Technology Summary

20-May-2018 – Technology runs a sailboat and always has. In our age, technology has become synonymous with electronics. On a sailboat, electronics is just one of many.

Let’s start with Caro Babbo’s most troubling technology, cooking:

Taylor’s Stove

Taylors model 030 kersosene stove and oven (parafin cooker)

2016, on the advice of most pump jockeys, we used Jet A as a fuel. Jet A burns significantly hotter than kerosene. The hotter fuel caused the fuel in the bottom of the burner and the fuel line to turn into hardened carbon: coke. Continue reading “Technology Summary”

Part 2: Threads reweave, one ends

The prawn boat docking did not go quite as smooth as one might hope. The crew seemed new.

The crewman on the starboard forward deck, dock line in hand, watched the dock as it got closer and as he prepared to loop a line around a cleat, the aft most deckhand called forward, “get a bumper.” The forward crewman replied out loud, “oh yeah,” and dangled a faded orange ball of a fender between the dock and the boat.

The front of the boat pressed against the dock as its stern rotated to starboard pressing against another orange faded ball-shaped fender. I went back to work. When I looked down again the crew had finished docking and were preparing to leave the boat.

On the stern was written Nordic Star. Continue reading “Part 2: Threads reweave, one ends”

Threads reweave, one ends

Port Hardy, BC Canada, 6-MAY-2018 – I spent a good part of Friday at the top of our mast reinstalling our antenna and the cable that leads from it through the mast through the engine compartment through the bilge and into the basement where the cable connects to a signal splitter.

I spent enough time at the top of the mast that another boat owner spoke with Jennifer and offered to pay me to go to the top of his mast. I was flattered, but not tempted.

In Friday Harbor, we had bought and installed an 8 foot whip antenna as a temporary solution for our failed masthead antenna. We started showing up again on AIS. The harbor master in Port Hardy, where I sat atop the mast like a Christmas Angel, spoke to us through our VHF. Continue reading “Threads reweave, one ends”

I can see your house from here…

28-MAR-2018, SEATAC Airport – …and other views from up high.

The items highest in my mind are three:

  • I haven’t found the leak in the aft cabin starboard locker. Mogens Winther in the Maxi 95 group has suggested that the water is getting in through the cubby on the starboard side of the cockpit. I can’t see anything there, but I haven’t looked as hard as I might. This could be the entry point.

    The leaky locker. Water is visible, lower left. Despite all the caulking water rain water still enters.
  • The fuel line still seems to be getting air in it despite having replaced everything from the injection pump to the tank including the filters, filter holders, all lines and the valve at the tank. The engine started fine several times in a row over a few days, but on the sail to Port Hadlock, starting was difficult with all the earmarks of air in the lines. The next stop is an electrical pump to push the fuel forward. I’ve resisted, but I’ve run out of ideas.
  • OpenCPN for Android is no longer speaking to the Vesper AIS. We’ve upgraded everything in one go, so it is difficult to pin point what the problem is. I suspect it is the new OpenCPN for Android release, since OpenCPN on my mac works fine. John Register, the author of the port to Android, has been providing fast, intelligent support.

Continue reading “I can see your house from here…”

The fresh water leak that won’t stop

I’m at a loss.
Water leaks into the starboard locker in the aft cabin. I can’t find the leak and it is making me insane.
There are two parts to finding the leak: how the water gets into the locker, and how the water gets into the boat.
This is a fresh water leak: the locker only gets water when it rains.
The locker is under the starboard sleeping area in the aft cabin.
This is what I know: Continue reading “The fresh water leak that won’t stop”

Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving

I wonder whether this annual buying spree will ever end.

In the last few days bunch of things have arrived. Today, a waterproof tablet arrived and graphics for the dinghy and for CaroBabbo.

I knew there was some sort of screwup at boat US when my contact there called to make sure that I had not placed my order twice, intentionally. Apparently, the double order wasn’t caught until after the graphics were cut: Ron didn’t charge me for the double order, and he was nice enough to send me everything. Continue reading “Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving”

The Less I write, the More I must write

Lee’s Landing Marina, Lake Union, Seattle, WA USA, 22-FEB-2018 – One of the faults I’m least proud of is falling out of touch with friends. I stay in touch with friends generally by writing to them. In this world of instant written communications, a phone call has become too intrusive, and by corollary Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook messenger. So writing is the method through I use to keep in touch with friends.

Keeping in touch with friends is important. When I am overdue to communicate with friends, whether to initiate a written exchange, or respond to a message, I put myself into a spiral: it has been a while since I have written, therefore I can’t write something small. I need to write something that has taken some effort to make up for the amount of time that has passed. But, the amount of time to be put aside never appears, and the amount of effort that should be put into the correspondence grows, and along with it the amount of time necessary to expend that effort.

Recently, this blog is fallen into this trap, only more convoluted. Because, excessively long blog posts are not good either.

So please accept my apologies for the amount of time since the last post and either the large number of things that I leave out of this blog, or its excessive length because of the number of things that I do include.
Continue reading “The Less I write, the More I must write”

A new mainsheet traveler

14-FEB-2018, Lake Union, Seattle – A mainsheet traveler adjusts where the mainsheet connects to the boat.

The mainsheet is the line (rope) that pulls the main sail towards the center of the boat. (It also places some downforce on the sail, specifically on the boom, but that is really a side effect.)

When CaroBabbo was originally sold the mainsheet connected to an eye in the center of the cockpit table. The problem with this is that when sailing very close to the wind, the boom should be very close to, or on the centerline of the boat. To make the boom come to the center line of the boat the attachment point of the mainsheet has to be past the centerline of the boat. The problem is that the attachment point must always be to windward. Continue reading “A new mainsheet traveler”

One hour per minute: turning two lines into one

5-FEB-2018, Port Townsend, WA – Premium Ropes has some very good videos on splicing. They are my go-to place for videos.

Last spring, while the mast was down, I replaced all the sheaves in the masthead, cut a new opening for an additional headsail halyard. I also installed a messenger line so that when the halyard was complete I could merely pull it up and through.

The messenger line turned out to be less than a great idea: if I had installed the halyard relatively quickly, let’s say within two months, it would have worked out quite well. Instead, we went sailing across the summer in all kinds of weather. The messenger line jumped out of the sheave and wedged itself between the sheave and the masthead casting. Oh well. Continue reading “One hour per minute: turning two lines into one”

An Unending Month

Feb 1, 2018, Port Townsend, WA – January was the longest month I remember in my entire life. Longer than months when I was a small child slogging through the school year waiting for summer vacation.

It was a month of unexpected travel, traversing the country and working on non-boat projects. It was also a month full of activities and friends: an unexpected sailor on his way to pickup replacement boat parts and a medieval music performance in a Victorian church in a Victorian Seaport. Continue reading “An Unending Month”