Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the. Show all posts
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Where is the world is that
We've been trying to mark all of our stops on Google Maps. It sounds like it's working, so here's a link (it's also over on the left hand side of the blog under "Our fav links"). If you zoom all the way in on an "anchor" you can even see the marinas. We've started using Google Maps as a part of our route planning (and to get a tentative idea of the marina location and layout).
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zLIYOgFK_xh0.kRkTBlZlCMhU
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
A Grey Heron seen at the RCYC
Amazing to see such a bird walking around in what is really Cape Town Harbour and a very low tide.
The camera is Canons Gll, now past its best as salt or dirt had scratched the lens but as the camera
has been used just about daily this past four years I have no complaints.
I was there to meet up with Dudley Dix and the crew of Black Cat some three days before the start of the Cape 2 Rio 2014 ocean race.
For more on this now very African bird read below and check the link.
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/ardeidae/ardea_cinerea.htm
Roy
Click on the image for a larger view.
The camera is Canons Gll, now past its best as salt or dirt had scratched the lens but as the camera
has been used just about daily this past four years I have no complaints.
I was there to meet up with Dudley Dix and the crew of Black Cat some three days before the start of the Cape 2 Rio 2014 ocean race.
For more on this now very African bird read below and check the link.
Distribution and habitat
Occurs across much of the Old World, from western Scandinavia, Britain and the Iberian Peninsula to sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa it is most abundant in Zimbabwe, northern and eastern Botswana and South Africa, while also occupying patches of Namibia and Mozambique. It generally favours shallow water bodies, such as estuaries, lagoons, rivers, lakes, the intertidal zone, marshes and dams.
http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/ardeidae/ardea_cinerea.htm
Roy
Saturday, April 22, 2017
A day at the races and Coventry Climax 08 02 2014
That's me, I am off to the Kilarney Race Circuit this morning to see all the period and classic racing cars!
The best money we can ever spend is to support the WPMC each year so they can afford to host the event.
http://www.wpmc.co.za/
I drove my Hillman Imp to second place in the Argus Group series car, in the same event but that was forty two years back!
Roy
The best money we can ever spend is to support the WPMC each year so they can afford to host the event.
http://www.wpmc.co.za/
I drove my Hillman Imp to second place in the Argus Group series car, in the same event but that was forty two years back!
Roy
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Five years in the life
I'm a left brain type, and maybe too much of one. This is good news, and maybe some less than great news. I have a tendency to analyze almost everything. Not at an OCD level, but maybe on that side of the fence. I couldn't even use the "Left Brain" term without reading about Sperry's work on the subject. By the way, my very usage of the term is promulgating the hemispheric dominance myth, but you get my point.
The rational side of my personality makes me question things, and is one of many reasons I infuriate so many people when politics are being discussed. I know things, because I carefully research them. My brain is full of errata like liberals do drink more than conservatives, and Democrats don't historically tax and spend anymore than Republicans do. They're both guilty. I'm stopping here before someone develops a dire case of apoplexy.
These characteristics, as flawed as they maybe, come with some advantages. I'm not a sports fanatic. There, I said it out loud. "Prepare the stocks in the village square and lock him up." It's not that I don't like sports, it's just that I don't always see, or perhaps understand the intellectual aspects in a lot of them. On occasion I'm gracefully chided because I don't sit and watch "ESPN's "Sports Center" for hours on end, or don't know some stat that is apparent to others who do. Isn't that Nova special about dark matter on PBS now?
But left brain dude has some tools. This year I entered the Gecko's football pool. 200 people during seventeen long weeks try to predict the winners. I was fourth overall. I just Geekified the process. A spread sheet was made. About forty expert's choices with a selection percentage rating above sixty percent for correct picks are entered for each game. Add home game, injury lists, weather conditions for open air stadiums and some secret others as weighing factors, and I did better than many of the so called experts.
It's a very very low tech Nate Silver take off. I never needed to watch a single game. I admit under less than duress, and the promise of medicinal adult beverages that I did spend some Sundays towards the end of the season in the saloon watching the games, and discovered it didn't kill me. My little spreadsheet project already has a new special column for Nate's sports projections. His famous 538 blog has been acquired by ESPN, and will now include not only his brilliant political race projections, but sports and other subjects also. Hush, don't tell anyone, next year is coming.
We all hopefully learn from our experiences, and repairing and installing electronics is no different. I did a little spread sheet that covers my sense of what causes things to go awry on a boat. You can right click it, or do whatever you need to make it larger.
No it's not painstakingly gleaned from years of detailed invoicing, but more on my sense of what I typically see and do daily across general categories.
Corrosion is a biggie, along with water intrusion at any level. This is most prevalent on the more open boats such as center console fishing boats. One good driving rain with wind that pushes water onto a console can play havoc. Water that seeps behind a poorly sealed device such as a stereo, or autopilot head drips onto power blocks and everything else gravity can pull it downward onto.
Connections of all types are prone to eventual failure. Salt air, and high humidity eventually will render all wiring into an increasingly poorer conductor until it turns into flecks of multicolored copper and tin oxides packaged in an embrittled plastic sheath. Areas prone to be continually damp should always have extra attention paid to the way connections are made.
It won't turn on, what should I do? Fuses, and their holders are the first things I check. ATC style fuse blocks, and their plastic fuses do corrode. The problem is you can't clean the ATC fuse contacts inside. I do use a little trick from time to time. I take a pair of needle nose pliers and give the ATC fuse blades a slight twist. Just enough to make it tougher, but not too tough to reinsert. A small wire brush will also remove the gray oxides that seem to build up on the blades. In the end, ATC and glass fuse blocks should be promptly replaced when they become problematic.
I don't mean to beat up DIY installers, many do it well, but installation inexperience can cause issues. Poor wire and connector type choices. Incorrect wiring colors used. Failure to install gaskets or sealants where needed. Didn't have the right tools, and improvised. My favorite is twisting the wires together, and then wrapping them in 4 feet of the cheap black electrical tape if they are covered at all.
Software is ever increasingly becoming an issue. Ten years ago software upgrades were not very common, and usually came about because there was some glaring error immediately discovered when a device was put in the field by a 14 year old. Today software updates can be continually ongoing. Not so much now to just correct errors, but to add new features, or to support new products or changes to them.
Many owners abuse their gear. They're not beating their equipment with rubber hoses, but it happens never the less. The largest sin is not using things on a boat. The winch wasn't used for two years, and now it doesn't work, and the fuse now pops every time you push the switch. Boats that don't get covered have extra opportunities for water intrusion when it rains. Radars aren't run, and condensation inexorably carries on corrosion's cause. Bracket mounted equipment is removed, and the cable's connectors are left exposed to fend for themselves out in the elements. Use it or lose it.
All things will break sooner or later, it is just more likely to happen sooner on a boat. Over a five year period there are endless ways for electronics to fail, but many failures have some things in common. Things inside a boat, or in more protected areas live much long that those with more exposure to the elements. For this reason properly installed flush mount gear has a much better survival rate than bracket mounted gear.
Many marine stereos are lucky to survive five years, if even that. This is primarily because they are typically not well protected from the elements, and are encased in marginal materials like steel cases. A piece of plastic covering the top of the unit is the best many do to "Marinize" the units. On the other hand chart plotters are remarkably resilient, and the failure rate if not abused by the elements is very low over a five year period.
Many marine stereos are lucky to survive five years, if even that. This is primarily because they are typically not well protected from the elements, and are encased in marginal materials like steel cases. A piece of plastic covering the top of the unit is the best many do to "Marinize" the units. On the other hand chart plotters are remarkably resilient, and the failure rate if not abused by the elements is very low over a five year period.
And lastly the dreaded obsolescence issue. Modern manufacturing drives costs down, makes devices more compact, but they are no longer repairable at a board level. Add the the ever increasing rate of tech change, and most marine electronics are going to be obsolete at some level in a five year period.
When I say obsolete, what I mean is they may no longer have parts available for repair. Support for software may have stopped, your existing equipment will lack features you now desire, and so on. I just have to have that new chart plotter that will let me Skype with my buddy on the yacht club trip.
The rate of technology change for marine electronics varies considerably. Chart plotters and marine entertainment systems now change very quickly, radars at a slower pace, and rudder references hardly at all. I think I can safely aver, "The higher the level of technology on a boat, the faster the rate of technological change will impact it."
The rate of technology change for marine electronics varies considerably. Chart plotters and marine entertainment systems now change very quickly, radars at a slower pace, and rudder references hardly at all. I think I can safely aver, "The higher the level of technology on a boat, the faster the rate of technological change will impact it."
The numbers I have tendered are a mix of experience with Florida boats in salt water , and gut instincts. Feel free to question them. I also didn't throw the kitchen sink into the list, it would have gone on forever. Environments do vary widely from fresh water lower humidity, to continually muggy, hot, salt water locations and this changes things. These are by any measure subjective numbers, but on the whole I would bet on them, statistically speaking.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Vintage Paddle Pic Rocking the Paddle Guitar
From an expired Ebay ad (now removed), a pic featuring some chaps lounging by the shore. The canoes feature a closed gunnel system (typically from the pre-1920s) and canvas sponsons to prevent tipping.
Here's a previous post featuring some ladies with one of them also striking the paddle guitar pose...
Six women in swimwear at the Potomac Tidal Basin beach, Washington, D.C., 1922.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Anton Anrieth Groote Constantia pediment restoration at the old wine cellars
We have been visiting the wine farm named Groote Constantia for decades, this art work has never looked better!
The most famous work is by Anton Anrieth, its remarkable, magnificent!
Circa 1791.
Anton signed up to the military and that got him out of his native Germany, shipping to the cape.
I can advise visting early rather than late when the place can become really busy with tourists.
The most famous work is by Anton Anrieth, its remarkable, magnificent!
Circa 1791.
Anton signed up to the military and that got him out of his native Germany, shipping to the cape.
Click on the pictures to enlarge them, the camera used was a Canon G1X digital, this shot was
on a 4 x tele shot, which is a disapointing maximum.
I can advise visting early rather than late when the place can become really busy with tourists.
The main house is to the left of the camera and really worth the visit when your in Cape Town.
Roy
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Packing the Didi Mini Transat Mk3
The export orders always go into a purpose made crate, the norm is using 16mm chipboard, cut to size to give just enough space to allow the plys and in this case the CNC shaped rudders to fit.
Due to the space such a crate takes, we had the plys loaded with the crate against the wall pending on collection day.
Due to the space such a crate takes, we had the plys loaded with the crate against the wall pending on collection day.
The rudders were laminated and CNC cut to shape so that the customer could do final shaping himself. The envelope is a Lucky Packet of odds and bobs we send with most kits.
Steel band strapped, our crated kits have shipped world wide like this for over a decade and allow
safe handling and when the customer receives his kit boat order it is in the same condition we sent it in.
The shipping lable was attatched later, this order will go to Dubai, UAE, country number 35 we have exported to I think.
Roy
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Adding to the Fleet Possible Chestnut Chum
We'll I've been out of commission again with illness and a severe allergic reaction to some prescription medication I was put on for my back...just miserable. The bright spot in all this is that I acquired a cedar canvas canoe as part of trade while getting rid of some stuff.
It is completely usable as is with perfectly intact canvas and no cracked ribs or planking; but the previous owner never really maintained the gunwales or decks - some rot is beginning to set in. There are no markings or a serial number on it but from the dimensions (15ft x 33" wide), narrowish ribs (1 1-2" to 2" wide), narrow planking and basic sheerline, it looks to be late 70s era Chestnut Chum. In addition, it shows the poorer build features that plagued Chestnut before they closed shop in 1979 - poorer selection of wood (knots & imperfections), gaps between planking, cheaper fastenings, aluminum bang plates.
Still, I'm happy with it. I've already taken it out for quick paddle and pole. It was apparently restored at least once before getting to the previous owner with a scarf joint near the bow and while the seats simply have wood boards nailed to them, the underside reveals holes where the original cane would've been used to form the seat tops.
Previous Scarf repair
This'll be my first attempt at a restoration and I don't think this one will be out of my league. My plan over the winter is to slowly restore the canoe with new decks, outwales, replace the cumbersome centre thwart with a chestnut-style carrying yoke (thanks to Mike Elliot's wonderful plans) and a few other bells and whistles. In the end I'll have another canoe that I'm planning to be a bit more rough with that my other boat.
Centre Thwart - too painful on the shoulders
Sept 15, 2015 UPDATE: With some more detective work and some online assistance, the canoe make and model have been confidently determined. It isn't a Chestnut at all (very obvious now in retrospect) but from a local builder in the Muskoka region. For the full post and update - click HERE
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Toylander on the move
The works Toylander is now in a new home, a nice family with two sons, one about five and the other is two.
The yellow Toylander is now five years old, the top quality okoume marine plywood and epoxies with 2k auto grade top coats really do pay off over time. The Hillman Californian is now forty seven years old, same again, top quality paints pay off.
Toylander as loaded and soon to be on its way.
Nice!
Roy
The yellow Toylander is now five years old, the top quality okoume marine plywood and epoxies with 2k auto grade top coats really do pay off over time. The Hillman Californian is now forty seven years old, same again, top quality paints pay off.
Toylander as loaded and soon to be on its way.
Nice!
Roy
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