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DrWatson

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Posts posted by DrWatson

  1. From what I can see, the mcmurdo device listed is an Ais sart only. The one I listed is both a 406 PLB AND an AIS SART in the one unit.

    This means it is a proper beacon for the rescue services, AND an Ais mob device so the boat you fell off, provided it has Ais, has an excellent chance of finding you.

    IMO much better than a PLB.

     

    Ah I see there are two versions. You wouldn't want two have two separate ones? With them combined you have to choice but to send AIS signal to your mates to pick you up AND a full on emergency... so you're picked up, let's say, in 15-25min, but by then the helo is on the way... Now you gotta call and cancel.

     

    But the other one is that you might not be picked up, and then if you wait the 20min and decide that your mates just suck, you've already lost 20min of response time... Coastally, that scenario could matter.

     

    But if you're in the ocean..?

     

     

    Put it this way, If I fell over at 9pm on the way to Issy Bay, I'd have no concerns about pulling the pin on the AIS only one. But on the PLB, I might think twice...

  2. To be honest I actually thought it was Des who said "if it looks right, it is right."

     

    But at the end of the day, I'd take the boat with the best performance, although my requirements for performance are likely very different to other folks.

     

    Weatherliness, speed, ability to enter shoal water, not too much windage, masts on tabernacles, impossible to sink, DRY, self righting, comfortable bed, standing shower, decent dunny, great galley, plenty of cold space, clothes washer ... these are all features I would consider very high up on my list.

     

     

    I actually feel that the two features, good looks and functionality are not mutually exclusive. If one is lacking then the designer has failed.

     

    The essence of good design, as explained to me by an experienced designer is. "Good design = Works well looks good."

  3. Yeah, I saw that, too. 

     

    I found the plans for the boat ramp and carpark from 10y ago. 

     

    https://www.google.ch/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwisyembr5jOAhVBbhQKHeMoDj4QFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fndc.govt.nz%2Fyour-council%2Fmeetings%2Frecord-of-meetings%2F2012-archived%2F2012-11-29-council-minutes-agenda%2F2012-11-29-Council-6.3-Windsor-Landing-Boat-Ramp-Access-Resource-Consent.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFxqJTSSXRRor-Q05WOZdOx6-6brQ&sig2=mRxVuzygFgrXMHDWrEOKVA&bvm=bv.128617741,d.d24

     

    But I don't know if they are sticking to this original plan or not. 

     

    It will result in positives and negatives. At the moment it's very quiet down there, a dead end road with almost zero traffic. And at spring low there's about 10cm at the ramp at present. so I don't know if they are going to dredge or what. It'll also increase the boat traffic through the moorings there, and that could prove problematic...

  4. So apparently, 10y after building the ramp and the floating pontoon, the council have decided to push ahead with actually getting land access to the ramp...

     

    http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx?issue=17582016072100000000001001&page=7&article=c5964330-0c03-4cf1-bae1-9180d3160aa1&key=laPRlOnugTenNdV+tVz9oQ==&feed=rss&google=1

     

    I can't read the full article, does anyone have access or a transcript of this? 

     

    It'll be the only boat ramp (public) on the southern side of the inlet, and it's 200 m from my place, so I'd like to know a little more.

     

     

  5. so this is a really old thread, but i just wondered what happened to the fledgling Hokianga sailing club, I'm digging around and I find this:

     

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11351259

     

    Which is so bloody typical, 

     

    But then this, 

     

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11388586

     

    Which is again, awesome.

     

     

     

    These guys should hold an annual challenge with the kids from Kerikeri...

  6. I think it is vitally important that we recognise tribalism and privatisation as the same thing, and that this is a societal cancer that leads to a divided society, and a class war.

     

    The failure to recognise the public estate as belonging to all New Zealand citizens and residents, and to transfer the ownership, governance or guardianship away from everyone and to a select few determined by race or wealth, is one of the greatest disasters about to befall NZ.

     

    A successful country and society must be united. A society divided by race, tribe, wealth, religion, or any other factor will lead to a disaster, and there is no place for these concepts in a modern progressive country. Any policy that legitimises these traits is a step back into the dark ages.

     

    I firmly agree that past wrongs must be addressed, however, proportional representation is of key importance in modern life.

     

    The world has changed, and despite the wrongs of the past, new people, who also have rights must be accommodated.

     

    Many forget that democracy is not about majority rule, but about fair representation.

    • Upvote 2
  7. Just idly sitting around musing about things learnt and things forgotten, then I wondered if we might start a daily quiz? 

     

    Now, I know that some of you will wonder why anyone WOULDN'T know what X or Y is or how to do A, B and C while smoking a pipe, splicing a shroud and fighting off a swarm of flying sharks, but the folk who frequent this forum are many and varied, and there is an equally varied amount of experience and knowledge. 

     

    Bringing that knowledge into the open and sharing it around can only be good, no? I for one, know that I'm not the most learned or even close to it in terms of things nautical and the opportunity to learn stuff, pretty much any stuff, is something I find pretty cool.

     

    So let's see how this goes....

     

    What would (could) you do with this? You'll have to imagine it's about two feet long and the pieces intercept at 90°....

     

                                                                   

    Screen Shot 2016 07 19 At 16.03.29

     

     

  8. I have been a member but not at the moment.

     

    In general, I think they provide a very valuable service, and lots of volunteer time, and this is to be applauded.

     

    However, I have also noticed a trend towards authoritarian behaviour amongst some volunteers. The same behavioural traits can also be noticed when you give some volunteers a fluoro vest and ask them direct traffic at a fair, for example. Coupled with this can be a tendency to judge the actions of others in a condescending and or patronising manner. One must remember that, by and large, the skipper of the vessel in distress is still the skipper, and will most probably know the vessel and her characteristics far better than a crew coming to render assistance.

     

    Also, there can at times be a bit of a cowboy attitude - I remember once, when I still had a TV, watching a reality show wherein a Coastguard unit responded to a serious situation - A head injury or a stroke onboard a yacht. In effecting the transfer of the injured crew member, a Coastguard volunteer leapt aboard the yacht and cut the port side life line - ostensibly to make the transfer simpler - this of course created a very dangerous situation and it was only minutes, maybe less, before a crew member grabbed the lifeline and ended up in the water between the two vessels.

     

    In another incident I witnessed a tow line being cast to the foredeck, complete with a "heaving shackle" in the stainless eye.  It doesn't take a genius to realise that the shackle will at least damage something on the foredeck, or something far worse if the foredeck crew does't receive it quite right.

     

    Couple these incidents with some others such as speeding within 50m of other vessels, and the odd near miss, and it makes one a little cautious.

     

    I will, of course, become a member again when I move back to NZ, because I'm not so arrogant as to believe I may never need assistance, and I'm happy to help fund such a service that can and does help improve the actual safety of people on the water, but I won't be calling for help unless the water is up to my knees, or I can see the coast of Chile on the horizon.

     

    So in summary, a great service run on minimal budgets, doing necessary work, including and very importantly, education, but at times a little more humility wouldn't go a miss...

     

    R

     

     

  9. yeah, I read that, and i think it could just as likely be the media having no idea what a PanPan is and just calling it a mayday so that the readers will understand.

     

    If you wrote "Boat calls PanPan", half the readers would think that the crew were summoning a Disney character to help them fight an evil drug smuggling yank called Dr Hook...

  10. Sorry, can't answer that unless a particular manufacturers system is specified. They are all slightly different. Basically though, every device needs an addressing module, and that addressing module controls the device. The optolamp still needs 3 wires for anchor/Tri Colour/Strobe function - not sure how/if the addressing module can do rev polarity - have to read the specific manual for the system chosen. Cabling still has to be run from the address module to the power consumer, just not right back to the switchboard.

    No worries, 

    seems to make sense. I will look into it more.

  11. OK, so this means that I would only have to run one circuit cable up the the mast and not the 16 different circuits I was going to?

     

    Does each node then have a special wireless controller? etc?

     

    And what about something like the Opti lamp which has something like 5 wires (3? - I haven't looked for a while), wherein you reverse the polarity to go from prt/stb to anchor (thank gawd for LEDs) 

     

    I can see how this would work really well for instruments etc. that have simple power on/off and can communicate wirelessly, but for a lighting rig, for example, where there may be many nodes, each requiring a remote controller?, I'm trying to work out what the advantages are. Or I'm simply missing how the system works...

  12. What freaks me out about fossil fuel heating on a boat is the stories you hear of sailors, sometimes whole families, that died inside their boat due to carbon monoxide poisoning.  I know you can get alarms, and you are sill supposed to have a hatch or boat porthole / window or two open at all times when heating the boat - but still....

    Diesel stove with vented exhaust for me. Also vented dehumidifier to those dark and damp spaces....

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