all you really need…
Yachting Monthly has a really good article on how to use sun shots to find out where you are and it’s all you really need along with a plastic sextant and an almanac. Oh yeah, here’s a quote that makes a whole lot of sense.
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next job on the list, installing new portlights…
One of the issues that the Islander presented was that the opening ports were well past their sell by date. All six ports either needed parts or required replacement and, as the cost of Beckson parts were astronomic, new ports were a given. My first impulse was to build Wiley ports as they are dead …
next job on the list, installing new portlights… Read More »
a whole lot of miles…
Not a milk-run voyage at all for a 50-year old Dufour 35. The voyage track is also well worth checking out…
A quick thought on boat building materials…
“Dry rot is a wood disease, a kind of freshwater induced leprosy, that does not affect fiberglass. Fiberglass boats have their own problems” — Hal Painter Truth be told it’s a foregone conclusion that all boat building materials have inbuilt problematic issues. The trick is to gravitate to the one that best suits your disposition. …
some odds and ends…
Lots of rain the last couple of days which has stalled my rigging jobs on the Islander but has added to the job list as I need to rebed some leaky deck hardware and sort out a couple of mystery sources of water ingress. Apparently water is a lot smarter than I am. Since I’m …
What’s up in America’s chilly paradise…
It was seventy-two frelling degrees this morning! Since I have the Simpson Lawrence Anchorman aboard (SHINY!), it’s now time to remove the Vetus manual windlass and put it up for sale to get it (and its weight) off the boat. I had planned to take it down to bare metal then give it a new …
a bit more on winches and windlasses…
Seems like a good time to dust off this old post… Not too awful long ago, a reader to this blog wrote and asked my thoughts on such things as hydraulic-driven furling systems and electric winches for sheets and suchlike. My view on such things is that they really do not belong on a cruising …
A new addition to the deck gear…
Have you noticed that it’s almost impossible to find a new manual anchor windlass? Or, if you do it’s more expensive than a powered one? When you do find a good manual windlass the cost is often right at the cost of a brand spanking new electric windlass. Is that nuts or what? The Islander …
dealing with the chainplate from hell…
Having experienced a dismasting due to a chainplate failure on “So It Goes”, and mixed with the fact that the Islander is fifty years old, chainplate replacement was high on the list of the needful things to do list. Of course, being that the Islander’s chainplate design is a bit different from what passes for …
if it ain’t broke…
I’m sitting here looking at a couple of hundred feet or so of Dyneema that should/could be the new rig for the Islander and it’s just a little frustrating as I’m not going to use it and will consign it to the “when the rig needs replacing” locker. Now, as someone who is well aware …