Waves Waving at you

Waves

Most boaters do not think much about waves till they encounter a big one. Most boats can handle waves quite well. The energy of a wave increases as the height of the wave increases and the depth of the water also plays a factor on the energy a wave has.

It is logical that a big wave has more energy in it than a small wave has. I was quite surprised to learn that the energy of a wave increases by a factor of 4 as the wave height doubles. This means a 8 foot wave is four times as strong or powerful as a 4 foot wave. 

I sail a small 18 foot day sailor on the Caloosahatchee River. Most of the time it is pleasant to sail on the river. The river is a dredged river and boats can cut across Florida from Ft Meyers to West Palm Beach and not have to go around the tip of Florida. The River often gets large boats crossing the state.

I was sailing one afternoon when a 50 or 60 foot motor launch came full speed down the river. The boat had a wave wake that was about four and a half feet high. When I saw him coming and saw he was not slowing down or going to give me any right of way, I headed for the bank. The free-board on my boat is 22" and when the first wave hit, about the top third of the wave came over the side before the boat floated up on it. When the second wave caught the boat, the boat rode the top of the wave and I was surfboarded right up on the bank of the river. The big boat never slowed.

I will say it was sorta fun, but I was majorly upset. The big wave and the way the riverbed became more shallow as it went to the bank let the wave pick me up and beach me. The wave energy was impressive.

Out on open water there are what are called rogue waves or freak waves. Rogue waves are simply unusually large waves appearing in a set of smaller waves. These rogue wave will have a height of at least twice the size of surrounding waves and often come from a direction different from the prevailing waves. They are unpredictable.

Rogue or freak waves have been reported in the Pacific that have been over 50 ft in height. My 4 1/2 foot wave in my boat with 22" sides was more than enough to give me a good respect for waves and the wave energy they can deliver. I do not want to see a rogue wave, because I know it would freak me out. 8-)

NOAA NWS JetStream – Online School for Weather: Wind, Swell and Rouge Waves

Sanding or Scraping wood

Sanding or Scraping wood

When it comes to getting a wood surface ready to finish, the last step is getting the surface smooth. Sanding the piece to be finished multiple times using a finer grit sandpaper will produce a fine smooth surface that will take a finish nicely. Some wood workers use an edged scraper to get the smooth surface to finish instead of sandpaper for the last step.

The reasoning on using an edge scraper is that the sharp edge cuts the wood grain off sharply leaving it smoother. Sanding the wood surface, they say, leaves the edges of the wood grains slightly fuzzy, and the fuzz puffs when the finish is absorbed into them. 

I have tried both. I have a nice wood scraping tool that has a six inch blade and if I keep it sharp it can produce a smooth surface fast. When using it you have to be careful and keep it level so you do not gouge the wood with the ends of the scraper.  When it is sharp only a light touch is needed. If you gouge your work you double your work when you have to get rid of the gouges.

I am not a perfectionist when it comes to refinishing the bright work on my boat. I want the wood to look good and be protected and I do not need it to be museum restoration quality. For the most part I just sand the project smooth, put on one coat of finish and let it dry. Then I lightly re-sand the project and give it a second coat of finish. If it is something like a table top I will use the scraper technique to get a better end finish. 

I find that a short scraper can be used to clean up a finish defect on a spar or curved surface fast. It can cut down to the wood removing old finish and clean the spot quickly. Then the spot can be re-finished using a few layers of varnish to build it back up to the original height of the finish and then lightly leveled off with the scraper to even it all out. The last coat of varnish can then be feathered in to the old surface to produce an almost invisible fix.

 Ascraper blade is sharpened so that there is a 90 degree edge to the flat of the blade. The blade is lightly pulled across the surface keeping the blade 90 degrees to the work. A short haddles scraper can be use on small arias.

Oar and Paddle Repair

As oars and paddles age and get abused the blades sometimes crack. A good oar is not cheap to replace. A blade that starts to split or crack can be repaired and the life of the oar extended.

First determine how far the split goes. At the upper limit or top of the split drill a hole. This round hole will stop the split from continuing farther. Then drill a series of paired holes on either side of the crack or split, about every two to three inches down the blade till you get to the bottom of the oar. The holes need to be about 3/16 of an inch in diameter.  With a good twine like sail makers twine, thread it through the hole pairs several times and then tie the stitch securely. Stitch all the hole pairs down to the bottom of the oar. The stiches by themselves will repair the crack, or a good glue or adhesive such as epoxy can be used first and then the oar stitched to form an even stronger repair.

 

This repair is quick and effective and can extend the use of oars and paddles.

I found a great use for a paddle that was really past the point of repairing it to use as a paddle. I made a name board out of it for my boat. I carved the name board in the old boat carver’s tradition, and painted the carved letters so they would stand out. I still got to recycle a paddle I got out of the trash.  

This paddle had cracks on either side if the handle rib so I made a carved name board out of it.

Spot welding with a 6 volt battery

 A best friend of my brother had an old MG car. Looking back on it now it was a piece of junk, but I thought it was beautiful. Eugene always had to fix and repair something on it. One afternoon the front bumper that had been unattached on one side and was always at an angle to the front of the car fell off.

Eugene said no problem, he would weld it back on, but he needed me and my brother to help. The three of us hopped in the two-seater with the bumper and went to his house. He got 3 six volt batteries out of their barn and three sets of jumper cables and a brazing rod. Eugene disconnected the car battery in his MG. He said he did not want to fry the wiring in the car any more than it already was. (That’s a story in itself ) He used the jumper cables to connect the six volt batteries in series, then attached one of the cables to a metal part of the car for a ground and put the brazing rod in the clamp of the jumper cable. He then had my brother and I hold the bumper in place. He did give us heavy welder’s gloves, but that was only as a second thought. Then he put on a welder’s eye shield and he tack welded the bumper back on the car.

I was totally impressed. I did not think that it would be possible to weld with just batteries. He corrected me and said that what he had done was brazing, not welding, but you could weld the same way. He said brazing was not as strong, and he had the brazing rod.  He said that it was the all the amps the 3 batteries had together that could produce enough heat to do the job. 

About a week later Eugene’s Mom borrowed the MG to make a quick run to the grocery store for something.  When she came home the bumper was in the passenger seat and she told Eugene she did not know what had happened. She said when she got in the car and shut the car door the bumper fell off. She said someone must have hit the car when she was shopping and broke the bumper. She said she would pay to have it put back on.

Eugene told us to keep our mouths shut!  

Crocs strap line tension-er

Ever need to tie something snug to something but still have it able to move a little and return to its position? I ran in to this when I was working at our dock. My first thought was a bungee cord, but they soon stretch out and do not do the job for long.  What I came up with was to use the strap from a pair of plastic / rubber crocs shoes.

I removed the heel strap off an old pair of crocs I throwing out; the strap is attached to the shoe with plastic rivets and is easy to remove. There is a hole at each end of the strap where the rivet went through the strap. I threaded a line through the hole on one end, pulled the line through, then wrapped the line around the strap a number of turns and then back through the hole at the other end of the strap.

When you use the line to tie something up you can snug it so it is tight, but when tension is put on it the strap wrapped by the cord stretches and lengthens like a spring. This set up will stretch 3” to 4” and returns to the original position.

You can do the same thing with a rubber strap that you can get to hold down tarps and things. These would last longer. The crocs strap was available and cheap, and I could recycle. 8-)

 A quick and easy way to make a self tensioning line using a recycled shoe strap,and it is cheap.

Keeping lines on your boat untangled

An easy way to keep a boat line from getting in the way and untangled is to coil them and then snug them to a rail on your boat. This gets rid of a tripping hazard and prevents them from getting knotted up. It just makes for a safer day on the water.

First coil the line up and then lay it over a rail on your boat, like the black line in the photo. Then reach through the loops and under the rail on one side and grab the loops on the other side of the rail and pull that side through.  This snugs the coil of rope on to the rail like the white line is. When it is snug, it will say out of the way and stay untangled.

To remove the line, just grab the horizontal section of the coil of line next to the rail and the line comes off the rail, still coiled and untangled. I did not snug up the white line so you could see how it pulls up on the rail and also see the section of line you grab to remove it.

I use this method to keep the dock lines on the boat, untangled and easy to get at. One end stays on the boat cleat and the other end being coiled is easy to grab and or throw.

A Cheap Auto Helm Setup

An inexpensive setup to keep your tiller in one position can be made with two pieces of wood and two cords. It is copied after one that was on a small Herreshoff sailboat. It was so simple I had to try it.

I have an electronic auto tiller system on my boat, but for a short sail it is almost not worth getting it out and setting it up. There are some great tiller pilots now available and a for open water they are UN-beatable. For sailing on the river where we live, is the set up I use most of the time is easy and simple to make and use. It is made with two pieces of wood and two cords.

I used a scrap piece of plywood and made two ovals from the scrap. These are about 3”X 4”. Next two holes were drilled in the ovals about 1” in from the ends of the ovals. The holes are the same diameter as the cord that goes through holes. The cord is threaded through the two holes so a loop is formed on one side of the board and then a knot is tide on the end of the cord so it cannot be pulled back through. The length of the cord coming out the other hole needs to be about ¾ the width of the boat. This end will be tied to the rear side boat cleat. You have a cord and board on each side of the boat with the tiller handle between them.

By slipping the loop over the end of the tiller handle and then sliding the wood block toward the side of the boat to take up the excess cord the block snugs up on the cord. By snugging both side, the tiller handle is held in the position you snugged it in. It cannot move in either direction. 

You can snug the tiller so the boat stays headed in to the wind so you can hoist the sails, or to stay on a set heading when under way. It lets you do other things for a few moments and not be stuck holding the tiller in place. It is simple, it is cheap and it works. The setup makes it a little easier when you are sailing by yourself.

Indigestion and Chest Pain

For the most part I can eat almost anything without getting indigestion. I do like hot and spicy food every once in a while. After both my wife and I had indigestion the other evening I remembered two stories about spicy food.

The first story was when I was down in the Florida Keys working at Fisherman’s Hospital. I had a scrub top that had red chili peppers on it. It was bright and cheery and fun. It was about the third time I had worn the top, so my co-workers knew I had it. Two of the co-workers were a husband and wife couple from Texas. One of their Texas friends had sent them Habanero Peanut Brittle. It was so hot no one could eat it. They put it out on a plate with a note on it that said “try some, it is hot stuff”. 

 

Almost everyone likes free candy, so about everyone tried it. It was great to see the reaction when someone had a piece. Everybody thought that I had put it out, as I was the one wearing the chili pepper scrub top.  We all agreed that one might scorch the toilet seat the next time you had to use the bath room.

The second story was when my wife tried a new recipe she had found or was given, and prepared it. The meal was not anything great or spicy or even memorable. It just gave both of us indigestion. I had an antacid a short time after dinner and one just before bed that night. Sometime in the middle of the night I got up and had another.

When I awoke the next morning, my first sensation was a prickling sensation in my left arm and a weight on my chest. The Red Fox line “ Oh  X%#@  I am having the BIG ONE!”  was the first thought that went through my head. I opened my eyes to find our big old tom cat on my chest kneading my left arm with his claws. After my heart rate came back down I got up and had another antacid for breakfast with my coffee and toast.

Black and White Cats...Yin and Yang cats

We have acquired 6 cats over the past few years, and two of the cats’ easily stand out from the others because one is all black and the other is all white. The two are as different as black and white. They are Yin and Yang.

Inky Black is a standoff cat. She stays by herself and will not tolerate the other cats bothering her. She will back down the other cats when needed. Betty White is laid back, she likes being with the dog and the other cats. She will come up and use you as a place to nap. She is a cuddler.

At night all the cats have their own place they nest. Inky likes my sock drawer, and Betty likes the clothes stack my wife lays out for work for the next day. I do not mind socks with black cat hair on them and my wife says that almost everything looks better with cat hair on it. She is a forest ranger and the bears and cougars do not care.

We had a Florida cold snap this week…the temperature dropped down to the 40s. Betty moved her sleeping spot into the bed with us on my side. It was nice to have a warm lump next to me. I must have closed my sock drawer with a sock caught in the drawer slide and it jammed the draw so it was only open about an inch and a half. Inky can open the drawer to get in. That night she could not get the drawer open. We heard her doing cat things over in that part of the room, but it was too cold to get up and check it out.

The next morning Inky the standoff cat was on the wife’s side of the bed in the same position Betty was on my side of the bed. We both thought that was odd but nice. When we got out of bed we found almost all my socks on the floor. Inky could not get the drawer open but could get a foot in, and had snagged all the socks she could reach and had pulled them out of the drawer. When she could not get the drawer open she settled for the bed. As I was picking up my socks, Inky gave me a long Meow as if telling me you don’t mess with the Black Cat! Betty could care less.  

Don't mess with the black cat!

Don't worry...be happy!

You Know you have neglected your boat when:

We have 3 sailboats and we pick the one we sail by how much wind is blowing and how ambitious we are that day. We may not sail one of the boats for several weeks. You know you have neglected your boat when you find things like a birds nest built in the sail when you take off the sail cover. Some of the things that I have found when I do not do my monthly check of my boats when I should let me know I need to use the boat more or at least check it more often.

Here is a short list that lets you know you are neglecting your boat when:

>Finding a scupper drain in the cockpit plugged up with dirt and a plant growing out of it is one sign.

>Opening a storage locker and finding a big wasp nest.

>The grease in a winch has become hard and the winch will not ratchet.

>Your docking lines are so stiff you are afraid they will break if you try to untie it.

>The key hole of the pad lock that locks the hatch in to your boat has corroded over.

>You find a hat and jacket that you thought you lost weeks ago…

<And in the hat there is a plastic cup with a bunch of screws and a screw driver. No idea where the screws came from.

Here in South Florida you have to air out your boat at least once a week or mildew will grow on almost any surface of a closed cabin. A moisture absorber helps. We have a dehumidifier for the big boat, and the two gallon collection container will fill in about a week to ten days. To empty it every week is much easier than to have to wash all of the interior down to clean up the mildew.

Our big boat sits the most unused because it takes so much more work to get her ready to take her out. It is so much easier to be able to hop on one of the smaller boats and be on the water sailing within 10 minutes. I think you can have as much fun sailing a small boat as a big one, and you get to do it more often. If a boat is basically ready to sail, you are more likely to use it. 

When I check over the boats once a week, let them air out and attend to the little stuff, it is amazing how few problems I have with the boats. To let this go for a few weeks’ results in a few hours of work to get things back in line and in ship shape.  As Ben Franklin said,"an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure."

Anchors away…splash

Anchors away…splash

Anchors have fascinated me.  As a little kid, any drawings I made with boats in them always had an anchor.  My dad would tell a story about the first boat I could remember the family having. I would not get on the boat if it did not have an anchor.  He told me there was a magic invisible anchor that would only materialize when it was needed. I never saw that magic anchor.

There are all sorts of anchors, but the one I like best is a yachtsman’s anchor. It is the one that was on the old sailing ships and what most people would draw if you ask them to draw an anchor. I have one like that for the schooner we have. It just fits the boat. What I use to anchor the boat is a Danforth style anchor that plows in to the bottom. For the most part, one that plows in to the bottom holds better and is much lighter in weight. They are often easier to get off the bottom when you leave.

You should pick the anchor you use for the type of bottom that you want to hook to.  You also need a LONG anchor line. When you drop an anchor you want to let out enough line to equal 7 times the water depth…more line is better than less line. A 6 foot chain attached to the anchor to which you attach your anchor line to is also recommended. The chain helps the anchor dig in. 

I like to tie a small float on a heavy cord, the cord being just longer than the depth of the water that you are anchoring in, to the anchor. It marks the spot where the anchor dug in and lets you get an idea what the swing radius the boat would have. It can give you an idea if the anchor is not holding and if you are adrift.  It can help get the anchor up when leaving by pulling it out backwards.  Only a lightweight line is required as there is no resistance.

We have a number of anchors. They are of all types and sizes. Big ones for the big boat, small ones for dinghy and kayaks, ones that fold up, hook type, mushroom type and a few things that can be used as an anchor like my old dumbbells. The dumbbells work quite well. 8-)

I like to have two anchors on my boat. The primary anchor should be proper size for the boat, and a second as a backup just in case you cannot get your main anchor off the bottom.  The second can be uses to stabilize you position and give extra holding power. 

You can often get old anchors free or cheap. If you dive, you can salvage them. Some of the new anchors are high dollar items and there is a large selection you can pick from. You can use an expensive anchor or a concrete block on a rope, but you should have an anchor of some kind when you go out on the water and need to be on the hook. Get the drift of what I am saying?  

 These are a few of the smaller anchors...Wife says I do not need any more. I keep telling her that you could always use another anchor or more navigation stuff.

Directions said use VINYL gloves!

As I was trying to get the sap off my hands from trimming the Brazilian peppers from the canal I remembered doing a repair project using a plastic resin. I have no idea what I was fixing now, but I was working on the floor of my dad’s garage. I had to crawl around on hands and knees to do the project.

The directions were very clear on how to mix the resin, what the working time would be, to have good ventilation and to wear VINYL gloves. Dad had a box of latex rubber gloves on the work bench. Latex gloves are great because they are tight enough on your hands you have good feel through them. I put on the gloves and started the project.

The resin was nasty to work with. It was almost like honey and it stuck to everything. When I picked up a tool it would not come off my hands. I was leaving hand prints on everything, my hands stuck to everything and everything stuck to me. The project was going south quickly and I was getting frustrated fast.

I did what I could and got off the floor and was ready to remove the gloves.The resin had dissolved the latex rubber gloves. My hands were covered with a resin-rubber glue like stuff that was getting hot and hardening. I tried wiping it off, but lint from the rag stuck to me better then resin coming off on the rag. Fifteen minutes later I had black plastic coated hands. Nothing wanted to take it off.

My brother thought it was great, my sister would not get near me, and mom and dad thought it was funny.  The old guy across the street said if I put it on my face I could be Al Jolson. I was horrified.

Mom made me go to school the next day with my black hands and a note for my teacher. The black wore off in about three days. The project must have turned out OK because the resin did set up. There were still black hand-prints on the garage floor years later when the house was sold. All my family members loved to tell the story about how the hand prints got there. I would almost die each time the story was told. I spent hours trying to get those hand-prints off that floor.   

Brazilian Pepper Tree Problem

We live at the end of a canal off the Caloosahatchee River.  Almost everyone here has a boat or boats, but unfortunately most of the boats never get used. We are about the only ones on our canal that use our boats regularly. One of the things we liked was there were big tall trees all around. Big trees and sailboats sometimes fight each other.

There is a big mast-catching tree just down from our dock, which has a large limb that stretches out over the canal. The limb is about 30’ off the water so to get past it we have to hug the opposite side of the canal to get past the tree. The other side of the canal is overgrown with Brazilian Pepper Trees. Brazilian Pepper Trees were imported to Florida as an ornamental.  They now are listed as an invasive exotic species as they outgrow the native vegetation…big-time! The owner of the bank with the Brazilian Peppers is in their 80s, and cannot trim them back.

Once or twice a year I take our dinghy out on the canal and trim back these peppers so I can get our sailboats out easily. It is a big undertaking. You load the dingy with cutting tools, motor over to the peppers, and then cut over-hanging branches. Next, collect the branches and put them in the dinghy and bring them back to the dock. Then unload them from the dinghy and run them threw the chipper or bundle them up for pickup. It usually takes 3 or 4 trips to clear enough branches out to make it easy to get our boats in or out. It is a ½ day job by the time all is done and cleanup of the dinghy is complete. Then, you have to get the sap off your hands and arms.

When I start the trimming project, no one is around to help or volunteers to help. If your boat has no mast there is no problem going in and out of the canal. When I am done they let me know it looks better. Best of all, I can get my mast passed the mast-grabbing tree.

 

See the story about "Directions said use VINYL gloves", The sap on my hands made me think of the story.