Not true! The sparker things don't spark (probably from lack of use) but the burners lit yesterday by using matches. And I still have those plastic forks you gave me.
Not true! The sparker things don't spark (probably from lack of use) but the burners lit yesterday by using matches. And I still have those plastic forks you gave me.
We can use the eating utensils on Eyrie, I've got everything necessary and they are still clean from when I returned from the SHTP in 2006. But my sparker thing has rusted so I'll pack a fresh one.
Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.
Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. On your way to a world that others might have missed.
~ Blues Image
I remember SHTP 2006. That's when I ate those 5-Minute Heater Meals and lost 23 pounds.
Elmer* helped build a boat...
When I replaced the electric halyard winch, I saved the box that covered the old motor because it was kind of cool. Well, most of it was - apparently Elmer didn't think anyone would ever see the part of the box that lived up in the overhead. I set the box on a shelf in the garage waiting for a Grand Idea. In the meantime I've been tempted to cut the top off square, just because.
On Thursday I got the Grand Idea for how I could reuse the box so I pulled it off the shelf and went after it. Cutting anything with my Harbor Freight jigsaw is like driving a '62 Chevy Impala with bad shocks, but it turned out pretty well. I learned a term from Rob: "That's PFC." Rob must have been in the Army.
Alas, I discovered yesterday that my Grand Idea for using the box wouldn't work. It's back on the shelf in the garage, but now it won't bug me.
* With apologies to anyone named Elmer who is a good boat carpenter.
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Last edited by BobJ; 09-04-2021 at 11:58 AM.
While I'm here - You know that gybe under the Gate to head over to the GGYC finish line? Yeah, That One.
A remaining item from Skip's List is to change the boom bail to a soft attachment. I think it's time.
So, Drake's Bay didn't work out so good, as I stubbornly waited until 5PM to pull the plug on Saturday, with 20 miles of motoring before anchoring in DB well after dark.
Let's try it again, but in HMB, eh? I've got 2 new sparky fire sticks and a half dozen virgin fly swatters.
Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.
Ride, captain ride upon your mystery ship. On your way to a world that others might have missed.
~ Blues Image
It's a date.
Sorry you didn't bail out as early as the rest of us. Of course if you'd finished, you'd have made us look like the flakes we are.
You missed out on my chicken street tacos with special sauces. I'm not cooking in HMB - once per season is enough of that cooking stuff!
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Last edited by BobJ; 09-06-2021 at 10:40 AM.
Regarding that soft attachment (above), I'm not sure what to do here. I've used Harken "Loups" for a long time and I've never come close to breaking one - but Surprise! is a bigger boat.
For the HMB race, I replaced the bent SS bail with a 9mm Loup in "basket" mode, rated for 7,200# MWL. Doubling it over and putting both ends onto the block's shackle pressed hard into the ends of the Loup. It didn't appear to break any strands but HMB was a light air race. So I bought a new 10mm Loup - here it is in "vertical" mode. This single-pass configuration is rated at 5,400# MWL and looks exactly like the photo in Harken's catalog. For reference, the block is rated at 5,000# MWL and shows no wear after three years. The shackle is a Harken 8 "HR" rated at 5,130# MWL. A bow-style shackle might be wide enough to double the Loup but bow shackles don't come in HR versions and they have a much lower MWL (bored yet?)
Also, the inside edges of the boom are smooth but with hard corners, so I'm wondering if I should put spacers, nylon washers etc. between the Loup and the sides to reduce chafe. One good thing is that I can keep changing the chafe points with this arrangement. Suggestions welcome.
Other stuff from yesterday: I tested Ragtime!'s spinnaker net on Surprise! and it should work fine. I bought that net for the 2006 SHTP - it has a Spinnaker Shop label from when Synthia worked for Sally Honey. Then I hoisted one of Joe Barry's J/105 kites in a sock to test as a backup kite. I pulled out the famous (only in this thread) cockpit-mounted Zeus3 MFD and am awaiting a replacement that won't shut down whenever it receives an alarm. A fishing boat sank at North Farallon while we were racing to Drake's Bay. The boat sent multiple DSC alarms but just at those times when you want the chartplotter to record the position, it shuts down. Shallow water alarms also cause it to turn off - maybe it can't handle the stress. B&G has agreed to replace it under warranty.
Last edited by BobJ; 09-20-2021 at 11:03 PM.
The best would be a strop around the end of the boom. The setup shown looks weak as the middle of the bolt takes the load and has chafe points.