At $18.75 for the kit, it is well worth testing, so I will. I'll buy a kit and use it on the center section of our bimini top (when it quits raining, that is).
I'll write more once I've done that...
Monday, September 30, 2013
It's now a reality
Remember this post about an amazing nano-tech super hydrophobic coating? Seemed pretty exotic at the time, didn't it?
Well, technology marches on. Rust-Oleum now markets it, and it is available at Home Depot (and presumably your own local big box home construction store).
At $18.75 for the kit, it is well worth testing, so I will. I'll buy a kit and use it on the center section of our bimini top (when it quits raining, that is).
I'll write more once I've done that...
At $18.75 for the kit, it is well worth testing, so I will. I'll buy a kit and use it on the center section of our bimini top (when it quits raining, that is).
I'll write more once I've done that...
Sunday, September 29, 2013
...aand there's more
If you thought the forecast for last Friday was bleak, well, it's gotten worse. Here's the trunk of Jane's 1965 Mustang full of our "winter" fenders:
Indeed it is worse... the forecast for tonite is for 50 kt wind:
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| Only three will fit |
Indeed it is worse... the forecast for tonite is for 50 kt wind:
PZZ135-300500-I should point out that the wind's potential to cause damage rises dramatically with the speed (by the square). That is, as compared with 20 kt, wind of 40 kt has not twice, but four times the force of its 20 kt little brother. It's gonna be lively here at the dock tonite.
PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL-
230 PM PDT SUN SEP 29 2013
...STORM WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT... TONIGHT...S WIND RISING TO 40 TO 50 KT THIS EVENING AND SHIFTING TO SW. WIND WAVES BUILDING TO 5 TO 8 FT. RAIN TURING TO SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.
MON...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.
MON NIGHT...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
TUE...S WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT.
TUE NIGHT THROUGH WED NIGHT...S WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT.
THU...NE WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT.
FRI...S WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT.
.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
That's a wrap
It's not warm here in Port Madison this morning. In fact, at 11:00 the temperature outside has just barely managed to climb above 50° F.
All good things must come to an end; Seattle's most amazing Endless Summer is no exception. I think we have reached it: The End. We have had the Dickenson running ever since I got up this morning and the temperature here in the cabin is 68°, so we are comfortable. The NOAA marine forecast is telling us that we should dock tomorrow (and as always, at slack water, which occurs at 11:37 and 17:32 - we'll take the 11:37 one):
PZZ135-260100-(After all, no one wants to try to dock in 25 kt if it can be avoided...)
PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL-
900 AM PDT WED SEP 25 2013
TODAY...N WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING. SCATTERED SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. TONIGHT...N WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. AREAS OF FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
THU...S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING.
THU NIGHT...LIGHT WIND...BECOMING S 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS.
FRI...S WIND 10 TO 20 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT.
FRI NIGHT...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
SAT...S WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS.
SUN...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
I still have to change out the propnut zinc, and Thursday afternoon's weather looks like it is as good as it will get for that task, for the rest of the year.
I have a bittersweet feeling. It is the end. But at the same time I am full of the memories of the most wonderful summer ever. We are out here trying to eke out just one more day, but at the same time, the subconscious nesting impulses are getting nearly irresistible - for us that means that we need to button the boat up for the winter, to get the extra fenders out for the coming winter storms.
I think I am ready.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Blowin' a Hoolie
"The bee's knees", "blowin' a hoolie", and "earlier than sparrow fart".
What do these phrases have in common? They (and several others) were all uttered by Kath of nb Bobcat.
We had the distinct pleasure of hosting Kath and Rob both at our home on Camano and aboard (however briefly) Eolian this past weekend. They were on a trip to British Columbia and took the time to journey down to the USA to be with us for a couple of brief days.
It has been said that the Americans and the British are peoples separated by a common language. There is some truth to this, as the common usage for a number of items is different in surprising ways - for example, you readers in the UK will understand what I mean when I announced that I was pulling an old pair of pants out of the console of our car. My American readers, on the other hand, will have no idea what the consternation was...
Kath and Rob are wonderful, down-to-earth people. They too are splitting their time between house and boat: Rob's house (which incidentally houses a surprising number of classic Ducati motorcycles) and narrow boat Bobcat - 58' LOA x 7' beam x 19" draft. Between the marine connection and the classic motor vehicles, we found that we had no shortage of things to talk about.
In fact, the brief time we had together was simply not enough. I wish, for example, that it had not been "blowin' a hoolie", so that we could have taken Eolian off the dock - and that we had had enough time to make it for a couple of days. Ah well.
Kath and Rob have offered to return the favor (favour?), and we are giving this thoughtful consideration. I have written before about the entirely civilized way narrow boating is done, and I must confess that there is a serious attraction...
 |
| Kath, nb Bobcat |
We had the distinct pleasure of hosting Kath and Rob both at our home on Camano and aboard (however briefly) Eolian this past weekend. They were on a trip to British Columbia and took the time to journey down to the USA to be with us for a couple of brief days.
It has been said that the Americans and the British are peoples separated by a common language. There is some truth to this, as the common usage for a number of items is different in surprising ways - for example, you readers in the UK will understand what I mean when I announced that I was pulling an old pair of pants out of the console of our car. My American readers, on the other hand, will have no idea what the consternation was...
 |
| Rob, demonstrating a proper tea ceremony |
In fact, the brief time we had together was simply not enough. I wish, for example, that it had not been "blowin' a hoolie", so that we could have taken Eolian off the dock - and that we had had enough time to make it for a couple of days. Ah well.
Kath and Rob have offered to return the favor (favour?), and we are giving this thoughtful consideration. I have written before about the entirely civilized way narrow boating is done, and I must confess that there is a serious attraction...
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
So: Is it any different?
 |
| (courtesy of www.hdwallpapersinn.com) |
Today is the first day that I can lay claim to being retired. My last day of work was last Thursday, but today is the first day I would have gone to work, if I was still working that is.
Does it feel different? Well, no, I can't say that it does. To me, it feels like just another day of weekend. And with my previous 3-day/week schedule, there were always plenty of those.
What I don't feel: That giddy, start-of-vacation feeling, that giant release that the last day of school gives. None of that.
I suppose this might disappoint some of you nearing retirement. You might be looking for confirmation that the grass really is greener on the other side.
So far, all I can say is that it is the same grass...
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Sandpaper origami
Sandpaper comes in standard sheets that are 9"x11". I know of no tool that uses the full-sized sheets, and this is certainly too big to use for hand sanding. For hand sanding, start with a quarter of the full-sized sheet. When splitting down the big sheet, cut on a fold, from the paper side of the sheet so as to minimize the damage to the knife (here I am using one of our galley knives - don't tell Jane).
If you then just fold the quarter sheet into quarters, there will be grit-sides of the sandpaper in contact. This will dull the grit and cause it to shed abrasives. To prevent this, follow this procedure:
First fold the quarter sheet in half, paper side in, the short way:
Next, open it up and fold in half the long way. Both folds should be creased firmly.
Now open up the paper. It should look sort of like a tent, or a roof with four gables.
Along one of the short folds, tear the paper carefully, to the center of the sheet.
Fold one of the resulting flaps under,
And then fold the doubled flap under...
Et voilà! A perfectly sized piece of sandpaper for hand work, with no grit sides facing each other. Two sides are exposed; when they are dull, you can refold the paper to expose the unused sides.
And by the way... when all four sides have become dull, don't keep sanding in a vain attempt to save money on sandpaper. Get another quarter sheet - that's what the pros would do, because their labor is worth more than the price of a quarter sheet of sandpaper. Yours is too.
[Editor's note: Also, don't scrimp when purchasing the sandpaper - buy the good stuff. Here I am using Norton's open-coated aluminum oxide paper. It stays sharp a long, long time, and because it is open-coated it is very resistant to clogging - even in 220 grit.]
 |
| Start with a quarter of a full-sized sheet |
If you then just fold the quarter sheet into quarters, there will be grit-sides of the sandpaper in contact. This will dull the grit and cause it to shed abrasives. To prevent this, follow this procedure:
First fold the quarter sheet in half, paper side in, the short way:
 |
| Fold in half the short way |
Next, open it up and fold in half the long way. Both folds should be creased firmly.
 |
| Fold in half the long way |
Now open up the paper. It should look sort of like a tent, or a roof with four gables.
 |
| Looks like a tent |
Along one of the short folds, tear the paper carefully, to the center of the sheet.
 |
| Tear one of the short folds to the center |
Fold one of the resulting flaps under,
 |
| Fold the flap under |
 |
| Then fold the doubled side under |
 |
| Voilà! |
And by the way... when all four sides have become dull, don't keep sanding in a vain attempt to save money on sandpaper. Get another quarter sheet - that's what the pros would do, because their labor is worth more than the price of a quarter sheet of sandpaper. Yours is too.
[Editor's note: Also, don't scrimp when purchasing the sandpaper - buy the good stuff. Here I am using Norton's open-coated aluminum oxide paper. It stays sharp a long, long time, and because it is open-coated it is very resistant to clogging - even in 220 grit.]
Monday, September 9, 2013
Topology
to·pol·o·gy (tə-ˈpä-lə-jē)
Sewing cockpit canvas is a study in topology, both in the macro sense, where concern is that the pieces will fit together properly, but also in the micro sense, at the edges where all the various finishing techniques all come together, in a rush of parallel planning. It is not simple.
I spent last weekend becoming acquainted with our new LSZ-1, repairing our cockpit enclosure. In the 10 years since it was installed, exposure and the Sun's UV have caused damage:
To deal with the horizontal shrinkage, I installed new zippers on the side curtains at the original locations, accumulating all the shrinkage compensation into the last zipper, at the front edge. Because of the gap, the zipper could no longer be attached directly to the edge of the side curtain - an extension was needed. I made the extension flap wide enough to not only relay the zipper attachment point out, but also to provide a flap which covers the zipper to protect it from sun exposure. Finally, because this zipper is slanted, I put the extension flap on the side that would shed rain - if I had put it on the other side it would have scooped rain into the zipper.
The center cover needed to be extended too, to compensate for shrinkage in the vertical direction. Rather than tacking on an extension and then having to remount the Common Sense fasteners, I determined that the easiest way to do this was to simply cut off the lower edge containing the fasteners, leaving myself enough seam allowance to attach an extension, and then add the extension above it.
I needed about an inch of extension, but I thought this would look bad, so I made the extension 2.5" (plus seam allowances), more or less mirroring the size of the cut-off margin.
After attaching the extension using a flat-felled seam (directed upward, to shed rain), I re-assembled the extended lower margin piece to the side curtain via the Common Sense fasteners to get a fine-tuned mark of where to trim the center cover. Then I made another up-turned flat-felled seam to make the final assembly.
I don't think I am ready to create sections from whole cloth yet, but I am learning. And the LSZ-1 has already paid for itself.
The study of the properties of geometric figures or solids that are not changed by homeomorphisms, such as stretching or bending.
Sewing cockpit canvas is a study in topology, both in the macro sense, where concern is that the pieces will fit together properly, but also in the micro sense, at the edges where all the various finishing techniques all come together, in a rush of parallel planning. It is not simple.
I spent last weekend becoming acquainted with our new LSZ-1, repairing our cockpit enclosure. In the 10 years since it was installed, exposure and the Sun's UV have caused damage:
- Virtually all the thread exposed on horizontal surfaces has failed
- Any zipper that the Sun can see has deteriorated to the point where teeth are missing
- Shrinkage. Because of the way things fit together, it is difficult to tell, but I think it is the vinyl which has shrunk. In any case, gaps of as much as an inch now existed at the zippers holding the side curtains together.
To deal with the horizontal shrinkage, I installed new zippers on the side curtains at the original locations, accumulating all the shrinkage compensation into the last zipper, at the front edge. Because of the gap, the zipper could no longer be attached directly to the edge of the side curtain - an extension was needed. I made the extension flap wide enough to not only relay the zipper attachment point out, but also to provide a flap which covers the zipper to protect it from sun exposure. Finally, because this zipper is slanted, I put the extension flap on the side that would shed rain - if I had put it on the other side it would have scooped rain into the zipper.The center cover needed to be extended too, to compensate for shrinkage in the vertical direction. Rather than tacking on an extension and then having to remount the Common Sense fasteners, I determined that the easiest way to do this was to simply cut off the lower edge containing the fasteners, leaving myself enough seam allowance to attach an extension, and then add the extension above it.
I needed about an inch of extension, but I thought this would look bad, so I made the extension 2.5" (plus seam allowances), more or less mirroring the size of the cut-off margin.
After attaching the extension using a flat-felled seam (directed upward, to shed rain), I re-assembled the extended lower margin piece to the side curtain via the Common Sense fasteners to get a fine-tuned mark of where to trim the center cover. Then I made another up-turned flat-felled seam to make the final assembly.
I don't think I am ready to create sections from whole cloth yet, but I am learning. And the LSZ-1 has already paid for itself.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
A fairly exclusive club
Here on Eolian, we have joined a fairly exclusive club - owners of Sailrite's walking-foot sewing machines.
Our cockpit canvas, custom-made for us at great expense 9 years ago is starting to come apart. The thread is failing. When we had the canvas made, the tradesman (Barrett Enclosures) asked us if we wanted to use the very expensive Tenara thread, or the regular UV-stabilized polyester. Given that the Tenara cost more than $100/spool and that the Sunbrella itself is UV stabilized polyester, we selected the less expensive thread.
Tho the Sunbrella is clearly aging, it has years to go. But the thread has failed on all of the horizontal surfaces. I have been stitching it back in with a hand stitcher, but this is extremely tedious, and it is difficult to do a good job. And we have lost four zippers to UV exposure, so far.
So I have been on the lookout for a sewing machine capable of sewing multiple layers of heavy canvas. A couple of weeks ago, I responded to a craigslist ad and bought a used Sailrite LSZ-1. This is a walking foot machine: the presser foot on top of the fabric moves, at the same time and for the same distance as the feed dogs on the bottom of the fabric. Your standard home-owner machine has a stationary presser foot, which means that with multiple layers of fabric, the top-most layers tend to be dragged back by the stationary presser foot, causing the seam to pucker and curl. The LSZ-1 also has a powerful double gear reduction drive. How powerful you ask?
This machine is a monster. Here you see 8 layers of heavy Sunbrella that I sewed across - the machine didn't even break a sweat. It just went ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk, with no hesitation and no manual persuading from me - like it was sewing butter. This is not your Mama's sewing machine.
So I am now busy re-stitching all of our canvas. And yes, I did spend the $$$ for a spool of the lifetime warranted fluorocarbon thread. I wish I had done that 9 years ago.
But then if I had, I wouldn't be learning the trade of cockpit tailor.
 | |
| Sailrite LSZ-1 |
Big Mistake.
Tho the Sunbrella is clearly aging, it has years to go. But the thread has failed on all of the horizontal surfaces. I have been stitching it back in with a hand stitcher, but this is extremely tedious, and it is difficult to do a good job. And we have lost four zippers to UV exposure, so far.
So I have been on the lookout for a sewing machine capable of sewing multiple layers of heavy canvas. A couple of weeks ago, I responded to a craigslist ad and bought a used Sailrite LSZ-1. This is a walking foot machine: the presser foot on top of the fabric moves, at the same time and for the same distance as the feed dogs on the bottom of the fabric. Your standard home-owner machine has a stationary presser foot, which means that with multiple layers of fabric, the top-most layers tend to be dragged back by the stationary presser foot, causing the seam to pucker and curl. The LSZ-1 also has a powerful double gear reduction drive. How powerful you ask?
 |
| Eight layers of Sunbrella: with ease |
This machine is a monster. Here you see 8 layers of heavy Sunbrella that I sewed across - the machine didn't even break a sweat. It just went ker-chunk, ker-chunk, ker-chunk, with no hesitation and no manual persuading from me - like it was sewing butter. This is not your Mama's sewing machine.
So I am now busy re-stitching all of our canvas. And yes, I did spend the $$$ for a spool of the lifetime warranted fluorocarbon thread. I wish I had done that 9 years ago.
But then if I had, I wouldn't be learning the trade of cockpit tailor.
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