DEI insanity, Fran on the subject of pennies, and in the “keeping an eye on bird flu” department… My galley foot pump either needs a rebuild or replacing. On one hand, it’s a Whale pump so it’s easy to get a rebuild kit but the cost of said kit is as much as a Chinese …
A needful read, an important question, and in the “really, I mean Really?“ department… I’ve been considering adding a couple of cheek blocks to my masthead on the Islander. As I mentioned the other day, I’m partial to Garhauer gear. Anyway, I was thinking along the lines of this cheek block… Now, while I’m not …
The situation so far, a needful discussion, and important stuff on NOAA here and here… Some might say I’m simple minded and that might account for what I look for in blocks… simplicity. Hard to get any simpler. right? Well, actually… Low friction rings are the ultimate in simplicity and can often replace some of …
Some Tesla news, about that anticipatory obedience, and a welcome alternative to Amazon… I used to work in a boat gear consignment shop and it taught me about what works, what doesn’t, and how gear fails. It also confirmed my suspicion that 90% of sailing folks are idiots who love being treated like an ATM. …
An intelligent cat, a game plan of sorts, and in the “no conflict of interest at all” department… The other day, while trying to organize all my sailboat design links, I came across this bit of Gary Hoyt wonderfulness and found myself being somewhat depressed. I mean, why on earth did this rig not catch …
EBM making sense, a very interesting read, and the word for today is “baggywrinkle”… So, yeah, it’s Holidaze season and time to be thinking about stocking stuffers. Books are mostly what I lean towards and Dave Z and Anke’s “Sailing in Place: Our Life Afloat in Southeast Alaska’s Archipelago (Sailing Simple: Means and Mindset)” is …
I’ve always been of the “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst” kinda guy and, as a result, also big on backup plans. For instance, at 2AM last night I was thinking about… What would I do if I lost the rig on the Islander? And so, my “A” plan for a rig replacement …
My plan for today was to catch up on reading and then dismantle an outboard and make a gawd-awful mess in the cockpit in the process. Lucky me! We have what I’ll call a Seattle day in Paradise and it looks like gray skies and copious rain is what’s on the menu. So, next on …
This is nowhere. Face it, we all have our passions and some lucky people (or so I’ve been told) get to share their passions with with a large group of like-minded folks. Then again, some of have passions that are, due to a general lack of interest, more along the lines of a private passion. …
A common issue when doing rigging work on older boats is that, more often than not, previous owners and various marine tradesmen have made questionable tool decisions. A quick example is dealing with a Sta-Lok fitting that has been mangled because someone used the worst tool known to man to tighten or loosen it. Yeah, …
