Props to Peeps

Nice blog here about sailing and life. Found him when he answered a question I posted on the Catalina Owners Forum.

Also, I got a huge spike in visitors when I put kitty cats in the labels in an older post so we're doing that again just for experiments sake.

Just Some Guy Blog

Props to Peeps

This video I put together a couple years ago should have been my very first props to peeps post. I'm perplexed by my profound paucity of perspicacity.

Here is a link to the video of the launching, and launch party, of the s/v Famous Grouse built by amateur boat builder Big D (no one calls him that), Denny Mike (his mother called him that), Dad (I call him that), Dennis Peavler.

I play the dual roles of aft port boat bearer and Spaulding Smalls. My performance was panned by both the theater and marine journalism communities.

Photo courtesy Chaney Brown nee Peavler of Chaney Peavler Photography. Wanted to be specific there so you don't confuse her with any of the other photographers named Chaney you might know.

Tour Report

Took a short trip Friday. Sometimes when it's slow at work I like to take a little time, even if just an hour or two to take her out and race myself around channel markers 6 and 7 on Lake Travis.

Wind was hit or miss but the weather was nice.

Hey, I get to sail in December... not much, really to complain about... except the Saild app, which, despite being the method of reporting this trip here, still sucks.

Started a new project yesterday to make some bags to organize the halyards. Pics and post in the next day or two.

The Sea Was Indifferent, My Friends

I had been saving up my play time for the week for a day of sailing today, however the winds did not participate. The lake was like a mirror.

A couple call backs from earlier posts: First, tried to use the saild again and it sucked again. Second, the electrical system seems to be back to ship shape. I still need to mount and cover the new negative buss bar, but I'm glad I installed it. It's cleaned up everything quite a bit.

Since I've no news to report, here is a picture of a heron for your trouble.

Props to Peeps-ish

Jamestown is not really peeps in the same way that the Savvy Sailor is, but they are an invaluable resource. Great selection, pretty good prices ( always check Academy Sports first ) on specialty products, perhaps the best part are the how to articles and videos.

Jamestown Distributors, Minion, check it.

This is only a test...

This is a test post to see if my automatic notification settings are working...

Apps

Minion, mozzarella sticks, fried pickles, guacamole and nachos are all better apps for sailing than saild.

Saild is supposed to be a simple route tracker, social media, simple stats recorder for the non-racing sailor who still wants some amount of data regarding their sailing trips.  I don't necessarily need SOG as a function of the lay line or numeric representations of the polar chart for my C22. Sometimes I am curious if I made it from channel marker 6 to 7 faster than last week, in the same way that sometimes you're curious how your frigid, shrew wife's sparkling eyes and childlike joie de vie had been replaced with a pallid visage and slavish devotion to the rigorous tedium of middle class life. Perhaps there were times when you had noticed the change happening. Perhaps there were times when you could have interrupted what now seems like the inevitable march toward stagnant complacency with her, with yourself, with life, but they're gone now.

Those lost opportunities are now just irrelevant, annoying reminders of the pestilent petulance of youthful hope. The hope is gone, the woman you knew is gone. You, the you you were, the you you could have been: gone.  Left is that frigid, shrew and her empty, rote, muscle memory induced peck on the cheek as you leave for work and the irrepressible hope, somewhere deep, down, in the darkest corners of you soul that this will be the day the #4 bus from Park Fair Mall to downtown runs that red light at Euclid and, well...

What saild actually is, is a cavalcade of bugginess that would make an etymologist uncomfortable.

(Minion, that's a really funny, smart joke where I pretend to mix up etymology with entomology as a function of the word "bugginess". See, entomologists study insects, "bugs", and etymologists study the history of words and 'bugginess" is not an accepted word yet. It's still just vernacular. Keep up, Minion.)

The last three trips I've taken I've thought I've saved pictures to the route. I haven't. I've thought I've saved the route itself. I haven't. There is no recovery feature, there is no temporary save.

On the other hand it is free. So....here's a picture of a kitty cat. Meow:

Props to C22 Peeps

Minions, I imagine you're here for C22 info and not for the witty repartee so I'm going to start sharing blogs and websites I find helpful.

The Stingy Sailor has been doing a C22 renovation for most of 2013 and has some gorgeous results. Great how to's and before and afters.

Intermission

For no reason other than I felt like using my new drawing table, here is a sketch of the end of the whisker pole before you insert the bolt and snap hook. Guten Nacht.

Whisker Pole, Act One: The Makening.

Yesterday we discussed the cast of characters, main characters. I didn't mention the nuts and bolts I found laying around the garage, but they do play a role.

So, step one: Cut off the ends of the extension pole.
Both the handle and the threaded fixture will be replaced by the snap hooks, so we just cut off the factory supplied ends. I ended up having to use my jig saw for this. Far from ideal, but I'd recently "organized" the garage, making appropriate tools such as a screw down pipe cutter or hack saw. I didn't take exact note of the dates, but I imagine it took less than a week for me to find both of those tools after the whisker pole was complete.

or·ga·nize

verb \ˈȯr-gə-ˌnīz\

: to arrange and plan (an event or activity)
: to arrange or order things so that they can be found or used easily and quickly : to put things into a particular arrangement or order

: to gather (people) into a group that will work on something together

The garage was "organized" in that the pipe cutter was between a cricket bat and a shotgun and the hack saw was under a car seat for an infant. We don't have children. You tell me how that got there and I'll tell you about how the history of post-industrial America can be summed up in a single painting by Norman Rockwell, Breaking Home Ties.

Well, the seal is broken now. We're on the road less traveled so, continuing down that path, we'll discuss the wrong turn.

Pic 2

Pic 1

I was hoping I could just position the snap hook within the hollow of the pole, pour epoxy in from a hole I drilled closer to the middle of the pole and, Robert's your mother's brother, whisker pole. Nyet. Several problems ensued. First, no amount of masking tape kept the epoxy from dripping into the spring action of the snap hook rendering the snap, and therefore, hook, worthless. re: pic 1. Second, there was not nearly adequate holding power to keep the hook embedded, re: pic 2.

Pic 3

Step two: Drill a hole fully through the pole about an inch from the ends. Through this hole will pass whatever bolt you can find. The bolt is load bearing in that it will keep the snap hook from being pulled out of, or pushed into the pole under loads. Pic 3. You want this hole to be as close to center line of the long axis, and perpendicular to the long axis of the pole as possible. I found that if I grab my bench top drill press and use it as a kind of saw horse while hand drilling I get it pretty straight.

Pic 4

Step three: Cram something lightweight that you don't need into the pole so that it fills up the pole cavity just below the hole. I used paper towels but you could use pages from Catcher in the Rye or your god awful ex-wife's wedding dress. Can you believe that frigid harpy once fit in that thing? This stuff will allow us to control the depth of the epoxy we will pour into the pole in step 5. Pic 4.

Pic 5

Step four: Insert the new snap hook you had to buy when you ruined the first one during the wrong turn described above. Also insert a bolt you find laying around through the pole hole, snap hook eye and back out the other side of the pole. Hang all this jazz from the garage door track. Re: pic 5. The screw sticking out of the top of this assembly is an attempt to keep the snap hook in the column of the pole while the epoxy is curing.

Step five: Cover everything you don't want covered in epoxy with something. Wax paper, masking tape and paper towels. See step three for other options, re: pic 6. Then start pouring epoxy into the top, re: pic 7. Remember the epoxy is really just a bushing, or shim. It's acting to keep the snap hook centered in the pole, but the bole through the snap hook eye is really holding it in place.

Pic 7

Pic 6

 Step 6: Wait for it to cure then repeat at the other end of the pole. Then either add a nut to the bolt or cut it off. If you decided to cut it off and can't find your hack saw, check under the baby's car seat.

 

Tomorrow, finishing touches.

Whisker Pole, A Play in Three Acts

I'm writing this post at the behest of a couple members of the facebook C22 owner's page. A couple weeks ago I shared a picture of my homemade whisker pole in action and there were requests to show some close-ups or under construction pics. This be them.

Cast of Characters:
The Pole: Purchased at a neighborhood home improvement retailer, the pole is a Alumiglass 6508 4 to 8 foot, twist-lock painters extension pole. Partially aluminum, partially fiberglass, with a handle on the fiberglass side and a male threaded fixture on the aluminum side.

The Hook: Also procured at the home improvement retailer. Nothing special about him, just a spring loaded snap hook. Possibly important, that he is not on a swivel. That is to say there is no articulation possible between the operable end and the fixed eye end. Appears to be stainless steel, but is most likely some kind of nickeled steel. Lehigh hardware brand, but not important.

The Resin: A nave. Read as, the cheap overheating, not as strong type you might get from West Systems (note to self, add West Systems to links on parade in naked effort to get advertising revenue) just the el cheapo two part system you use for generic fiberglass repair work. We won't be using him for structural work, only as a kind of bushing, so, whatevs.

Tune in tomorrow when we explore act one, Fabrication.

So, here we are...

I bought a boat. We bought a boat. I bought a boat, and my beloved permitted me to buy a boat. We have a boat, let's say that.

It's a 1986 Catalina 22, the swing keel version. I've been told, by reputable bloggers, that the C22 is the most popular recreational sailboat of all time. Popular as in best selling, popular as in it's highest rated by it's owners... I don't know. It's popular, they're everywhere, they're sturdy, well built, easy to sail... popular.

Certainly popular in our house. Since purchasing in late August she's been out an average of 3 times a week. She was sail away ready AND the seller had the titles to both the boat and the motor in hand. I cannot express to you how important that was for me, and should be to you if you're looking to buy a boat in Texas. I've been told by other reputable bloggers (not the same reputable bloggers as before mind you, better, even more reputable bloggers. Bloggers with hopes and dreams and well funded 401k's and dental plans) that if you buy a boat in Texas without a title transfer what you've bought is a thousand dollar headache. The wives of most boat owners probably believe that's what you're buying regardless, but they, unlike my beloved are shrill, frigid shrews who need hobbies.

No trailer. We decided we wanted a marina boat, so it didn't bother me that much that the trailer wasn't included. Nice Honda 8hp came with it. The Honda is starting to get a little persnickety, though. I'm going to have to figure that machine out. Apparently there's a ratur for the carbs that mixes the fuels and the gasses... I don't know from the motors.

She sails great, pretty heavy weather helm, but C22 sailors knew that already it. It's one of their signature features, and while a pain in the butt at times, is predictable enough to allow for a sheet to tiller self-steering system. I'll post about that in the future.

The electrical mostly worked before I got to her. The masthead (anchor) light was the only light that didn't work, so in trying to troubleshoot that I've successfully broken every circuit she's got. Here's what I was dealing with when I pulled the panel off for the first time. Whether I do a better job of it than the previous owners or not, once it's done, I'll at least know what wire goes to what.

So, anyhoo, I'll be posting here about improvements, maintenance, trips, and such. Here's a pic from last week's cold snap...