More with less...

Tomorrow I'll wake up and it will be 2011... Cool, as 2010 has been something of a bummer and hopefully the out door will give it a great big whack on the ass as it leaves!

It's hard to sit by and watch the economy (for normal folk) spiral down into the the dire zone while those we elected (remember "Yes we can") shuck and jive about tough love for us while the folks who caused the melt down are being rewarded and buying even bigger mega-yachts.

If there was any doubt in my mind that the game has been rigged it was dispelled by watching the idiocy of the BP oil spill... Seeing the once proud USCG become nothing more than rent-a-cops and goons for the interests of BP... was a very sad event.

So it goes...

The thing is, it does not have to be this way. If we could simply get away from the same old same lifestyle choices and politics of greed and fear there would be more than enough for everyone. Buckminster Fuller coined the word "ephemeralization" which boils down to doing more with less. Fuller often used the example of Telstar, the first communications satellite, which weighed all of five hundred pounds yet replaced thousands of tons of copper wire... Doing more with less!

Sadly doing more with less affects some folks profit margins and they like the status quo just like it is... Just between us, I should point out that using less, making your own stuff and cutting into these folks profits will really really piss them off. Just saying...

I had actually planned on ending this blog just about now but apparently some folks find its idiocy helpful or entertaining and keep asking for more. So you can expect at least another year of drek and zombie apocalypse. There will be some changes and as soon as I can sort out the mechanics, a newsletter that goes a bit deeper into stuff will become part of the mix (for those who are seriously deranged and keep requesting it).

Thanks to all the readers who bought stuff through the blog and its advertisers in the last year. It really does help keep the blog alive...

Here's hoping 2011 will be a better year for all of us...

RLW

While Baby Huey sings...

While never a motorhead, I will admit great affection for the various VW's and Citroens that were, at one time, a part of my life... Any road travel in future will be by local infrastructure or bicycle and self powered. That said, I do still miss my '63 van...

Air travel is also no longer a part of the program. Flying is less an issue with fossil fuels but simply a sign I have reached a point where I'd simply rather travel with my dignity intact. As far as I am concerned, I can pretty much get anywhere I want via sail/bicycle and don't expect it to be much of a disadvantage. Something readers may want to keep in mind as our age of tourism winds down to something approaching a faint memory.

Currently the only internal combustion motors in my life are a small 5HP outboard and small Honda generator and in the course of the next year or so will, hopefully, find myself in a place where those are no longer needed as well... You might say I have a cunning plan!

The point is not about being green. At the end of the year it makes sense to step back a pace and see where you happen to be in the grand scheme of things and, if in the process, you happen to note that life could be a little better with a tweak or two...

So it goes...

Listening to the GREAT and much missed Baby Huey cover "A Change is Going to Come" and, dear readers, to quote the song... "Oh yes it will".

Seriously nuts...

Johnson Marine has come out with a pretty good idea in the form of a jack-line fairlead. Not that it's much of an original idea as sailors have been attaching their jack-lines to the standing rigging long before Columbus set sail...

But, I'll be the first to admit that the product is a rather clean design which is simply an eye that clamps to a stay and enables folks to avoid a bit of thought in doing it on their own. When I come to think of it, not a heck of a lot of thought, as there are many ways to attach a jack-line or additional life-line to a stay and most of them able to be done for a few dollars (my choice being a simple grommet or loop done up prusik fashion). That said, I prefer my jack-lines as close to the centerline as possible and leave outboard lines on stays as simply an extra handhold if needful.

I am also a little leery of things stainless that clamp to shrouds and stays though, as it produces a place for water and salt to collect and become yet another place to inspect for crevice corrosion... Having lost a rig not that long ago color me a little paranoid. In all future boats I sail on whatever is holding up the mast I want to be visible to inspection without having spots that need to be disassembled to check. Trust me, mast-fall-down-go-boom really sucks!

Want to know what else sucks? This simple clamp on eye is priced at around $169... and you need TWO! This scene from "Used Cars" pretty much says everything that needs to be said about that...

Women and cruising...

The Women and Cruising Team — Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall & Gwen Hamlin — is going online LIVE for their first ever Women & Cruising Webinar, through the auspices of Seven Seas U, the online seminar project of SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association.) The date is January 19, 2011 at 2000 EDT (8pm East Coast time).

If you haven’t already participated in one of the Seven Seas U webinars, this amazing technology will bring all them right into your living room, salon, or wherever your computer is set up. And, just like the live W&C seminars, you will be able to ask any questions you have about the cruising experience and hear responses from the point of view of three experienced cruising women — whose ideas are sometimes similar and sometimes quite different. If we manage to keep all our ducks lined up onscreen we will even be able to include feedback from members of the audience just as we do in our live groups. Every time we’ve offered this seminar, the topics that come up are different, like an ongoing conversation. It’s all part of our philosophy that there is no one RIGHT way to do things, but many ways to work out what’s best for you from shared information.

Register to participate at www.SevenSeasU.com, and, while registering, take a look at some of the other courses being offered or available as recordings! SSCA members receive a discount on every Seven Sea U webinar. All you need is Internet and a desire to learn!

Can’t make the live webinar schedule? All registered participants receive a link to the recording and instructors are available via email to take your questions.

A tool that makes me happy...

I've been waiting for this saw guide for ages...

I'm not one of those macho guys who thinks he can cut straight lines freehand with a circular saw and I am not ashamed to use a guide if it assures straight lines and true joints.

The problem is that most cross cut guides are fiddly and you waste time sorting out the offset... I may not be a macho guy but I do hate fiddly!

This Bench Dog saw guide dispenses with the fiddly part and the only downside is I have to buy one for each of my circular saws (a Dewalt and a B&D) as what makes them less than fiddly is the fact that they become custom to the saw you you use it with. As they are cheap, it's not a problem if I need to buy two!

Spam, LED's and van art...

One of the companies I used to buy stuff from has been emailing me a couple of times a day pimping underwater LED lights... You know, the sort where you turn the water around you into something that looks like a lighted swimming pool.

Cool, huh? Makes me think of lowriders on Whittier Blvd... except lowriders have class!

Now as a rule, I'm not against pimping and trying to make a buck but to do it a couple of times a day is simply not kosher and the word spam comes to mind...

Spam, of course, can be eaten with no ill effects and some enjoyment if you use the right recipes but spam in your mail box is simply a pain in the butt. So, this years Spam award goes to Sailnet...

Actually it's kind of apt as the Boat Bits award for stupidest trend in boating goes to all those folks who are making and selling those expensive LED underwater lighting systems... What's next, bad van art for boats?

Question of the day...

So, just how is one supposed to get reindeer poop out of non-skid?

Just a thought...

If you ever read the various cruising and boat forums, I'm pretty sure that you have come across the endless "Guns on boats" banter and threads which I have decided is something of a rite of passage to anyone going cruising... To get a gun or not.

In my world purview, guns, are simply not the answer. In most cases simply make a bad situation worse. If guns WERE the answer we'd not still be be in Afghanistan which is now the longest war the USA has ever been involved in...

My first experience with gun violence was when one of my friends (who was six) found his dad's gun and decided to play cowboys with his younger brother who was four and to say that this tragedy destroyed the family is something of an understatement... My second experience came when one of my classmates in high school was gunned down at the entrance to our school because she had the bad luck of being in the general vicinity of a guy someone else thought was a problem that could be solved with a gun in the form of a drive by shooting. The guy who was the target did not get so much as a scratch but the innocent bystander died...

So yeah, I'm not so big on guns... Sadly, those have not been my only experiences of being around guns and their aftermath. So far I have yet to see a situation where guns do anything but make a bad situation even worse.

Not exactly a ho ho ho and a merry Christmas sort of post is it?

Just imagine the scenario of what could happen if Santa brought presents to some yahoo cruiser who was packing... The cruiser would not hit Santa but wind up shooting up the anchorage with dire results (spelled collateral damage for those of you who read the news) and when the dust had settled not only would said gun toting cruiser be in serious problems with the local law, he'd also be in the permanent "naughty, treat with extreme prejudice" list Santa keeps in his back pocket...

Trust me, pissing off Santa is not what you want to do...

So here's a thought... Let's quit with the "guns yeah or nay" threads and spend the time instead writing a few letters to our elected officials and tell them to bring our folks home, so no one has to spend another Christmas in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Some handy hints for the holiday...

Christmas being just around the corner...

Maybe it's just me but it seems like the zombie Christmas music on offer this year is somewhat lacking...

That said there is much to be joyful about here at anchor as we've been checking out a new design concept that looks like it very well could be the next Loose Moose... As things are always a bit fluid at this stage I won't mention who the designer is or even what sort of boat it is but you might want to keep an eye out for some posts on the subject in the not-too-distant-future! But I will give you a hint...

It's a serious apocalypse cruiser!

On the "So It Goes" front I've sorted out the new tabernacle so should be able to get that built and installed between Santa day and the New Year if I can find the plywood on island...

Life is good... Well as good as it can be in a socially morphing economic recession/depression/meltdown with a bunch of fools, incompetents and those of limited vision running the show... And, as I said, the zombie carolers really suck this year!

The best boat bit I bought all year...

Yesterday I changed the oil on my Honda eu2000i generator and did not spill a single drop in the process... Folks with Honda 1000's and 2000's will understand the primal wonderfulness of this statement.

It's simple and it's cheap and it will go a long way to making your relationship with your Honda both happy and long lasting!

Color me a seriously happy camper!

An Xmas storm?

I remember discussing hurricanes with something of an expert on the subject and the jolly little factoid he dropped about how there has only been one month that has not had a hurricane at some time or other.

I don't recall what month was actually hurricane free...

Invest 95 here for the holidays?

SPECIAL TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
355 PM EST MON DEC 20 2010

A SMALL BUT WELL-DEFINED LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 275 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF BARBADOS IS PRODUCING SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC. ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE NOT CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...CONDITIONS COULD BECOME A LITTLE MORE FAVORABLE ON TUESDAY...RESULTING IN A BRIEF
WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME DEVELOPMENT AS THE LOW PASSES OVER
OR NEAR THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL LESSER ANTILLES. THERE IS A MEDIUM
CHANCE...30 PERCENT...OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE
DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST OR
NORTH WEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH. REGARDLESS OF DEVELOPMENT...THIS SYSTEM
WILL BRING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND GUSTY WINDS TO MUCH OF THE
LESSER ANTILLES DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO.

FUTURE SPECIAL TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOKS WILL BE ISSUED AS
CONDITIONS WARRANT. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS SYSTEM CAN BE
FOUND IN HIGH SEAS FORECASTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE...

So it goes!

Gifts that make sense for someone cruising...

Since this is Christmas, Boat Bits might as well get on the "let's make a list of things to pimp" bandwagon in an effort to bring a little income to the blog (everyone else is).

I noticed that Blue Water Cruising (who seem to know lots about pimping) had such non-essential gear as a carbon fiber clock (but with nautical flags!), a doggie bed, and a nautical-themed (yep flags) charm bracelet... Obviously NOT the sort of territory we cover here at Boat Bits Central!

So, what sort of stuff to pimp err... suggest?

Well, I don't know a single cruiser who is not also a voracious reader. Factor in the fact that good books are hard to find in most cruising locations and a box of books starts looking like a mighty fine gift that will be appreciated not just by the giftee but by those he comes in contact with through book trades and suchlike. For sure, the sort of gift that keeps on giving!

Though one thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to give someone a book that is part of a series, send the whole series. Often I've found it nearly impossible to get either the next book in a series or the one preceeding the book someone just gave me. So It Goes has an entire bookshelf devoted to books I have not read because I have not come across the earlier titles which would make sense of the book I have... So if you want to give someone the new Joe Pike novel by Robert Crais, you might want to include the earlier one (The Watchman) as well...

Tools are always a good bet as I don't know anyone on a boat who has all the tools they need, much less want. While a tool like a little folding pull saw for the tool kit or a ceramic pocket knife for the rigging bag may not be as nautically twee as a carbon fiber clock with signal flag motif, it will be appreciated for years to come, as well as earning its keep.

Fishing gear is always appreciated. A lure or two is always a needful thing on a boat but then, just maybe, why not a whole new hobby and get them a fly rod or fly tying kit?

Something I'd love for "So It Goes" is a good inflatable two-person kayak as we sold our old one and have been kicking ourselves ever since...

But, since I guess a list like this has to have something cute (though I'll be damned if I go the Blue Water Sailing little flag twee route), how about a cool backgammon set? We really love to play backgammon but the backgammon set always seems to be something of a pain to get out. This set is in a bag and folds up into no space at all and it's cheap... Neat!

Warning... Serious tool porn!

I want...



Check it out!

Heroes...

They used to call them heroes...

Brilliant at Breakfast tells us how times have changed...

Anyone want a free self-steering gear?

I've made no secret of how important I feel a good self-steering gear is for anyone cruising further than the local liquor store but like a lot of people I do share the pain at what passes for pricing of most windvane self-steering systems...

So how about winning one? Would that rock your world?

It just so happens that MR Vee (a purveyor of reasonably priced and excellent self-steering systems) has a new model out and what better way to promote it than have a contest where a bunch of people make videos?

Check it out!

The world becomes a little less...

Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart is no longer with us... Lefsetz says what needs to be said.

Welcome to the future... Electronic anti-fouling

There has been a longstanding discussion on one of the cruising forums about electronic anti-fouling systems...

Well, hardly a discussion but more a parade of people with opinions and no real personal knowledge on the subject saying anything but the same old same ain't going to work.

Sigh...

Funny thing is you used to hear the same sort of arguments where multihulls were concerned and, like the discussion on electronic anti-fouling systems, most of the anti-multihull brigade knew pretty zip about cats or tris but they knew (by damn) that they did not work!

Fast forward to 2010 and just about anywhere you go you'll see catamarans cruising, daysailing and doing the lion's share of chartering. Meanwhile, all the magazines that published editorials saying that multihulls were not only an affront to sailing tradition, nautical sinew, and nothing more than floating death traps, are telling us today that if you don't have a cat you are simply not cool.

So it goes...

Like multihulls before, electronic anti-fouling scares some people. People, who as it happens, have a lot of money invested in the status quo and like the same old same just fine. Paint companies make and sell millions of gallons of toxic paint, boat yards depend on folks having to haul out every year or so to put poison on their bottoms and every time we paint our bottoms someone's bank account gets bigger (everyone's but the poor fool painting his bottom). Make no mistake, but there most certainly is entrenched interests who have a serious stake in continuing with the system as it stands. As long as there is a profit involved they will keep doing what they are doing.

As I've mentioned before, we had electronic anti-fouling on our last boat and it worked in the Med, Atlantic and Caribbean. It did not use much in the way of power and except for the fact that we had a couple of parts fail we'd still be using it. Sadly, the company that made our unit went out of business (no doubt, bringing happy camper smiles to the paint companies' faces) and at the time we could not find a replacement.

I'm not sure if any of the existing electronic anti-fouling systems actually work but I do know that next haul out I will be installing a system. The cost of hauling out these days is becoming a process more a thing akin to armed robbery than commerce. All said and done, I've never felt good about working with poison whether to my health or to the health of the oceans I call home.

Progress is actually seriously cool... Come join the future!

Tis the season for e-book conundrums...

As much as I bitch about guitars taking up space on "So It Goes", they don't hold a candle to the amount of room and weight taken up by paper in the form of books, sailing guides and charts that sometimes make people mistake our boat for a traveling library... and I would not have it any other way!

Back some years ago on a rather too slow passage from the Canaries to Martinique, I was much more concerned about the possibility of running out of reading material rather than water which was also in somewhat short supply...

Which brings me in a roundabout way to E-Readers and electronic books. Since it is also coming on to the season of gift giving (or in my case the season of shameless pandering and dropping hints), what better time to go down my shortlist of e-readers I would not mind finding in the big sock nailed to the bulkhead?

Of course, everybody knows about the Kindle and as prices drop they do seem to get better and better but I'd prefer something that was more of a system neutral reader that would allow me to trade e-books with some guy I happen to meet in a Chilean fjord. The idea that we'd have incompatible systems would be some kind of tragic!

Right now the one most interesting to me in form factor and size is the Ectaco Jetbook Mini and, as I've heard a lot of very nice things about the slightly larger Jetbook Lite, it would seem that Ectaco might have its act together and knows what it is doing.

The wild cards at the moment in my quest are the Augen and Skytex which both come highly recommended and reviewed. That said, they don't quite grab me the way the Jetbook Mini does... Simple and small is no bad mantra...

But who knows? I'm (as you all know) way too cheap to spend that kind of money on something that is not a guitar, camera, tool or boat part, so I'm just putting this out there in case there really is a Santa and he is able to get past the TSA junk fondlers in one piece with a bag full of e-readers...

Worth reading...

John Vigor points out some socioeconomic truths...

Something for the Xmas stocking...

If you want to make a boatbuilder one seriously happy camper a good tool will always bring a smile...

... and everyone needs a pull-saw!

A family cruising and a cool cat design...

I just heard from a long time reader (apparently a glutton for punishment) who is off cruising for the next year or so ...

I am trying this for a year.  I am with my wife and two young kids.  I too decided to at least give it a try before I get too old and die waiting for the right boat (or the wealth I'll never have!). I like your politics too, so keep it up.

We're heading to the Bahamas, possibly during this Friday's window if all goes well.  

Makes me feel all kind of warm and fuzzy!

They will be doing said cruise on one of my favorite catamaran designs, the Romany from Wood's designs, which is an awesome boat that I've considered building more than a couple of times...

For those who may be interested in the adventures of a family cruising in a 35 foot catamaran you might want to check out their blog as apparently fun is being had! Check it out!

And in the great minds think alike department another Boat Bits reader who also happens to be building a Romany can be found on his blog "Zamboni Driver".

From the Paris show... Aviateur

Back when we lived in and around Paris the only real must do event in the yearly calendar was doing the boat show... There were always lots to keep a student of crafty ways to build boats and yacht design a very happy camper! One year I even got to share a bus home with Eric Taberly and Daniel Bombigher...

I'm still waiting for various reports on what was hip and hot at this year's show but I'm pretty sure that one of the must see boats is the new Aviateur by Eric Henseval which is making its debut at the show... 

Seriously tasty...

Just in from the most excellent website Nautical Trek a video of Aviateur with the designer and builder!


L'Aviateur 5.7 from Nautical on Vimeo.

Wharram kits at CKD...

Roy over at CKD is now doing plywood kits for the Tiki 38 and they would seem to make a lot of sense. For more info check out the CKD blog...

Actually even if you are not interested in building a Wharram, CKD has a lot of new products and suchlike for us boatbuilding folk that make all kinds of sense.

Maybe in red?

Several Boat Bits readers have pointed out that DIY homebrew anodizing is both a pretty simple and inexpensive process, well within the abilities of even the most ham-fisted boat butcher... One of our readers even sent in a great how-to link (Thanks Briggs!).

I'm not sure that I'll bother with anodizing the various bits but it is a thought, though it brings up the conundrum of what color to use...

On five years plans and other nonsense...

Lifehacker had an excellent article yesterday that, while not being about moving on to a boat and sailing off to the sunset, has everything to do with moving on to a boat and sailing off to the sunset, and it got me thinking...

Folks we have come across who devise cunning and detailed escape plans to go cruising seldom (if ever) actually get to go cruising and, those few who do manage it, seldom stick it out. Which from where I sit (anchored in eighteen feet of water in the Caribbean) is a kind of a bummer. All those plans and effort to no avail is just sort of depressing!

What may surprise some, is that once upon a time I was one of those folks with a cunning plan to take off and go after I had done a rather insurmountable list of things which were must do's before I could do the deed... In hindsight, I realize that if I were to have waited to do the plan and all my t's were crossed and i's dotted I'd still be sitting in France doing the same old same and making plans while not doing what I wanted.

So, the question is, what happened that made me lose the plan/list and retire at forty to go cruising?

Well, part of the plan involved doing lots of research and part of that was joining the most excellent Seven Seas Cruising Association and getting their monthly newsletter which was a font of information on cruising by folks currently out there doing it and by all accounts doing it well. While most of the content of the newsletters dealt with cruising, anchorages, and various tech issues of the cruising gig, there was also the occasional obituary of members who had passed on...

I'm not sure exactly how you see things, but I tend to notice patterns in news and suchlike and it did not take me long to notice that a lot of the members whose deaths were being reported at the time in the SSCA newsletters were passing away at the start of their proposed voyages due to natural causes of one sort or another. That John Doe at the age of sixty-five had a heart attack in Miami three hundred miles into their proposed circumnavigation... Which is not to fault them as they had done everything right and by the book... raised their kids, seen them through college and into their new lives, waited till they could afford and get the right boat and everything was perfect and left. Only to meet the grim reaper a couple of stops into their voyage... Death not being something the "list" and five-year plan had factored in. Serious bummer that!

Which is why we took off and went sailing when we did just shy of forty and somewhat more under capitalized than we would have preferred but in apparent good health and a lot younger than most of our cruising brethren from the USA we would meet for the next few years in the Med and points west.

Looking back we might have done a few things a bit differently but we still did the right thing by not waiting for "the plan" or "the list" to get finished and I'm content in our choices. Which when you think about it, is no bad thing...

Chinese and Scottish curses... or why DIY on boats makes sense

All you have to do to realize that we truly live in times that at best might be termed "interesting" is read the daily news (or what passes for journalism these days). As much as we'd care to stick our heads in a hole and do our ostrich imitations, the new world order is catching up with us...

For example, I need some material to build a new set of deadeyes and chainplate terminals which is unavailable here on island so I'm buying them from one of our favorite suppliers (Online Metals) in the States. The sum total of the materials needed for the project came to $19 but the shipping (Priority mail) cost came to $25.10 or (Parcel Post) at $15.03.

As much as I rail against silly pricing and shipping costs, they are just a part of the gig and something to be factored in to the process. Of course, it is obvious that whenever possible it makes sense to buy stuff locally and, as shipping charges are going to continue their climb into the WTF zone, designing projects around locally available materials and products is going to become the rule rather than the exception. Something you may want to consider on a lot of levels especially when you realze that the orange you just ate might have traveled 7000 miles to find itself in your fruit basket...

The new deadeyes and chainplate terminals for the entire rig will cost out at about $40 total in materials including shipping (and a days' labor at no cost though I might buy myself a couple of beers as a reward) which compared to ones bought from a company who makes such things (which would have to shipped at silly prices as well) would cost just less than $1000 ($946 to be precise) without shipping...

The downside is that my finished product will not be a pretty anodized color. So the question is: a thousand dollars for a pretty color or $40 and a bit of sweat equity?

Jeez, that's really a difficult question... Ya think?

I can't wait till this HowToons poster becomes a t-shirt...

Method to my madnesss, or great minds think alike...

I know that Boat Bits readers have been eagerly waiting to hear who won this year's Zombie Safe House competition... I'm sure most of us were rooting for a sailing sort of safe house but after thinking about it a zombie-diesel fueled power boat makes all kinds of sense!

That said, I know we will all be rooting for a proper sailboat answer to the zombie apocalypse for the 2011 competition and rumour has it that Michael Schadt of PROAFILE just may be working on a big proa entry!

Small money...

In going over the overall expenses on "So It Goes" the other day I realized that since installing an electric drive that our costs of running the boat have gone way down. Someone once said that the internal combustion engine on a sailboat accounts for 25% of the running and maintenance costs. Off hand, I'd guess that is pretty much right on the money.

In fact, the maintenance costs for the electric drive for the last couple of years has been zero dollars... Hey, call me crazy but I think that's kinda cool!

Maybe I'm just simple minded...

I get no shortage of emails to Boat Bits Central pointing out that going simple may be all well and good for the likes of someone like yours truly (apparently a simpleton/idiot of some talent), but that for most folks things are a whole lot more complicated... The world being a very complicated place.

Frankly, I simply don't buy that line of reasoning and if there is one thing that becoming older has taught me is that things, when you get down to the nitty gritty of basics, really are dead simple and the cloud of complication is all a lot of smoke and mirrors that you or someone else created.

Life really is simple, and if it's not, you're doing something wrong... Which is not to say that simple is always easy as sometimes it's damn hard work...

One of the reasons boat building, sailing, and cruising has such a lure to modern folk is that it is by it's very nature an exercise in simplicity. A black and white (no shades of gray) world where things make sense and that, dear readers, is known as the real world.

All you have to do to get with the program is to chart a course and go...

Listening to Jerry Riopelle do "So Young".

So it goes...

Hippies and New-Agers take note...

Lately in perusing various sorts of mast steps and tabernacle arrangements I've been reminded just what great designs come out of the James Wharram stable...

While not so long ago, the non-consumerish Wharrams were dissed as "less than cutting edge" or simply ignored as something for hippies or new age folk. You can find any number of people extolling the poor sailing ability of various Wharram cats... Opinions, I might add, that are untainted by most of these critics actually sailing or even having set foot on one... Something to keep in mind when doing your research.

The real beauty of what the Wharram cats achieve is a blend of affordability, self-sufficiency and safety. Pretty much what all sailboats should aspire to...

If there is one unforgivable sin that the Wharram cats are guilty of it's the fact that they are as independent of the marine industries and their inflated piratical price structures as possible. While I think this is no bad thing, some see it as a threat.

For example, the Wharram Tiki 38 is nearly as perfect a boat for a couple or small family to sail off into the sunset on as I've ever come across. It's both modest and practical. While it might not get you there as fast as a Gunboat (or whatever flavor of the month design is hip), it is a design that is both buildable and affordable by just about anyone who makes a living wage and that has to scare the Powers That Be in any number of ways.

What's not to like?

Old tech vs next gen...

We used to have an RVG wind-vane on "So It Goes" and it worked...

Of course, if you were to believe a lot of the information and hype you will find on the subject of wind-vane self-steering you may come to the conclusion that it does not.  Something of a conundrum is it not?

One thing I've noticed in folks who are obsessed with the cutting edge of gear is that after a point it becomes more about smoke and mirrors than it does about utility. In the case of the RVG wind-vane, folks point out several perceived design faults... The fact that it is a vertical vane system which provides less force to a trim tab (trim tabs also being out of fashion) is now considered a less than usable sort of vane gear.

What all these folks seem to forget is that the RVG steered the boat really well and, in some cases, better than our current servo-pendulum gear (an Atoms clone).

One of the advantages of our RVG over the horizontally vaned servo pendulum Atoms was that it set its own course. All we had to do was declutch the system, let the vane weathercock to where it should be for the course we were steering, engage the clutch, and hey presto we were now self-steering. With our current vane you have to manually turn the vane till it is where you want it by pulling a string and getting it just right while steering the boat is sometimes akin to juggling three cats and a chainsaw... Even more fun is when it's dark and you add the de rigueur flashlight clenched in your teeth to the fun and frolic!

But, what about the power issue?

Well, it's sort of a non issue when all is said and done. It takes very little power to move a trim tab and once the tab is moved it's the trim tab that is the source of power. With our RVG we never ever noticed a situation where the power needed to steer the boat was not there when needful on all points of sail. In super light winds, if we had enough wind to sail we had enough wind to make the RVG a happy camper. When we did not have enough wind to sail, steering becomes something of a non issue...

Which sort of brings us around to the question if a vertically vaned trim tab auxiliary rudder system works just fine, why would you want to replace it? Well, in our case our RVG simply died through corrosion as whomever designed it could have been a little more up on the dangers of mixing metals underwater. Though, as it seemed to have a lifetime of nearly twenty years, I'd say it's still a pretty good gear... The Atoms we replaced it with was more about the fact that it was for sale for $200 and I was lazy so bought it instead of building a replacement reasonable facsimile of the RVG (in hindsight something of a mistake as we much prefer the auxiliary rudder sort of gear).

The point really is more about not replacing something that works just fine for something newer, shinier, hipper and expensive that will, when all is said and done, do exactly the same thing as the one you are replacing. This of course is not just about wind-vanes but encompasses next gen anchors, new electronics, or whatever...

... If it works just fine, why replace it?

Listening to Vahevala (easily my favorite boat song)

So it goes...

Another thought on accidents...

Speaking of accidents...

Attainable Adventure Cruising gives us the sort of analysis that should be the standard in talking about how things go "bump".

Something to read...

Jean-Francois Dine has his book "From the Orinoco to the Amazon" available as a free download... an amazing trip and well worth a read!


Check it out!

Nearly small enough to fill a Christmas stocking...

Why 2+2=$3500 or more... Some thoughts on self-steering gear

We all know prices on boat stuff are more akin to rape and pillage than something based on simple profit and user demand but in this current economy a lot of pricing is just nuts.

I've been working on a newish design based on appropriate tech for a self-steering gear to get around a few problems I've seen that DIY builders of self-steering gears seem to run into. In doing so, I've been keeping a serious eye to costs of materials and labor that goes into it. What I've found is that it's really hard to make a home built self-steering gear cost a lot unless you are doing something seriously wrong... Windvane self-steering systems being such simple systems and all.

Back when I designed mountaineering gear, one of the first things I learned was that building something in bulk and taking advantages of the economics of scale made things CHEAPER than building something one-off because it allowed you to cut the amount of labor and get the materials a lot cheaper. So, with this in mind, a production self-steering gear should cost less than a one-off project...

What we find instead is that the pricing on self-steering gears is way more than if you were to do a one-off... Sort of the reverse of how economics actually work. Which is not to say that the various builders of commercial self-steering gears are necessarily ripping you off, as they could simply be somewhat inept in their business practices or design and passing off their incompetence in silly high prices.

Whatever the situation there is something seriously wrong when you can build a proper take you anywhere servo-pendulum windvane for a couple of hundred dollars while the current flavor-of-the-month windvane starts around $3500...

Might want to give that some thought before you buy a new, rather than used windvane.

Accidents and their cause...

I read some news which got me thinking...

Over the last year or so, there have been quite a few "rescues" that have left a lot of people a bit puzzled as to the need or sense of people being rescued who appeared to be in less than dire consequences. That said, even in some instances of people really needing rescue, there have been no shortage of confusion of why some people found themselves in a situation which left them in dire straights.

The why and how of accidents is a needful thing...

In climbing, we have "Accidents in North American Mountaineering" which catalogs and details climbing accidents as to the cause or possible cause as a means of (hopefully) avoiding such accidents in the future.

Sadly, no such thing actually exists in the sailing or cruising world... Maybe it should.