Floating Hotdog cart

This is a really cool lil project BA! Enjoying it big time. The math stuff just gets better and better. But more enjoying the plotting, scheming and new boat design. Actually the redesign of the cart part. What I was thinking just wont fit in with the park designs and motifs. (I am truly and utterly shocked I have lived long enough to use that word, snork)

Not this year, but next, gonna build another one from scratch. Gonna look like a paddle wheeler but the paddle will not be for propulsion but rather turn a truck alternator so the boat will be energy self sufficient.

The boat looks bad. Is a 30 or 40 yr old fiberglass hull. It has been painted (poorly) and am wondering. I am thinking sand and paint white. I was going to write you and ask your thoughts. She is a 17 foot outboard. Going to strip her down to the hull except for the engine. To heavy to lift with out the proper gear. Next winter when she becomes the back up or scrap, will take it off.

Start thinking Dutch barge BA!

Funny and off topic. A local farm is coming up for sale soon. It stayed a farm as it is close to the river and floods. So no one ever built much on it other then some work shops where all us tinker-types hang out at and help each other build stuff. Or very often turn perfectly good material into scrap. Any way, I tried to get a few folks together to buy it. Build a couple of houses on barges and anchor them on dry land. When the spring floods come, houses would float. The sales would pay for the farm.
Surprisingly enough, every one just looked at me shaking their heads. (I still think it would work)

Cool day. Well interesting any way. Meetings and talking to folks who have great power over my little enterprise. Am more surprised at every turn how great and supportive the park folks and the dept. of health is. I was expecting sort of DMV bureaucratic responses but got (over and over) "Interesting idea", a whole bunch of "we'll work with you" and one "cool!" lol. Dunno, is still gonna be a whole big rig-a-maro deal but folks are into seeing it work. Am just grateful and so pleasantly surprised.

In talking with Health Dept, guy was uber cool and gave some great insights and thoughts. But the EPA might have to get involved or at least be notified due to hand washing station waste water disposal. That truly worries me. I was part of a team that recovered a 30 ton anchor from the bottom of the Cape Fear river in North Carolina. It was attached to 6 Naval destroyers waiting to be scraped. Anchor rode failed in a hurricane. So we with our brandy new super side-bar sonar could not find it. Some good 'ol boys came out with (not kidding) a pump, a air hose and a PVC pipe. Pumping air down to get deep in the mud they just stabbed for an hr or so until the pipe went "clunk" LOL These guys did some amazing stuff. Drew out plans by smoothing dirt with their feet and drawing with a stick. (ramble alert, late) Our sonar cost $10,000. Their pump, hose and pipe were "jus' lyin' around"
But we pull up the 30 ton anchor and get it on deck. The EPA sent a launch out to let us know that we had to replace the mud still on the anchor. I replied that it was winter and all the good Mud Stores were closed. I got sent below with orders to shut the **** up. snicker, snork snork.
My point being I am not thrilled with that quagmire.

All this to say might go with a sort of coffee shop/convenience store. Drinks, sun glasses, chips, muffins etc. (StarBunks) The good folks at the HD said it would be far less complicated. (big, big time understatement) There would be almost no loss due to spoilage and would greatly reduce construction cost. The whole thing is based on the silly dream of a floating hot dog cart and will some day but I now am down to 9 and a half weeks to put this together so, seems the way to go. Might even be able to put at least one more boat out on one of the 3 other parks.

I have had this thought before and always talk my self back out of it due to wanting to complete it as I had planned. But this plan of logging and asking you guys (Omegas E Omegas. Guys and Gals) is working great. Easy to stay on trac when you can just go back and re-read your own logic and the thoughts and advise. Just some cool stuff and as always, thanks greatly for the input.

OH!!! ChainM, I did a few informal polls on hot dog brands. Nathans came up more then any one else's and they have a program where you can use their name and some promotional stuff they provide. Is really a cool program. Gonna be the official hot dog of the soon, to some day have hot dogs on the floating hot dog carts. Thanks for the thunk.

This was supposed to be a quickie, just a few notes post. An I done wrote one of them long books that don't even has no pictures snork

Happy Friday all!

(actual notes; Transite boaters are in great need of "portable transportation" Some thing small, lite and easily stowed. hmmm, wonder what product that might be useful....)

Forgot to post this pic. My crapola-cam just does not do the City of Hartford's town hall. Is very much like NYC's grand central train terminal.

matthurd said:

idk how feasible this would be for you, but ice cream. if you have a way of keeping it cold, probably not a bad idea. i paid $8 for a 24 pack of klondike bars at BJ's, sell em off for $1.50 a piece or so, and obviously you're making a pretty good profit margin when we look at it with out operation costs.

if you're offering lunch mite as well offer dessert too

Click to expand...

Mat, I missed this, my bad. Great idea and that would be the seller! Won't be able to this year but with the paddle wheeler, will be no problem to make enough electricity for a freezer, fridge and a grill. Cool part about ice cream is recreational boaters can pack a lunch, cooler and even a thermos. But unless on a big enough boat, would not have ice cream. There were a few folks who have tried "floating ice-cream trucks" Read about one kid (saving for collage, God bless him) Who made $200 a day after expenses some days. LOL, He also said when his female partner left for school, tips dried up. From a marketing point of view, that cracked me up. People are crazy and we are just some of em.

The request for a proposal for where I want to tie up asks for 3 letters of reference. So I asked my boss, my boss's boss and George Thorogood. (still waiting to hear from Mr. Thorogood) My boss kinda looked at me like "uh-huh" lol. So I offered to write it for him so all's he had to do was sign. Let me know what you think. Should I word it more favorably and put me in a better light?

"To whom it may concern,

Dan Keav asked me to write a letter of recommendation and reference. It is a pleasure to do so as he is the finest human being it is my pleasure to know. He saved my cousin's uncle's niece’s brother in law's dog from a fire. The dog was trapped on the second floor. No ladder was available so Mr. Keav just jumped up. He then picked up the dog and leapt off the balcony with the dog in his arms. After a graceful landing, he disappeared before we could thank him.
He comes in early, stays late and does our taxes. During a particularly heavy rain fall, rerouted the Connecticut river and saved our facility and a bus full of children and nuns.
He taught Helen Keller sign language. ...in Spanish.
His Mother has a tattoo that says; “Son”
He divorced twice as many times as he has married. The judges gave him every thing in each case.
If ever a woman were who could resist his charm...well, lets face it. There's not.
Dyslexics consider him doglike.

Thank you for your time and please feel free to contact me."

Man, awesome day. Went over projections (Read wishful/disturbing thunking) Got an email form park folks. They are open to the idea of a floating convenience store as opposed to hot dog cart. I was kinda worried. Is already an uncommon concept so trying to keep as conventual appearing as possible. Not exactly one of my better qualities.

Added and broached the subject of adding units/boats for their other parks next yr. Thats a whole other can of worms and really do need some real world numbers before any hardfast plans.

Just all coming together. Is exciting and a whole lotta fun

Just sayin' TP would be (and I do plan on carrying it as a product for sale) a good seller. Folks cruising up the river in their cabin cruiser with the option of porta poty ashore, running to the store for TP or buy a roll from me. (and I offer low, low prices and easy pay as you go payment plans. snork) For the boat side of the boat, will carry a sort of truck stop arrangement of personal needs items. Not much of each but more as an experiment to see what actually does sell. Any thing one might need for a day out on the water. More sayin' I have considered the Tissue Issue. But, really is one giant and costly experiment so who knows. Was also considering those lil emergency tooth brush/paste kits.

Goat, that chili sounds awesome and that you have put a whole lot of time and effort in to perfecting it.