Coconut Cannon Ball Damage to Boat

I like the coconut palms down here in Florida. As a kid I thought that all palms had coconuts. We have one coconut palm and the rest of the palms are called cabbage palms (I think). These are pretty palms but they have quarter size palm nuts instead of coconuts. They fall by the hundreds when are mature and create a huge mess. They can stain the boat fiberglass if they are not cleaned off. I like the coconut palm better. 

When a sudden storm came up a cannon ball size coconut blew off the tree and hit the bow of my boat. It made a impact mark on the boat with spider cracks or stress cracks in the gelcoat, radiating out from the impact point. I did not like the coconut palm that well after that.

It looked like the boat had been hit by a cannon ball. When I called the insurance company about it, the agent only heard “boat damage by cannon ball”. He told me to find out what it might cost to repair the crazing damage. A day or so later an insurance man came out to see the “cannon ball damage”. I would like to have seen the underwriters face when he read that report and saw the damage photo. 

Repairing the crazing to the fiberglass is not a hard job, and I could do it myself. The insurance man said that it might be best to do the repair myself if I could, so the insurance price would not go up. The cost of supplies to repair the damage was much less than my deductible anyway. I would do it myself.

A year or so passed and the person taking care of my insurance changed. One day out of the blue, I got a call from the new agent about the boat coverage. He said he was going over my file and he found a note that the boat had received cannon ball damage, but there was no follow up information on the insedent. I told him my boat had been attacked by a vicious coconut tree, like the apple trees did in the Wizard of Oz, but it pitched coconuts at the boat and me. The boat and I had gotten away with only minor damage and that I repaired it myself, so I did not put in a damage claim. There was silence on the phone for about 15 to 20 seconds and then he said “you are kidding, right”. That was the last I hear about it from the insurance company.

Is E10 and E15 Ethanol-Enhanced Fuel Safe for Marine Engines

There has been a lot of talk about ethanol-enhanced gasoline or gasohol being bad for marine engines. The big marine engine manufactures OK’s the use of E10 fuel in their engines, but not E15. 

E10 Ethanol-Enhanced Gasoline is available at most gas stations and some stations have E15. The E10 fuel has up to 10% by volume of ethanol and E15 has up to 15%. The E15 is safe to use in some newer cars and trucks. E15 IS NOT SAFE TO USE IN MARINE MOTORS AND IT IS ILLEGAL TO USE IT IN THEM.

Fresh E10 is safe and can be used in marine motors. All gasoline loses octane as it ages. Tests by Mercury Outboard found that E10 loses octane at the same rate as regular gasoline. The drop of octane in E10 would only cause a minor loss in power to the engine and should cause no engine problem.

It is recommended that the E10 gasoline be kept as fresh as possible.  If the fuel is to be stored and if an engine is going to be idle for a long period of time, a fuel stabilizer ---an antioxidant should be added to the fuel. A stabilizer reduces octane loss and reduces phase-separation of the fuel

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It is NOT recommended to leave a tank almost empty. The excess air in the tank and condensation of water on the inside of the tank can increase the chance of phase-separation of the E10 fuel that is in the tank. Phase-separation is when the ethanol and water combine and then separate from the gasoline. The water-ethanol mixture is highly corrosive and will damage engines. Because the gas floats on it, it is the first thing that is pulled through the engine, and it can damage the engine.

If phase- separation is suspected it is best to drain the tank and fuel line and replace the fuel.

Fuel additives will not make fuel that has phase-separation safe to use. The fuel should be replaced.

E10 is safe to use in marine engines. E15 is not safe to use in marine engines and it is not legal to be sold for marine use, or for ATV’s. If you use fresh E10 fuel you need not worry. You do need to use stabilizers when and if the fuel is stored.  If phase-separation is suspected do not use the fuel.

                           E10 is OK for marine engines but E15  IN NOT SAFE to use.

My Wife's Tool Box

My wife loves tools almost as much as I do. She is fascinated with them and what they will do. Her tool box has a collection of hard to find specialty tools I have given her and that she has collected herself. I found early after I met her, that if I gave her a specialty tool, I could always find it in her tool box.

I get more than one project going and misplace tools. I end up looking for them at my different projects. By giving her a set of specialty tools, I know where I can get the tool I need quickly. If I leave her tool box out and open, I remember to put her tool back when I see the box out. If I do not clean and put HER TOOL back, I regret it. It actually is a very good system. I can always find the tool I need, and she always likes it when I get her a tool for me to use.
I do have to say she likes going to a hardware store better than going to the mall. You just gotta like that in a woman. 8-)

                                                 HERS                                       his

Sailboat for Sail and Sale

Sail Boat for Sail and Sale

I have been ask to sell a friends sailboat. The owner is in the Navy and she has been stationed in Guam, and her boat is at my dock. She does not want her boat to just sit and deteriorate. She did a lot of work on the boat and the boat is in much better condition than when she got it. It’s a nice little boat, and I will try to sell it… It is a great boat for a beginner…it has everything needed to just sail it away.

The boat still has a few things to be done to her, and I will do those as I try to sell it. I just do not want to get too attached to the boat. I have three sailboats now, and you can only sail one at a time. When I work on a boat, the more attached to it I get and I work on it as if it was my boat, doing a lot of little extra things.

For example, I cleaned out one of the cockpit lockers. It was grungy so I washed it down. I cleared out two drain holes of dirt, and then lightly sanded the two wood supports that the hatch lid rested upon and gave them a coat of varnish. The inside of the hatch cover was discolored, so I painted that. This made the hatch on the other side look bad, so I cleaned and painted that storage compartment also.

The second storage area had an access panel to the battery area. I pulled the battery out, it needed charging and the battery lead wires needed new terminals, so I soldered new ones on.

Because we have 6 cats, we have an abundance of square cat litter buckets. These buckets fit nicely in boat storage lockers. I put the loose items like extra lines, tools, sponges and brushes from the locker in the buckets and then the buckets go in the locker. 

An anchor and its rope had just been dropped in the storage locker. Another cat bucket for the line with the anchor stored in it took care that snarl. I started thinking how I could make a frame from scrap PVC pipes for the storage of her life jackets and boat bumpers. I get carried away with doing stuff like this.

My boating friends love to have me work on their boat to do some “little project”. It is “ I can drop my boat off at your dock for a few days and you can take a look at _______”. They know they will get it back with _____________ fixes and _______ taken care of also. I like doing this type of stuff.

If anyone in the Ft Myers, Fl. area would like a wonderful C & C 21 foot sailboat that is fully equipped and ready to sail, E-mail me at bigwtwolf@aol.com.  The price is right, sailing instructions can be given, and even dock space can be had for her. My wife does not want me to get too attached to this boat!

Lightning Rod Sailboat

Are Sailboats lightning rods on the water?

I have 3 sailboats and two of them have been hit by lightning.  An aluminum mast with an antenna on top just pulls the lighting out of the sky. If you are out on the water the mast is the highest thing around, thus it is best target around. I think that the boat can build up a static charge with the Dacron sails flapping in the wind and this may add to its likelihood of being hit.

Electricity will flow to ground by the easiest route. It will go to ground by any way it can if there is not a good convenient path. When lightning hit my boat the first time, the tri-color light and antenna on the top of the mast just disappeared. The antenna wire down the inside of the mast melted, and the radio was fried. When I opened the radio case the electric components looked like burnt popcorn. My speed sensor was blown off the bottom of my boat. Almost all my fuses in the panel were open. I cannot remember if I had to replace the battery or not.

My boat was the only sailboat in the marina that afternoon when a sudden “sun shower” popped up. I was razzed that it was nice to have a lightning rod in the marina to protect the other boats. There was very little other damage I could find from the strike other than the electronics.  I ask around what I could do to prevent damage like this again and got no real positive feedback
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One sailor that is an electrician by trade said that a boat is always grounded by the water. A clear easy path to the water is the best protection. A very simple way to create an easy path is to attach a piece of wire cable like what the shrouds are made of, to one of the shrouds and let it trail in the water. The electrician said that boat lighting rods were a waste of money, but could get one for me if I wanted one; this was accompanied with an evil smile. The quote: “a fool and his money are soon parted” was what came to mind seeing the smile.

Depending on the size of the boat and its construction, the boat may a grounding system in the boat that connects things like bronze through hull fittings, steering cables, and other metal parts all together to provide a ground to the boat and to the water. This gives a ground plane for some electronics as well as a ground for the boat.
 

My small sailboat has PVC through hulls and no internal motor and thus no ground plain in the hull. It does have a metal drop keel. The drop keel has a safety cable attached to it that moves up and down as the keel is raised and lowered. I figure it is there in case the strap winch fails. I attached a jumper wire between this cable and the mast mounting plate assembly. This gives a direct path to ground for my boat
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Since the water you are floating on is ground and if you establish a ground line from the mast to the water the mast is the same potential as the water. When this is done the boat mast and water are of equal potential and there is now just a random chance that any point on the water has the same chance of being struck by lightning.

A wire cable to shroud and into the water is an easy and cheap way to add protection to your sailboat. It works as well as other thing you can do and it is cost effective. I have some old shroud cable and cable clamps that I can sell you for a lightning protection system if you need some (evil smile). Have a good sunny day. *-)

A Sweet Way to Kill Ants !

My wife took me to the Christmas dinner her Herb Club had this season. One of the members ask if anyone had a problem with ants. If you live in South Florida you will have an ant problem once or twice a year. Yards here can get fire ant mounds that pop up overnight. The member had all our attention at once.

She told us that if you put a sweetener with Aspartane in it on the ant trails, the ants will take it back to their colony and the colony will die. She said if you had an ant problem, try it and you could get a packet of sweetener at almost any restaurant when you go out. 

I did an internet search to see what I could learn about it. What I gleamed was that the research on the sweetener was that is safe for us to consume, and that if not safe for ants to consume. The web sight Green Families .com had a nice article. A different article hinted that body size has much to do with the effect on what consumed the sweetener. 

 

I did try it, and I have noticed a reduction of ant traffic along the ant trail I tried it on, and it has only been 6 hours. The article said it could take a few days. I want to try it on one of the fire ant hills. It would be a sweet way to get eliminate them.

Cheap As... Toilet Paper

The toilet paper that you need to use with a boat toilet must be able to breakdown easily so it will go through the boat plumbing to the holding tank and so it can be pumped out of the holding tank. The TP often is a one ply paper and is not soft and plushy like many brands of TP.

After living on board a boat for a number of years, the TP was not a big deal.  When we moved on shore to a house with a septic tank system, we did not change the TP because we figured it would be better for the septic system to breakdown the one ply TP. It was not a big deal.

When my sister came to visit us at our on shore home (She never visited us when we were on the boat) it was an experience my wife and I had not expected. We had moved into the house a few months before. The previous owner had a child, and the one bedroom had little kid curtains on the window. We had left them up, and it was our guest bedroom and we did not use it for much anyway. She took down the kid curtains, made a list of window treatments we needed to get, re arranged the bathroom at that end of the house and told us how the minimal furniture we had should be arranged. We both could hardly wait till she had to go home.

When she told me in an undiplomatic way that I did not need to bring CHEAP AS… TP home form my job for the bath room and I should buy my own TP. My wife and I were dumbfounded. When my wife told her that she had bought the TP, that it was the type we used on the boat and that it was the type recommended for septic tanks, my sister just looked at us as if we were crazy. She said that she had bought “real TP” for us and we could put what we had back on the boat.

When she comes to visit now we put “real TP” in the back bathroom for her. 8-) The guest bedroom still has no curtains, it is the “cat” room now and the cats destroy any window curtains in the room. That’s our story and we stick to it. (Thank you Cats!)

Every time we have to change a roll of TP we think of “Cheap As…TP” and smile. 8-)

I found the perfect Gift for my sister...A FISHING REEL  TP holder for REAL TP. 

Cockpit floor mats

I have a wonderful 21 foot sloop made of fiberglass. The cockpit of the craft is above the water level and water that does slosh in self-bails through the scuppers. Still, anything on the floor of the cockpit will still get wet and may sit in a puddle.  The wood schooner I built has wood slats that make its floor flat and keeps everything off the bottom of the boat and more or less dry. I thought it would be nice to have the same in my sloop. What I came up with was a wood slat mat that rolls up, is easy to clean and easy to store. 

I started with 1”x 2 x 8’ stock pine boards. Stock dimensional lumber is actually smaller than what it is sold as. It is more like ¾ “x1 ½” x 8’. My cock pit is 25” wide, so I was able to get 4 slats out of every 8’ board.

After cutting my slats to length, I drilled a hole 4 inches from the ends of each slat through the ¾” side of the slat. The size of the hole was just larger than the size of nylon cord that was to go through them. I made a wood mat by first threading the cord through the hole in the first board and tying a knot so it would not pull back through. Then I tied a second knot on the other side of the hole.  Next, you thread the long string end through the next hole and tie a knot. By stringing the slats together with a knot between each slat you can make a flexible wood mat as long as you need it to be. When you get the length you need, run the cord to the other side of the mat and tie them together in the same knot slat knot way but going in the reverse direction. You end up with a wood mat that can be rolled up.

The cock pit matt rolls in to place when you are ready to go out. The wood mats look nice, keep things off the floor, let’s water run through to the scuppers, and is easy on the feet. Cleanup is easy with them. You just roll it up, hose it off and hang to dry. They store in the rolled up position. They look very nautical and they are cheap to make. The also make great door mats. It is unreal how much dirt they will trap and keep out of your house.

 Mats can be hosed off and hung to dry. Different sizes are easy to make. Odd shape mats can be made. This one goes in a small storage locker. 

They make good doormats also.

The mats role up for storage and they are easy on the bare feet.

Three Gift Ideas for Fisherman

Fishermen are easy to get gifts for. There is so much “stuff” to pick from and they are in all price ranges. Three gift ideas that a fisherman can use and that provide safety are a boat compass, a VHF radio and a Fish Finder. Each of these are standalone instruments, or can be used together, all have wide price ranges, and all provide safety to the boater.

A boat compass is almost a necessity. On open water there are no landmarks to tell you where north is. You can get lost when you get caught up in fishing in unfamiliar areas and are not sure which way you came in. A compass can help tell you and you do not have to admit to anyone you were lost.

A VHF radio is also an almost necessity to have. A cell phone is good, but on the water there may not be a cell tower close for a good signal. The VHF radio signals are monitored by the Coast Guard for maydays and cell phones are not. If you have a VHF radio and a GPS and they are interfaced you can have DSC (distress call) functionality. When you give a mayday call the Coast Guard gets your location from the GPS automatically. The radio lets you talk  with draw bridge attendants , other boaters, Coast Guard, and get weather updates just to mention a few.

A Fish Finder is fun and functional instrument. Most fish finders are now multifunctional instruments, not just fish finders. A basic fish finder can help locate fish, show obstacles in the water so you do not run over them, and the bottom depth. Combo GPS / Fish finders will help you find the fish as well as help with navigation. The GPS lets you store good fishing locations in the memory as well as how to get there and back home. 

I like two for items. When something is useful and provides safety, it should get a 3 star rating. The compass, the VHF radio, and a Fish Finder are all three star items.      

Cannon Want

I saw on the news last night about someone shooting a cannon ball through a neighbor’s house. It went clear through the house, but they did not say where it landed after that. There was some good photos of the holes it made.

As a kid I always liked pirates and buccaneers. The movies I liked were ones with the swashbuckling hero’s and ones that had cannons in them. When I was in high school, my family moved out of town to a farm house in the country. Jeff, a school classmate lived just down the road and we became school bus riding friends and buddies. One afternoon he invited me over to fire a black powder, cap and ball pistol, his dad had given him. I was hooked on the smoke and noise and smell with just one shot.  Jeff’s dad ran a hardware store that had all the stuff that was needed, and I wanted one. My dad said NO WAY; I did not need or have a use for one. He was right, but I still wanted one. To work around it, I bought the supplies and Jeff and I used his pistol.

After I got a boat, I wanted to have a cannon on it, just in case I ran in to pirates. 8-) It was just a thought that jumped in and out of my head off and on for years. Every time there was a pirate festival or event I would get the Cannon Want. When I lived in Key West I saw a small cannon that was about 20 inches long at a cafe and fell in love with it. Now it was my wife that said NO WAY! Her point was it was too heavy for the boat.  She was right about that.

I took pictures of the cannon and tried to make a replica of it. It was OK but it did not look right up close and it did not fire. I still wanted a cannon.

After I built our schooner I got the Cannon Want again after a pirate festival in Ft Myers Fl. A cannon would really look good on the boat at the next pirate festival. That little evil idea floated in my head for weeks. I went to the net and found cannons are not cheap but could be had. I found a fully functional 1/10^th scale, brass 24 pounder naval canon kit that was affordable. 

I bought it and put it together. It is one attractive cannon. The cannon looks nice on the boat. There is no way I would fire it. The cannon is not much bigger than the cap and ball pistol I shot as a kid and that had a wonderful kick to it. To tie the cannon down and the fire hazard to the wood and the sails is something I would not even want to contend with. It does look impressive.

I have thought about a larger yard cannon that would fire golf balls, but my wife said NO WAY to that also.  It would drive the head of our neighborhood watch guy and our next door neighbor crazy, so there still may be a chance for that. 8-) 

Here is the address about the cannon ball shot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070977/Mythbusters-crew-shoots-cannonball-HOUSE-van-stunt-goes-terribly-wrong.html

The Cannon looks great on the boat, and it could shoot 1/2 inch musket balls.

Extra Spring left over after it is put back together!

 When I finish working on something and I have an extra screw left over, I always try to figure out where it should have gone and if it could be important. Then there is the decision to disassemble to find where it goes or try it to see if it works OK without it. ­­

At times like these I remember a story that a co-worker told me about a ball point pen spring. The hospital where he was working at the time had a new CAT scan machine that was having a major service done to it. Two factory service men spent all day disassembling and working on the machine. They had laid out all the parts on a table like an exploded diagram in a service manual. They went home and were to reassemble the unit the next day. The co-worker said he was just looking over all the parts when he saw 3 springs that looked like springs from a ball point pen. He took apart his ball point pen and set the spring from the pen next to the other 3. All were the same. As a joke he left the spring there.

The service men returned the next day and started to re assemble the machine. Then they disassembled it again looking for where they had left the spring out. They spent over 8 hours trying to find where it came from. The co-worker figured if the hospital ever found out he would be fired and probably have to pay for the extra labor time.

The story was funny after the fact, but I have sympathy for the service guys, and it is too bad he had not been caught.

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My wife is an excellent mechanic, and when she takes something apart, she lays it out like an exploded diagram. She is up-tight till it is back together. When I see her parts all laid out I think of the spring story and get a passing thought of adding a spring or screw to the parts. If I did she would find an evil, non-fatal way of getting me back. Just thinking about it is more than enough fun.

Inexpensive boat protection...a fender board.

Keeping your boat from bouncing off a dock piling while moored can be a problem. I have seen some very creative ways of tying boat bumpers to boats and pilings to solve the problem. An easy fix is to use a simple fender board. Two boat bumpers and a board is all that is needed.

Women are more creative when it comes to tying boat bumpers to boats and docks and coming up with things to use as bumpers. Some that I have seen were elaborate and they worked to prevent boat damage.  One of the most impressive bumpers was one made from a large mesh bag filled with capped plastic bottles. There were soda bottles, water bottles, juice bottles, and any plastic bottle she could find. She called it her recycled green boat bumper.  It did work well, but the crackling crunching sound was unreal. It worked so well that the rest of us near her boat gave her bumpers so she would retire her crackling one. She was not so dumb.

To make a bumper set-up that protects the boat from a piling, all you need is two standard boat bumpers and a board.  The bumpers are attached to the boat so they would be on either side of the piling. A board that is longer than the distance between the two bumpers is hung over them so the ends of the board rest against the bumpers and the middle rests the piling. The boat can move a little forward or backward and up and down and the board rubs the piling and the board is kept off the boat by the spaced bumpers.  It is cheap and it works and it is quick to set up.

First find a board to use as a fender.  Drill two holes in the board, one at each end of the board. Tie a line through each of the holes. These lines will be used to tie the fender board to the boat. Next tie two regular boat bumpers to the boat, so they would be on either side of where the piling would rest on the boat. Now tie the fender board to the boat so it is between the piling and the boat bumpers. The boat bumpers keep the fender board away from the boat, and the piling rubs the fender board. This is a cheap and easy way to protect the boat.

Boating Safety = EPIRB…&...DSC...&...GPS

EPIRB stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. When activated manually or automatically activated upon immersion, the EPIRB sends out a distress radio signal that is picked up by the international satellite system for search and rescue (SAR). Signals are monitored worldwide and the location of the distress signal is triangulated

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EPIRBs are not cheap. They start about $250.00 and go up. A boat or boater in distress on a body of water is almost impossible to see and hard to find. The distress signal helps in locating a boat and or a boater quickly.

The GPS track and chart plotters can also help locate you in a mayday situation. When the GPS is interfaced with your VHF radio you can get DSC functionality. (a function that provides the Coast Guard  with your location and identification automatically when a mayday call is made). Any boat that goes out in open water should have a GPS/VHF radio pair with DSC functionality and a  EPIRB, if possible.

Many track and chart plotters can automatically remember the course you follow without having to input each turn manually. They can also tell you what speed you are going, the time it will take to get to the next point, estimate the time it will take to get to your end point and all sorts of other neat things. They can let you navigate at night or in fog when the visibility is low. Your VHF radio and GPS with DSC (distress call) functionality and a EPIRB are all things an off shore boater should consider having.

Buccaneers and Pirates

As a little kid I always wanted to be a pirate or a buccaneer. Sailing on tall ships in the tropics, riches of gold and silver, cannons, palm trees and beaches were all the things built into my dreams. The little kid in me still has those dreams.

Today I would rather be a buccaneer than a pirate, not a pirate and a buccaneer. A buccaneer is more romantic sounding, and is not so mean sounding, as a pirate. There is no RAT in buccaneer. I still have the romantic draw of the sea feeling. That will probably never go away. The little kid in me still enjoys the romance of being a buccaneer on the high seas. The new movies about Jack Sparrow’s adventures drew me in with just the first flap of the pirate flag.

The three books I wore the covers off of as a child were Peter Pan, Treasure Island, and 20,000 Leagues’ Under the Sea. I liked Cpt. Hook the best in Peter Pan. Long John Silver was the one in Treasure Island that was of most interest to me, and Capt. Nemo was the one in 20,000 Leagues. All were pirates of a sort, and all sea-farers. I still have what is left of the Peter Pan book. 

The movies about Caribbean Pirates and movies patterned after the O’Brian Books of the British Navy, the Master and Commander, are the movies that caught my interest the last few years. When at the library, if a book or DVD has a cover with a tall ship or boat on it, it grabs my attention. I am still just a kid at heart.

With the boyhood dreams I had you can see why I ended up with 3 sailboats, live in Florida, where there are palm trees and beaches, and buccaneers are part of the history. Most of my dreams have come true. The boats let me sail the high seas when time permits, the diving on the reefs here and the fishing are a treasure, and my tall ship is a small schooner my wife and I built. She even let me have a cannon for the boat, but she will not let me fire it. My biggest treasure is my like-minded wife.

When the wind is blowing the tree leaves and we can hear the boat rigging we both want to head for one of the boats and go. Most stuff can be put off if you can go sailing. The dog is always ready for a boat ride. We three buccaneers can head for the river to find treasure and adventure. The wind blows any troubles away for a few hours. We just need to find a real pirate treasure to make everything come out right.

My wife is a bit of a buccaneer also. She is one of the best sailors I have met. She is a plan ahead, chart sailor. She wants no surprises when we sail in to unfamiliar waters. She is the navigator. I am not bad at it, but she is great at it, so I let her do it. My method is to sail in the general direction and when you get close, look at the chart. The first time I took her out in my boat, we had a delightful sail, and on the way back, she asked if she could sail her. When we got near the marina I got ready to drop the sails so we could motor in. She said the wind was light and just right to sail her in. She brought her in to the marina under full sail, turned 90 degrees in front of the Marina Restaurant, and right to my tie up spot where she told me to drop the sails. When we went to the Restaurant SHE was applauded.

As we two buccaneers get older we still have our dreams about tall ships, and sailing the seas. It is nice to have someone to share the sunset with, while looking for our treasure together.

Harpoons,compasses, naval clocks, model boats....Just a big kid at heart.

Antique Man

When I heard that one of the young adults down the street calls me the Antique man, I was not sure if it was complement or not.  Bobby is a young man with more time on his hands and no full-time job, so he is often out and about.

He will often stop by to help me with a project I am working on, and ask questions and add suggestions. I enjoy using many of my granddads tools doing wood working projects. Granddad was a farmer in Indiana and did carpentry work for others. I have many of his old antique tools, and I enjoy using them.

Bobby had never seen tools like them and was captivated that you could do stuff without power tools. He was most captivated with some of the old wood planes I have. He had no idea you could make molding and different shapes using hand tools. He had never seen a brace and bit, a draw knife, or carving chisels that I used. I showed him some of the different tools and told him what they could be used for. His comment was you can buy most of that stuff pre made or use power tools to do it in half the time.

He needed to use the phone one afternoon; his cell phone had no signal so I let him use the phone in the work shop area. He had never seen a rotary dial phone and was not sure how to use it. The phone still works ok and it is just fine for the work shop. I must be the antique man because of the old tools, two boats that are older than he is, an old pickup truck almost as old as he is, and an old phone. I am not the oldest guy on our street so it cannot be my age. 8-)

Cat's Revenge

Our very old tom cat has a problem of not being able to use the litter box, he gets bound up. Then he gets mean and nasty to everyone and anything. The vet cringes when we have to take him in. Dr. S. has told us that giving the old cat an enema is more than dangerous.I sure she earns every penny she charges for it. *-)  She put the cat on two meds to help keep him regular. One is a mineral oil stuff you have to squirt down his throat in the morning and at night and the other is a trans-dermal glue like stuff you rub on the inside if his ear where there is no hair. 

Giving them to him is a trip. If he sees you with the stuff you have to chase him down to give them to him. For an old cat he can move and hide like a young cat. My wife has let me be the one to med the cat because I have better luck catching him. 

After medicating the cat, it takes about a half hour before the cat comes out of hiding. He then comes over and wants to be petted and does the cat rubbing thing against you. He seems to be such a good old friendly cat wanting attention. 

What I quickly found out, was when he rubbed his ear against me some of his meds transferred to me. It works better on me to clean me out than it does on the cat. I was slow to figure out what was happening. I just figured it was something I was eating. It is the cat’s perrrfict revenge to me for giving him his meds. It may be the Vets revenge also.

Kayak Dogs

We should use our kayaks more since it is good exercise, but I felt guilty leaving the dog behind. Sherlock would get frantic when I would leave him on shore or on the boat and paddle off. He would watch me till I was out of sight and then start howling. I thought the dog was too large for the kayak and would have a problem getting in.

I put our two person kayak in the water by the dock and went to get a small beverage cooler to take with me. When I got back the dog was in the kayak. I think he was smiling, and he was ready to go. He filled the front of the kayak and I had to put my cooler in my half.

I got in, and we paddled off. He loved it. He would ride looking forward, then turn around and ride looking backward. His tail would get wet on the turns, and he would slap me with his wet tail when he would wag it. He didn’t mind that he had a wet tail, he was kayaking with me.

The down side was that my wife could not come along.  The dog and I decided that she should not be left behind, so we got her a little kayak.  The new dog in the family now rides with her. We still should use the kayaks more, and it is good exercise, but now getting ready is more work.

Sherlock and I ^   Bosco and Wendy >

Crazy Kayaker

The day was just a little to gusty for me to feel safe out on my sailboat by myself. The wind blowing straight down the river and it was beautiful day to be on the water. I figured I would take the kayak out, stay near the riverbank and paddle up wind. If it was too windy for that I would fish from the dock or something.

I headed up wind, and everything went well. Paddling into the wind was not too bad, and going back should be a snap with the wind behind me. As I was paddling I remembered a fellow kayaker/sailor that said he had gotten a sail for his kayak for when he was going down wind. He had said it was fast and easy.

I had the cover that went over the cockpit of the kayak with me. I thought I could use that on the way back as a sail just to try it. I stored the paddle in its holder, put my arms in the cover to hold it out and up, and the kayak took off down wind. Just before I got to our canal I put the cover away and got the paddle out. It was neat.

 I found an old umbrella that was bigger than cockpit cover and went back to the kayak. After going up wind again I tried the umbrella on the way back. It was crazy fast and fun. You could almost ski behind the kayak. I went up and down the river three or for four more times playing with the set up. It was crazy fun. I want to check on line on sail kits for kayaks, and may have to buy one for the kayak. I am sure they would work better than the umbrella. That would make it super crazy fast and fun!    

Cabin for the Schooner.

 Our little schooner is our light wind boat. She sails best with wind that is about 8 to 10 knots, 10 knots being the upper end for a easy sail.  Above that you have to work and think too much. I made a second set of sails with booms and gaff booms for those sails that reduced the square footage by about 1/3. Changing sails and booms as a unit is fast and easier then removing and attaching sails to the booms each time. A reefed sail or a small sail on a long boom is also not pleasing to look at. Different sail sets lets us take her out more often, and the boat still looks good on the water. When there is no wind and you cannot get a shadow from the sails, you bake in the sun because there is no shade on the boat.

Last summer I had the grand idea that it would be fun to take the schooner on an overnight trip. Wendy was not overly thrilled about it. I figured we could make a tent over the front cockpit and sleep there. Her logical reasons for not doing it was: 1. No cabin

                                                                 2. No running lights

                                                                 3. No porta potty

                                                                 4.  Limited battery for trolling motor and lights

                                                                 5. Limited storage

                                                                 6. What about the Dog?

She did have some good points.  I said we would have to "ruff" it a little, and that the Dog would love it as long as he was with us. He was on my side. His tail was wagging. I lost the first round.

I started first with the No Cabin point. I made a cabin that would just fit over the front cockpit. It just nested over the lip of the cockpit so it would not move and could be easily secured to the boat, and still be removed when not wanted.

The running lights were easy. I had a pair of brass lantern oil lamps that I mounted on the new cabin. To light them I used a pair of solar powered LED yard lights from the garden center that cost only $4.00 each. Thus no oil needed, and no batteries needed. That was two down from the list and 4 to go.

The porta potty was now no problem now that there was a privacy cabin. That was one more from the list gone. I figured the Dog would always be on my side so I counted that one off also.

Now that there was a cabin, I had a place for a pair of solar panels on the cabin roof. The solar panels could help keep the batteries charged. There was space for extra batteries on each side of the trolling motor as well. Add another AGM battery, and that was good to go.

With the new cabin over the front cockpit, the fore sail was too big. No problem, I just made another little sail and boom set. Now storage of all the different boom and sail sets was getting to be a problem. Almost all the space I could hang things from on the happy hour porch was used. OK…I could just double a few of them up. Wendy would not notice.

    

I increased the usable storage area for a trip by making two sea chests. They could be filled with what was needed, be used as seats, and could be moved from one cockpit to the other as needed. A traditional sea chest is made with the bottom bigger than the top, so that they nest together when stacked, and they will not tip over as easily. The storage problem was now addressed.

I put drop down mosquito netting in the new cabin to address that problem before it came up. The feed store had Big Dog Beds on sale. Cheap padding for the front cockpit, and the Dog could use them also. 8-) 

 

The looks of the schooner had changed in a strange way. The sailing characteristic’s changed big time. Tacking now required motor assist to turn smoothly.  My wife was almost speechless when she saw the transformed boat. I think “oh my” was what she said and just looked over the boat. She can be very good at understatement at times.

We sailed the boat in cabin mode a few times, have taken it on dusk motor runs on nice evenings now that there were running lights, and we can fish from it now that there is a cabin where you can have some shade. We have not done an overnight on it.  The dog likes his two new beds just fine. 8-) Some ideas don’t work out.

The front cabin just lifts off to return the schooner to the original configuration. It is nice to have both setups though. In cabin mode it makes a unique motor launch. One thing about that boat, it always draws people’s attention. It is still more pleasing to the eye in schooner mode. In either mode it is a fun boat. 8-) The dog is still on my side...he likes it either way if he gets to go.

Cell Phone Dead Zone.

I want to get one of the new cell phones that have all those Apps in it but where we live is in a dead zone. Our cheap cell phone gets almost no signal. Anyone that stops over gets almost no signal, no matter what type of phone or what service they are on. Because of that I cannot see getting a better phone if it will not work in the house or office.

We can go outside and walk across the street and there is great signal.  All of the others in our area have great signal, we are the only ones in a dead zone. I can walk down to the dock…great signal. Across the street has great signal and the lots on either side of us has great signal. It is just our lot gets little signal.  The phone company said that we should have a great signal where we are located, and they have no explanation for it.

In some ways it is nice. If I need to give a phone number to someone or a group I do not want to talk to I give them the cell phone number. They call, the call goes to voice mail, and I can screen the call. I just have to go down to the dock to get my voice mail. The phone will ring, you can answer it, but you get about every other word from the other person.

My wife tells me that I would play on one of those new phones if I had one, so I am more productive with the one I have. 8-(   She is right, but her cell phone is still better than mine. The bottom line is mine works fine if I am out and about, and the land line works great for everything I need to do. I just want a fancy phone. I do not need it, I just want it. When the dead zone goes a way, she says I should get one, but till then, I do not need one or the extra expense that would go with it. I know she is right, BUT! 

So my Christmas wish is for no dead zone for our cell phone.

Marlin Fishing

At the end of my Freshman year in collage my Dad took my brother and I on a fishing trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He thought it might be the last trip we would go on as a family since we were all starting to go our separate ways. He was right about that. He had been told by one of his co-workers that the Sea of Cortez was one of the few places big sail fish could still be caught. We flew from Chicago to L.A., then took a prop plane to Cabo San Lucas. We stayed at the Hacienda Cabo San Lucas, and took charter boats out from there.

None of the charter boats looked in great condition, but the Hacienda man said they were OK. I remembered that almost everything cost 8 pesos. It was 8 pesos for a Coke, 8 pesos for a hat, 8 pesos for sun glasses and so on…it was always 8 pesos for whatever.

The charter Captains knew what they were doing. We each caught a Marlin, two were in the 120 to 150 lbs. range. The other was about 75 lbs. The two big ones were 12’ to 15’ long and it took about an hour to land one. You would pull them in near the boat, they would see the boat and come out of the water tail walking and then take off. It was almost heart stopping. My brother caught the small sailfish and we had that one stuffed. The cost to have that done was almost unreasonable.

When it was shipped to my Dad’s house we could not believe how big this small one my brother had  caught was.  It was over 7’ long and there was only one wall in the house it would fit on. It held a place on the wall, neatly jumping over the TV in the family room till my parents died.. Everything else in the room was dwarfed by the fish.. Dad and I loved it. It is now in my house, jumping over the piano, making the piano look small. 

My brother and sister did not want the fish after my parents died and I was living on a boat. The fish was put in storage for about 10 years. My wife thought it was wonderful when she saw it and said we would have a place for it no matter what. I think I lucked out on that also.

Boat Wiring Tips

While walking the dog down the dock to the dog walk area we passed a man replacing his old VHF radio with a new one. He said the old one had to much noise. He was removing wire nuts from the old radio leads and was going to connect his new radio the same way. I told him that wire nuts should not be used and that could be the source of the noise he was getting. I told him I would help him after the dog's needs were taken care of.

I brought back my soldering iron and crimping tools. I told him that wire nuts let moisture get in and the corrosion it can cause gives a bad connection.When the boat moves the wires move and you get noise. I like to solder the connections if I can. Soldering gives a solid corrosive resistant connection. If they can not be soldered, crimp butt connectors should be used. Both types of connections need to have heat-shrink tubing over them to protect them and then liquid electric tape painted over the ends of the tubing to seal them.

I ask him if he was going to interface his new radio with his GPS. He had not planned to and was not sure how to or why it should be. When I told him it was usually just two connections and that doing so allows DSC functionality. DSC gives the Cost Guard your location, identity and boat information automatically when you make a mayday call. We checked the owners manuals and had it interfaced in short order.

He was sure glad he had replaced the radio...the new one was almost noise free, not like his old one and he had DSC, what ever that was.

He thanked me for my help and for soldering the connections. He also gave me a dog cookie, as he called it, for the dog for dragging me past his boat at the right time.

Hot Dogs As Bait

The fish in the river are not as picky about the bait they hit on as salt water fish.  When a pair of good old boys passed our dock fishing I ask them if they had had any luck and what they were using for bait. One of the guys held up a nice large-mouth bass and said hot dogs. I smiled and gave him a thumb up.

When I told the story to a coworker and he said they would do a lot better with real bait.

The following weekend we did our regular sail on the river, trolling as we sailed along­­. We did get one hit and the fish took the lure. I had brought a hot dog along just as a joke. With nothing to lose we made two hot dog fish from the wiener.  A hook slid into it neatly and over the side it went.  We were passing the opening of an oxbow and a fish hit the wiener fish. It was a beautiful bass. I made the comment that one more like this and we would have a nice fish dinner. The second wiener fish was put on the line.  The same thing happened.  A second bass was caught.  When we got back to the dock, I had to have a photo taken to show my coworker

.

We have not had such great luck again, but hot dogs are good bait and they are cheap.

Mad Scientist Mode

My wife knows when I have a new project underway, she says I get into "Mad Scientist Mode". She knew I had a project going on when she pulled in after work.The work bench in the carport had tools and parts out, that was her first hint. The dog was happy and running back and forth from the house to the boat dock, on and off the boats, and dragging his outdoor toys about with great vigor. He gets that way when I go back and forth doing and getting stuff. Last, she says I look like the scientist in the move "Back to the Future" working on my project and blocking the rest of the world out.

 The office area has lights on almost all the time. It is on the North West side and gets the least window light of any room. It also has the most shade from trees and vines so what light that comes in the windows is soft and cool. We had talked about having all the lighting run from our 12 volt solar panel system, but I had just not gotten around to it. This morning she said the electric bill had increased and she hinted it must be the office lighting doing it. She reminded me if I was not in the office the lights need to be off.

After she left the Dog and I got inspired to take care of the problem. My first thought was to run a new line down from the attic from the main 12 volt line that runs the rest of our led lighting system I had put in a few years ago. The thought of running a new line was not a fun thing to do and the extra load on the system might be too much for it to handle. I had pulled the schooner out of the water to do a paint and varnish job, and it's solar panel system was just siting there unused. I made a frame for the panels to set in and put them outside the office in the sun. A line from the panels was run through the wall and in to  the office. The schooner's AGM battery set and the voltage regulator was neatly hidden under my desk and the panel leads attached. The office had its own solar 12 volt solar powered electric source.

The hard part of the project was the 12 volt lights. I had 12 volt compact florescent light bulbs from  my wife's boat that would replace the light bulbs in the desk lamps. ( Will replace them before we take her boat out again)  8-) Next, I made a 12 volt power strip to plug all the 12 volt lamps into. This was labeled 12 volt and each plug going into it was labeled 12 volt since they are regular 110 lamps with regular electric plugs on them. There are still a few 110 lights in the office as back-up for the 12 volt system.

When I took the wife around the side of the house to surprise her with the new solar panels,  she exclaimed, "look!"  I proudly beamed at my solar panel array, but she was turned the other direction, admiring a plant in bloom! When she turned to spot the panels, she said, "oh, that's new! You put 12 volt in the office for me!"  So all my work was not in vain and she was pleased.

The new 12 volt office lighting  looks like it will work out well. Time will tell. If it works, I will replace the schooner's system with new panels. If not, the ones I have go back to the schooner when she is launched. As it stands now, I am only out my time, and the dog and I had fun doing it.

Hard Times...Good for Sailboat Boating

I use our sailboat more than many of our friends use their motorboats. As the cost of gasoline and diesel has gone up the use of their boats has gone down. It costs too much in fuel to run their boat all day and get food, beverages, bait and ice.  They now go out every two or three weeks not every weekend.

Wind is free, sunshine is free, going out is cheap…just the cost of food, beverages, bait and ice. Those items have also gone up, but I would still use those if I did or did not go out.  It is also more pleasurable to sail with fewer motor boaters. 8-) That’s not really true, most motor boaters are respectful to sail boaters.

Most motor boaters quickly find there is just a little more to sailing than just getting on and putting up the sails. When I take a motor boater out I let him do some of the work. It gets them involved and lets them see and do some sailing, not just sit and watch. You do not ask them if they want to, you just hand them a sheet line and tell them what to do. My wife taught sailing to women and can make most women relax and not feel left out.

One thing that always is surprising to motor boaters is you can talk in a normal voice and have a conversation. On the way out I tell the women to watch what we guys are doing because they are going to sail back. They do not believe me.  When we are ready to head back Admiral Wendy takes command.  She gets the women involved and we guys get out of the way. Women for the most part are good sailors. 

A trip like this plants the sailboat seed in people’s heads. Sailing is fun, the wind is free, and a small sailboat is often more fun than a big one. Sailing can be addictive.       

Fishing from a Sailboat

 

Sail boats have been used in fishing for years, but today most use a motorboat. The motorboat has many advantages over the sailboat when fishing.  Myself, I like the advantages of the sailboat.

When fishing using a sailboat, it takes longer to get to your fishing spot, but you have a delightful sail getting there. You can troll as you go, so not all is lost in that respect. This time sailing also lets you get everything set up and ready to use when you get there, and you have time for pleasant conversation.

Sailing is ideal for trolling. The speed is slow, and the boat is quiet (not like the noise you put up with from a power boat). The ride is also (usually) much smoother than a bouncing powerboat. We run two lines out, one from each side of the stern. If we get something on the line we can heave-to (Heaving-to is holding your position in open water) until you land the fish and then continue on. Heaving-to lets you leave your sails up but not move all that much. When you reach your fishing spot you can drop the sails while you fish.

Line fishing is good. Casting is a bad idea. The standing rigging, your sails, all the lines like the halyards and sheet lines, all are hook magnets. Fishing lines love to spin around a shroud and lock in to a line. They almost always have to be cut off these so no damage is done.

When fishing from a sailboat you get plenty of time to relax. This time can be used  to come up with great stories about the one that got away and rid yourself of stress as you sail back to port.

Blinking Fish Lure

I saw an ad for fish lures that would blink to attract the fish. It was a very good ad, I bought a set.  I was asked by a friend how much fish could I buy at the food store for the same amount of money as the lures cost. I just smiled.

There were 3 lures in the set. I put one on and on the third cast a fish hit the lure and took off. I pulled back and the line snapped. I did get a thrill though. One down, two to go.

I put the second lure on. This lure was one that sank for bottom fish. On the forth cast with the second lure, the lure snagged on something on the bottom. I gently tried pulling it up. A large pine branch slowly surfaced and just before I could reach down and grab the branch the line snapped. It gently sank below the water.

With two lures down and with one  more to go I figured I would try the last one fishing off a nearby bridge. I took my gear, went to the middle of the bridge, got my last blinker out of the package and dropped it into the water before I got it attached to the line. I was blinking upset. My wife was trying not to smile and said sometimes things like that just happen.

That evening when I took the dog out and looked in the water just off the boat, I saw a blinking light.  My blinking lure was doing its thing. My wife thought I had gone crazy. I got a grappling hook anchor and hooked the branch with the anchor and retrieved my lure. As my wife said sometimes things just happen.

I lost the lure the next day in a tree. I think I will stick to some cheap bait for a while.

My First Sailboat.

My first sailboat was one my Dad bought from a cub scout troop that was selling it so they could get a new one. Dad gave them a big donation and I got this junk boat with the idea that it would keep me out of trouble while I fixed it up. It was in sad shape. Roofing tar was the bottom paint, the canvas that had been the deck cover was mostly gone and the inside paint had at least 4 colors with all layers peeling.

I thought it was great. I spent most of the summer working on the boat. I spent the summer cleaning, scraping, replacing parts, making things, painting, and dreaming of high seas sailing.These made the summer pass fast. The boat went into the water at the end of the summer. It was a much better junk boat by then and I needed to try it out. It was fun, and my Dad found it to be more fun than he thought it would be. He became interested in sailing and got into the "how to sail" part of it. Over the winter, his interest grew, and in the spring he bought the family ( him ) a real sailboat to use on the lake.

My boat just sat on shore. My Mom came up with a use for it. She made it to a planter box in front of the lake cottage. It made a better planter box then a good boat to sail. The boat did get me and my Dad into sailing. Getting a new nice sailboat and learning to sail  made my dreams of high seas sailing grow.

I knew I would have a yacht someday and have it take me to the horizon. Like Captain Jack Sparrow said ...A boat is freedom.

 "Bundin er batlaus madur" ... a viking proverb..."bound is a boatless man".

Parka weather in Florida

When the temperature drops to the 60's here in South Florida it is parka weather for anyone that has has been down here for over ten years. We had our first cold front of the season come through last night. Wife and I awoke to find the dog and cats on the bed with us. After getting up and getting the coffee going the good wife came back to find me and the dog still trying to stay warm...now with both of us under the covers. I told her it was a one dog night. Up in Alaska the Indians would say how cold it was by saying how many dogs were needed to sleep with them to stay warm.

Over coffee we both agreed that it was a good morning to wake up in the house and not on the boat. Then we started  talking about cold weather stories and that movie where the one kid Double Dog Dares another kid he would not touch his tongue to a metal post in the school yard. In real cold weather when you are one a boat the same thing can happen. Damp gloves will freeze to shrouds and so on.

I remembered a story about me and my brother up in Poland, Indiana on a hot July day. One of those days when smiling would make you sweat.To get cool, my brother came up with the idea of getting ice from the freezer and sitting on it. Sounded like a good idea. We got a couple of metal ice cube trays from the freezer and were headed outside to sit on them when I came up with the idea that we could lick them like a big popsicle. My brother tried it. His tongue stuck to the bottom of the tray...realty well stuck, then he got his lips stuck. Such screaming came from him, that both my parents came out to see what I had done to my brother. Dad could not help but to laugh and this made my brother scream louder. That caused the tray to fall off. My brother told me he would kill me if I told any of his friends what happened. I did not have to, my parents did that for me. *-)  For years after that " go lick an ice cube tray " was the come back line my sister and I would use with him.  That would make him steam and take our discussion up to the next confrontation level instantly.

The temperature is supposed to get up to the 80s today. I still got out my box of sweatshirts and sweaters so they will be acceptable for the rest of winter down here. I did use my parka for a few minutes but I found it a little over kill for 68 degrees. I will save it for when it drops below 64 degrees.