Did you know that you have more money in your pocket than GE, Exxon-Mobil, Boeing, Citibank, Wells Fargo, and the Bank of America paid in taxes last year? Now in a fair world that would be a really good thing... Not so much, if you only have a dollar in your pocket!
Since we are speaking of small pocket change, I'm often reminded that a lot of folks who read Boat Bits have real world budgets and cringe like I do when one of the yachting magazines or upwardly mobile sailing blogs mention something as being "affordable" or "inexpensive" for boat gear that costs a years cruising budget... Even worse, I am so tired of folks that review gear and don't tell you what it costs so you have no reference point to compare it to... Ya know?
Like an article I read recently that told folks that the little extra you'd spend for a new self-steering gear over the cost of a reasonable facsimile used one was well worth the investment... OK, what does that mean and how does it break down?
Being Mr Cheapseats, I'm well up on used windvane prices so I happen to know that the going rate for a reasonable facsimile is between $800 and $1000 (you can of course find cheaper if you have a relentless drive to save pennies).
So what's a "little" extra translate into dollars?
Well, the vane in question retails for around $5000 and then there are other costs involved (suggested spares) so buying the whole rig from the company in question winds up being around $5500+. Since I went to a good school with union teachers who were able to collective bargain, I'm able to do simple math, and if A-B=C (and it does) then the little extra would be $4700... Now maybe if I was the CEO for Exxon and made $27,168,317 last year $4700 would be a little extra, but for real folks it's a frelling big chunk of money!
Ya think?
So, comparing a silly-overpriced windvane to a used and workable unit with a phrase like "a little extra" is not something you're going to find here at Boat Bits because I know my dear readers would get all sorts of Psychotic Reaction on my ass... You might say there is just a little downside to having seriously kick ass readers!
Listening to The Count Five
So it goes...
Monday, February 28, 2011
ceci et cela...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
A must read..
Attainable Adventure Cruising has a great photo essay on the importance of clear decks... Go check it out it is a MUST READ!
This has always been one of my pet peeves about the current "cruiser chic" thinking.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A few books of note... On cruising.
Someone wrote the other day and asked...
"What is the best book to read about this thing called cruising... "Off hand, I have a big issue with the whole "I must have the best" approach to boats, cruising, and suchlike. "Best" is more of an advertising term and it is about as valid a concept as an "honest" politician...
There are, however, no shortage of good and great books about cruising, boats, and suchlike (sadly, the same cannot be said where politicians are concerned).
Now, as to which books I'd recommend for someone wanting to live-aboard and cruise...
That said, I often hesitate to recommend it to folks as it makes such a good case for junk rigs and the Benford Dories that people start thinking that the only way to cruise is with a Benford junk-rigged dory. While I'm a huge fan of the junk rig, it is not the only way to go and it becomes something of a distraction for the cruising information that is really excellent within.
A quick note for folks who'd never dream of cruising on a "small" income. All of the information contained makes all sorts of sense whatever your income bracket...
the dynamic duo have written over the years.The Pardey's have a mantra of "Go simple, go small, go now", and it makes a whole lot of sense and has a much better ring to it than the more common boat mantra of "Go complicated, go real big and expensive, go when I get an insurmountable number of tasks sorted out".
"Cost Conscious Cruiser" gives a great view of what cruising can be and it's not just about saving pennies and going simple but has a lot to do with the social fabric of cruising as well...
FitzGerald seems to be homesteading in Hawaii these days and growing yams while planning to build a big Wharramesque cat. Not sure what that has to do with anything but I do really like yams...
"Sea-Steading" is a good book, it covers a lot of ground, and kicks no small amount of ass in the process...
What's not to like?
Listening to the Bonzo Dog Band
So it goes...
Friday, February 25, 2011
A really cool knife...
Admittedly not everyone sailing needs a parang or machete, but everyone sailing most certainly needs a knife...
Myerchin, bespoke knife makers, has a really neat model which has all the needful in its small folder the P300. Combining a just-right sized 3/4 serrated blade, spike and pliers... Simple!
Even better, they are on sale for a bit...
Listening to James McMurtry
So it goes...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
As the world falls apart...
Maybe it's just the stress and frolic that goes hand in hand with being in the decade of living dangerously. Maybe it's just the fact that I've been following the news too much of late. Maybe it's the fact that coffee (our personal drug of choice aboard "So It Goes") just doubled in price...
Face it, you know things are seriously screwed up when all the choices seem to be of the "bad" or "worse" sort and all of a sudden the upcoming zombie apocalypse is not looking all that bad.
Speaking of things zombie, I've been hearing some great things about "Can You Survive the Zombie Apocalypse?" by Max Brallier and I can hardly wait to get my hands on a copy...
Of course, like most boat folk in the know, my favorite tool for keeping pesky zombies from boarding the boat is your basic machete which also comes in handy for other mundane stuff like cutting firewood and splitting lobsters for the grill but the new Gerber Parang looks to be a great addition to the tool bag...
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Very sad news...
| U.S. Forces Respond to Gunfire Aboard S/V QUEST | Related Content |
As they responded to the gunfire, reaching and boarding the Quest, the forces discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately died of their wounds.
“We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously lost aboard the Quest,” said Gen James N. Mattis, U.S. Central Command Commander.
During the boarding of the Quest, the reaction force was engaged by pirates on board the vessel. Two pirates died during the confrontation and 13 were captured and detained along with two pirates already in US Forces custody. The US Forces also found the remains of two other pirates already dead aboard the Quest. In total, it is believed 19 pirates were involved in the hijacking of the S/V Quest.
US Forces have been closely monitoring the S/V Quest for approximately 3 days, once it became known to be pirated. Four U.S. Navy warships comprised the response force dedicated to recovering the S/V Quest: the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), the guided-missile destroyers USS Sterett (DDG 104) and USS Bulkeley (DDG 84). The ships are deployed to the region to conduct maritime security operations and to provide support to operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.
Well with NOAA and all, maybe we should be talking sextants...
Since certain political folks think that repairing and replacing such things as weather, rescue or GPS satellites in a timely manner is a luxury we should do without, it just might be a good time to brush up on your celestial navigation skills...
Really!
The thing to keep in mind is using the stars to navigate is actually pretty easy, does not cost a lot, and can even be fun! What's not to like?
I've always been a plastic sextant kind of guy... Metal sextants tend to be expensive and they weigh enough to make taking a sight in a rough sea an unwieldy exercise... Plastic, on the other hand is cheap, light, and works just as well as the heavier metal and while, way back when, I had planned to buy a better "proper" sextant and keep the plastic toy one as a back up I just kept the plastic and bought a second plastic to have a back up.
There are a lot of books on how to use a sextant and do the celestial gig but most of them are pretty awful and even confuse me and I already know how it all works. Two books that will get you where you want to go with a minimum of fuss, bother and no heavy mental lifting are "How To Use Plastic Sextants" and "How to Find Where You Are From The Sun". While your at it, getting a copy of "Emergency Navigation, Improvised and No-Instrument Methods for the Prudent Mariner" might not be a bad thing...
Like I said I'm a plastic sextant sort of guy and in the US of A Plastic sextants are mostly by Davis (though you should keep an eye out for the Ebbco/Plastimo sort) and while they make an excellent under $200-dollar sextant I'd rather point you in the direction of their cheap-as-it-gets model...
One reason is that it is cheap and simple and it's easier to take it out without worrying about screwing it up, getting it wet or other sextant related mayhem. Also, because it is simple without apparent complications or gizmos even bareboaters should feel comfortable with its technology. Simple is good!
After you have sorted out that you can find out where you are with the cheap seats sextant you can always get the more expensive one which looks sexier and more sextant like...
Listening to Mr Staples
So it goes...
Monday, February 21, 2011
A couple of facts about NOAA and why you need them...
Some of our readers did not seem to twig on the importance of defunding the NOAA from a sailors point of view...
Most do seem to understand that the NOAA is the central cog in weather forecasting and hurricane tracking but don't quite get some of the other stuff.
Do you have an EPIRB?
How about Charts?
If you don't know how to use a sextant maybe you use a GPS?
Think about it...
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Good stuff...
The ED Show is on the ground in Madison and kicking serious ass in the process. It is sooo nice to hear the fat junkie called out for what he is...
How about a fun fact... Only five states do not allow collective bargaining for teachers/educators and you might find their ACT/SAT scores standings interesting...
- South Carolina – 50th
- North Carolina – 49th
- Georgia – 48th
- Texas – 47th
- Virginia – 44th
Wonder which state you'd prefer to have your kids go to school?
Here's an idea... Buy the folks defending your rights a pizza!
We're all Bozos on this bus...
Well actually, what I meant to say was "We're all singlehanders on this boat..." with a nod to the great Firesign theatre.
Just about every cruiser, no matter what the boat or crew size, is a singlehander if you stop for a minute and think about it. Most cruisers do watches alone and the boat and mindset should reflect this...
Basic tasks like taking in a reef, tacking, or trimming the sails should not involve having to wake someone up so they can come up and give you a hand. For most, this is simple common sense as waking off-watch crew disrupts their sleep patterns and adds to the sleep deprivation which is part and parcel of long distance sailing as well as a half-awake crew member on deck is much more prone mistakes or accidents.
There is also the fact that shit happens... Your better half could break a leg or develop a medical condition that means you might have to sail your boat to help and safety alone.
Yes... I know you have an EPIRB and an SSB, neither of which is a replacement for having the basic skills to sail and handle your boat on your own. Calling for help should always be viewed as the last extreme option and never thought of as the first.
Lucky for us is that the Singlehanded Sailing Society is a great resource for folks who go to sea on their own, as well as being a wonderful source of information for those of us who don't...
Case in point: they have an excellent book on singlehanding "Thoughts, Tips, Techniques, & Tactics For Singlehanded Sailing" by Andrew Evans which is a free download from their site and a must read!
Your elected officials...
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile -- and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep."
I'm not sure about how you feel, but NOAA is a pretty important government agency as far as this sailor is concerned...- Hunter S.Thompson
Ya think?
So just what have our elected officials in Congress been up to this weekend?
Let's see...
- They voted to continue giving $53 billion in oil subsidies...
- Voted to strip funding from just about every EPA project, including air quality, emissions, and water pollution monitoring.
- Stripped funds to administer the Affordable Care Act.
- Eliminated funds for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Stripped federal workers of their salaries in positions within agencies targeted for defunding.
- Defunded Planned Parenthood.
- Defunded NOAA
Not doing the happy dance...
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Well worth reading...
Over at Follow the Boat there is some very good opinion on the American boat "Quest" that apparently has been seized by pirates...
Well worth a read.
Friday, February 18, 2011
The morality of working for other cruisers and the workaday world...
From where I sit (at anchor someplace warm) the big-story back in the US of A is what's going on in Wisconsin. If you want to find some finest kind coverage you won't do better than Talking Points Memo who seems to have all the needful info... For another take, Rachel Maddow explains some important points.
The reason I mention this is I am a working guy and as a result I know that it is in the workers best interest (if you are a worker you know who you are) for unions to have your back. Fact is, even if you are not in a union your wages and the protections you enjoy in the workplace are mostly the result of hard fought battles by unions fighting the good fight on your behalf. On the other hand, if you think that unions are a bad idea, maybe you'd be interested in doing my next bottom job for $2.00 a day...
Actually what I sat down to write about was the whole cruisers working for other cruisers gig and suchlike. It's pretty obvious that some cruisers have skills and abilities that other cruisers lack and from time to time commerce is involved... Kinda makes sense.
Cruising comes with a certain "we're-all-in-this-together-we-help-each-other" vibe that is not exactly something where invoices and billable hours come into play. Not too long ago I read an interesting thread on a forum that painted a pretty negative picture of folks who charged money to work on other cruisers boats, pointing out that only scoundrels would take advantage of their brother cruisers...
So, what's your take?
In my mind it is pretty simple and it works like this: Help to people in dire straights is never something I'd charge for, but other than that, it all depends... For instance, if the guy a couple of boats over has a problem with his outboard I'd be happy to loan him my copy of "Outboard Motors", a tool or two, or ferry him and his motor to someplace for repair. If I were bored I might even give him a hand. Now, if he were to drop off the motor and told me to fix it and have it ready by six o'clock, well that's a whole different kettle of fish as there is a big difference between the words "Help" and "Do".
In the cruising community you quickly learn that some folks are pretty good at getting people to help them and maybe not quite so good at returning the favor. Not too unlike those borrowers of tools that never lend their own sort of folks... We all know Those People.
Fact of the matter is, I'm all for a healthy working sector within the cruising community and I'd much rather pay someone on a boat $20 an hour to help me do a job or do a job that was beyond my abilities, than pay $90 to a yard to have a guy who makes only $5 an hour work on a needful project. Keeping money circulating within the cruising community is a GOOD thing!
Over the years I have come across a few cruisers whose business model is of the pyratical order but luckily those sort are few and far between. They don't last long in the cruising gig and wind up opening a refrigeration shop, diesel repair service, or suchlike someplace where they can prey on folks on a larger scale and at higher rates than available cruising...
Listening to Bo Diddley
So it goes...
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Too good not to pass on... but no boat content whatsoever!
Matt Taibbi over at Rolling Stone is one of the few bright lights of real journalism these days and he just keeps getting better. His current article "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?" should be read by everyone...
How to make cruisers disappear...
Lately, even some of my friends who think my nervousness regarding the folks running the political show is somewhat extreme are beginning to catch the paranoia...
Truth be told, it's hard not to be a little concerned when all around you are examples of folks in office doing stupid things that seem... kinda stupid. That real oompa loopa tan dude who was all about "Where are the jobs" until just recently when he changed his tune and now is "So be it" about his policies losing the odd million or so jobs... To be fair, the "Can do" guy in the other party thinks the way to pay off the debt from wars started by rich folk and paying huge bailouts to rich folk is best done by taking away benefits from the poor...
Yeah, that makes all kinds of sense...
Sadly, political stuff is a real hassle for us as cruisers as well. Right now we are having to rethink our cruising plans because the hassles of cruising Europe has become somewhat more than we can deal with because of the Schengen treaty...
St Kitts and Nevis due to their idiocy regarding pets and new rules involving mooring and suchlike has made our need to drop in and spend money there a thing of the past.
Michael, maker of the most excellent LED lights (BEBI) writes to mention that fees in Fiji are going up...
In the 2011 Budget, the Government of Fiji has required a number of Ministries to become self-funding, so in response, there have been a number of new user fees, as well as increases in existing fees implemented.Now it's not that we make our cruising choices simply about money and fees, but places with high fees tend to get rather silly quickly. Once they realize they can gouge (some might use the word "extort") large sums of money from folks on sailboats, they tend to keep at it untill the goose that lays those eggs is no longer with them... Greed, my friends, is a truly heinous thing!
The Department of Health Fees have been increased from $F33.00 to F$150.00 (as of this instant, the exchange rate is roughly F$1.80 = US$ 1.00). Although not specifically stated, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that overtime fees have also to reflect the increase in VAT from 12.5% to 15.0% (VAT is charged on almost everything in Fiji, including govt services).
What was formerly the Department of Quarantine is now the Department of Biosecurity has also increased their fees, but are yet to 'officially' announce them. In December 2010, they stated that they were going to implement the following fees:
Clearance F$102. If you have a dog or cat on board, there will also be a fee of F$52.00 per animal, as well as a bond of F$1000/animal. The bond is a direct result of boats who have persisted in leaving a 'dirty wake' by not observing the regulation to quarantine their animal on board, but taking them to shore instead. The bond will be refundable, unless the animal is caught on land.
On a related note, Fatty Goodlander just came out with a new book "The Red Sea Run" all about his adventures getting to the Med via Suez and suchlike and his ramblings on such things are enlightening and well worth a read...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
A few thoughts regarding a 42-year old boat...
At the time, being in tenth grade, I only had a passing interest in sailing but I had been reading the National Geographic articles about Robin Lee Graham and "Dove" and even then I could see the appeal. I also remember spending hours at the time trying to get my head around his wind-vane self steering...
Hind-sight being 20/20 and all...
In 1969, the CAL 34 went for a kiss under $16,000 new and ready to sail. Admittedly, a chunk of change in 1969 dollars but easily affordable by a guy in a blue collar job with a dream of blue seas and far off places.
In 2011, a CAL 34 in good sail-away condition will set you back somewhere between $16,000 and $29,000 and in this modern world of ticky-tacky throw-away goods that is saying quite a lot. Sure the dollar is not worth what it was, but then what is?
The downside of the CAL 34 is that it's a small (by today's standards) 34-foot boat and might not have the interior that other 34-foot boats in an anchorage may boast. On the other hand, the accommodation is perfectly comfortable for long term living aboard and cruising for a motivated couple.
On a performance level, the CAL 34 can still keep up or show its transom to anything around billed as a cruiser/racer with the same LWL. Not that I find this aspect important at all these days... Well, OK, maybe just once in awhile!
Listening to some wise words from the Electric Flag
So it goes...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
A quick note on innovation...
Over at Adafruit there was mention of a jaw dropping statistic regarding innovation by consumers.
It's a whole new world folks...
On having a solar installation that is not dumb...
I've been having some battery issues on my MacBook of late and it has me thinking quite a bit on things electrical aboard "So It Goes"...
When all is said and done, we have a very modest power use and if we were to add another hundred watts of solar we'd more than likely be in balance. The issue at hand is that finding space for that extra hundred watts of panel is some kind of problematic.
So I keep an eye out with the other boats that anchor near me looking for that cunning installation plan that brings on a Eureka moment. But, it is simply not happening...
Part of the problem is that most solar arrays on sailboats are of the "how-dumb-is-this" variety as they are rigidly mounted allowing only partial use of the panels' output except for an hour or two as they are simply not facing the sun at a happy-making angle. Other panel installations I see on a regular basis have panels under permanent shadows from booms, radars, and wind generators.
Luckily, for us, when the Honda gave up the ghost we had to go back into "solar mode" and orienting the panels to face the sun about three times a day which more than doubled the output and reminded us just how important pointing the panels at the sun actually is... We'd become lazy and forgotten just how many amps a day we were pissing away as a result.
So, the next project energy wise is doing a couple or orientable solar mounts based on the most excellent solar tracker design by James over at Atom Voyages.
Listening to Charles Brown (with a little help from Johnny and Shuggie Otis)
So it goes...
Monday, February 14, 2011
How not to pick up a mooring or, getting your doofus on...
The other day we were sitting on the foredeck when a Sunsail bareboat came into the anchorage and proceeded to tie up to a mooring... Well sorta/kinda.
Maybe I should start with this...
Now, one would assume that a charter company would be a bit leery of giving the keys to someone for a newish 44-foot sailboat worth a couple of hundred thousand dollars and let them sail for a week in the reef strewn Caribbean without the ability to sail or maneuver the boat... Ya think? Apparently if said charterers can prove they have "sailing gloves" there is an exception.
So there we were on the foredeck, doing what we could for the Cruzan economy, and the bareboat was about to take a mooring... With me so far?
It was a nice day with about six knots of wind, no swell and plenty of searoom for the bareboat folk (i.e. no having to thread a crowded anchorage or other trauma producing agents).
Pretty simple you'd think...
Truth be told, it was quite entertaining for the first forty minutes or so as they bravely persevered in trying to tie up to the unattainable mooring. For the first half-dozen tries it was something of an exercise in physics (mainly Newton's first law) that nearly resulted in various limbs being pulled out of sockets... Like I said, FUN STUFF!
I'm really not sure what their second tactic was, but it seemed to involve putting a guy in the dinghy and towing him at speed towards the mooring and then having him grab it on the fly. This not only had the possibility of pulling limbs from sockets but involved the added bonus of someone getting wet or drowning in the process. I mean, you could sell tickets for this sort of mayhem...
When that continued to be fruitless they went back to the first method for a bit with the same result. I took this as an opportunity to go down and find another bottle of sustenance (watching bareboaters flail really is thirsty work) as I had a hint that nothing exciting was going to happen for a bit...
They then stood off from the elusive mooring and had a bit of a half time huddle with much pointing, waving and no small amount of rather interesting profanity. Now all re-enthused and with a "PLAN" they were ready to kick some ass.
One guy got back in the dinghy, two went up forward, and we were in play... Sadly the clusterfuck continued for another fifteen minutes or so until the guy in the dinghy managed to thread a dockline through the pennant and they were secure. Once tied up they apparently tried to "set" the mooring by motoring in reverse at full speed, something all of the Sunsail boats seem to do, which I am convinced is part of the reason we seem to have a case of disappearing moorings here as one after another of the sand screws seem to be pulled out... By my count we have had three moorings go walkies this week!
Seriously scary stuff and frankly I just don't get it. Learning to sail and run a boat is fun. In the USA there are any number of ways to do it through schools, clubs, friends who have boats and even a book and little home study will put you well on the way to avoiding being a doofus or even worse, being a doofus who winds up hurting or killing someone in the process.
Not an hour before the boat I've been discussing came in, another sister Sunsail boat nearly took off our starboard solar panels when they failed picking up the mooring behind us. We had a short face-to-face as I prepared to fend them off our stern the woman driving the boat mentioned that sailing was "hard work" as it had taken them a couple of hours trying to thread the barrier reef into Christiansted harbor. When my better half mentioned that it was easy as all you have to do is follow the buoys in the two clearly marked channels... the woman asked "what buoys?".
We're talking way past scary...
On the lighter side, here is a quick checklist to avoid being taken for a doofus...
- Lose the sailing gloves... Seriously, sailing gloves are the modern doofus indicator and have taken over for the old standby tried and true "yachting hat".
- If you have delicate hands and really must use sailing gloves either buy them used or take off the price tags and distress them by towing behind your car till they look really beat up and experienced (we'll all still know you're a doofus but we will give you credit for the effort).
- While sailing or anchored do not festoon your boat with fenders... If you know what your are doing, sailing is not a contact sport or a bumper car ride.
Listening to Green Day (it seemed apt)
So it goes...
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Power to the people... right on!
A while back our Honda 2000i became something less than a happy camper and while he still purred like a kitten, there was no power on the electrical side... Bummer!
Getting the parts to repair the Honda was some kind of problematic down here in the Caribbean and as we needed power in a hurry, we made the decision to get a replacement now and sort out fixing the Honda later. Looking at what was available and what we could get shipped down quickly, the choice appeared to be another Honda, A Kipor (Honda clone) or the Honeywell (which I guess you'd term a Honda wannabe).
The price of generators being what it is on island even if we used it for a couple of months we'd be able to resell it if needful for about the same money it cost us. So, when we added up all the various pros and cons, the Honeywell looked hard to beat. So we bought it and a couple of weeks later it arrived and we were the proud owners of a brand new unused broken Honeywell generator as the carb had been broken off at some point in time and needed an elbow replacement... Since it was easier to have a fifteen dollar part mailed to us than to to spend a couple of hundred dollars to ship the generator back to the states it was sort of a no-brainer.
Once we had the part in hand, fixing the generator was a five minute job and hey presto we are back in the power business!
My impressions after a week are of the happy camper variety. Yes, the Honeywell is a kiss louder than the Honda though not so much that you'd actually notice at a distance. For Honda folk the real difference in sound level is not so much volume but more in tone. It has a bit more bass and as such resonates a kiss more so instead of the Honda "purr" it's a bit more of a "growl". That said, after a day you don't notice it at all. It is also a little bigger, but again, not problematic as it pretty much has the same footprint (though a bit taller) so for most of us boat folk it will fit into the same space we kept the Honda in.
The user manual on the Honeywell is head and shoulders better than the poor useless excuse for a manual that comes with the Honda. Even better, is that the Honeywell comes stock with a oil pour tube which is something that you will have to get from a third party... So there really has been some thought behind how people actually use and maintain the unit. Color me impressed!
The plan was to use the Honeywell till we got the Honda fixed but plans change and the new order is to fix and sell the Honda and go with the Honeywell as dollar for dollar it is a much better bit of kit. Keeping in mind that the Honeywell is half the price, easier for us DIY/frugal folks to repair if needed and if we can't, cheaper than most any sort of repair one would run into on the Honda...
Listening to Mr Lennon
So it goes...
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Follow the money...
So, the president of Egypt is out of a job and folks are looking into just how a "public servant" has more money in the bank than Bill Gates... Can't really say I'm surprised.
I used to have a friend who was an I.A. cop in Los Angeles when I was shooting news there. He used to regale us with stories of fun and frolic about bent cops and how they were less than smart when it came to dealing with their ill-gotten gains. He often confessed that his job was boring, as finding bad cops was akin to shooting fish in a barrel because all he had to do was simply follow the money. When cops buy houses or Ferraris for cash there is no way that they got that dinero on an underpaid cop's salary... there are only so many "rich uncles" floating around.
A lot of the news work we did on the LA government beat was pretty similar. When you saw that a city councilman whose family had a combined income of $250,000 was spending $500,000 dollars a year, it was pretty much a given that the politico in question was bent like a fish hook. Apparently reporters in Washington DC have forgotten how this works...
And what exactly does that have to do with the price of tea in China or boats?
Not sure about the price of tea in China, but for boat folk on a budget, using the "follow-the-money" trick is a great way to keep on track...
Whenever I need to purchase gear or some labor for the boat, I always do a mental follow the money exercise which is nothing more than working out if the price you are paying actually merits what the cost of something is. Let's look at something simple like a cleat to use as an example...
The price of a six-inch cleat will run you anywhere between a couple of dollars to fifty or so. When you examine the physics of how cleats actually work it becomes obvious that the three dollar cleat will work just as well as the fifty dollar cleat (in some cases the three dollar nylon cleat will actually be stronger than the fifty dollar bronze one... just saying). So, when all is said and done, you are paying more for something that is not about function but about fashion, and as far as I am concerned, this can actually be a valid reason as polished bronze does really make the varnished teak "pop"!
That said, having worked in a foundry for a bit, the real cost of the bronze cleat vs the nylon cleat is more along the lines of a few dollars rather than that $48 more the shiny bronze is going to cost you. Most of that differential is money going into people's pockets along the way from the guy who builds it to you the buyer. Which is not to say I think buying the more expensive cleat is a bad thing, it is just that the cleat in question is simply not in real terms worth the difference in price and you, as a consumer, should be aware of it.
Like I said... simply follow the money and it will tell you all you need to know.
Listening to Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks
So it goes...
Friday, February 11, 2011
A thought or two...
Yesterday over at NAS they mentioned the Sail Innovation Awards and it got me thinking...
Sadly, most awards these days given by an industry to itself has bugger all to do with design, quality or innovation but does have a lot to do with money. Running an article in a magazine about the "Best of" or the like, is really a pretty good means of selling those folks who make the gear some advertising.
In fact, more often than not, when you see a blurb about a great piece of gear in a magazine these days it is lifted word for word out of the press release that the company in question sent to the magazine. Though if you read the resulting article you get the impression that the editors have actually used the product and done some testing. I know this because those companies send me the same press releases... Hell, I even get press releases for products that don't even exist (except on paper) of the vaporware sort and it is interesting to see some magazine enthuse about how wonderful something is when we all know they are simply nonexistent.
Just my take, but before I'd bestow any awards on new products, I'd actually like a chance to see them in use on a real boat as opposed to in a press release or sitting in all its prototypical wonder in a glass case at a boat show. I'd like to up the ante and see how it fares in actual use for some period of time and go all Practical Sailor on their ass. Truth is, I'd really love a whole different sort of yearly awards of the negative sort... and the award for the most over-priced-silly-expensive new gen anchor goes to... Yeah, I'd pay to read that issue!
Of course, I'm not the guy folks are going to send any gear to test as they don't want to hear what I have to say, and without the carrot of placing advertising or withdrawing advertising dollars to Boat Bits, they can't control the outcome.
Which brings us back around to the Sail Innovation awards. Looking at the products mentioned I simply don't see anything innovative in the lot (with one exception) unless you consider "innovation" as a means of replacing perfectly good gear with more expensive stuff that mostly does the same old same. The only exception to that on the list as I see it would be the Seldén reversible winch. It is such a smart idea one wonders why no one has done it before (and if I ever need to replace my bombproof stainless 40-year old Barient 26's I will certainly consider them).
I really would like to do a yearly Boat Bits award thingy that would focus on real innovation of products that made sailing/cruising more accessible, simpler, affordable, and safer but I simply don't see that sort of gear coming out of the industry these days...
... And that, dear readers, is a seriously sad state of affairs.
Listening to Sail Away
So it goes...
Thursday, February 10, 2011
A very cool little bike that is not shitty...
One thing I'd like to say about the sort of bikes most folks think make sense on boats is...
They are seriously shitty...
Now that we've got that out of the way, the good folks at Soma have a neat new bike, that while being munchkinesque, is actually a real bike and for those boat folk who are looking for some around town wheels that will not inspire phrases such as "Piece of crap" or "I hope someone steals this" by their riders, may I point you in the direction of the Mini Velo.
Listening to Dave Mason
So it goes...
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
A nearly perfect fid...
Since the new rig on "So It Goes" uses Dynex Dux for the standing rigging there is no shortage of splicing going on these days...
Of course, if you are going to be doing a lot of splicing, having the right fid is a big part of the mix and right now the fids we are using are medical surplus forceps. Forceps have a lot of advantages in that they are built to a much higher quality than most of the stuff being passed off as fids. They are also stainless (you know the sort that actually does not rust) steel and smooth as a baby's bottom. Throw in the fact that they are cheap makes them even better!
Having a fid that is also a forcep (spelled really skinny incredibly neat locking pliers) makes all sorts of tricky splicing easy... What's not to like?
Listening to Sly and the Family Stone
So it goes...
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
I was going to do a post about splicing...
... But then came across this news story "Cockfighting rooster kills California man".
Sort of wrecked my concentration!
Monday, February 07, 2011
A simple water system...
Over the years, on various boats I have been on, the water systems were at best somewhat iffy...
Water tanks tended to become contaminated, impart tastes or become breeding grounds for all sorts of evil flora and fauna. If that was not enough, electric pumps tended to fail when/where they'd be the most problematic and the hoses connecting the system together tended to grow purple stuff...
Purple stuff is yucky!
On the other hand, avoiding all of that is pretty simple as all you have to do is get rid of it all and go simple... On "So It Goes" (and the LM"S before) we use a simple system based on plastic jerry cans. Three five-gallon jerry cans fit under the galley sink and a short hose from the galley pump (a Whale manual) simply goes into the neck of the current jerry can in use.
The advantages of such a system is it keeps you up-close-and-personal with water consumption and quality. A bonus is if you do have a contamination problem it is unlikely to be in more than one water container. Also, since the amount of water you can carry depends simply on the number of containers you carry it is easy to adapt for a long cruise by simply adding more jerry cans or other suitable containers. On "So It Goes" we routinely carry six five-gallon jerry cans and for longer voyages we have a number of three-gallon containers as well as a couple of collapsible five-gallon containers. An added bonus to this system is that we can stow the water around the boat to balance weight and trim.
Speaking of contamination... One way we avoid taking on water of questionable quality is we simply do not trust water anywhere and refilter it before it becomes part of the ship's supply. For instance, the water you get here in St Croix from the marina comes out of the hose looking OK but since it is coming from old iron pipes there is a very high rust component to the mix. If you let a jerry can sit for a couple of hours the bottom six inches of the water will be a deep orangey/red color. While I know a little iron is good for you, this is not the sort of water I want making my morning coffee! Of course, you can get along quite well with orange colored water but other places, while not orange, can contain all sorts of nasty bugs and parasites that are seriously scary...
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Well worth watching...
What's inside is pretty cool too and well worth a place on your DVD shelf!
Over the years I've followed their adventures from early days with a CAL 25 to their current boat "Driver" with a lot of interest.
There is a lot to be said for their bare bones cruising style and it certainly resonates with the party line here at Boat Bits.
"Driver" is also the subject on "Interview With A Cruiser" this week, and as always they make a whole lot of sense... Check it out!
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Progress or lack of same... Electronic antifouling comes to mind
Over at the Cruisers Forum there is a renewed interest in the Electronic antifouling thread, but sadly it is just the same old same all over again...
Folks on boats simply do not appear to be able to deal with anything new in a positive or open-minded way, much to our detriment.
Don't believe it?
Within my lifetime, just about every major advance in boat tech or design has been greeted with disdain and derision...
Sails used to be cotton and when nylons came on the scene they were not exactly met with open arms... Well, until they started winning races.
When fiberglass was first introduced was it welcomed? Nope, not considered a proper material for building "yachts". It took years to gain a real acceptance.
Catamarans were considered death traps as well as meeting with the "not-a-proper-yacht" bigotry where they languished in their own little multihull ghetto until the French broke out through racing and charter companies realized that there was serious money to be made.
Even VHF radio was at one time considered a "cheat" or "crutch" that no self-respecting yachtsman should have anything to do with, and, as for Loran, Sat Nav and GPS you might enjoy the editorials cautioning sailors to avoid such electronic marvels and stick with the tried and true sextant and reduction tables as the only proper way to go...
Yep, we folks on boats are certainly an open-minded and free-thinking group of gypsies!
As I have mentioned before, electronic anti-fouling can work as we used it successfully on Loose Moose 2 for a number of years (in the Med, Africa and the Caribbean). Whether the currently available systems work is a conjecture on my part as I have not had up-close-and-personal experience with them, but since I know that such a system can work, I certainly think they are worth looking into and I am keeping an open mind...
... And folks, an open mind is the key to progress.
Friday, February 04, 2011
The list gets a little longer...
I've been looking at various sources of electronic and paper charts for the lower half of South America and Antarctica and a couple of things come to mind in a hurry... One, I have my work cut out to find all the needful charts, and two, I am going to have to build in some more chart stowage!
While I'm at it some hull insulation as well...
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
For boat bound guitar players only...
Being a floating guitar player has its disadvantages and the main biggie is folks who don't play don't have a clue of what a hassle it is, ya know?
For instance, they think that a single backpacking guitar will suffice as a replacement for the step van load of gear you used to work with, or worse, they suggest you might just want to get a Uke!
So I have been spending a lot of time looking into various solutions for a boat friendly amp package that would give me the sound I'm used to working with for various recording projects and the odd gig if it were to come up in a boat friendly size envelope... Yep, nothing hard about that is there?
Speakers are a pain. I'm pretty sure I can find stowage for a pair of 2X10 cabinets and I have the inkling of a cunning plan that would make them hold up better in the high humidity hell that is a cruising boat in the Caribbean.
But, speakers need POWER!
Some time ago I mentioned that Electro Harmonix had a nifty little power amp producing 22 watts of clean power and that a while back they worked up a big brother of 44 watts which certainly has possibilities. The fact that I need two power amps for my stereo rig and 44 clean watts per channel makes sense. Even cooler is the size of the 44 Magnum is so small that storage is not problematic at all. I could even easily build them right into the speaker cabinets!
You still need a preamp of some sort and Electro Harmonix has a very cool stereo tube preamp pedal that does everything (more or less) that I desire in a preamp circuit.
Life, as they say, is good!
Yeah... I know, I'm still working on the Leslie problem...
