The Crapper Wars - Marine Battle

Fun exercise in boating

This is just another post that illustrates the opportunities for healthy exercise to be found while on a boat. A good example for healthyboating.blogspot.com.

There are, of course, many different types of exercise like;

• running and jogging to give the heart, lungs and legs a good workout
• swimming and rowing gives the body a soft workout without shock loads on the feet and knees.
• Yoga and Tai Chee
• and muscle building exercises in a gym lifting weights.

These are all exercises of choice. Boats at times dictate mandatory exercises you get when something breaks or plugs up and you must remedy the problem.

Murphy's law and the nature of boats usually mean that one must crawl into a very tight place to reach the item in need of repair or adjustment. Then when in an awkward position, the arms reaching as far as they can, try to loosen, tighten or adjust the item with a tool that is difficult to use at the proper angle. Naturally, according to Murphy's Law, if a screw nut or tool falls,90% of the time it will fall overboard, in the bilge or under an inaccessible spot.

This type of operation rewards you with the mode of exercise that selects all those muscles that are underused in normal life. You know this because when you wake up the next morning you can tell exactly which muscles have been underused.

My recent experience with one of these episodes started out with my wife calling my attention to a small water leak behind the toilet in the head. I suggested that we leave it alone for a while to see if it would stop on its own. You never know. When she disagreed with my theory the next thing I know I had spent 2 hours with my stomach leaning on the toilet taking apart the 3-way valve and re-assembling it and it still leaked. In this round I ended up removing the 3-way valve, then disassembling the toilet, carefully reassembling it taking care that the seals were in their assigned positions and pronouncing it fixed. I could see no reason for it to do anything but behave like new.

I sometimes forget that Murphy has a great sense of humour and a devious mind so when someone boasts like I did he naturally wants to bring me down a peg. It just so happened that it was time for my morning bowel movement so I sat down to demonstrate my prowess as 'Mister Fixit'. You guessed it, the toilet wouldn't evacuate the bowl at all. To shorten the story, it ended up that the little bit of calcified urine in the outlet hose had broken loose during my ministrations and when I flushed the toilet these calcified bits failed to pass through the small opening in the heavily calcified outlet hose downstream of the vented loop. What a mess.

The people who had built my boat had taken a great deal of care to hide such odious things as sewage hoses from sight which normally is a good thing. However when one wishes to remove such hoses for cleaning or replacement it would be much easier if the were out in plain sight. This usually means that the hose is awkward to reach and maneuver. Then being good craftsmen they made the holes through the bulkheads barely large enough for the hose to go trough. And finally they installed sticky ribbed wire wound rubber hose that stiffens with age. I do not have 5 foot arms like 'Plastic Man' or the strength to reach and remove hose while lying on my side squashed between the engine and bulkhead. I just barely had the strength to lever myself upright from this position. Luckily I had lost my love handles I had put on while in Canada or I'd still be there.

Currently I have given up on removing the hose and am using muriatic acid to dissolve the calcium blocking it. If this doesn't work I have a backup plan to bypass the old hose by installing a new white hose through the engine room in plain view.

The positive side of this experience is that this seven decade old body is now in better better shape with all those unused muscles hardened up. See, boating has a way of improving our health even if some of the exercises are not so pleasant at the time.

PS. The old hose is now bypassed by a shiny new white hose installed with the looped vent completely in the engine room where it is accessible and has a constant drop to the outlet. The old hose, although well hidden, had a 2 foot section that was level or slightly uphill which caused effluent to gather creating a blockage.

The only task remaining is to drain the spent acid out of it and seal the ends so my wife's keen nose won't detect it.

Sailboat rescue by fellow boaters.

The established cruisers are a close knit community. If anyone is in trouble and needs help, cruisers selflessly rush to their aid. Boaters who come from the city, where people don't greet passers-by or know their neighbors and don't want to become involved, will jump in their dinghy to go and assist a fellow boater. Boating brings people back to their natural human affinity of kindness and concern of others welfare.

I remember when we were anchored in 'The Waiting Room' at Puerto Escondido, BCS. The call went out on the VHF that a sailboat had broken loose from her mooring and was drifting towards the rocks. Within a few minutes 8 or 10 dinghies were streaking to the rescue. Lines were grabbed and/or attached to the drifting vessel and a chorus of screaming outboards strained to stop her drift to the rocks. When I inserted my dinghy between the rocks and the vessel it was only about ten feet from contact. With the combined effort of all the dinghies pulling together  the drift of the sailboat towards harm was arrested and she slowly began to move up wind.

Ray, one of the resident boaters, suggested we move it onto a good mooring buoy in the inner harbor where it would be safe until the owners returned. I climbed aboard to steer the sailboat while the rest provided propulsion. The boat was moved into the harbor and attached securely to a mooring. In 5 minutes the fleet of rescue craft were back to where they were before the call for help had gone out.

This is how people should behave and work together for mutual benefit and safety. We know that the next boater that may need help will be ourselves. Maybe this is one reason we feel more secure out here on the water in less travelled places than we do in civilization  with all its emergency services.

Happy Days

Gary

s/v Apolima


http://strattons.myshaklee.com

Dinghy Wars - Inflatable vs Hard

In the previous post we covered inflatables so this post is about the pros and cons of hard or rigid dinghies. A hard dinghy can be made out of fiberglass, wood, plywood, plastic, metal, fabric or any combination and is any dinghy that is obviously not inflatable. For ease of reference I will use the term 'dinghy' to refer to any small boat used for personal transportation instead of names like skiff, punt, wherry, etc.

Hard dinghies predate inflatables by at least 2000 years. If you count dugout canoes and such then they go back a long time before recorded history. Since the outboard motor is a relatively recent invention, dinghies were usually powered by paddle, oar or sail. This being so they were empirically optimized for these means of propulsion over the years.

Today we have great many proven designs to chose from, some of which are in production. There are only a few hard yacht tenders in mass production and widely available on showroom floors but there are a many different designs available for the homebuilder to build from scratch or with a kit which has all materiqals precut and ready for assembly. Many builders have ready built dinghies available in stock or made to order.

The purpose of these posts is to compare the advantages and disadvantages of inflatables and hard dingies to be used mainly for the job of yacht tender. Since we have covered the inflatables in the previous post here are the pros and cons of hard dingies.

Advantages of a hard dinghy:

• They row very well. It is probably safe to say that all hard dingies row better than inflatables. On our yacht 'SeahorseV' we had a 12 foot Whitehall which our family of 6 in choppy seas and with 1 or 2 rowers would outpace inflatables with up to 4 HP outboards.
• Rowing is an excellent way to exercise. Rowing uses most muscles in the body in a low stress way and provides a good cardio vascular workout. Hard dingies are a delight to row which encourages people to exercise.
• Simple. There is just the hull and a pair of oars. All one has to do is pull on the oars and you are moving at a good pace. There is little to go wrong, malfunction or break.
• Longevity. They will last for many years with minimal upkeep. Just maintain the rub rail fender, clean the inside and outside regularly and every 5 years or so slap on a coat of paint.
• Ruggedness. Drag it up on the beach, tie it up to a rough dock with sharp things sticking out or leave it out in the sun all year. It will need only a little paint touch up.
• Thief resistant. There is little black market demand for a hard tender compared to the demand for an inflatable, which bring an attractive price on the black market.
• Puncture resistance. Sharp tooth and claw resistant. One can drag a hard dinghy over rocks, sharp shells, nails and even broken glass with only a few scratches and still return to your boat. Air filled tenders can be easily deflated by angry animals and sealife.
• Room. They have much more interior room compared to similar sized inflatables. There are no large inflatable tubes taking up room.
• Sailing. With the addition of a sail, a daggerboard and a rudder you can have a fun sailing dinghy to explore out-of-the-way places or just going from your anchorage to shore.
• Quiet. No noisy outboard (although you can have one if you insist). Just the relaxing sound of oars and hull slicing through the water. It is a great way to come up on wildlife to just watch or to photograph.
• Low stress. The combination of being on the water, listening to the quiet gurgling of the water and the exercise of rowing lowers the stress of the mind and body. One finishes the row feeling relaxed and satisfied with life.
• Stowability. A small hard tender can usually be stowed on deck or on davits. If space is really at a premium then a nesting dinghy will solve the dilemma of needing a decent size tender and only having 4 feet or so to store it in.
• Size. When you are out on the water in your tender you want it to be as large as possible to cope with the sea conditions and to carry a good load of supplies. Longer is better for capacity, seaworthiness, stability and speed. The limiting factor is stowage space and weight. A nesting dinghy allows one to divide it in both length and weight for easier handling and stowing. I am working on building a nesting dinghy 13 ½ feet long as I have 7 ½ feet of space.
• Cost. There are no cheap dinghies, however inflatables usually start about $1200 and go on past $6000. Hard dinghies are in the $1000 to$3500 range. However inflatables have a finite life due to deterioration of the fabric and the glued joints depending how much exposure they receive and the number and severity of punctures.. It is common to have inflatables last less then 5 years in the tropics and up around 15 years in temperate climates. Hard dinghies can have an indefinite life. There are wooden ones over 100 years that are still being used and fiberglass ones over 50 years. Usually a bit of repair and a coat of paint will see a good dinghy look like new despite her age.

Disadvantages of a hard dinghy.

• Initial stability. Some boats that are designed more for rowing, like the classic Whitehalls, will seem a little tippy when you first step into them. All of them, however, stiffen up the further they are heeled over. Other hard dinghies with flat bottoms are quite stiff initially. My teenage children would climb in over the side of our Whitehall without shipping any water.
• Fenders. Hard dinghies need to be provided with an effective fender all along the gunnel to prevent paint damage.
• Load carrying ability. Generally hard dinghies are designed to carry less weight than an inflatable of the same length because they have less beam.
• Availability. There are few hard dinghies which are mass marketed and appear in stock in chain stores. There are hundreds of different makes available on the Internet or from a local builders if one seeks them out.
• Stowability. Hard dinghies must find a place on the deck, on the cabin top or on davits. However nesting dinghies can fit in smaller spaces.
• Keeping-up-with-the-Jones. If you must have an inflatable to be one of the majority to feel included and one of the crowd, then rowing a hard dinghy is not for you.

It is your choice.

Phyllis and I on the sailing vessel APOLIMA have a 10 foot inflatable with an aluminum floor and a 7 ½ foot fiberglass hard dinghy to meet our needs. I personally find I prefer hard dinghy but find our hard dinghy too short to row with any speed. I have plans for a 13 foot Chameleon nesting dinghy designed by Danny Greene in Bermuda which I plan to build as soon as I get permission from my wife. I have a nice 7 1/3 foot space on deck saved for it. Memories of our 12 foot Whitehall rowing boat that accompanied us on our 5 year cruise of the South Pacific still find me dreaming of effortlessly rowing an easily driven hull.  

Healthy rowing

Gary

KEEP IT SiMPLE STUPID

In times long gone boating was very basic, one just clung to something floating down the river hoping that it washed up on a shore eventually. Simple. No complications. Of coarse, you couldn't control your destination so you just went with the flow. Even at this stage man had to complicate the situation. They tried to influence their vessel by paddling, at first by their hands and feet and then with sticks. From there it has gone down hill ever since.

Look where we are now; high speed diesel engines, computerized automatic engine control and steering, bow thrusters, stern thrusters, satellite communication and navigation systems, radar, sonar, electrical generators, battery banks, converters, regulators, trash compactors, microwave ovens, water heaters, fresh water on the demand, stereos, TV's, home movie systems, lights everywhere, autopilots, electric anchor and sheet windlass's, masts, sails, miles of ropes and wires, refrigeration and air conditioning systems, automatic furnaces, solar panels, wind and water generators, hot tubs, etc, etc. Once we have a boat with all the goodies then we have to stock it with the 'necessities', lockers full of 'stuff' only 30% of which we know where to locate.

Human beings just naturally want to complicate their lives with stuff. Now that we have a boat with all the above complications we find we need an army of technicians, mechanics and troubleshooters to keep it all working. We seem to go from port to port to replace and fix things. Instead of enjoying the life on board and experiencing the local wonders, we are increasing our stress levels coping with the ordering, shipping a installing parts that are not quite right or searching for a mechanic that knows what he is doing.

A few boaters have not gone on the above route. They have learned that “Less is More”. Less high tech gadgets is more time to relax in the cockpit. Less boat is more sailing earlier because we can do it sooner. Less automatic navigation systems results in more self satisfaction by using our skills at DR, bearing compass and sextant. Less mechanical and electrical complications is more time to appreciate the local attractions of your destination. Less stress of complication is more health and enjoyment of life.

Everyone should stop, contemplate and search ones soul for the right answer to the question. Will this decision result is more or less satisfaction of life? Let that honest little voice in your soul provide the answer.

Gary Stratton 

Inflatable versus Hard Yacht Tender .

In the last 30 years the inflatable type of dinghy has overtaken the hard dinghy in popularity so at the present time they account for about 90% of all dinghies used on boats. Their advertising and marketing campaign has been steady and effective. Nowadays when a person thinks about a dinghy for their boat they usually only consider the inflatable. Indeed there are only a few hard dinghies that are mass marketed to choose from. These seem to be lack luster designs made out of plastic. Not much to choose from. There are, however, many small manufacturers of specialty rowing, sailing and outboard powered dinghies available but you have to seek them out. They are not usually displayed at your local marine stores next to the large array of inflatables.

So, aside from availability, advertising campaigns and market share, what exactly are the relative pros and cons of inflatable and hard dinghies?

Lets start with advantages of the inflatables.

• Availability. It is easy to find and buy them as they are in every marine store and boat sales yard.
• There are a wide variety of choices such as soft bottom, hard bottom, lengths, tube material and price.
• They are relatively stable in the water so that when you step on the side to get in the inflatable does not tip very much.
• There are built in fenders. The inflated tubes do not harm the mother boat when coming alongside.
• Most boaters have an inflatable. So if you like to be one of the crowd having the same type of dinghy is comfortable.
• They can be deflated, rolled up and put into a bag then stored below or taken home. This allows smaller boats with limited deck space to carry a much larger dinghy than otherwise. This does not apply to RIB's which have a hard shell of a bottom which will not fold so it takes up just about the same space even when the tubes are deflated.

Now lets look at some of the inflatables disadvantages.

• Cost. Common yacht tenders cost anywhere from about $1500 to $5000 and on up.
• Because of Uv damage and wear and tear they may have to be replaced in about 5 to 7 years if not protected from the sun and punctures. This Uv damage is not as pronounced in higher latitudes as it is in the tropics. The ones made from a material called 'Hypalon' have much greater resistance to Uv degradation so will last longer.
• Inflatables are subject to punctures from anything relatively sharp like nails, bolts and metal edges on docks, rocks and shells on the beach or vandals with a nail file. Most punctures can be repaired with patches by professional inflatable shops.
• Inflatables can be rowed as they are all supplied with oars of that range in effectiveness from just about useless to ok. The combination of poor hull shape for rowing and short ineffective oars makes it an exercise in frustration if one wants to get somewhere in reasonable time.
• One of the tasks for a dinghy is to be able to row out an anchor if the wind comes up. In moderate winds and above this becomes just about impossible because of this poor rowing performance and excessive windage. Also handling a sharp pointed anchor and the chain while bouncing around increases the chances to puncture the tubes.
• The size of the inflation tubes restricts the useful interior volume for carrying cargo like groceries, water, propane tanks, etc and passengers.
• Most inflatables are rarely deflated. One of the benefits of the inflatable, indeed its greatest benefit is its ability to store it in a relatively small space while deflated.
• The inflatable is a bulky object that takes up a lot of room which makes it awkward to store. Most boaters have developed means of storing it inflated aboard the boat while under weigh. 
• Poor planing performance under power because of lack of bottom rigidity and shape. There are quite a few ways manufacturers have developed to alleviate this by the use of inflatable floors and , of course, the RIB with a hard bottom made of FRP, plastic and aluminum. The RIB design performs as well as a hard dinghy under similar power but are much more costly, heavy and cannot be reduced much in size even when the tubes are deflated. These are essentially hard dinghies with inflation tubes.
• Some inflatables have a soft floor which provides poor footing when getting in and out especially for those who are not as agile. Falls and injuries are reduced when the inflatable has a floor with solid footing.

This post is becoming too long so it will have to stand on its own. The next post will continue with the pros and cons of hard dinghies. 

Rowing is good exercise

Most doctors agree that rowing is one of the best all-around workouts for many reasons. First it has no impact on joints unlike most other aerobic exercise forms. Secondly all of the major muscle groups are worked, producing a calorie burn that is double that of other activities such as jogging or tennis. It a safe way for us seniors to keep our bodies in good shape with little risk of injury. A leading North American Physician, Dr. Paul Donahue, states the following in his syndicated newspaper column 'Good Health' (click here). There is something about quietly moving though the water with the gentle chuckling of the water under the bow, watching the sea life around us that rejuvenates our soul. We seem to be more part of nature and the great scheme of life. Rowing is good for both our body and our soul.

Boaters are perfectly placed to partake in rowing as they have a boat on the water and most carry a dinghy. Seniors can remember when most boaters had a hard dinghy that was rowed to shore. Sure a few people put a little outboard on the back and putted around, but a lot rowed. There were a few Zodiacs and Avons out there with 25 HP outboards the roared around sometimes pulling a water skier. 30 years ago SeahorseV, our Mapleleaf 48, carried a 12 foot Whitehall rowing skiff. It carried our 4 teenagers, my wife and myself safely with enough freeboard. With 2 sitting side-by-side it would outpace some with small outboards. It was a joy to row so it became our water taxi, our runabout. The whole family used it with the skill of much practice and so it also became our exercise machine.

Today almost all boats carry an inflatable of one type or another. Inflatables are the popular, you might say the 'style' or what you must have to be like the rest. Indeed there are fewer other choices readily available than there was. So do we use them for exercise? Oh no, they do not row well at all. It becomes frustrating to put a lot of energy into the short oars that just seem to stir up the water without much effect on the forward motion of the inflatable. But they do move out very well with an outboard of 9.9 or more HP. The only people that seem to row them are those that are out of gas or have a malfunctioning outboard.

However the point is to row for exercise so who cares if the inflatable waddles like a duck at about the same speed, you still can enjoy the results. Just remove the outboard or even easier raise it up and row. Tell yourself that it does not matter how fast you are going. It will do you good even if you only row one way and motor back. After all if you were sitting on a rowing machine you would not be moving at all. Think of it as a rowing machine with a view. Come on you seniors! Row! Row and smile!

uglyboats.blogspot.com
strattons.myshaklee.com

UGLY BOAT

What a strange name for a blog. Who would be interested in "ugly boats"? Well perhaps this idea needs to be put in context. For instance when you look at a typical yacht costing upwards of $100,000 you do not think ugly, right? You see the nice lines, the gleaming hull, the shining stainless steel railings and accessories and the lustrous varnished wood trim. ugly does not ever enter your mind at all. You see, that kind of a boat is not what I am talking about.

We started out with a yacht that met the above description. In the 8 years we had this yacht we spent quite a bit of time and effort cleaning, polishing, painting, varnishing and waxing to keep it looking yachty and in 'bristol condition'. It was a good looking boat that we thought met our needs and we were very proud of it. It also served us well when it became our home and mode of adventure during the 5 years my wife, 4 children and I spent cruising from Glacier bay, Alaska to Stewart Island, New Zealand and many ports in between. Seahorse V was not an 'Ugly Boat'.

Our next boat was an 'Ugly Boat'. It was names Steveston2, a 65 foot double ended salmon packer built in Steveston British Columbia in 1919 by a Japanese/Canadian shipbuilder for the booming fishing fleet. When I first looked at her abandoned on a BC Packers dock in Prince Rupert she looked worse than an 'Ugly Boat'. She seemed to be about ready for her last run to the graveyard. With closer inspection I could see that even though she looked abandoned and unloved, she could maybe be repaired enough to get another year or so out of her. A lot of time, effort and money later she was chugging up and down the coast if not like a youngster at least as an spry dowager.

Steveston2 was not a yacht. She was a work boat designed to go out in all weather to load fish from the commercial fishing boats and transport the load to the packing plants located up and down the BC coast. You would not call her pretty but as it is said "form follows function". Everything about her was designed and built to do the job, not to look good. She did not need shiny stainless steel fittings, varnished teak trim, fancy white fenders, gleaming polyurethane painted topsides, or fancy canvas covers. Instead she was functional with galvanized steel fittings, plain painted interior, old car tires for fenders, topsides covered with common house paint and plain tarps.

For some reason I found that I was more comfortable with Steveston2, my 'Ugly Boat', than I was with Seahorse V, my 'Yacht'. Maybe this reflects my plebian upbringing. Whatever it is I was more comfortable with a 'workboat-like' vessel than a 'yacht'. An 'Ugly Boat' if you will.

This blog is about people and boats that emphasize function rather than fashion. An plain functional boat will go anywhere a yacht will, be just as comfortable and rewarding. As a bonus it will likely take less upkeep, and maintenance, while costing much less in effort and money. I hope to write about ways of doing things easier, more reliable and more efficiently. Hopefully others will share their experiences and ideas related to their practical boats and practical boating ideas.