theReviewGuys

I ordered a whole mess of boat building books back around the year 2000 after deciding that I wanted to build a boat to suit my tastes. I picked up a book on building aluminum boats, several on the subject of the stitch and glue method (tack and tape) of building and a few other general tomes on the subject. Hands down the one book that captivated my interest was the “boat building plans, in book form”:Renn Tolman’s, A Skiff For All Seasons.

After reading and re-reading the book over a period of a few weeks, I ordered Renn’s Wide Body Addendum and a while later the Jumbo Addendum. I now had three versions of the boat to contemplate building. I’ve bugged Renn and several other Tolman Skiff Builders for details and pictures of their home built Tolman Skiff masterpieces and now through their generosity you too can study these very interesting and aesthetically pleasing vessels to your hearts content.

A Tolman Skiff is a Stitch and Glue wooden boat. It is built using marine grade plywood, and is encapsulated with epoxy and fiberglass. It’s a tough boat that is a boat of Dory Heritage with a modified V type hull with a very pronounced flare. The hull has substantial reserve buoyancy and is very light for its size. It rides up and over rough seas and is a stable fishing platform and performs extremely well in big following seas that would cause much lesser boats to broach or swap ends. Commercial fishermen have used their Tolman Skiffs to treacherous Alaskan Waters and lived to fish another day. Even when severely damaged from hitting a buoy in open waters, as experienced recently in Homer, Alaska, a Tolman Skiff didn’t sink. Though two fishermen were thrown in the water, they were able to climb back on board and make it back to safety with a giant hole in the bow. They simply tied on a tarp to keep water from flooding in.

So you want to build a boat? Looked for free boat plans and didn’t find anything that floated your boat? Or perhaps you’ve purchased boat building plans that didn’t quite make sense, or perhaps no one had actually built one of these, including the designer. Well, you’d be wise to contact Renn Tolman and check out one of his books on the subject. Not only does he give you plans for three models of Tolman Skiffs, he also tells you how to use epoxy, and fiberglass, and lists all the materials and tools you’ll need to build a beautiful and extremely sea worthy skiff, at home in both the ocean, lakes and rivers.

http://www.tolmanskiffs.com

A huge number of Tolman Skiff Standard, Tolman Skiff Widebody and Tolman Skiff Jumbo projects can be found at http://www.fishyfish.com.

After buying a Breville BCG450XL Conical Burr Grinder to grind coffee for my family’s Miss Silvia Espresso Machine, and finding out that it did not grind as advertised, I returned it to the store. I replaced this crummy grinder with a Le’Lit pl53 Espresso Burr Grinder.

I chose the Le’Lit pl53 Espresso Burr Grinder because of the good reviews and the price point. Mind you, at $230 + I don’t think this grinder is a cheap grinder, but compared to $300-$400-$600 Grinders I saw Coffee and Espresso Addicts using, I thought it might work.

Ordered the Le’Lit from 1st Line Equipment. There was a sale and free shipping which sweetened the deal. Got the grinder and filled it up with some stale beans I had laying around to try it out and to flush away any manufacturing crud. From the factory the grind was beyond even Turkish grind and it immediately choked Miss Silvia. After a bunch of shots I finally dialed it in to beyond 25 turns backed off. Replaced the stale beans with some fresh Mistral Espresso beans from Moschetti Coffee Roasters and set about to fine tune the amazingly infinitely adjustable grind of the Le’Lit.

Shortly I was pulling the best espresso shots I’d ever pulled. I was in hog heaven.

Since getting the Le’Lit I’ve gone through probably 15 or 20 pounds of various coffee roasts. While the grinder does a good job of grinding mostly clump free and very light and fluffy grounds it does have issues.

The first is the grinder is loud. The metal casing obviously contributes to the noise level since the stainless panels rattle and vibrate while grinding. My wife has moved my grinding facilities to the laundry room where I can close the door to grind coffee.

The second issue is that the plastic hopper broke after a couple months of use. Turns out that the metal surrounding the entrance hole for the hopper has a burr that slowly but surely scratches a line around the hopper mouth. Eventually the plastic mouth breaks off. 1st line promptly and cheerfully replaced the hopper under warranty. The service at 1st Line is very excellent.

The third issue is that the Le’Lit does not like oily beans. They quickly jam up and the grinder makes that runaway sound of an engine suddenly losing load. It’s annoying since you have rattle the grinder around and sometimes poke a bamboo skewer in the hopper to get the beans moving. This one issue is going to make me get rid of this grinder. It’s too much of a chore.

The fourth issue is that the parts of the Le’Lit do not fit all that well. This becomes very apparent as you take the grinder apart to clean it. The spout requires much effort to remove the thumb screw, and even more effort to replace it. The holes do not properly line up. This is also true with other stainless steel panels of the grinder. I’m contemplating replacing the side panels with some wood to quiet the grinder down and to get better fitment.

In the end I’m not sure I can recommend the Le’Lit pl53 Espresso Burr Grinder. If you need to get an infinitely adjustable coffee grinder that is reasonably inexpensive, that will grind fine enough for espresso, and you can deal with the noisy nature of the beast and its seemingly inability to handle oily coffee beans, then perhaps it will work for you.

I bought this grinder for my wife for Christmas along with a Rancilio Miss Silvia Espresso Machine. The grinder was advertised as being an espresso grinder and even a Turkish Coffee Grinder. It is neither. It will not grind fine enough for a decent espresso machine. I took it back to the store and got a refund. At a $100 you’d think that such a grinder would at the very least grind fine enough to pull an epresso shot. Silly me for thinking so.

If you need a burr grinder for normal drip coffee this grinder will work fine. But if you need an epresso grinder look elsewhere.