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Sail Rock

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Posts posted by Sail Rock

    Internal mast seal

    in TechTalk

    Posted

    If using pourable silicone, first check there are no old rivet holes or other gaps in the mast wiring conduit that the silicone can flow into. Otherwise you’ll fill up the conduit and not be able to replace or draw new wires through it!

    A new seal

    in MarineTalk

    Posted

    Just attended Giverny Forbes’ very informative presentation about leopard seals. Her research debunks a lot of myths and misconceptions about these creatures. Basically just leave them alone and they will leave you alone. We are very fortunate to have these mega fauna returning to our shores, after they and their cuzzies, fur seals and sea lions, were wiped out by our forefathers.

     

    Although I was a bit pissed when Owha bit a whole in my inflatable dinghy last year, it was my own fault for leaving it in the water in the first place. I have to make the adjustment, not the seal. Might have to install a protective screen around the dinghy frame.

    • Upvote 2

    cat 1, 30,000 years ago

    in MarineTalk

    Posted

    Current thinking is Polynesians and a number of other Pacific peoples originated from Taiwan. They island hopped across the Pacific in a series of purposeful migrations, eventually discovering NZ.

     

    I lived in Taiwan for four years and had the good fortune to stay a night in a small hotel owned by an aboriginal family in the mountains. We managed a basic conversation (in Chinese) discussing their people’s ultimate connection with Maori.

     

    More recently I was in Tonga (having sailed there) and had a couple of conversations with locals who were aware of their ancestors’ navigational prowess but lamented this was lost following arrival of Christian missionaries. Back then their navigators, like other highly skilled and specialised trades, were venerated “tohunga” - sort of priests that the missionaries considered pagans that had to be overcome and discredited.

     

    Much recent research and the removal of Eurocentric bias has lead to the realisation of how great the early Pacific navigators were. What they achieved with limited technology is amazing. Big respect from this sailor!

    Head piping

    in TechTalk

    Posted

    I reconditioned head and holding tank on my boat a couple of years ago. Used Barnacle Buster to descale the disassembled parts of the head and to loosen heavy scale from plastic holding tank which then flaked off with a few light taps on the outside. BB is expensive but works a treat. You can reuse the solution several times by decanting to remove the sludge but obviously it’s concentration and hence effectiveness diminishes. Sanitary pipes were so heavily scaled that I had to remove them and replace with a combination of domestic PVC sanitary pipes and elbows and rigid hose bought from Burnsco. Like KM, it was an installation within a shoebox!

    Fiji charts for OpenCPN

    in TechTalk

    Posted

    Here is a link to the Fiji google earth charts already done and ready to use...

    http://svsoggypaws.com/GECharts/

    Thanks IT. I have just downloaded these GE charts for Fiji and Vavau and imported to OpenCPN - it was a doddle. The overlays look good. Soggypaws also has tips on how to create your own GEs so I will give this a go for the rest of Tonga.

    Cheers

    SR 

    PFD with integrated harness, or separate?

    in MarineTalk

    Posted

    Because if you’re being dragged along the side of the boat doing anything more than 2 knots you have about 2 minutes before becoming exhausted and succumbing to secondary drowning (depending on what awkward position you find yourself in). If sailing solo, short handed or other crew off watch then such a scenario is feasible. Having a tether cutter gives you an option, assuming you can reach and use it before you drown.

     

    So now you’ve cut yourself free and watching your boat sail over the horizon, then what? Inflate the Lifejacket, if it hasn’t already done so, and set off the PLB that’s attached to it (assuming you’re still conscious). Now you’ve improved the chances of S&R finding you - dead or alive.

     

    If I am sounding like one of those health and safety w**nkers, that’s because i am! ???? (Safety in design, risk management, etc.).

     

    Cheers!

    Icebox tips

    in TechTalk

    Posted

    I fill 2-3 empty milk bottles with water, freeze them at home then put them in boat’s freezer (which never actually freezes). These ice bricks help bring the temperature down and provide some thermal inertia within the compartment. Also place a foam sheet over the contents and eutectic plate to insulate them from the air gap above.

    Icebox tips

    in TechTalk

    Posted

    I fill 2-3 empty milk bottles with water, freeze them at home then put them in boat’s freezer (which never actually freezes). These ice bricks help bring the temperature down and provide some thermal inertia within the compartment. Also place a foam sheet over the contents and eutectic plate to insulate them from the air gap above.

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