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DoT

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Posts posted by DoT

  1. No5 is an ablative antifoul. You wouldn't want to haul and pressure wash with that.

    Harder antifoul like Ultra will stand up to regular high pressure washing, but tends to be a little less effective in the first place. Some of the spent oxide layers will still come off, more if you scrub it with scotchbrite or a sanding grid.

     

     

  2. 1 hour ago, muzled said:

    Looks like hard work to me.

    Brother in law is into it, he has a surf shop so has several old foils laying about and is going to drop off an old one to tow behind the dinghy, reckons it'll pop at 5kn and said it's pretty cool feeling the foils load up as you turn.

    Would need to be detachable to have on the boat but could be good amusement for lazy arvos (and anyone watching the first few attempts...)

     

    Looks hard to me too, but I've been assured it's not.

    I've seen some good face first splash downs, but there seems to be less to hurt yourself on than a windsurfer, and less to get tangled than a kite.

    Might just be worth a go.

  3. The trains run panto graphs up to the wires. There are variants (which Auckland briefly ordered and then cancelled) that include a battery system. They charge where there are wires, but can run under battery power where there aren't. I assume the same could be done with buses.

  4. In NZ Kaiwaka make PVC based fully waterproof and windproof gear for commercial fishing (NZD $220 for a hi-vis parka) and sell the breathable stuff for recreational sailors (NZD$470 for a jacket).

    When it turns real bad I want to know that it's blocking the water and wind from the outside.

    • Like 1
  5. The best use case for electric is things that see the high use. Cars that do lots of km every week, delivery vans and trucks, rubbish trucks, buses, should all be high on the list. There is a higher up front cost, but with savings on fuel and maintenance the payback is rapid.

    A typical yacht with an existing diesel does very few hours per year and is not worth swapping to electric, even though the efficiency below hull speed would make them easy to run.

     

    • Upvote 1
  6. Mainly because floating the big power companies incentivised them to keep generation as close as possible to demand (increases prices), so they chose not to build a number of large wind farms that were already consented.

  7. There needs to be a total rethink on recreational fishing (and commercial) that focuses on maintaining the whole ecosystem.

    My suggestions:

    • Permanently ban dredges and bottom trawling, due to the seabed damage
    • Ban taking crays in the gulf until the cray population is back to 1950s levels.
    • Ban recreational set nets, due to the by catch problems, and the inability to turn dead fish back, and ban longlines (untended, multiple hooks), same problem. Nets are also really bad when they end up lost.
    • Massively expand the no-take marine reserves.  Make them all much bigger, and make many more of them.
    • Ban taking shellfish from the rocks, beaches and estuaries until the ecosystems recover, and then open up with reduced catch limits.

    Unfortunately this impacts the locals who are used to catching a feed from their local boat ramp or beach the most. But the alternative is no fish anywhere and a more and more degraded ecosystem.

    Number one problem: We all like the fresh kai moana. But ultimately, living next to the beach, or owning a boat, or having a habit, doesn't give someone more rights to fish than the person who lives further away.

    Number two problem: People don't like different rules for different groups. In this scenario it is highly likely that māori would have different fishing rights, as guaranteed to them under the treaty.

     

     

    • Upvote 3
  8. Reducing the cars people own would always be the best option. The idea we can mitigate our impact on climate without a major change in lifestyle is farcical. Families/households with two or more cars should be reducing to one car and adapting to meet that change.

    My household, with four working adult drivers has one car. I occasionally hire a Cityhop car or van (eg: to load up the boat), but otherwise get by with bike, walking and bus.

    Yes, some people have set up their lives around unlimited access to car travel. They need to adapt: live/work/play closer to where they work/live/play. The earth's climate does not listen to their excuses, and everyone on the earth should not pay for their choices.

    Buying an EV (new or used) would be clearly the second best option.

    Families/households with two cars could switch over their most used car to be an EV right now with virtually no impact on their lifestyle.

    As people get more used to EVs they will get less stressed about range. People will start to buy EVs with lower ranges, realising that the smaller, lighter and cheaper cars still meet their requirements.

    Anyone who chooses to keep multiple cars, can afford an EV (new or used) and chooses an ICE vehicle instead is deliberately shitting on the world of their children and grandchildren.

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 3
    • Downvote 1
  9. And with a quick skim just then, I could only find 4 items (for the boat) that are different between cat 1 and cat 2. And those were items recommended in 2 but compulsory in 1. But I could have missed something.

    As far as I can tell structural stuff is the same for both categories.

  10. 2 hours ago, Fogg said:

    Yes don't get me wrong, I'm not buying an electric outboard to be some kind of eco-warrior 😇, it's purely a convenience thing. But I'm sure I will get some brownie points from the kids because as a convenient consequence e-power aligns with the narrative being 'fed' to them at school.

    Do you really think that caring about your personal impact on climate change is being "some kind of eco-warrior"?

    What narrative would you prefer your kids to get? Climate science is a giant conspiracy by greedy academics who hate our freedom to burn things?

    • Like 3
  11. Something to break up the harmonic and/or take energy out. At anchor I use the main halyard as topping lift. I tie a short length of 4mm line between the backstay and the main halyard to stop it humming, about as high up as I can reach. Maybe possible to do something between the backstay and the aft stanchions? Or how about a rubber grommet at the end to absorb some of the energy - or a pad arranged to press on the backstay the like palm muting a guitar string.

    • Like 1
  12. 6 hours ago, harrytom said:

    Just done a quick google and reasons why it would never start.

    https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f54/push-start-a-sailboat-129505.html

    I'm not convinced by some of those arguments.

    If the prop has enough bite to drive the boat forward, it could well have enough bite to turn the engine over. The starter on a small diesel is not particularly powerful. Interesting question is" what about a folding prop?

    I believe that I have successfully used sail assisted starting. One evening I was sailing along and wanted to run the engine to charge my aging battery. With the battery already a bit flattened it would not turn the engine over quickly enough to start. Rather than grinding away until the battery was dead flat I decided to try some sail assist. While sailing along, I put the engine in gear at a setting typical for the boat speed, and pressed the starter. It started easily without laboring.

    I can't prove that the starter would not have been sufficient on it's own, but in my opinion the additional help from the prop made the difference.

     

  13. This is something that is going to come up more in the Gulf too. Ships have been made to slow down to protect the Brydes whale. Some of the bigger race yachts might pose a comparable risk.

    Dolphins? The regulation is a response to a perceived problem of people harassing them. But the question is whether our non-intentional involvement is enough to detrimentally disrupt them.  It's their choice to engage with a sailing yacht, but if we're providing an excess of opportunity and that is killing them, then we need to change.  It's like providing unlimited candy to children.

    Question is whether that is happening.

    I love being out on the water, exploring our coastline. But it's not a human right. Maybe the coastline would be better off without me disturbing it.

    It would certainly be better off without 50' launches blasting by at 30 knots.

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