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Disperser

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Disperser last won the day on November 13 2016

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  1. Really, I'd like to see a study that defies the laws of physics. Drag is what causes the prop to rotate. So if the prop is locked and not allowed to rotate, then the drag component of the prop itself goes UP, not DOWN. Surely you are misquoting the study. I mean, I know yacht designers aren't exactly interested in physics over profit, but they can't violate the laws of physics, and they certainly can't expect us to believe they can. Please quote the study so we can rest our minds that there aren't idiots designing yachts who don't even have a grasp of basic physics.
  2. There was a story published in the Christian Science Monitor in about 2010, an editorial by a young woman who was doing a study abroad or similar in Somalia. She revealed that the Somali Pirates were no more than fisherman who had no choice. Their government collapsed, and the WONDERFUL international community saw fit to fish out their waters and dump toxic chemicals en-masse, permanently destroying their way of life. These once-peaceful young men turned to the only thing they knew: piracy. Piracy is a noble profession. In the days of the conquistadors and colonies in the "new w
  3. Let the prop spin and connect it via a belt and manual clutch to a small generator to keep your batteries topped off. It's gonna spin. Use the energy instead of wasting it. I had thought about a system whereby a battery bank could be charged up with the prop and then turn the energy back around and spin the prop slowly when the bank was charged, allowing the prop to return some of the previously stored energy. Hell, such a setup on the right boat would be all that was needed to charge a battery bank to run the prop off an electric motor. Cruise for a few weeks, then motor with
  4. I'd like to see if someone could find a study showing the accuracy of GRIBS in any way. This is simple. Just a comparison of GRIB data and observations where possible to compare accurately (i.e. GRIB versus nearby physical observatory) how accurately the GRIBS predict conditions. I tried a quick search and found nothing in the way of scientific documentation. It need not be a scientific study as it's easy to do with software. This is, by the way, an excellent exercise for anyone considering or using GRIBS. And you should do this yourself. Manually if you have to. Just get GRIBS f
  5. Here in Mexico, cruisers cannot have guns (I advocate an exception for cruisers as long as the guns remain on the boat). So, we must take alternatives to deal with piracy and theft; a rampant problem here (last summer in La Paz, dozens of boats were robbed by men who were later found and who had guns!) What is recommended is wasp spray. This is a toxic mess of petrochemicals that sprays out the can in a stream meters in length. It is quite useful as a deterrent. And if you get the right kind, you just put a lighter in front of the can when you spray, and instant flame thrower. M
  6. Why not just rely on your 12V system and solar to maintain it so you can run your equipment without shorepower. Dehumidification is easy to do yourself: simply run a hose below your boat but above the low tide mark to draw water through a coil of copper tubing, pumped with a 12V pump slowly. Run a 12V fan to blow air through the coil and drain the condensed water into a bilge to be pumped out by your bilge pump. The whole system uses a LOT less energy than a commercially availble dehumidifier, and it will only function when it will do any good: when the air temperature is above the d
  7. You have to scroll through 9 photographs to see the true nature of the damage. This is not a boat that should be sold, it is a boat that should be stripped and junked. It's too fragile. It cannot be repaired. It is good for scrap only, and while I don't know about the laws for scrapping glass fiber there, its probably too much expense. I guess you Kiwis are about as industrious as 'Mericans... If I were there, I'd be talking to the insurance company and the yard about how I can alleviate their difficulties by stripping and cutting up the hull with my only payment required being
  8. The moon is at its closest point to earth that it will be until 2034. It is 14% closer to earth than normal, meaning the tides are larger. This was a new moon, the full moon will be on the 14th, and tides will be at their highest range in most places than in many years. This happens because the tides are created primarily by the moon, but also by the sun. The gravity interacting between the two means that there is less gravity on the side where the moon and sun are, biased according to the difference in their position directly overhead of the planet's surface. This "pulls" the water to
  9. Find a way to extract it. If there is no electrical connection to the bronze/cast iron, it will not function and your engine may rot away from the inside out. Also, the zinc will oxidize, expanding, rather than shrinking the diameter. Be sure you use zincs with a good 3-4mm clearance diametrically (2mm each side) to compensate for oxidation. Don't mess around on the zincs. When I buy zincs, I buy enough to replace them all TWICE, so that if they wear out prematurely while I'm not where I can replace them...well, you know.
  10. Pawls seem to be pretty universal. Check ANY old winch. I have three different brands and the pawls interchange between all three. I think one is Brit, one Aussie, the other 'Merican. Sorry to say, but the Merican one is the best I have. Stainless body, bronze workings. Damn fine build quality too. Universal brand. (I think they're Merican.) Pawls are a standard "tool" rather like Woodruff Keys. They are difficult to machine so manufacturers are better off on their bottom line to just order them en-masse rather than machining their own. Springs vary, but all work the same if
  11. I am not a weekend sailor. I live aboard my ship and will sail the entire world many times over. And in doing so, I, not NOAA, not the NHC, not anyone else, will make weather predictions. For you, GRIBS are probably just fine, most of the time (I really love how everyone just glosses over the fact that this thread admits that GRIBS are only accurate "most of the time.") But if you rely on GRIBs, you are gambling, and "most of the time" you will be okay. But in the world I live, most of the time isn't okay because of what happens in those other times. Most of the times that the GRIB
  12. "Yeah right?" And this from an administrator? I don't write something unless I know it is fact. And that same philosophy holds true for my sailing. I don't make decisions based on what someone tells me or what I hear or see on TV or wherever you get your "information." I make observations. I research. I confirm, and I verify everything I know so that when I make a decision, it is the right decision. And when I write something down in a place where others can read it, I make damn sure I'm right. And I know for a fact that by and large, people's teeth were in a hell of a lot bette
  13. Toothbrushes are only necessary if you eat sugar or carbohydrates. For those who believe these are a natural part of our diet, please ask yourself how mankind 'brushed his teeth' before the introduction of sugar into our diet a little over 500 years ago by the West Indies Corporation. The answer, you will find, is that he didn't need to. (Dentistry, therefore, is an unnecessary industry.) I can lose my toothbrush and wait until I get to harbor to buy a new one. Because I am allergic to sugar and grains. So, the ideal solution is to simply not need the damn thing in the fir
  14. I am not most shipping traffic. Allow me to convey how I decided never to rely on anyone else or any entity or product to predict weather for me. And anyone who, in the past 4 years, has traversed the coastal reach off the Oregon, USA coast, can likely attest to what I experienced. In 2013, I arrived in Bodega Bay after a 3 day voyage, my absolute first time on my ship on the ocean (after only two hours acquanting myself with sailing on my 67' ketch rather than the 24' sloop I had learned on). I had just experienced gale conditions for the entire day, conditions which had been predic
  15. My solution will not include GRIBS. These are intepretations, and that's MY JOB. So, this is my alternative for those who wish to predict their own weather. I will be connecting a HAM modem to my computer, and downloading the GOES satellite images directly from the satellite. No need for internet. No need for sat phones. No cost. VERY reliable. And I get to make the interpretations and not rely on someone whom I don't know and thus cannot fully trust. And considering my experience with weather predictions (the NHC and I are in fisticuffs on their lax methodologies regarding t
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