Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Little Yellow - a day sail


Somehow, the summer slipped away from me.  I have not done much in the way of sailing; however, I did go out this last week for a couple of hours.  She sailed well but on the small lake we have her on a lot of tacking is done.  The lake residents like to see me out on the lake watching me making 10 tacks to get back to the up wind end of the lake.  I need to get her on a much larger lake so I can have a half hour of so sail without tacking. 

The meeting went well and we discussed the current Florida and Caribbean situation as relates to the hurricane damage.  Almost everyone had a friend with damage  or sustained damage themselves.  A real tragedy that is for sure.

We are looking for another sailboat in the 35-38' range - something like a Pearson 365 to Erickson 38 style - around $35K±.  This is a bad year to do this with all the damage and boat loss but here we are and running out of years to boot.  Ah well, it is life.  Cheers for now.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

A slice of my previous life

Quote found on computer:

This morning it was high winds, intermittant rain and overcast grey skies.  This afternoon it was sunny skies and moderate wind and falling temperatures.  As usual on Sunday it was church in the morning and a little bit of work in the afternoon.  I did a bit of repair of the cabinet closures and looked for some more on the internet.  I did find some very similar replacements and this is good.  I then logged the find in the blog watermanwater.tumblr.com for my future review.

My afternoon was slow but I did go to Monkey Fist to try and scrounge some stainless steel tubing to act as legs for the saloon table legs when it is expanded.  The first part was successful and the second part, implementation, was partially successful.  OK, the deal is that the 26" was a bit too long with the plastic feet installed.  The end tables sloped a bit upwards and I had two choices: the first was to cut off the tubing to less that 26" and the second was to raise the table.  Guess what won?  We raised the table 3/4"  and all was fine.  Now all I have to do is find the one missing foot from the new table legs. :)

It is going to be cold from what the weather forecasters are saying.  Reports from Indiana say in the single digits and colder. Right now I hear the cycling of the reverse cycle heater on the boat.  The barometer fell rapidly this morning around sunrise and then started climbing.  The wind was up and somewhat variable since the boat was first close to the dock and later farther away.


Near sunset the son of the new owner of Quest went out to start flying his Phantom III Standard.  I the quadcopter costs around $500 and is quite a bargain since last year it was double that figure.  In spite of the 15 mph winds the copter was able to hoover and fly and be stable.  Wow, what a deal.  Mom, I want one!

end quote

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Little Yellows Summer

Little Yellow has been sort of lonely this summer of 2017 here on Pleasant Lake.  She has been taken care of and kept in reasonable shape but the summer has been busy.  I will add more later.  Sorry.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

A slow, slow summer

I am so sorry for neglecting this blog.  I splashed Little Yellow this spring but have not used her very much.  The new cover works well but it takes so much time to put the cover on an off its use for summer sailing is pretty much a no-go.

Every year we make some refinements to the rig and install this or that cleat.  The new plan is to use a trolling motor instead of the 2.5HP 4 cycle Mercury.  The trolling motor will be more reliable in the long run and for my small size lake it would be perfect.

We continue to look for the perfect last boat.  Right now my sights are set on a Pearson 365.  However, I have looked at only one boat and that one was over priced so I just dropped the interest.  Anyway, at least I have an idea where I want to go.  Moore later.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

A sailors molecule

H2O: Dangerous Chemical!

A student at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, April 26. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide."
And for plenty of good reasons, since:
  1. it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
  2. it is a major component in acid rain
  3. it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
  4. accidental inhalation can kill you
  5. it contributes to erosion
  6. it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
  7. it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients
He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.

  • Forty-three (43) said yes,
  • six (6) were undecided,
  • and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

USB Config & Pi Zero

I spent some time this morning putting together this picture that defines  the USB configurations and pinouts for various USB types.  The reason for this is that I want to make a Pi Zero CCTV using the popular motionEye software.  I have made several using the Raspberry Pi 3 but am finding it too expensive for what application I am applying.  Now, if I were using 2,3 or 4 CCTV then It would be a good deal to use the Pi 3.  However, for a single CCTV it is too expensive.  To this end, I may need to add a USB hub to the Pi Zero so I bought some tiny hubs on a single PCB this morning.  It has 4 USB A Standard size with 1 microUSB B.  All for $3.78 each and no shipping.


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Future Weather

I have been meaning to post the link of a new breed of interactive weather maps that has lots of applications for pilots, sailors, farmers and everyday users.  So here it is in all it’s linked glory.  The only reason for me to do this is so i will not forget where to go to get it ðŸ™‚


Monday, January 9, 2017

2017 is here

The nautical experience has been nil since the last post.  Well, not exactly but it has been contacting those who are "doing". Listening too.  Right now I am listening to BBC interview by Kim Chakanetsa   with Jessica Watson and Rose Savage. Both are sailors and describe their experiences at sea when they were about 16 years old. It was so interesting I went to sleep momentarily. This is not to detract from the podcast but because I had a big lunch about 1/2 hr before.  Sorry ladies.