Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
Seems about right, a question for today, and in the "Just when you thought it was all back to normal" department...
Voile Magazine has an excellent article covering two identical sailboats with different propulsion systems.
Which, in my opinion, is well worth dusting off the Google translate if you don't happen to speak French.
Listening to Monsieur Periné
So it goes...
Something for the "When they say it out loud you really should believe them" files, as dumb as a bag of hammers, and how you can help Ukraine...
Checking out Surplus Center this morning, a great resource, their engine section impressed me. While their diesel offerings were nil, they had quite a few very interesting four-stroke gasoline engines for not a lot of money.
Like this Subaru 14HP for $299.95.
Compared to a diesel engine of the same quality, that's a lot of bang for the buck.
Of course, I'd be the last person to advise anyone to put a gasoline engine in their boat as gasoline can go boom. That said, I wonder why designers have not used such an engine in a way that was on the boat rather than in the boat.
Off hand, I can think of a few ways that would be fairly non-problematic and safe. While retrofitting something like a CAL 34 would be a chore, but what if an engine like this was an integral part of a new design? It could be a super simple way to go.
Of course, the designer would
have to be creative, but from where I sit that's where
design gets interesting.
Worth thinking about.
Listening to Silvana Estrada
So it goes...Badtux reflecting on life during a plague, some timely provisioning/cooking advice, and in the "Pick a good anchorage because you may be there for a while" department...
Here's an impressive and very cool little car.
With a 5.5 kWh battery and 6 kW engine. The microcar has a range of 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) on a single charge...
Which is pretty much my wishlist for what I want in an electric propulsion system for a cruising sailboat....comes with a battery that can be powered from a standard electrical socket in just three hours.
A conundrum of note, an animated version of the Mueller report, and something regarding empathy of interest...
Somewhat outside the box.
Arens Motors in Germany has a truly interesting marine motor that, I expect, a lot of people are going to be looking at very seriously.
Myself very much included.
Listening to Akiko Yano
So it goes...
Something worth reading, a point well taken well taken, and in the "If it ain't that time of year again" department...
The word for today is h-y-d-r-o-g-e-n.
Sounds kind of cool. That said, It's been pointed out from a keen eyed reader that...
"An engine’s waste heat cannot produce hydrogen from water. It can only produce steam: a change of state. The production of free hydrogen from water molecules requires requires electricity or a chemical reaction to overcome the chemical bonds holding the H2O molecule together. It’s not easy to do. Most water molecules are older than the earth; they don’t break apart easily. Making a gas engine run on hydrogen is a cakewalk. Having it make its own fuel from water via waste heat is snake oil."
A visual aid to the madness, another threat to democracy, and the question I ask myself everyday...
I was persusing AliBaba the other day and came across a bunch of dirt cheap diesel engines .
Seriously cheap like this one.
Connecting the dots, a not so veiled threat, and in the "so much for unanimously" department...
The L (as in Lapworth) 36 website has a great (over 900) collection of marine gear manuals you might find needful.
Listening to an excellent 70's playlist
So it goes...
A bit of copyright hi-jinks, a question of some import, and this sure smells fishy...
So, the outboard motor now starts on the first pull, shifts gears without issues, and purrs like a kitten.
Me, well my back has issues, I have a finger that may be broken, and enough stress points to qualify for a pre-existing conditions refusal of insurance. Is working on your boats propulsion system not a fun and frolicsome grand endeavour?
Still, to be truthful, the satisfaction of bringing an engine back from the dead really is kinda nice. Something you might want to remember is that working on your own boat and its systems is not just about saving some money.
In the process of the two-hour-job-that took-three-days debacle I kept wishing that the late but still great John Muir had written a book about outboard repair...
Fact is, I have three books on outboard motor repair and none of them really touched on the how-to of the various issues that needed fixing or gave me the insight to sort out a fix on my own. That works out to nearly $75 bucks of paper taking up space on my book shelves that should be able to pull their weight but just don't seem to.
The words "pretty much useless" do come to mind though...
What did help was the voice in my head telling me how would John Muir might approach the current problems and what would he do to fix it.
The stupid it burns, somewhat nervous making (if not just downright idiocy), and in the "The goal is to make us see ourselves as THEM" department...
Shift rod all sorted out now so the remaining bit on the list is a simple takedown and clean of the carb...
Oops, did I really just say simple?
Oh shit.
Listening to a conundrum of covers
So it goes...
Speaking ill of the dead, a well made point, and regarding the goat/solar/water connection...
Yesterday was a bad day.
I got up with a list of things I needed to do. Among this too long list was check out the outboard and do its routine maintenance.
Maybe it's a good time to mention I really, really hate doing anything that involves internal combustion engines.
So, of course, there were problems.
The pull cord would not pull.
Something of a conundrum that. But with no small amount of "Duhs" and "WTFs" I managed to find the cause and the cord now pulls with ease.
The engine did not want to start. So I had to deal with the whole "Why is my engine not starting?" checklist and sort that out.
In the process of getting the engine to start and then run it for a while, I noticed that the engine did not want to stay in neutral and kept jumping, of its own accord, into either forward or reverse.
Can you spell B-U-M-M-E-R ?
Consulting my book on outboard mechanics I quickly sussed out the issue was that I had to adjust the shift rod...
How hard could that be? Seriously, loosen a nut adjust said rod, and hey presto it's a done job.
Did I mention I really, really hate working on internal combustion motors?
I'll fast forward to a whole bunch of hours later with an engine that still seems to want to be in any gear but neutral, a backache of epic proportions, bruised knuckles, and a great desire to see just how far I can fling said internal combustion engine into the bay.
Yes dear reader, I'm well aware that throwing an outboard into the bay would be polluting and bad. Which does not negate my desire to see the infernal piece of marine hardware sleep with the fishes. That said, I agree that a serious dose of sledgehammer and an unmarked grave in the local landfill would be far less polluting...
Which brings us to today's to do list beginning with fix the outboard. Not looking forward to it at all. Nope not my idea of fun in any shape or form.
So, at the end of today, I expect to sort out what little cunning trick or hack is needed to actually make the spawn of hell shift like it should, I'll have added another talent to my skill set, and taken comfort in that what does not kill us makes us stronger two-step.
Well that, or I may just become another case of spontaneous combustion brought on by maxed out frustration with internal combustion engines.
Listening to some Pete Townshend covers
So it goes...
Some very needful reading, a good reason to buy stuff somewhere else, and just the sort of thing to read during Christmas week...
Lately I've been receiving a lot of email with links and suchlike sent by folks as proof that it takes a LOT OF MONEY to fix your boat or to cruise and today was no exception.
Today's example (you can read it here) concerned a couple with a Cape Dory 33 whose engine was toast and the local diesel repair guy had just given them an estimate for $6,741.47 ($2903.27 parts + $3270 labor + tax & shipping). It was a rather depressing story.
The guy sharing the link to the story said it was proof positive that boats/cruising was very expensive and how I was wrong about budgets and suchlike...
OK.
So yeah, it does cost money to fix stuff and shit happens.
That said, while I don't think the couple with the engine problems are doing anything wrong, their spending and budget is not the only path available to them...
For instance, if you can work and maintain the systems you have on your boat you can dispense with that rather large labor charge and, looking over the prices on parts, you could save a whole lot of money there as well with a little educated effort but the important lesson that comes to mind is that old but still valid observation...
About that Columbus dude, a handy primer on political correctness, and some needful reading about that Paul Theroux editorial...
Webb Chiles making a fair amount of sense over on his blog!
"I have sailed more engineless miles than some who have built their reputations and made a religion of it. I had EGREGIOUS built without an engine. CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE did not have one. The diesel on RESURGAM died on the Caribbean side of Panama and we sailed all the way to Australia before we replaced it. I’ve never powered more than an hour here and there at sea, and then usually only to stabilize a boat being thrown about in leftover seas with no wind. That you have to power through the doldrums is simply not true. I’ve crossed the Equator now, I think, thirteen times without motoring. If you are a sailor and have a boat that sails well, you only need an engine for the last hundred yards/meters in harbors that are set up with the expectation that all boats are powered."
Could this be a trend (I do frelling hope so), the word heinous does comes to mind, and it's not like people weren't warning us...
I'll be honest... I'm not really in a good mood.
My generator has a carburetor issue. Normally no biggie and the usual fix is to take down the carb clean it, put it back together, and it's taken care of. Sometimes it might take a couple tries to get it right. Well, I'm past a dozen and the problem keeps coming back...
You can see how that might affect my current "fun" factor.
I really do need to get a better fuel filter for the generator as the in-line one that is stock is obviously not up to the current state of Caribbean gas. The problem is that no one makes a decent filter that is small enough to work with a small generator.
So far, the only one that actually makes sense in scale/size is this Racor...
The mind boggles, the price of what you eat, and I rest my case...
Yesterday, since I could not get into the glassing project, it wound up being a take-the-generator-apart-clean-the-carburetor-put-it-back-together sort of day.
On the plus side... After doing it a half dozen times I've gotten real fast at the job and, as it happens, I may have just sorted out the microscopic bit of gunk that has been making the motor (and me) so unhappy.
Maybe...
Which is the bummer about fuel issues in paradisaical places as problems are just a fact of life and you either have to live with it or opt out like the Pardeys did and eschew all things internal combustion.
Fact is, while I'm not hot on working on generators and suchlike, sitting in my cockpit listening to music while I dismantle engines and put them back together in the Caribbean trumps working a 9-5 job any way you figure.
Listening to Lucinda Williams
So it goes...
The real question is just how many balls can we continue to juggle before it all goes FUBAR, reason number 1399 why Florida is not on my "any place I want to be" list, and a pretty good reason to brush up on your 'unfamiliar fallback navigation methods such as chart, compass and visual bearings'...
It's one of those tear down a carburetor repeatedly until it starts working properly kind of day... Fun stuff!
Listening to Marah
So it goes...
This just might make your head explode, hardly a surprise, and folks keep telling me things are looking up but not so much the numbers...
Some times change is hard and you find yourself jumping through all sorts of hoops to avoid the reality of the need/want voice that is whispering in your ear...
I'm pretty sure that anyone who has been reading this blog knows I'm a huge booster of the whole electric propulsion bandwagon. Fact is, I'm pretty sure I've been promoting and using electric propulsion even before the band got their wagon (so to speak). So, it might surprise you that I'm in the process of removing a perfectly good electric propulsion system on "So It Goes" in favor of a more engine-less approach.
Our current Electric Yacht system has worked flawlessly. It does everything a propulsion system should, has no real maintenance costs or issues, pretty much keeps itself charged through regeneration, and provides plenty of power when needed. What's not to like?
Liking my system, actually, is a big part of the problem. It is such an awesome piece of gear that even though I really don't use it, I want to keep it because not too many things on a boat work so well. As a result, I'm just that little bit reluctant to follow my rule that, if it's on the boat and I'm not using it, it should be gone.
We sail and never make passages under power. Which, as it happens, is not what I think YOU should do but it is what makes us happy. The downside of that is from time to time we find ourselves sitting with no wind... waiting and, I would be dishonest if I did not say that I hate sitting waiting for wind but since I actually hate motoring more it is the lesser evil. Then again we're not in any sort of a hurry to get anywhere so it is a lot easier for us to roll with the flow than for some.
When we have very little wind I actually enjoy it because it's a great game keeping the momentum going following the tiniest of wind shifts. It's good practice because it teaches you how to really sail with something approaching finesse and, dare I say it, art.
Of course, the fact is, the more you sail the less you need a motor and the less you need a motor the more you sail is a spiral that not everyone understands or appreciates. Or not until one day you realize that you have not turned on your motor for over a year and all of a sudden that motor and its related baggage is just taking up space and payload that could be better used in some other way.
Now I'm pretty sure some of the diesel heads who read this might jump to the conclusion that removing our motor is somehow a failure of electric propulsion and they would be wrong. The thing is, if we had a Saab diesel installed on the boat it would be getting the same exact treatment and be looking for a new home... It's not about the type of propulsion, it is simply about the fact that we simply don't need any sort of inboard propulsion system whether it be gas/diesel/electric.
We do have a 6HP outboard we can use if/when needed and I'm in the process of planning out some 16-18 foot sweeps and oarlocks so I can row or scull if needful but that's mostly because I've always been a belt and braces kind of guy.
For the next boat, if I were to put in an inboard propulsion system, I'm 99.99% sure it would be an electric system especially if I were building it myself because then I'd be able to design in the battery bank as an integral component of the ballast which would seriously rock... That said, I'm pretty sure it still would not get used very much.
Listening to David Bowie
So it goes...
Forty years and running, on how the new argument is as bad as the old one, and some rather depressing pictures of a ships graveyard...
Over at Cruisers Forum there's a thread about a sailboat with engine problems in the Bahamas needing to be towed back to Florida and various legal hassles. As things go, I came across that thread just after reading about an engineless Badger over at the Junk Rig Association website that had just completed a circumnavigation...
5th March 2013 - Alan Martienssen and engine-less Benford Dory 34 Zebedee (see the magazine cover above) have just completed their circumnavigation by arriving at Balboa after transiting the Panama Canal using a borrowed outboard. There's more about Zebedee here.
