First up, the new exhaust mixing elbow. Here's the newly welded one with the bit from the old one on the left.

Phew, glad that's done. Grimy and sweaty down there!

Next up, Malo and Moses kindly came over and help Ann clean the waterline so we'll have a smooth fast hull.

Ann went up the mast to oil a squeaky sheave. That's Malo, Me and Moses waaaay down there.

Ann can't resist a selfie, especially with such a great view!

Here's our marina from above. That's Orcinius (the catamaran) in the background

John with Moses and Malo.

We started the tour with the "Mighty Mo", the battleship Missouri. Not yet built when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but it was completed in time to see action in the WWII as well as Korea and even re-commissioned for the Gulf War. She is best known however, as the place where the Japanese officially signed their surrender on board in Tokyo Bay.

Battleships were known for their 16-inch guns which could accurately fire a 2700 pound armor piercing shell, over 20 miles. In this case, nine of these could blast away at once.

The gang on the deck. Amazingly she has teak decks!

The very spot of the historic surrender.

Next up...the battleship Arizona memorial. Almost 1200 lives lost (many still entombed in the ship) when she blew up and sank right here as Pearl Harbor was bombed.

At one end of the memorial are the names of the fallen.

From the middle of the memorial you can see the remains of the ship under water and this bit of superstructure as well as oil (sometimes called "black tears") that is still leaking from the ship's tanks.

Inside the memorial...

...and open to the sky.

Next up on the day, the submarine Bowfin.

The Bowfin sank quite a few ships during its tour.

Bob and John on the stern.

Watertight hatches every 20 feet or so. I could barely contort myself enough to get through them. Not a place to be if you suffer from claustrophobia.

This thing looked extremely complicated to operate. I think I'll stick with sailboats.

Malo preparing to take the helm.

Diamond Head is an extinct volcano. Not named for its shape, but for the fact that crew from sailing ships believed the rocks they found on the volcano were diamonds.

Looking at the caldera from the beginning of the hike. You go up to the highest peak where there are remains of the artillery bunkers built to protect Honolulu back in the early 1900's.

Going up the side of the caldera. Very hot day! We brought and drank a LOT of water! You can just see the trail in the bottom of the photo.

Toward the top and after going through a 75 yard tunnel rough hewn into the rock, you are faced with 100 very steep stairs.

Al...most...there!

Made it!

View of Waikiki.

Honolulu and Koko Head looking back toward Molokai Channel.

Here's the start of the tour. Our guide is holding a newly milled uke neck.

Their ukes are made from the local Koa wood only found in Hawaii. They have a giant bandsaw that cuts the wood to about 1/10" thick, then they "book match" it. After they are dried, they are put into production here.

Laying out the pattern on the book matched sections of wood.

After the top and bottom are ready, the sides get bent and put into a mold for assembly.

The sides go into this machine which is a custom shaped mold with electric heating pad...

...the wood gets sprayed with water and then clamped down and the machine is plugged in. You can see the wood relax and bend.

After popping the sides out of the bending machine, they are carefully sanded until you can't see a seam, then glued together into this mold.

In the mean time, the top is getting it's "structural pieces" and put in a suction gluing machine that holds all the pieces down while the glue sets.

Once all the pieces of the body are prepared, they get glued together. Here you can see how the book matched wood really makes for a stunning pattern. Each one is absolutely unique.

On the other side of the room, the headboards are being glued to the necks.

Logos are cut out of contrasting wood...

...and inlaid into the headboard. Each piece of the uke is carefully matched and has a serial number on to ensure the best combination of wood color and pattern is built in.

Fingerboards and frets being prepared. Mine will have a rosewood fingerboard with mother of pearl position markers.

Once the parts are all joined, the uke goes upstairs to the finishing area. The first phase here is to progressively sand it from it's rough form (left) to a ready for finishing stage (right).

These are all sanded and ready for finishing. I was able to order one of these and customize the finish (gloss body with "silk" finish neck). Mine is the second row from the top, fifth one in from the right. It will get finished over the next couple weeks and sent home. Really fun to look through all the wood to find one that really jumped out at me. It has an amazing, shimmering burl type of grain pattern. It is a piece of art as well as a beautiful, hand-crafted instrument.

The first stage of finishing is to apply three coats of UV-cured filler...

...then the gloss finish is applied in the spray booth.

After the finish, there's progressive sanding all the way up to 1600 grit sandpaper and then two different grades of polishing compound on polishing wheels. Then it comes to this man for final finishing - applying the bridge, tuning keys, nut and strings. They put the strings on one at a time and test each for the best "feel" and adjust the nut and bridge height as needed. The result is a really easy "action".

So of course my camera battery died before I could take a picture of the one I picked out, but this is an example of the kind of grain and finish (but not the heart shaped sound hole - that's custom to this one).