Mangrove city...

We're taking a couple of days and moving Boat Bits Central off to the Mangroves because, apparently, we need a dose of mosquito fun and frolic. Since WIFI is more than likely not on the menu, you lucky folks get a vacation...

We'll be back though...

Listening to Jim Pepper

So it goes...

Those "H" things, guitars and surfboards...

Hey, did you read this story? Life is just too scary when you can't even go out and buy some chicken necks without things going into meltdown mode.

I distinctly remember planning to be in the south of France sipping a Pastis when the next hurricane season was doing the same old in the Caribbean...

What can I say... Shit does happen!

Since we are speaking of excremental stuff, I'll just say that invest 91L is not at all happy making...

So, what better time to talk about guitars and surfboards!

I've had several readers write and ask if I were going to confine myself to just one guitar which one would it be? The truth of the matter is being a quiver guitar type of guy it's a hard question but since you ask, I have given it a lot of thought and the Godin A-12 is as close to a single guitar that would come close... Close but no cigar!

Over at Horse's Mouth he had a perfect surfing photo...

... and my current mantra is build some new surfboards ASAP!

Providing 91L gives us a pass...

Listening to Buffy Saint-Marie

So it goes...

Yacht club or not...

Some seriously silly advice (apparently some folks want people like this to run our economy), excellent food for thought over on SV Third Day, and a forum well worth reading that is not filled with fools...

Since that out-of-touch idiot in Congress was good enough to advise "poor people" that the trick to living below the poverty line is doing without the luxury car and not extending your membership in your local country club, it got me thinking...

How many of us actually belong to a yacht club anymore?

There actually used to be a very solid reason for a cruising sailor to keep up his or her membership in a yacht club in the form of reciprocal privileges. Sadly these days, reciprocal privileges have become something of a rare bird or simply no longer exist in real terms...

One yacht-oriented club we have belonged to is the Unite Amateur, a non-profit organization in France that was an awesome resource in using its large membership's buying power to bring the cost of building, fitting out a boat, and maintaining/operating it once launched down to something akin to reasonable... No mean trick that!

When you think about it, a consumers of marine gear organization for cruisers would be no bad thing where 450% markups on gear hardly raises an eyebrow and are considered more normal than not...

Ya think?

Listening to Asani

So it goes...

More silly marine pricing...

Someone who shares my view on the great Whedon series "Firefly", one of the best Springsteen shows ever, and a big part of why things are so screwed up.

Meanwhile up Montauk way, a buddy who does charter points out...

"A couple weeks ago my starter quit; right in the middle of a charter too.
We short tacked in. Hoo ray for sailing!

A new starter from Westerbeke
$2200 (Not a typo)


From Torsen Marine?
$260, and they couldn't get it to me for a week.


From "Crank N Charger" in Georgia?
$95 with free shipping (but I paid them to FedEx it to me and that made about $150.)


I think what you get it if you buy it from Westerbeke is they paint it red."

What my friend does not understand is that extra $2000 is for red marine paint and if that makes sense to you, I still have a great deal on that steel tower in Paris I need to sell...

Listening to Redbone

So it goes...

How stupid do they think we are...

I was just checking a certain sailing outfitter who shall remain nameless but I noticed that their Dyneema slings seemed a little high...

As a climber I am no stranger to nylon and Dyneema sewn slings as they are used by everybody and can be found on any climbers rack or any climbing store. So what happens when you take a standard climbing item and transplant it to a sailing shop?

Does the quality magically increase or improve?

Nope...

Do you get super special sailing colors that glow in the dark?

Nope...

Does the price go way the fuck up?

Apparently!

A top end 30cm by 8mm Dyneema sewn sling in a climbing shop or Amazon will run you a hefty $6 but if you buy the same ilk from a sailing shop it will cost you $32.50 (they are sold in pairs for $64.60).

So you get to pay an extra $26.50 for the pleasure of buying it from a marine business...

... and that works out to 450% more than you'd pay in a climbing shop or Amazon (who, I might add, are making a profit selling it for six dollars).

Are we that stupid or what?

Was it something I said?

Some soft-shackle discussion, more on Wisconsin vote culling, and a whiffle bat to hold off the sharks.

Reading what passes for news these days is something of a distressing pursuit... Most folks I know simply don't do it anymore preferring to read about Lady Gaga and Amy Winehouse (sad that) or other non-news news instead of dealing with things that might actually affect their lives. Not unlike doing the ostrich thing (if I don't see it or know about it, it can't hurt me).

So it does go...

A couple of people took exception to my discourse yesterday regarding folks with 5/10/15-year plans to go cruising and those unlucky souls who happen to work in cubicles...

That they missed the point is unfortunate... After all, I have nothing against folks with detailed plans for their lives. The fact I have never actually met someone cruising who got there by having a long term plan to go cruising, leads me to believe that long term plans have a way of changing and just maybe what seems like a good idea when you are forty when you set down your 15-year plan to go cruising is somehow maybe not doable when you are 55... Things change, as do plans, and you never know when the zombie apocalypse is going to happen.

The thought that I have something akin to malice where cubicle workers are concerned is simply not true (well actually there are those who work in customer service that come close...) but malice is certainly not the right word anymore than it would be for folks that work in sewers... It's simply that I have no desire to work in a cubicle or sewer (though sewer before cubicle as I don't see a sewer job being outsourced to Mumbai anytime soon) and it is not a job I'd ever consider in place of being a boat bum.

The whole point is simply if you want to go sailing go sailing... Life is simply too damn short to put off the good stuff.

Listening to John Fogerty

So it goes...

Something to look into...

As a lot of folks know, I'm always looking into alternatives to the same old same anti-fouling scenarios. You might say I have an open mind to the idea that there may be a better way...

So, I'm quite interested in a new product I have been hearing about... "Prop Glop" (you have to admit the name does have a certain ring to it) is an anti-fouling system for props that can be applied underwater... Cool!

Since we have a composite prop that apparently no traditional anti-fouling paint will stick to for any length of time I find it needful to scrape the prop on a much too regular basis. So a product like this would be no bad thing from where I sit (that being anchored in the sunny Caribbean).

I'm definitely going to be looking at this in depth in the not too distant future!

Lose the cubicle dude...

The Kabuki debt ceiling madness just goes on and on while the real work of fixing the economy is ignored, Mountain Gazette has my new favorite word, and Panbo is one with his outboard...

Yesterday was the day from hell...

My starting cord on our generator parted and the day was spent replacing the cord and I won't bore you with the dismantling of generator, trips to stores to find bits, and an otherwise wasted day that could have been productive... Such is life on a boat.

What keeps me sane is the fact that when shit hits the fan in my little floating world aboard "So It Goes" is that as funky as it ever gets, life would be so much worse if I was one of those guys working in a cubicle hoping my company does not outsource my job to Mumbai and with a 5, 10, or 15-year plan to go cruising... Now that would be hell!

Of course, I do have my own business of sorts, and like a good freelancer I know never to keep all my eggs in a single basket or get too comfortable on my income. So, while underemployed in some folks view I'm never bothered by the lurking dread that my job may go "poof" to enable some CEO to get an even bigger bonus/MEGA yacht.

While according to the yachting press one should never go cruising in a boat one might actually afford to pay cash for, my hurricane bashed fixer-upper CAL 34 has been a comfortable home and sails finest kind for less than the cost of the custom Sunbrella work and dinghy on some 50+ foot Bendytoys that anchor next to me...

So, I really should not bitch, as a day from hell for me (fixing a generator in my cockpit on a perfect Caribbean day) just might be considered heaven by that guy in the cubicle with the spectre of unemployment in a bad economy hovering right behind him.

I'm a very happy camper all things considered!

Listening to Michael Stanley

So it goes...

Two sides of the coin...

A little something for those who still are having trouble "getting over it", Wisconsin shows us how to steal an election (something to get over later I suppose), and so much for shared sacrifice...

Boat Bits central keeps getting a lot of questions regarding our lack of twitter or facebook presence. So, to put folks minds at rest, yes, we don't do Twitter or Facebook and have no plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

Partly, I suppose, the reason is that I simply have too many other projects and interests to give up the time, and partly because I'm simply not all that sociable (some might say curmudgeonly and reclusive) that I'd want to if I did...

But hey, thanks for asking...

It does, however, bring up the point that a lot of people cruise for a variety of reasons. Some folks like to make lots and lots of friends, enjoying a very active social scene. They gravitate to locations where others of like mind congregate so they can play volleyball, organize pot luck socials and party down. Others, prefer to find quieter anchorages, a more introspective lifestyle and the odd sundowner with a friend or two when the spirit calls...

The really cool thing about cruising is you can pretty much have it any way you want.

Listening to George Clinton get funky with the Banana Boat song.

So it goes...

Put not your faith in weather gurus...

Yesterday friends of ours who are over in Puerto Rico texted us asking about how the weather was here in St Croix...

We answered back that it was a little gusty but OK. We had been keeping an eye on the tropical wave (invest 90L) but it looked a bit ragged and non-problematic.

The weather picture looked something like this...

Our friends then texted back that they had just been to the local burger joint and learned that they were about to get hit by a tropical depression very soon named "Dora" and hoped that we would be safe... Big storm come!

As it happens, I'd been following tropical storm "Dora" as well...

"Dora" looks something like this...

It seems rather obvious, but "Dora" being in the Pacific Ocean, was not exactly a threat to us here in the Caribbean... Just about any village idiot could see that but apparently the local "weather guru" in Puerto Rico could not.

A few years ago when we were hanging out in Sint Maarten the local "weather guru" who did the morning VHF net came on one day and told us we were in danger of a class 3 or greater Hurricane later that day... Having just looked at NOAA a few minutes before I knew there were no hurricanes in the Caribbean basin but had noticed that there was one hell of a storm near Hawaii that had folks quite nervous. Could there possibly be a connection?

As it happens, the prawn-like "weather guru" in question was getting his weather info from SailFlow or WindGuru (I'm not a big fan of either) and had been mistakenly getting the weather reports for Hawaii and not Sint Maarten. This actually explained a lot, as for the last couple of weeks his weather reports had been 100% wrong (really quite an accomplishment in an area known for it's same old same weather).

Sadly, I have a lot of stories of this ilk of so called experts on weather getting things seriously wrong on so many levels that I'd much prefer to trust my weather to the village idiot, drunk, or someone who divines weather by looking at goat entrails rather than someone who tells me he is something of a "weather guru".  I should also point out that I don't get my weather from TV weather personalities, local newspapers or local government ...

Luckily I don't have to, as NOAA is there to give me the basic weather picture that I need to keep "So It Goes" and crew safe.

Listening to Tom Fogerty

So it goes...

On being frazzled...

1001 Boats tells us about a VERY important plywood boat, fools, incompetents, and people of limited vision continue to discuss electric propulsion, and the world is still getting scarier...

A friend of mine had a near knockdown the other day and he is a bit frazzled.

Like most of us he felt that a squall, zephyr or microburst big enough to knock down his boat would be visible from a distance and he'd have some time to sort stuff out, reduce sail or somesuch. The realization that when shit happens it can happen fast with no warning, like I said, has him a bit frazzled...

A few years ago when we were leaving Antigua all sail up, in all of three knots of wind in the harbor, we got hit by a microburst that (measured at the airport there at 11:00 @ 92MPH/148KMH) putting us on our ear and putting us in serious FUBAR land... So you might say I have a basic understanding of my friend's bit of frazzlement.

Not that there is a lot you can do to avoid stuff like this... though, having your sheets set up so you can throw them off pronto (one reason we do not have self-tailing winches) is no bad thing... as you simply have to consider the chances of being hit by such a microburst are pretty iffy and you simply rely on luck.

That said, shit does happen...

On the other hand, the things to be really scared of are those very obvious and slow moving issues/dangers we tend to ignore in spite of being right there in front of us full of menace and intent... You may scoff at those worrying about an economic meltdown, peak oil, global warming or (dare I say it) zombie apocalypse but being forewarned and forearmed is no bad thing.

By the way, is this tomahawk the perfect anti-zombie boarding tool or what?

Listening to Great Big Sea

So it goes...

Some thoughts on plywood...

A voyaging bear (a little sad) story with a link to some related science, another example of an overpaid education worker living high on the hog on your tax dollars, and a riff on the "Right Thing" to do...

I've been thinking a lot these days about boat design...

Well, as most folk who know me, thinking about boat design is something I do a lot anyway, but of late I have been thinking along the lines of more directed thought process rather than my general "are not boats cool and the factors that make them work interesting" musings. This sort of thinking is why I am a great student of yacht design but not very good designer myself.

The reason I've been pondering design is because I have, by accident really, been testing some formply plywood... The process is I had some molds left over from the mast project made from formply and have been using them for various purposes outside in the elements unprotected for over a year now. While not exactly a scientific test, it has taught me a few things...

One, is that this stuff holds up to repeated soaking and drying cycles in a tropical climate. Truth is, I have a couple of samples of marine ply that have suffered the same fate and not held up as well...

Second, it seems to glue together really well if you happen to give it a wipe with a bit of acetone and give it a very light sand with 120 grit sandpaper. For those who are wondering why, the formply is treated with a mold release coating that allows it to be used for concrete forms and molds (hence the name "formply"). While I have been told that the coating would stick to epoxy, it seemed to me that getting rid of the coating would be even better.

Third, this is pretty cheap stuff... Down here in the overpriced Caribbean a sheet of 3/4" form ply sells for $35... Yowza! Just my doodling but building a big sharpie out of this stuff would cut the cost of the hull and deck build by 60%... That gets my attention!

To test the stuff further I'm going to build the new prototype of the "BUFORD" self-steering gear with it. But, more about that later...

The questions I keep asking myself is do I want to build a boat with formply?  If I do, what sort of boat would I build being semi-constrained by a material only available in 5/8 and 3/4 inch thickness? Would it be a sharpie, a catamaran, or just maybe a fusion of the two brought together in a proa (Michael, are you paying attention?)...

Listening to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

So it goes...

Looking forward to this...

Pretty sure that this is going to be a must read here at Boat Bits Central...

On evolution...

When you have lemons you can't always make lemonade (at least if there is a cop around), Lectronic Latitude follows the money (why I carry a backup sextant), and old soldiers may die but taxes never do...

You now, I really like it when I'm right... Way back when, I was boring everyone I know about the new tech ropes that were out there and how it was going to revolutionize a lot of sailing gear/rigging and bring marlinspike skills back in a big way. Then all of a sudden it's "Hey Presto" and these days everywhere I turn, I find folks splicing and doing the happy dance (check out Odda Sea and ZTC for proof positive). Synthetic rigs are no longer a freak show and are simply accepted as a normal type of rigging these days in spite of some serious Luddite and ill-informed opposition...

Of course, I'm not exactly a stranger to Luddite and ill-informed opposition... Building a cat when all the sailing rags were writing articles equating multihulls with death traps and an embarrassment to nautical tradition sort of set the stage for all future endeavors. That said, looking around that cats (though mostly badly designed and less than they should be) have become the "Bee's knees"... Who'd have ever thought?

We've also reached a point where electric propulsion is now simply a growing part of the scene... Sure the Luddites, idiots, and those folks who make big bucks repairing and selling over-priced internal combustion engines still say it is not ready for prime time but everyone knows they are fighting a losing battle. Today I can no longer remember all the folks around who have electric propulsion systems as there now a lot of us... Sad though, it was kinda nice being part of a very, very exclusive club.

For those who actually listen to this drivel, "Maker" made electronic anti-fouling is a glimpse at things to come!

The future be geeky...

Listening to Lee Rude

So it goes...

A message in a bottle...

Here at Boat Bits central we seem to be having some serious Thundebird issues (Mozilla not Guild) so if you have written recently and I have not got back to you, you may want to keep that in mind...

a polite society...

Those who make up the cruising industry like to paint a pretty picture of happy people in various exotic locales and entice you with the carrot that you too can be one of these beautiful happy people, all you have to do is buy stuff...

Not that the reality does not have its good points, but in the real world there are bits best left swept under the carpets if you want to sell someone a dream.

For instance, I don't ever recall an article in any of the sailing mags relating to the number of cruisers who die every year from alcohol-related accidents or the effects of alcohol-related disease, do you?

The fact both happen on a much too regular basis is a fact of life that most of us cruising and living on boats pretend does not... After all, a cruising society is a polite society and it is considered rude to point out that there are drunks amongst us.

There is also the fact that if you have personal problems or issues back in Poducky Ohio and you happen to buy a boat and point it toward the Caribbean or South Seas, more than likely, your problems there will be part and parcel of the baggage you bring with you. Wife beaters remain what they are, racists continue to hate, and jerks tend to remain jerks no matter what their current latitude...

As long as I'm on a roll, I might as well add that a lot of the places we choose to cruise are poor and the people who actually live there could use a little help of one sort or another. While some cruisers do bring school supplies, volunteer on projects, or get together to raise funds for projects like schools and clinics, far more simply take advantage. Come to think of it, the cruising community, the cruising press (and that most certainly includes the blogosphere) could do a whole lot better... I know I could.

The thing is, however far you sail it is still going to be the real world. Margaritaville is simply a song, and people are people...

Just saying...

Listening to John Stewart

So it goes...

A bit of evolution on the rig...

Robert Reich makes some sense, a doll for an uncertain future (spelled zombie apocalypse), and the Bahamas does something right...

Hey. I'm the first to admit that a lot of my thought processes involve cunning plans having to do with making my lifestyle better while throwing less money at it. You might say one of my favorite mantras is "live better, spend less" which is a bit more positive than my other old standby of "I will not be ripped off"...

I'm currently working on some changes to the new rig on "So It Goes" which went from a standard CAL 34 rig (until mast fall down go boom) which was replaced by a keel stepped "Simplicity rig" and now being reworked to a "Simplicity rig on a deck stepped mast in a Wharram-esque tabernacle".

With me so far?

The reason of going back to deck stepped is all about the fact that we were quoted nearly $500 to step or unstep the mast... Yowza! I'm sure you'll all agree that the yard in question is somewhat pyratical and only an idiot of the first rank would pay that sort of money for less than ten minutes of crane time.

Not being an idiot of the "first" rank (as hard as I try I can't seem to get past the third level) there was no way I'd ever pay that kind of money. The simple fact that they were asking that kind of silly money was enough writing on the wall to make me think long and hard about a rig I could not step or unstep by myself if needful.

Being able to step/unstep your mast whenever needed has a lot of advantages and being in the Caribbean during "H" season it is not lost on me that tucked back in the mangroves I'd be even safer if I could drop the mast and stow it on deck. Better yet, if I need to sort something out with the masthead light, paint the mast, or redo a halyard it all becomes somewhat easier...

Now that the new tabernacle is almost ready for prime time, I've been thinking how a pair of beaching legs would also be a very handy accessory allowing us to dispense with more than a few haulouts (spelled saving a lot of money) as long as I have a reasonable beach and a few feet of tidal range.

Sounds like a plan...

Listening to Dave Davies

So it goes...

Sunday...

It's a beautiful day...

The sun is shining, the water is like glass, and I'm taking a day off!

So it does go...

speaking of dumb and dangerous...

This guy is all about supporting the troops (not), villains in St. Vincent & The Grenadines, and a bit of dumb and dangerous project news...

Well, since I mentioned a "dumb and dangerous" laser that is powerful enough to blind someone and set things on fire (including human skin), and be cobbled from off the shelf bits and pieces, I should, perhaps, issue some sort of warning... 

Dumb and dangerous projects by their very nature are, in point of fact, dumb and dangerous and should not be done while drinking, otherwise impaired, or by those whose IQ tops out at less than the temperature on a brisk winters eve in Wisconsin.

That said, having an Iron Man laser on board is more than likely a whole lot safer and more legal than having a gun or guns aboard...

Just saying...

Now, if I were one to consider something akin to a weapon for defending a boat... I'd still give serious consideration to the medieval poleaxe (hey even Amazon has them). The poleaxe has both reach and pointy bits and was the medieval equivalent to the bazooka (the knight in armor being the tank). The downside is that pointy and sharp things needs some serious training...



... Of course, I should point out that the winners of altercations that involve pointy bits and sharp edges often wind up in the same emergency room as the losers, which you might want to keep in mind!

So, for the moment, my plan of action is still to stay as far away as possible from places where villains ply their trade on a regular basis, and hopefully getting around to building a "Bedazzler" because, maybe it's just me, but a little puke on the floor trumps blood any day...

Listening to Mr Buffett

So it goes...

On getting creative on the marlinspike front...

Mass psychosis in the US of A, someone has their eye on the environment, and a magazine that readers may enjoy...

It's something of a hidden trend but there is a lot of exciting stuff happening on the rigging front these days...

New materials like Dynex Dux and Amsteel have brought marlinspike back into the creative loop so the answer to all problems is no longer buying expensive hardware. For instance, you need an odd sized shackle to hang a figure eight descender to use as a boom brake... Not a problem, you simply splice up a soft shackle.

Even better, now that we can splice shackles which are stronger/lighter than expensive stainless hardware at a fraction of the cost we can have exactly what we want and save money. Is that cool or what?

But, it gets better... I've noticed a real trend of riggers and DIY boat folk getting creative and getting past the soft shackle and doing stuff like this soft pigtail from West rigging...

Life, as they say, is good!

Listening to the Firesign Theatre

So it goes...

and yet another six-string dilemma...

A must read on a scary subject, we apparently have the right to wear pasta strainers, and why the end of a real space program just made us a third rate country...

As many of you know, music is kinda important aboard "So It Goes" and as a result there is an ongoing evolution of the interior to make room for the odd musical instrument or dozen...

Yesterday, while shopping for a mandolin (they are cool, small and anyone can find space for one... right?) I was seduced by an alternative musical instrument, though not nearly as small. The problem is, that anything much bigger than a mandolin or a harmonica is going to put some serious strains on what few brain cells I might have left and right now the only plan that comes to mind is replacing the stove in the galley with a musical instrument cabinet and cook all meals on the BBQ in the cockpit... Admittedly, not exactly my finest cunning plan!

The musical instrument that is causing the problem is a six-string banjo. The advantage of such an instrument is that it is compact for a guitar, sounds like a banjo, and can be used as an anti-anchoring tool of great power if needful.

The reason I need a six-string banjo is that to my great shame I am really a horrible banjo player. While I can pretty much hold my own on guitar, my ability with a five-string is simply embarrassing...

I had been keeping my eye out for an old Framus six or twelve string banjo but they are both rare and pricier than my frugality will allow, so finding that Dean was building a more or less affordable banjo-guitars has me doing the happy dance!

Right now I'm torn between two... The Backwoods or the electric Backwoods  and to be honest, I'm thinking the electric will be a better choice for those late night head games in favor of those fools who anchor too frelling close in out of the way and secluded anchorages. Face it, as anyone who has seen "Deliverance" a time or two will tell you, nothing says let's pull up our anchor and get gone like a certain banjo lick in the dark...

Throw in a "squeal like a pig" to the mix and they might even leave their anchor!

Listening to Crooked Fingers

So it goes...

A penny here, a penny there...

The fine line between a sailboat and a sailing boat, a good example of how cutting taxes for big companies does not make jobs, and Robert Reich tells us what the President should have said on the job front...

Being an admittedly frugal person, I keep a weather eye out for various deals and ways of saving money without impacting function. A great way to do this is simply to get stuff that does not have the word "marine" on the label. For instance I am currently re-bedding some gear on the deck and I'm using DAP 18810 polyurethane to do it with. The 18810 is very user friendly, cures in just about the perfect amount of time (everything else tends to be too fast or too slow), has a projected lifespan of fifty years, and a price that makes a person on a budget smile at less than $4 where I picked it up... (It might have been on sale).

Of course, the ubiquitous Marine stuff that does the exact same job (though not quite as well) is a whole lot more expensive, works OK, but does have a whole bunch of shelf life issues and is not nearly as user friendly... Plus it costs an arm and a leg ($21 here in the sunny Caribbean) so not exactly destined to bring a smile to someone on a tight budget.

Another job on my list is to replace the vinyl lettering on the starboard side of the boat that got seriously abraded along with the paint when we lost the mast... As it happens, in today's mailbox was the newest e-rag Cruising Compass (all pimping all the time) who had one of those non-articles (WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: Design and Install Your Own Graphic with Name My Boat) which reminded me I needed to get some replacement vinyl lettering for "So It Goes"...

Now, the site Cruising Compass was pimping does "So It Goes" in vinyl lettering in 6" for $14 (so $28 total for both sides of the boat) which is not all that bad for a company that has the word "boat" in its name and you could do a lot worse price-wise. Since I was curious I checked out Boat US who does the same "So It Goes" for $44.95 or $67.43 both sides of the boat... Can you say "OUCH"?

The place we will be ordering our new lettering from is SignShopping.com which does a twofer price for $19.95 for anything up to 25 characters. They did our current lettering and it is excellent...

Watch the pennies and the dollars take care of themselves!

Listening to the Dixie Chicks

So it goes...

rant warning...

Over at Dispatches from the Middle River, they point out it's about time to light the torches, I don't know about you but if I were in the vicinity of San Diego I'd make a point of going here, and fat just got fatter...

Now, if you will excuse me, I feel a rant coming on...

I noticed a thread on a forum I look at from time to time and someone asked about electric propulsion. The question was simply wondering who else was doing the electric propulsion thing to compare notes, but it is more than likely it will devolve into an ongoing discussion by folk with no actual experience with electric propulsion both pro and con but lots and lots of opinions.

This whole sailing gig is hard enough for a lot of people just getting into it without having to add a lot of baseless conjecture, opinions without any real world experience to back them up, or tales from a guy who heard it from a another guy who heard from a dude who might have actually seen an electric drive muddying the water...

Ya think?

So if you don't actually have experience with something like electric propulsion, electronic antifouling, or whatever, don't give advice and leave your snarky comments at the door... STFU is not a bad mantra and you'll find that folks will often equate the process with wisdom.

Listening to Joe Walsh

So it goes...

This ain't no country song...

Odda Sea now has cold beer (what better time to drop by?), sawdust apparently has uses other than bulking out processed food that might be of interest to folks cruising less than tropic waters, and a John Sayles film to look forward to...

The weather report said sunny and no rain today, so hardly surprising that it is overcast with showers... Put not your trust in weather gurus! Anyway, the plan was to do some work that requires things to be dry so I'm kind of flailing about putting the "To Do" list in some sort of order that makes sense.

Now here is a question... How many of you feel the need to put a bunch of underwater lights below the waterline of your boat to create an "ambiance" (whatever the hell that means)?

The reason I ask, is being a"gear blog" I seem to get a zillion press releases pimping said seriously expensive underwater lighting systems so someone thinks the idea is of some merit (at least in separating boatfolk from their bank accounts)...

The scary thing is there is no shortage of needful stuff they could be selling us... Better more affordable solar panels and wind generators, zombie alarms, products that hold up in a marine environment, a trailing log or other non-electronic navigation tools, but no, my press release folder is brim full of boat soap and the marine equivalent of a rednecks dream come true... lighted wheel wells!

Which leaves me to believe that the marine industry has simply tapped out and run out of ideas so has had to resort to recycling really bad ideas from other venues... Pet rocks and mood rings here we come!

Listening to Jackson Taylor and the Sinners

So it goes...

If I'm that far gone there's nowhere left to go...

Crooks and Liars makes a point about citizen journalism, Teresa at Sailing Simplicity coins a term, and for those of us of a certain age there is hope over at Surfers over 50...

It's Sunday, otherwise known as waffle day here aboard "So It Goes" and as it happens the waffle on the menu today is blueberry. I happen to like waffles so the day so far is finest kind!

I recently came across a very, very cool boat design that I hope to be talking about in some detail in the very near future but, I'll give you a hint, and tell you that it is very much akin to Phil Bolger's great Jessie Cooper design (our first Loose Moose was a Jessie Cooper) fulfills the same design brief (more or less) and seriously rocks...

Now, if you'll excuse me, coffee and waffles are waiting...

Listening to some more Pousette-Dart Band

A little dab will do you...

Liz Clark of the CAL 40 "Swell" is a little under the weather (can you spell c-i-g-u-a-t-e-r-a?), are you eating sawdust as part of your meals, and some interesting space technology from NASA that may be of future interest for folks with composting heads...

A couple of readers have written to point out that my use of carbon fiber for various projects flies in the face of doing stuff on the cheap and is something of a contradiction to my simplicity mantra...

Sadly, carbon (and its kissing cousin Kevlar) get something of a bad rap in terms of expense for a variety of reasons which I could go into detail on but you'd find that boring (I know I do) so let's just say, used with a modicum of cunning, carbon and Kevlar can be cheaper than various all-glass laminates...

The thing that makes this possible with carbon, Kevlar and other hybrids is that since they have engineering properties that allow you to use less product to reach a desired strength level, stiffness, or other desired traits, hey presto you save money.

Not rocket science at all...

For instance, the design for the new self-steering gear (BUFORD) I have been working on uses both carbon and Kevlar to allow me to be able to (hopefully the jury's still out) reach the target budget of less than $350 total materials and outside labor cost. If I were not using some carbon/Kevlar, I'd have to resort to some welding (expensive outside labor) and pricey off-the-shelf components. Plus, the added bonus is a little carbon and Kevlar added to the mix makes it easier for a home builder to build it and saves a big chunk of weight, which is no bad thing when you are bolting something to your transom...

Listening to John Stewart

So it goes...

Shit does, after all, happen...

These days it is not just fans of "Firefly" that see the need to learn some Chinese, banks don't just get bail outs they're also caring, and Captain Fogg is even more depressed about things than I am (can you imagine?)...

Currently the cruising cyberworld is buzzing about a couple who are stranded someplace because the engine died on their sailboat and apparently they don't have the sailing chops to actually sail where they want to go.

Scary...

Every once in awhile when I see that the hate mail has slowed down to a trickle, I have the insane urge to write something about how folks sailing boats should have the skills set to be able to pick up a mooring, sail to windward to get into an anchorage or, just possibly, be able to figure out where they are if their electronics on board have a catastrophic clusterfuck. After all, shit does happen from time to time, but my pointing it out really does seem to piss people off...

The thing is, I applaud the couple in question because they have the courage to voice the fact that they simply are not prepared to go to sea. Hopefully this experience will also be the sort of thing that makes a few people think that spending a few days learning to actually sail and sorting out what is actually needful to go cruising is no bad thing...

Maybe someone will even give this couple a copy of "Sea-Steading" which, if they had actually taken the time to read it or something of similar ilk, they would not find themselves stranded...

Listening to Taj Mahal

So it goes...

A sad story and some boat projects it inspires...

Moldy chum gets political and gives an award, a history lesson from Crooks and Liars, and Lectronic Latitude tells a sad story...

As someone who has lost a boat myself, I found the story in Lectronic Latitude about the loss of Ka-Em-Te deeply depressing and something of a wake up call where "So It Goes" is concerned.

In most modern boats, rudders are something of a weak point with the current fashion being trusting to good luck rather than designing rudders to actually survive serious contact with something other than water... You know, the whistling as you walk through a graveyard approach.

While "So It Goes" (a CAL 34 for those new to Boat Bits) has an unsupported rudder without a skeg...

... it could be a lot worse than many of the same ilk. Luckily the larger-than-many fin keel does a pretty good job of protecting the rudder from things that go bump in the night. The fairly solid tube for the rudder stock is dead simple (no bearings or stuffing boxes to leak or be compromised in a collision) and if we were to hit something hard the chances are that the rudder would fail before the hull/rudder tube.

I've spent a lot of time crawling around in boats looking at steering systems and the Cal is as bombproof as you can get without resorting to a rudder protected by a full keel or some serious skeg in the mix...

Now, I have actually considered adding a small skeg from time to time and come the next haul out may actually do it. If for no other reason, it would make the chance of snagging fish traps a kiss less likely with the bonus of, just maybe, keeping things that go bump in the night a bit less catastrophic...

Another improvement to the system would be the addition to the laminate structure around the rudder tube, the actual rudder tube and the area area below the cockpit and the hull area around it... Since I have a couple of meters of carbon biaxial cloth taking up space in a locker just waiting for a project, it is something of a no-brainer and just got moved way up the list on things that need to be done.

The other project to improve the situation is already in progress and this involves switching from our servo-pendulum (Atoms) self steering back to an auxiliary rudder system (we used to have an RVG) which would be capable of working as an emergency rudder if the rudder were to be lost entirely.

Since the common sense of both belt and braces is not lost on me, we also have the various components to fabricate a rudder just in case whatever takes off our rudder also takes off the self-steering gear.

Just something to think about if you intend to sail further offshore than you care to swim back from...

Listening to White Rabbits

So it goes...

a quick riff on motivation...

SFSignal has everything you need to know (or more) about SteamPunk, a sensible and cheap bug screen at Small Boat Projects, and a guy driving a ferry (who pees into a cup on a regular basis) runs into a reef/island (can you say freaky?)...

Now that the aftermath of July 4th is a rather hazy memory of red hot dogs, macaroni salad and an uncontrollable urge to make things go "BOOM", it is back to business as usual aboard the good ship Boat Bits sailing the cyber seas... Sadly, business as usual is me sitting at the computer while I have my second cup of coffee trying to figure out something to write.

I write for a lot of reasons, but some days it's hard to get to it... Not unlike boat projects and boat building. The thing is if I sit down and start typing something almost always takes form and, while the resulting prose may be less than I'd hoped for, something does wind up getting written. I should also add, that as a serious caffeine junky, I don't get my third cup of coffee until the blog gets posted (the coffee being guarded by attack cats Buffy and Willow who like nothing better in the morning than some arterial bleeding mayhem) so you might say I'm kinda motivated.

The thing with boatbuilding and boat projects is that, in these modern times, motivation is in somewhat short supply. It's also no secret that folks of lesser motivation than you will become unhappy or angry if you insist in actually building your boat or doing major projects in a timely manner. As a veteran of many boatyards and projects I have come to believe that there are two kinds of people in boatyards, those who do get things done and those who don't and get pissed off at those who do...

When we were building our Wharram Tiki 31,way back when in Port Marly, I had the luck of being able to build a boat by myself on an island on the Seine with no real distractions. The downside is while we had no real distractions we also had no electricity so all of the boat was made with hand tools. I still have the calluses to prove it...

Loose Moose (our Bolger Jessie Cooper) was built in a hanger at the Charles de Gaulle airport alongside nine other builders who seemed somewhat scandalized that we actually intended to finish our boat and go sailing in that century... I know it is not a good thing and I'm not proud of it, but the last couple of months building the first Loose Moose was less about boatbuilding or going sailing but the motivation of pissing off people who said it was impossible to build a 26-foot cruising boat in less than six months...

When push comes to shove, you take your motivation where and how you can get it...

Listening to Leslie and the Badgers

So it goes...

Too many holes...

Some time back I recall reading about the sinking of a boat in Lectronic Latitude where the couple aboard had a leak but could not find the source...

Most folks wanting to cruise tend to be obsessed with the idea of storms and collisions but hardly break a sweat over such things as fire aboard or the possibility that you could lose your boat to a badly installed toilet or the failure of a bit of hose. Actually fire or sinking due to simple plumbing problems are far more likely to sink your boat than a storm or being rundown by a ship.

You might want to keep that in mind...

On "So It Goes" we have two thruhull seacocks for plumbing (one unused but kept simply because I may get around to building that watermaker one of these days the other is a sink drain) and four cockpit drains that are badly designed and are on the must redo in a sensible manner ASAP list. Of course, compared to a "modern yacht" we have hardly any holes in the boat to inspect if we happen to notice that our floorboards are floating around the galley which some might (I certainly do) consider a real advantage over the numerous seacocks and thruhulls that most boats sport these days.

Worse, if having thirty-three holes drilled into your boat is not bad enough, for ease of building and cosmetic reasons many of these thruhulls are placed in locations that are only accessible by very tiny contortionists or folks heavily into Kundalini yoga or, even worse, simply walled off behind stuff and forgotten.

In the consumer yachting world the answer to the problem of all those holes in the boat is selling you alarms and sophisticated systems that phone up your iPhone to tell you that you are sinking... Now, I'll admit that the idea of an alarm that calls me up in the middle of the night to let me know that I'm sinking is kinda cool (especially if it were to use Majel Barret's silken voice but with my luck it would more likely be Robby the Robot) but it hardly addresses the fact that you are... ummm.... SINKING!

Pumps, of course, make a lot of sense (I happen to be partial to the Henderson MK5 and have several) but they do not address the problem at its source and stop the flow of water in...

There are some cool foam plugs these days as well as the old standby wooden ones to stop up a hole/thruhull when needful but how do you use one when you can't reach behind the 6KW genset whose seacock may be the source of the water ingress?

So here is a quick and handy test to see if you have a too complicated (spelled unsafe) boat...

1. How many seacocks and thruhulls do you have?

2. Do you know where they all are and how to get to them in a hurry?

If the answers to #1 and #2 requires ponderation of any sort exceeding ten seconds you have too many holes in your boat.

Listening to the always great Pousette-Dart Band

So it goes...

The sound you hear is that of the founding fathers spinning like tops...

Well it is the 4th of July...

A very important day in a country founded by economic migrants, progressives, radicals, and revolutionaries who would hardly recognize today's US of A (or get through a TSA screening to visit)...

Have a happy 4th and if you are of the dumb and dangerous ilk, here's hoping you end the day with as many fingers as you started with...

Listening to Toadsuck Symphony

So it goes...

Safe, sane, and happy camping...

Some thoughts on America's big movie weekend, an interesting theory on wrinkled fingers, and something for the "dumb and dangerous" crowd...

Can't say that I'm not doing my part in cleaning up the gene pool!

Speaking of the gene pool, I'm sure that a few Boat Bits readers noticed that there was one budget in the Latitude 38 article that, shall we say, was the sort of thing that normally makes me want to get together a bunch of peasants, a selection of pitchforks, torches, and get to doing some serious mayhem...

Ah, I see the Amel folks got up your nose as well!

Sure, the arrogance displayed in the quote that "Cruising can certainly be done for less, but not in comfort" when referring to a yearly cruising budget of $53,154.93 (which is more than most cheapseats Boat Bits readers have invested in their boats) is somewhat galling, but the disrespect it shows to all those people on boats who are not fortunate enough to be able to afford to nearly rough it on a $53,154.93 budget is simply nuts... Anyone cruising on less is simply dismissed as campers.

Why nuts? Because there are hundreds of couples and families cruising in comfort and style on a fraction of that. Happy campers every one!

Well, you know what?  I'd much rather be a camper than an a...

To paraphrase the late but still great James Brown... Say it loud, say it proud!

That said, this sort of disrespect is part and parcel to the new future that seems to be coming our way like a juggernaut. A tough love world of the poor and the rich and the rich getting richer by stealing from the poor...

Such is the world at anchor on the 4th of July weekend 2011...

Listening to the words of Bruce Springsteen

So it goes...

Go and download this NOW!

The new Latitude 38 is available for download and as always it's a great read...

Of special note is the article on cruising budgets and even more cruising budget content in their letters section. Really good stuff!

Why I avoid guys like me...

I'll be honest, given the chance to talk with someone just getting in to sailing, boat building, and cruising or someone with a lot of years of experience... I'd rather talk to the newbie.

Newbies do have, shall we say, a lot less baggage then someone who has been involved with the sailing gig for any length of time. Sure, those new to things in "Cruiserland" and the mayhem that is boatbuilding ask a lot of dumb questions and make bonehead mistakes, but they also ask new and interesting questions from time to time and those are often things of genius. As far as bonehead mistakes go, without failure there is never any progress. The big difference in simple form is newbies often ask "why" and "what if" while the older establishment can't think past words like "because" and "it's impossible"...

The thing is, we'd all be a lot better off if we got past the same old same and put ourselves into that newbie mindset where failure is an acceptable possibility and do something interesting in the process.
 
Listening to Bonnie and the Beard

So it goes...