over that time, I have seen several interesting trucks and have driven a few but never found exactly what I wanted -- but I sure enjoyed looking at them, and it was good to get an idea of the price of a suitable truck. Well, a local used car lot had a Ford F-150 XLT SuperCrew 4x4 on the lot for two months, and I just couldn't get it out of my mind. This particular unit has offroad and max trailering packages, so it is a good fit for us, and we decided to have it checked out. The mechanic reported that it had one small, cheap-and-easy-to-repair leak, and that it was otherwise in excellent condition, so we decided to buy it.

So now I am on my third vehicle with a turbocharged engine: first a 2003 VW Jetta 1.8T, then a 2013 VW Jetta TDI, and now an F-150 EcoBoost.

The weekend after we got it, my sons and I towed the trailer to a local state campground, and the truck did pretty well except for the squat. The squat seems to have been caused by the front leveling kit a previous owner installed. As you can see from the pic below, I had the leveling kit removed. We will try towing again soon, and I expect it will be just fine now.

But, the previous owner also installed a Raptor grille, which I like, so that's cool.

My goal is to get 3 years out of the Navigator (hopefully we get more than 5 years), and 10 years out of the F-150, and I should easily be able to get that out of this truck.

Let the adventure begin.

Tropic strap

2021-12-20T00:00:00-05:00

One of the things I have been wanting to get for my Chronosport is a Tropic Strap, like Tom Selleck wore in the 1980s show, Magnum, p.i.. This weekend, I got the strap, and I thought I would write a little bit about it and post a few pics. (All images are high-resolution, and can be seen at full size by loading the image directly.)

At this point, I'm very used to stainless steel oyster bracelets, so it took a little while for me to get used to this strap. After a few hours of wearing it, I find it to be very comfortable, and this combination is now my favorite of the watches I own (see final pic). My second favorite, which I'm sure will be back to my favorite next week, is my Steinhart Pepsi GMT watch.

The Tropic strap came in this cool little box that, no, I did not keep. "Cool," "rugged," "good looking." It's definitely a good looking strap, and it looks great on the Chronosport, which itself is an attractive dive watch, never mind the Magnum connection.

As mentioned, I think this watch/strap combination looks truly fantastic:

A closeup:

Now for a few wrist shots:

Now a family photo. Left-to-right: Maen Hudson (mine is from the Kickstarter campaign), Steinhart Ocean One GMT Blue/Red (mine is an older model with aluminum bezel insert, not the newer ceramic bezel insert), Chronosport Sea Quartz 30, and Mathey-Tissot GMT Batman.

Chronosport Sea Quartz 30 Paperwork

2021-12-01T00:00:00-05:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently bought a Chronosport Sea Quartz 30 from its original owner. I have finally edited scans of the paperwork to remove the original owner's personal information, and I link those scans here.

I have the original purchase receipt, manual, and paperwork for all service done to the watch.

All images are high-resolution scans that can be seen at full-resolution by opening the image directly.

Enjoy!

PX-15C calculator kit

2021-11-14T00:00:00-05:00

I like to build electronics kits. I don't have superior skills in this area, but I can work a soldering iron, and I enjoy the time. My most recent project was to build a PX-15C, an HP-15C emulator.

HP RPN calculators have been my favorites since I was introduced to them at university: RPN is a much more natural fit for the way I think, so I purchased an HP-28S, which became my go-to calculator until I got an HP48G. I always liked the landscape layout of the HP-15C, but I never owned one.

Recently I saw a post on hackaday about the PX-15C calculator kit, and I decided I needed to add this kit to my portfolio. It was weeks before the kits were back in stock, but I eventually received my kit and set to work.

This is a great kit, and the fruit of my labor is a cool, useful calculator. Next I want to build the same seller's PX41C kit, which as I'm sure you guessed is an HP-41C emulator.

I got a case for my kit as well, and the Tindie seller has printable keyboard overlays, as you can see in these pics.

Finally, a family photo showing my HP-28S, HP48G, and PX-15C. What a great set of calculators! And yes, they all work.

Chronosport Sea Quartz 30

2021-11-12T00:00:00-05:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I recently decided to look for a Chronosport Sea Quartz 30. As a fan of the original "Magnum, p.i." show, this was something of a grail watch for me. They aren't particularly difficult to find, but finding one with a box is a treat. Mine isn't perfect, but it is 40 years old and has not been restored, and I think it's in great shape for what it is.

I bought mine on eBay, from the original owner. He did not have the original bracelet/strap for it, but he included a janky velcro strap, which I immediately removed and tossed in the box. I have a few NATO straps that are the correct width for the Chronosport, so I'm using those until I buy a Tropic strap for it.

My first "Magnum" watch was the Steinhart GMT, which I bought a few years ago right after Christmas, just a couple months after I learned about the watch from some fellow Magnum fans on the Magnum Mania Forums. I'll post more about the Steinhart soon.

The original owner included all of the watch's service paperwork as part of my purchase. The paperwork shows that he bought it in January of 1982 and had it serviced several times before putting it in a drawer in 1991. I scanned all the paperwork, and will post it after I block his personal information from the images.

Here are several other images of the watch:

The Lume still works, but not for very long:

Finally, a couple of wrist shots. This watch is the largest I would consider wearing on my 6.5" wrist. Some people might say it's too big, but I think it's fine. I just wouldn't want to go larger than this.

Watches

2021-11-11T00:00:00-05:00

I have always liked watches. In the 1980s, as a teen, it was Casio watches, and I bought a new one at least annually, whether I needed one or not. My favorites were the ones with special features, specifically the DBC-61. I also had one of the Telememo 30 models, and that was pretty neat.

At university, I became interested in analog watches, so I purchased several Swatch chronographs.

A few years ago, I got interested in automatic watches, and my first purchase was a Steinhart Ocean One GMT blue/red. Later I participated in Maen's kickstarter for their Hudson watch.

I purchased the Steinhart because it is reminiscent of the Rolex GMT-Master II, which is way out of my price range. I became interested in the Steinhart because I am a huge fan of the original Magnum, p.i. series, after I was introduced to the Steinhart on a thread on the Magnum forums.

Even more recently, I decided to look for an example of the Chronosport Sea Quartz 30 that Tom Selleck wore in the show. Last week, I saw an eBay listing for a Chronosport, and ended up winning it. This watch was sold to me by the original owner, who purchased it in January of 1982, and had it service several times before he put it in a drawer in 1991.

Welcome

2021-11-10T00:00:00-05:00

Welcome to my toy blog. In addition to being a Unix fan, I like Atari, antique phones, watches, and electronics projects. This site is dedicated to my toys.