Dock Mounted Solar Panel

Dock Mounted Solar Panel Plugs in to Boat.

To lower my mast on our day sailor I had to remove the solar panels and frame on the back of the boat. I have to say I like the looks of the boat better without the panels, but I liked the solar panels for keeping the batteries charged. 

It was going to take a lot of work to put them back on the boat, and I tried to come up with a better mounting setup that would be functional, look nice and not cost me a chunk of money. The panels were just sitting dock side and I thought to myself that I was wasting the power as I was looking at them. I thought I should get a battery out and hook it up.

That line of thought took me to “why not mount them on the dock and put a box next to it to charge the batteries in.” Then I thought why bring the heavy batteries to it, run a line to the batteries and that way I would not have to unhook them all the time and move them. I had the wiring in the boat already set up for the panels; I just had to put a plug in the line.

I used a much larger line from the panels to the boat than what was needed so there would be less voltage drop from the line. So far it is working OK, I just plug in the boat when I get back to the dock.

I put an easy on off switch next to the batteries that disconnects the boat batteries from the boat electronics. I can just throw the switch when I plug and unplug the panel line and activate the boat electronics only when I go sailing. It is a redundant circuit, but it is a safety circuit that is easy and convenient to use. If it is not convenient it will not be used.

There are now flexible solar panels that can be installed curved surfaces and I may use them on the boat down the road. They would be both functional and unobtrusive. They can now be mounted on a soft canvas Dodger or Bimini. 

Going Bodmin

Going Bodmin is a British/Welch sang term for going or being crazy. The last few months the term fits me well. I can get things together but just can not get them tied.

I have been telling myself it is the end of the year holiday crunch, the unique election we just went through, the pre income-tax and old age and hormones that are making be go Bodmin.

Maybe I should just go with the flow and go all the way Bobmin, that way I have an excuse. 8-)

Ships Clocks and Nautical Décor Clocks

Ships Clocks and Nautical Décor Clocks

I like clocks of all types but ships clocks and Nautical Décor clocks are one of my favorites. I found this link with some nice clocks:

http://www.nauticalhome.com/searchresult.aspx?CategoryID=239

Turtle Wiennies

Hearing Problem

I have had a hearing problem ever since I can remember. Back in 3 grade I had a sudden 60% hearing loss in both ears and I had surgery done on both ears. What they did, I do not know, but all I remember was I could not go swimming most of the summer like the other kids. I did not get all the hearing loss back, but it was near normal.

The hearing loss was not bad enough to keep me out of the army, but at that time it was about 20% in one ear and 50 % in the other.

Last time I checked it was about 40% and 60%. I do have an old hearing aid but I do not use it because it gave me bad headaches. I think my hearing has gotten worse. I am having more and more problems hearing what my wife says.

My hearing loss is in the upper or treble range so it is somewhat female selective. 8-) My wife said she was going to make one of her favorite dishes and what I heard was “Turtle Wiennies and Salad”. I thought I did not hear it right, but I thought I would just see what she fixed. I was not sure what a Turtle Wiennie was, I thought maybe they were small cocktail Wiennies or something. I waited with great expectation.

What I was served was Veggie Tortellini’s and a nice salad. It was a wonderful meal and not even anything I expected.

I may just have to try my hearing aid again.

Any one care for a Turtle Wiennie?  8-)

Boat theft

Stolen Boats

If your boat gets stolen the likelihood you will get it back is less than 50%. This is according to Boat US.

Personal Watercraft, Runabouts and Utility Boats are the top 3 type boats stolen and South Florida has the 3 top cities for boat thefts. I was surprised that sailboats were the 5^th on the list for boat thefts.

Stealing a sailboat would need planning. They do not move fast, and to take them out of the water you have to drop the mast, have a trailer that fits them, etc.. 

If less than ½ of the boats that are stolen are recovered it makes good sense to have insurance on it. The study also showed that the larger the boat is the less chance it has to be stolen. But that said, a larger boat is more likely to have storm damage because it cannot be pulled out of the water as easily.  

Finally, last year, the boat recovery rate was lower than in previous years...not a good trend.

Halyard Knot

How to tie a Halyard Knot

I had to replace my halyards on our day sailor this year. What I thought would be a quick and easy job was a ½ day project. The original lines that came off had the hardware spliced on the ends.

I bought an extra 6’ of line for both halyards so I could splice the ends. Splicing is a skill that takes doing it regularly or often to get good at. That’s why I got the extra line. I started with a piece of scrap line, got the directions and the tools out and tried it. I gave up on my first try after about 10 minutes.

After a cup of coffee and some encouragement from the dog and cats I tried again on the other end of the scrap of line. The dog thought it was great…He must have thought I was making him a pull toy.  My second attempt was marginally better than the first. On a scale of one to ten, my first try was a 1, and my second try was a 1.25.

My wife said I should try on a piece of new line…it is more slippery and that may be easier to do. With a last comment, she said, my first two tries was as good as she had ever gotten, and that her X was the one that could splice lines, but had left her the tools.

I thought that using new line could really make a difference being more slippery; since where I had my problem was getting the line to slip into itself. I tried a piece of new line. It was more slippery but it was also stiffer. My next two tries rated a 1.75 and maybe a 1.85 with 10 being perfect. Now the dog had two pull toys.

I got out another book that had splicing instructions and how to tie knots in it and tried the instructions on splicing from it. The result was a splice that I would rate at a 2.1. At this rate I figured I would need to buy an extra 60’ of line to practice on. I had thoughts of asking my Wife’s X if he could help, but that was only a thought I let blow away in the wind. If he could do it, I should be able to do it. 8-)

I went back to the book. In the index was: How to tie a Halyard knot.

The sun came out, the birds started to sing, and I knew I could tie this knot: 8-) 8-) *-) *-) 8-) Yes!

Here is a Picture of how to do a halyard knot. 

Now we can go sailing again. And maybe I will get some extra rope for Christmas to practice splicing with . 8-)