A water-less year - almost

Hi everyone!  Yes we are still here but it has been almost a water-less year and the 1913 summer season was filled with household chores, gardening and many other things local to our house in Indiana.  I did make a trip to Maryland to look at a Pearson 424 but after looking at these boats for a year, I have decided that this is not the boat for my next adventures.  My current focus is on the Whitby 42.  While in Maryland a friend of mine and I took a side trip to look at a Niagara 42 and a Whitby 42.  The Whitby was outfitted with windvane and most of the long haul conveniences.  The price was right too.  Now, how do I pry SAM away from the garden? 

SAM & I spent the day up in Saugatuck area and stopped by Tower Marine to pick up Bob Trotter.  Bob you may remember as the gentleman from NZ that purchased our boat Inspiration in the Fall of 2011.  Well, it seems that Bob was having a bit of an issue with the title so we took him to the Secretary of State facility and did some fancy footwork and he left with the title in hand and brand new stickers for the State of Michigan.  He was a happy man.

Bob says he will be leaving in July for the trip on the Great Lakes that will lead to the Hudson River and the Atlantic.  He mumbled something about seeing us in Florida at a certain marina that allows liveaboards while on the hard.  Maybe, just maybe, we will see him there.

Our boat search continues and I will not say too much about that at this time:  I have hope.

When I read of other friends out upon the high seas I am so jealous.  We are still looking for the boat we want to spend the rest of our lives upon.  As we reflect on this subject it does not seem like a task that should cause us much problems.  Yet, it seems to be for us.  I guess it is all in the emotional bond that seems to form with a new boat.

I spent the afternoon reading of the email at sea subject.  There is Pactor for a fast expensive solution to email and small attachments to email.  Then there is the Winmor modulation alternative and this is encapsulated into RMS Express which allows telnet and Winmor plus the Pactor variants as well.  I am using this now via my PC and it works well as a store and forward system.

Since I am a technical oriented bloke, I think the Winmor sound card modulation method makes more sense for me.  Really, who wants to spend $1200+ for a Pactor 4 modem:  The SCS group could embrace us all but they seem to be targeting the commercial segment of the market?  In the end, it is all marketing strategy and their strategy does not apply to me.

Right now all I want is a HF radio that reaches out to any of the nodes that could be reached and when the new boat occurs we can move the station to the floating platform.  Ok, that is all for this Sunday evening.  Send me an email at K9CWM@winlink.org as I like to meet new friends and just like to keep this active.

We have been looking for our new boat - without success - and recently traveled to Rhode Island to look at a Pearson 424.  I took a surveyor but within minutes determined that this was not the boat for us since everywhere we touched it needed a project of its own.  After determining we were not interested we asked the Broker from Bluenose if he could show us anything else.  He said he could and we went to Essex, CT and a small town in MA (I forget the name right now).  We looked at a Niagria 42 and a Whitby 42: I liked both.  The Niagria was out of my price range and the Whitby did not have a genset and A/C.

So it was back to Indiana and the Great Search to start again. In the mean time, I have become interested in ham radio and sending traffic at sea.  To this end I complied with the winlink.org procedures and submitted for an email account.  I now have a way to receive email at sea and the address is K9CWM@winlink.org - while not at sea I use RMS Express so feel free to start emailing me.  I check the email about once per day just as if I am at sea.

Keep me in your prayers so that I may find the passage maker of dreams and 73's to all.  Chuck.

Source: pinterestpleasures.blogspot.co.uk via Ash on Pinterest

HF Marine / HAM radio?

I spent the evening last night looking over websites relating to HF radio.  I knew, for example, that there was email and weather fax capability via the HF bands.  What I did not know was that it is illegal for an unlocked HAM radio to transmit on the Marine HF bands.  Did you know that?  Lots of people have Ham gear and do transmit on the marine HF radio bands but they are not supposed to and it is possible for Ham's and Governments to detect whether this is happening via the bandpass characteristics. 

It was also a surprise to me that Marine HF radios have much tighter transmit specifications that the HAM radio that can transmit on the same frequencies (if unlocked so to speak).  As a newly minted HAM this was somewhat discouraging since I intended to use my General Class license with one HAM HF radio on the boat we will buy for use in warmer waters. NOT!  To me now, this means two rigs - one Marine HF and one HAM HF radio.  Why you say?  Well read on

A real quandary arises and that involves email/voice vs commercial / amateur transmissions.  Say your on the high sea and your water pump fails.  You install your spare but now you need to buy another one and have it in your next port of call.  Can you use the HAM radio to transmit the purchase info?  Nope - no can do.  I'll have to use the Marine HF radio ( and have email capability) for commercial related traffic.

Why even have a HAM radio you say.  Well, there are tens of thousands of Ham's on the bands day and night.  If you get into trouble or have a life threatening emergency who would you call?  Maybe a few hundred boats in radio range or thousands of Ham's who really do want to help you.  Now if you have a HAM radio why not add email and weather fax capability?  So this means two of everything - including an unlocked HAM rig for redundancy.  Besides it gets really boring out there and a good HAM radio will keep you occupied between and during tedious watches.

That is what I learned last night and it has just cost me another $2.5K-4K for more equipment.  However, I consider this $$ well spent for safety and companionship reasons.  I am looking at Icom radios:

IC-M802 Marine HF

IC-7200 Amateur HF

 

Our sailing redefined

I need to change the title of the previous missive from Housekeeping to Our boat redefined.  I have done this and now we are ready to proceed to Our Sailing Re-defined.  The redefinition may not really be how we sail and cruise but in terms of sailing grounds it is a redefinition.  We were Lake Michigan based and really love it but as time progresses we want to spend time at the old homestead in the summer and more time in warmer climes in the winter. 

To start we will be in the Florida Gulf area and migrate as the season and inclination dictate.  The season start will be after the end of November hurricanes and end with the greening of grass in the northern spring.  Summer up north will mean gardens and mowing grass and some kayaking and general playing around on the rivers and lakes.  Deep Fall will end with leaves being raked and burned and culminate with family Thanksgiving dinner.

Winter will be time to re-board the boat for adventures where ever.  We enjoy a life evolving and revolving around the saltwater.  However, we must get a new platform for our lives to begin "down there".  This winter will be spent searching for the basis of the new platform. 

At this moment we are biding our time but have looked at one new boat possibility - a Pearson 424 Sloop.  It looks pretty good but lacks many of our wish list features above.  There appear to be better prospects but they may be an illusion.