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.

Old Dinghy ... new job!

Over 10 years ago, when we lived in Key West, we found a old plywood dinghy in the mangroves after a storm. No one claimed it, or even wanted it, except for a couple of kids that were always up to no good. We needed to clean / scrub the side of the boat and I thought it would work well for that. It was not much of a boat. The dinghy was just big enough for 2 and maybe a bag of potato chips if it was a small bag. It was so bad it was fun. Wife and I painted it up and named it the "Feliner."

At about happy hour time we would get a beverage, some soda crackers and Vienna sausages and take to the water in the Feliner and go to the other boats in the marina and ask for that French mustard the snobs like.We often got mustard and always good conversation. The second round of a beverage was also often provided.

We found that the Feliner would fit on the bow of the boat for storage. It turned out to be a useful craft in its own way. It always got comments like " will that float?" We also had many requests to use it to do little odd jobs.

After more than 10 years it did become unusable as a boat. So what to do with it? We set it on end and made it into a book shelf on the happy hour screen room. It now resides with the old outboard as nautical art.8-) 

Navigation Insturment Interference

Navigation instrument interference may come from the lighting in your boat. The new LED lighting or the compact fluorescent bulb type may cause interference with your electronics. The new LED lights have a mini circuit board in them that controls the voltage through the LED component so it will not be overloaded and burn out. The more LED’s in the fixture the more little components in the light. Some of these lights may cause interference with radios, televisions, wireless telephones, remote controls and navigation equipment. Moving these products away from the light may get rid of the interference.

The Compact Fluorescent bulbs may also cause interference to the same components. Navigation or communication equipment operating between 0.45-30 MHz are most effected. Moving the light away may help. Incandescent lighting may have to be used to eliminate the problem.

More of these types of lighting fixtures are being used because of the low electric consumption they have. Just note they can possibly be a problem.

Even my dog's electric flea collar messes up my magnetic compass slightly if he rests his head on the compass. I do not know if it would mess with the digital compass. I need to check that out since the dog is the Navigation officer.