Moving My Office to the Boat.

Boat Office:

I am using the Boat more and more as my office and it is GREAT!  My wife keeps expanding her space in the real office and to find space to work, I took the laptop to the boat.  The wireless lets me use the office equipment and the Net from the boat. The only thing that is inconvenient is the printer is up at the office. I could see if our old printer still works or get an inexpensive one for the boat.

We lived on the boat for a number of years, and it is not like I am having to deal without any thing I need.  The boat has shore power and that is the only thing that would limit my working on the boat.

Our dog loves it. He is on and off the boat, inside and out on the boat, lets me know when anyone is around and when he needs a ride in the tender.  He can also let me know if there is a fish on the line when I bottom fish off the stern. He is not all that good at that but he is learning. 

Phone calls can sometimes be a problem. Sometimes you have to go on deck if the connection is poor. I could extend the land phone line, but I do not want to have too many connections to have to undo if I want to leave the dock. 

It is nice to be on the water and able to work at the same time.  It is really nice to have to terminate a call because you have to pull in a fish.  8-)  There are fewer distractions on the boat, so I can often get more things done.  Last it is almost like working outside and that is priceless. I like the floating office and I may just have to move my complete operation on to the boat. That’s thinking outside the box.

Big Gator Behind the Boat

Big Gator Behind the Boat

This weekend we are having off and on rain storms from the outer bands of the tropical storm that is building in the Gulf.  When the rain lightens up we would go out to see that the boats are doing OK.  We got about 1 ½ inches of rain in just a few hours. 

Wendy went out to check on the boats and she rushed back in and said the Big Gator is floating behind the boat and get the camera to get a photo of it.

Gator just moved in!

I grabbed the camera and followed her back out. It was a much bigger gator than we normally get in our end of the canal. I figured it came off the river because of the storm.

I cleaned the scuppers to make sure the boat cockpit would drain and Wendy bucketed out the dinghy and we headed back in the house when it started to rain again. We were both concerned about the size of the gator and we both hoped it would leave our little canal. It was still there a few hours later.

We can feed it a clock so we will know where it is.

Wendy asks how we might encourage it to leave, I told her all we needed was an old windup clock. She gave me a questioning look. I said we wind up the clock, tie a chunk of meat to the clock and toss it to the gator to eat. The gator eats the meat and clock. Simple! She said: “What good will that do?”

Well, If the Gator leaves we will know it, If it stays we will hear it ticking…It worked for Captain Hook. *-)

NO CASH OR CHECKS ACCEPTED!

I saw a news story on TV that now 75 % of the transactions done these days are non-cash. The news caster said that in the not too distant future real cash will go away.  He said there are many stores now not doing cash transactions.

This upset me, because I really do not like to use credit and debit cards for small things I buy or at restaurants. I like coins in my pocket and giving change to the person ringing up the sale. I am surprised how often the person taking the change has a problem dealing with the coins.

I also request the person ringing up my sale to count the money back to me, not just handing it to me. Most have trouble doing that.

This last week I saw or noted for the firsttime a sign at a store that said “No CASH OR CHECKS ACCEPTED!”. Next I figure I will see a sign: “Cash with proper ID only”.

I wonder how NO CASH will affect the drug trade.  Can you see a drug dealer requiring a Junkie to use a credit card? 8-)

I still like the old Spanish coin system of the pieces of 8. The silver coin could be cut into 8 pieces to make change.

When it comes to tipping does no cash mean no tips to people like bell hops, car parking attendants, and the like? It will be much harder to show you are un-happy with service when you have to put the tip on your credit card receipt. 

I am going to still keep a few coins in my pocket just to hear the jingle.

Dress To Get Wet Sailing

It is sort of fun when your day sailor lies on its side!

Sailing small day-sailors can be more fun than sailing a bigger boat. You learn a lot sailing in one of these and the things learned apply to the bigger boats. With a day-sailor you should dress to get wet. 8-)

Some of my most memorable sailing outings have been when we pushed the limits of the boat and it goes over.  It can be fun. Pushing the limits of the boat has a thrill in itself, and the scrambling to prevent going over is fun in itself. As long as you have nothing on board that you will trash and you have all the safety stuff you need for the crew and getting the boat back upright, it can really be fun.

A few years ago I ask a friend to go sailing and I told him dress to get wet. That comment got me a big smile from him. We went out and the first thing we did was get too close to the bank of the river before we started to tack and caught the mast in a tree branch that was hanging out over the water. It brought us to a quick stop. After getting free of the sailboat eating tree we headed back out on the river. 

Sailing on the river can be challenging. The wind is often all over the place and often gusty. It was one of those days. We were having loads of fun. It was my fault we dumped the first time, it was a joint effort the second time.

We had a great time and much to laugh about when we got back to the dock. We still talk about it when we get together.

You need a plan on what to do when you go over. If you go sailing and expect to get wet, everyone wears a lifejacket. When we go over, the first thing is to make sure everyone is OK. Everyone needs to stay near the boat. Next get the sail down and secure so it will not get damaged or wrap around something. Once the sail is down, you can get the boat upright by standing on the dagger-board and leaning back. Collect all the stuff that may have floated out of the boat. Now that it is mast side up we paddle to the shore, pushing the boat. Sailing on the river has the advantage that a bank is not too far away. A little bucket baling and you can be sailing again in minutes.

You also need to let someone know that you are going out sailing, where you are going and what time you expect to get back. That is a good idea even if you do not “plan to get wet”.

In our larger sailboats I am much more conservative because of all the things that could be trashed if the boat should take on water. The things learned on the smaller boats and how boats handle has made me a better sailor. 

Dress to get wet sailing in the summer is a great way to have fun. 8-)

Boat Paint or House Paint

Boat Paint vs House Paint

In one of the old Wooden Boat Magazines I had saved I found an article about boat paint. The article basically said that the main difference in boat enamel paint and exterior enamel house paint was the shine or gloss of the paint when dry. Boat enamel has a much greater shine.

The article went on to say that on an older boat a high shine lets defects show up better. I thought that was logical. When I panted our wooden day sailor’s hull I used a can of Oil Base Rustolium to see how it would hold up for a year. I was very pleased with the results. The paint had a nice gloss. It was not as glossy as a marine paint but it did look great.  If the paint was wet it was wonderfully glossy like boat paint.

When I pulled the boat out for some boat maintenance after a year in the water I was very pleased how he paint had stood up. In Florida you can keep your boat in year round. The topside bright work had not weathered as well as the hull paint.

When I scrubbed the hull down I was more than impressed. It almost did not need to be repainted. After a light sanding I repainted it with the same paint. It has done a great job each year. The paint is easy to get and less expensive then hi tech boat paint.

It worked well on the wood boat, but I do not know how it will do on fiberglass. This year I am going to try it on a fiberglass boat that needs the deck painted and fixed up. It is an older boat and the deck has been worked on and painted a few times. The non-skid on the boat was paint dusted with sand and then repainted. It was a very poor job and at this point  anything will be an improvement. There are 3 different colors on the deck now and the grit on the deck is fine in some places and extra coarse in others. It will be a nice test to see how it works.