The Marine Installer's Rant

It's golden

2012-01-29T15:39:00.000-05:00

Kate and I watched the new Fox show Touch the other day. It's about an autistic kid who can see patterns. He spends a lot of time writing stings of numbers in a book, and some of the numbers are darker. When the camera pans back you can see the darker numbers are describing a spiral. Wait a minute, I know these numbers, and then remembered a conversation from years ago I had with an architect friend Jack Whelan about the golden rectangle, and boat shapes. So after the show, I gave myself a refresher course in the golden ratio, and you're going to be the beneficiary of my relearned information.

In a burst of enthusiasm I start to Google boat images that might fit well into a "Golden" based story, and I spotted the boat below. I looked at it for a moment, and suddenly realized I know this boat. This is Gizmo, Ben Ellison's boat, and he took the picture. To my eye it looked golden. How I did I know it's Gizmo? Who else do you know that has a boat with four radars. I did a quick cut, paste, and little geometry 101, and decided this is good choice for the story. I emailed Ben and asked, "Could I use his picture in the story?" He asked if Gizmo "was golden", I said "very", Ben said, "cool", and here we are.

There are many related terms for the golden ratio, and it's close cousin Fibonacci numbers including the golden rectangle, golden mean, divine proportion, and so on. The golden ratio has been around for a very long time. Euclid was the first to actually write it down, but it was in use long before his time. The golden ratio permeates nature and our lives. It's everywhere we look in some form or another. It's embedded in the design of things we use, the art we look at, the colors we see, the music we listen to, and the plants in our garden. Even the stock market does its own golden dance. If the use of the golden ratio isn't intentional, we humans still see the proportions driven by the golden ratio as naturally attractive to our eyes.

So let's see where the golden rectangle comes from by making one. In the sketch you're looking at, we start with a square (in red). Take the square, and split it in half with a line. Now take a compass and set the distance from the center side of the square, to the corner of the square, and draw the curve (the radius of a circle). Extend the lines to complete your new, and now golden rectangle. That's all there is to it. Your kids could do this in a second, and maybe already have. In doing this though, you will discover that a mysterious number comes from this simple to make new rectangle, and today we call it Phi. Don't confuse this with Pi, although there are some interesting similarities.

We now know how to make a golden rectangle, so let see how it applies to Gizmo. I took the picture, cropped it so we just have the boat in the picture from the water line up, and stem to stern. Did the geometry, and Gizmo is indeed very golden.

Now lets look a little more closely at our newly made golden rectangle. It has been made out of one side of our original square (A), and there is the new part of the rectangle side we added (B). Now this is where the magic occurs.

What happens is the ratio of A+B to A is 1.6180339886. Big deal you say. But it's also the ratio A to B and exactly 1.6180339886. Looking at a Fibonacci number sequence, the ratio between any two consecutive number is also very close to the golden ratio, and it gets closer the higher the numbers get in the sequence. Who would have thought a number sequence, and little bit of simple geometry would end up at the same place.

I took our two line segments A and B and looked to see if there were any other relationships with Gizmo, and yes there were. Our line segment A is the length of the entire cabin, and B is the length of the salon part of the cabin. Was this by design? Or did this just happen because to the designer the proportions were pleasing to his eye? In my case, Gizmo was the first boat I looked at, that in my mind it looked golden, and it was. I didn't have to look very far. In many boats I found similar relationship.

This is an AC45 America Cup boat rendering I borrowed from their website, very golden. The top of the sail is really that shape. The AC72 hull beam and length is also very close to golden, 72' x 46' vs 72' x 42' which is the perfect golden rectangle. Close enough for government work I say.

Okay, one more of the many twists on the ratio. Looking at the little line drawing above again. Segment B is A x 0.6180339886 (the reciprocal). Now take B x 0.6180339886 to make a new segment C. You now have the exact ratio of the lengths of your three finger bones. It's pretty weird, and wonderful at the same time

Look around you, it's everywhere. The shape of your drivers licence, credit card, post cards, the usable screen on an Iphone, the shape of an Ipod, or your computer monitor. The old original star ship, not golden, the newer movie version, perfectly golden.

By the way the I forgot to tell you, that like Pi, Phi is also appears to be an irrational number that never ends. So if you feel the need for a little bit more precision in your life, I have given you a few more decimal places to work with.

1.6180339887498948482045868343656381177203091798057628621354486227052604628189024497072072041893911374847540880753868917521266338622235369317931800607667263544333890865959395829056383226613199282902678806752087668925017116962070322210432162695486262963136144381497587012203408058879544547492461856953648644492410432077134494704956584678850987433944221254487706647809158846074998871240076521705751797883416625624940758906970400028121042762177111777805315317141011704666599146697987317613560067087480710131795236894275219484353056783002287856997829778347845878228911097625003026961561700250464338243776486102838312683303724292675263116533924731671112115881863851331620384005222165791286675294654906811317159934323597349498509040947621322298101726107059611645629909816290555208524790352406020172799747175342777592778625619432082750513121815628551222480939471234145170223735805772786160086883829523045926478780178899219902707769038953219681986151437803149974110692608867429622675756052317277752035361393621076738937645560606059216589466759551900400555908950229530942312482355212212415444006470340565734797663972394949946584578873039623090375033993856210242369025138680414577995698122445747178034173126453220416397232134044449487302315417676893752103068737880344170093954409627955898678723209512426893557309704509595684401755519881921802064052905518934947592600734852282101088194644544222318891319294689622002301443770269923007803085261180754519288770502109684249362713592518760777884665836150238913493333122310533923213624319263728910670503399282265263556..........

Many thanks to Dick Reston for his constructive formatting suggestions, it is better, and Ben Ellison for the use of his "Gizmo" photo.

The credit card photo is from Wikipedia and was taken by user Airodyssey

The golden rectangle diagram is from Wikipedia and was created by user Joel Holdworth

Film at 11:00

2012-01-24T10:31:00.002-05:00

Borrowing Mr. Well's time machine, I roar on back to the year 2003. These were heady times. The Installer put in all of the gear you see below into a new Pursuit. It included the new Raymarine HDFI sounder module which won the "Best in Show" NMEA award that year. The RL80 state of the art chart plotter and radar, and a shiny new autopilot. It has all been working very well ever since for lo all of these years, which I think is an excellent testimonial for any piece of marine gear that lives in a salt water environment. The boat is used all of the time, and the original motors were worn out. They have been recently replaced with new twin Yamaha 225hp 4 stroke engines which have a Command Link interface making NMEA 2000 data collection possible.

So as good as the gear has been, it's time for new toys, and on the list is a broadband chirping sounder system. At this point in time, there are only two available options, and the owner already has some Garmin gear, and is familiar with it. So out goes the old, and in with the new consisting of a Garmin 7215 touch screen based system with a GMR 24 radar, the new GSD 26 sounder module, and an Airmar M265LH broadband transducer. Since this is a story too big to be told at one time on the small screen, I'm going to bust it into four parts over the next week or so.

We are going to follow the gutting of the old, the installation of the new, the tribulations encountered along the way, and there are some.

And yes, we are all going to learn about the new GSD 26. The first thing I noticed is it's much larger than the pictures lead me to believe, as you can see in the photo below next to the GSD 22. That's my less than dainty hand model Aaron Gallaway from West Marine holding the unit up. By the way, it's actually resting on the installed GPS below it. The weight of the unit is also significant. I'm not grumping about these two observations, they are what they are. I know there is some very serious number crunching going on inside of this box. We're going to explore how this gear really works to find fish, and how to select the right chirping transducer for your boat. Getting tangible info has been tough to get, but I am slowly building a real world picture for you, and myself. Pester, pester, pester is my modus operandi.

I'm going to do a segment on how to do a console overlay panel, and I will for the very first time disclose my top secret technique to make the template. Pssst, it's rust, don't tell anyone.

And lastly we will spend a day on the water playing with the gear in several locations to see how well it all works. I will get some real world screen shots to look at. I'm burning the keyboard up, so there won't be long gaps between my late night verbal soirees.

Oh no, oh no, it's off to work I go!

2012-01-22T14:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my Friday, a day of work, walking, and hundreds of pounds of AGM batteries that need to be delivered to a boat waiting at the gas dock at the Marina Jack marina. This is one of the best marina's in Florida. It has a super staff, great amenities, and best of all it is right on top of downtown Sarasota. This allows visiting boaters to walk to dozens of restaurants and bars, get groceries at Whole Foods, and visit art galleries and specialty shops.

To provide some orientation to this place for visitors, I crafted a little map to show you the layout. The Marina Jack marina is part of the Island Park complex which sprawls along the Sarasota downtown bay front. There are walkers, walkers with dogs, bike riders, tourists galore, two restaurants, public art sculpture exhibitions, and people of the future riding Segways. Needless to say, there is a lot of parking, but for the Installer with a bunch of very heavy batteries, during tourist season, with a local boat show going on, getting close to the docks is a substantial chore.

Out of tourist season if you get to the marina early, you can usually get a parking space that is pretty close. If you can't get close, there are a couple of unloading spaces up front that you can use to off load gear. But alas, that isn't going to work today, because a large seafood delivery truck is parked in front of the two available spaces.

That's okay, because you might be able to use the restaurants loading spot, albeit briefly to do your off load. But today that's not going happen either because the valet kids have partially blocked it off by squeezing one more car into the, "If you pay me extra money you get a front spot on Bentley circle." My theory is that the entire Island Park complex is actually secretly run by a bunch of red shirted young kids, who careen around the complex in golf carts fetching cars for the diners, and an occasional boater.

So today, I have a boat waiting at the gas dock, a truck filled with batteries, and no other options. So I just stop in front of a couple valet parked cars on Bentley circle. You haven't truly experienced life to the fullest until a red shirted valet urchin, with pockets stuffed full of one dollar bills runs up and tells you to "move on, you can't stop here". It's almost a scene right out of Lord of the Flies. You're interfering with his cash flow. If he had a fire hardened wood spear in his hand I would have taken him seriously. In this case, in my head, I gave him my best Ron White grin and said, "Sure... I will buddy boy". but I was silent, and dumped off the batteries anyway enduring the withering glare, that can only come from someone who has only had his drivers licence for lets say, about two weeks.

Let's make things a bit more complicated. We're looking south on Long Schlep Road. This picture was taken from the main drag entrance looking south. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out on a bad day, you can be quite a distance from the boat you are dealing with, and even worse.....

With few exceptions most of the parking has a 3 hour limit. This means if it's a long day, you have to hike out into the hinterlands every few hours, and move your vehicle so the chalk marks on your tires don't give you away, resulting in a request for a involuntary donation to the City of Sarasota's coffers.

In the end, despite withering glares, a boat show, and lots of people around, the batteries ended up on the boat, and we pushed off to drop an anchor and do the battery change out. There was no room at the inn on this day because of the boat show.

I don't want to leave this, sounding like I'm whining in a nonconstructive way. I do have a modest suggestion for the City's parental units, and facility operators. Why instead of just two 15 minute loading spots, just double it to four, and not at the expense at the existing spaces that don't have a time limit on the main drag. In other words take away two of the close in valet spaces to do this. This would reduce some of the strain in getting materials to the boats for both the boat owners, and the people who maintain them. I mean there are 316 slips for boaters here. At four unloading spots, that would be about 1 for every 80 slips, give or take a few. That's not a whole lot to ask for is it? I mean on a bad day most of the cherry parking places are taken by tourists, and diners who just don't want to pay the fragrant grease to the valet crew if they don't have to.

After the battery change out, the scene repeated itself because I had to get the old batteries off the boat, and reloaded into the truck. Again no graceful way to do this, and more stares. Sometimes I think the marina is there, just to attract business for the restaurant.

If you're lucky, late at night you can sometimes see a bunch of kids with spears wearing red shirts dancing wildly around a Lamborghini.

"I had the right to remain silent......but I didn't have the ability." Ron White

The Boating School

2012-01-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

The Boating School is pleased to introduce our new elective summer course schedule, and is now accepting registrations. These courses have been selected with the needs of modern boater in mind. The Boating School is dedicated to providing only the finest in boating educational instruction available anywhere.

Low cost charts, and how to get them.

Learn how to save money by downloading nautical charts from the internet. There is a wealth of chart material available at no cost for the savvy boater that knows where to look. There are many options including seafood restaurant place mats, Google earth photographs, and on the water hotel brochures. In addition to the internet there is also used book stores, and buying old charts on Ebay or Craigslist. Our instructors will teach you how to find, and separate the ones that are probably okay, from the ones that might not be. Save big money, and enroll now.

This is a 4 credit course. Classes meet Monday mornings for six weeks. Successful completion allows enrollment in our fall semester course, "Hacking navigation chart chips for fun and profit".

Dark or light? Which rum is right for your boat?

A well stock liquor cabinet on board is an indispensable item for your vessel. The skilled mixologists from the Boating School will teach you the basics of preparing nautical adult beverages starting with the historic "Grog" of times past, up to the more contemporary drinks such as the "Cosmo", and the "Dark and Stormy". Class work will also include proper usage of the 12 volt blender, popular hang over remedy recipes, and techniques for mixing cocktails in rough seas.
This is a 3 credits course. Classes meet off campus on Friday evenings at the Old Salty Bar and Grill.

Dealing with the officious captain. (For women only).

This is an on board course that provides training in dealing with the "know it all bossy captain". The Boating School has retained the services of under employed amateur divorced captains to assist in this valuable hands on program. The Boating School's staff will instruct you in various captain management techniques including, feigning deafness, tying rope restraints, and if needed as a last resort, the ever popular "foot sweep take down maneuver".

This is a 4 credit course, and meets on Saturdays for 4 weeks. Prerequisites are "Taser usage 101", and "Nautical jargon basics". Limit of four per class.

Nautical jargon basics.

Knowing how to talk like a real boater will give you the confidence you need to show others that you too are indeed an experienced yachtsman. Whether down on the waterfront, or just having cocktails at the club, having a good grasp of nautical jargon will help you fit in. This is a round table discussion class, and you must be at least 21 to register.

This is a 1 credit course. Classes meet on Wednesday mornings for six weeks.

The Boating
School summer lecture series.

Nautical attire do's and don'ts. Friday March 15th 8:00pm in the auditorium.

Mr. Blackgood gives answers to those difficult boating fashion questions such as "What type of chain should I get for my Atocha coin?", "Which high heeled shoes are right for teak decks?", and "What should I wear for a Poker Run?"

Paper charts, do they really work? Saturday March 30st 8:00pm in the auditorium.

Renowned sailing captain Archibald Haddock debunks the myth that paper charts really work. Listen to this experienced navigator as he explains why these rune covered documents only serve to confuse the modern boater.

The Iphone, the modern boat compass replacement. Tuesday April 4th 8:00pm in the auditorium.

Apple's software engineers hold a panel discussion to discuss why the Iphone's technology has made the old inaccurate magnetic compass obsolete, when contrasted with the sophistication of the Iphone's battery powered hall effect compass sensor that can talk to you.

The Boating School 41.43.55N, 49.56.45W

Houston, we have a problem

2012-01-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

"Okay Houston, we've had a problem here." "This is Houston, say again Albin 13." "We have had a navigation instrumentation power failure." "Copy that Albin 13, let me talk to the engineers about a work around. Stand by please." "Albin 13, the engineers want to know if you have any wire and connectors?" "Roger, Houston, there is old wire I found in the garage, some split bolt grounding connectors, and wire nuts" "We copy Albin 13, the engineers want to know what is the size of wires, and do you have any electrical tape?" " Houston, we have a piece of old black wire that is about pencil sized, and some smaller red wire. There is also a package of multicolored electrical tape that came from Harbor Freight." "Roger that Albin 13, stand by for instructions."

"Albin 13, Houston over." "Albin 13 copies Houston." "Albin 13, the engineers want you to cut two six foot pieces of the black wire, and you are to wrap one of the wires completely in red electrical tape. Then take the two pieces of wire and tape them together every six inches" "Houston we copy, stand by please." "Houston, we have the wires wrapped and taped together." "Copy that Albin 13, now cut a four foot piece of the red wire, and wrap it completely in yellow tape." "Roger Houston, confirming the red wire is now all wrapped in yellow tape."

"Albin 13, now pull the large red taped up wire, and the black one, from the primary power buss panel, to the navigation auxiliary panel." "Roger Houston, we have the wire pull done." "Good work Albin 13, engineering wants you to now strip about one inch of insulation away from the ends of the wire you just pulled." We copy Houston, the wires are stripped, and how much longer will this patch take? We are a little anxious about not having navigation capability." "Roger that Albin 13. Engineering is preparing an estimate, their slide rules are doing overtime. They think it won't take much longer. Just keep checking your position out of the port hole. You have to keep the moon in view. In the meantime take all of the black grounds, and using the split bolt connector attach them to the black cable."

"Roger Houston, but I can't get all of the grounds into the connector." "Copy that Albin 13, engineering says to get as many as you can in, and tighten the connector. Then go down eight inches, and strip one inch of the cable insulation away, and use another split bolt connector to attached the rest of the ground wires to the cable, along with the yellow tape wrapped wire, and advise when competed." "Houston, the grounds are attached. Should we attached the red wire to the auxiliary navigation panel? "Albin 13, that is affirmative, use the split bolt connector for that, and attach the yellow wrapped wire to the network box ground. Engineering says to use a lot of electrical tape to wrap up the connections so they won't short. Do not, and I repeat, do not use the duct tape, we may need it later." "Roger Houston we understand, no duct tape."

"Albin 13, do you copy?" "Rogger Houston, what's next?" Engineering wants you to cycle the power off on the primary power buss panel, and attached the red wrapped cable to lug H2, and the black cable to lug G3. When you're done, cycle the power on and do a systems test." "Houston, this is Albin 13, we have green lights across the board, and are good to go. Thank engineering for us." "We copy Albin 13, have a safe journey."

If this had been a patch you had to do on a desert island, and these were the only materials available, it would work. But this was the biggest kludge I had seen in a long time. A sea of electrical tape, wire nuts, split bolt connectors, and non-marine wire that was stiff as rebar. This is a pretty Albin trawler, and the original factory wiring work is well done. At some point in the past the original navigation systems were replaced with Raymarine gear, and a six breaker Blue Sea panel was installed in the console to feed the new gear. This is where everything went awry.

The reason I ended up on the Albin was because it had a cranky Raymarine DSM 300 sounder module. One of the things that can make this box act up is insufficient power. So when I pulled the panel up, as much as I could to see what kind of connections there were. I was confronted, and confounded by golf ball sized wads of electrical tape, and a mishmash of stiff as a cob wiring. You couldn't see a single connection. A utility knife and about twenty minutes of time revealed the eclectic choice of components.

All of the wonky stuff was ripped out, and a new feed for power and ground was wired into, gasp, proper terminal blocks. The old grounds were rerouted to the new terminal block, and a new power feed was pulled to the Blue Sea panel via its new terminal block. If something new is added, power will be easy to access, and it won't be hidden under miles of old black tape. The Blue Sea panel can now be lifted up, and out of the console because it is no longer held in place by rebar. I just can't imagine why someone would take all of the time, and trouble to wrap these wires up in colored tape. You need red wire? Go by some of the right type. Everything needed to do it right was $36 at West Marine. The red wire was wrapped in yellow tape because I sure the guy just ran out of black tape. Go figure. The Raymarine DSM is still cranky, but not as much. A software upgrade for it is next on the list.

Want to read a portion of the Apollo 13 transcript that has the now famous line? Click here.

Florida jetsam, and other beach detritus

2012-01-08T10:17:00.000-05:00

It was a good year for Florida beachcombers, and for the sharp eyed, there have been many treasures washed up on our shores. I don't know why we end up with so many interesting things washed up here, but I have some theories. My primary one is that Florida just has some sort of weird magnetism that attracts the odd, weird, and addled. My other theory is that Florida with its 1350 miles of coast line provides ample opportunity for things to be washed up. With all of these treasure just waiting to be found, it's no wonder it seems that everyone in Florida has a sort of stooped over look.

This grand piano was spotted, by no doubt a music lover, on a sand bar in Biscayne Bay. One of the problems many a beach comber can have is if the find is large, transporting it back to Buffalo, or where ever you live can be a challenge. Finding a piano falls into the same category as finding a whale on the beach. As cool as the find is, sometimes size does matter.

The Legoman that washed up on a Siesta Key beach was quite the find, but it it also points out that the iron clad rule "Finders Keepers" doesn't always work. Almost as soon as Legoman was found, it was taken into protective custody by the Sarasota authorities. There are concerns that Legoman is an illegal immigrant, and might possibly be a terrorist threat. It has been rumored that Legoman may be transferred to Gitmo for further interrogation, but he is mute on the subject.

A washed up Florida devil fish is a rare but unique find for the lucky beach comber. This one was found by Juan Cabana on a Jacksonville beach. One should always poke these fish first with a very long stick to make sure it has really expired before handling. Bringing one of these home will make all of your friends back in Iowa truly envious of your Florida vacation. This fish is also the number one reason Florida's fishermen are always so heavily armed. You don't want one of these things alive flopping, and gnashing around in the cockpit.

The salt water sucker snake can often be found dried up on the beaches. They have a small round mouth with lots of tiny little teeth. The bite doesn't hurt much, but if it stays attached for very long, it will inject its larva into you. If you feel something brush around your legs while swimming, you should gyrate around madly in the water to shake it off. Do this like your life depends on it, and it may.

And shells, these things are littered everywhere. They cut your feet, poke into you through your beach towel while you're trying to acquire a good case of skin cancer, and in general are an annoyance. Take all of them you want home, and make cute little shell animals out of them. Most public beaches provide free burlap bags to help you carry them away. But remember, under no circumstances are you allowed to take rocks away from any Florida beach. Florida doesn't have very many rocks at all, they are zealously guarded by local communities, and are a good source of revenue from unaware visitors from Colorado.

The picture of the sea shells is via Wikimedia user Toby Hudson,
The saltwater sucker snake photo is from Sanibel Sea School website.
The Legoman, and piano photos were taken by J. P. Unknown.

Found something odd on a beach? Send pic's and I will append them with attribution to this piece.

The boat that George bought

2012-01-05T10:27:00.002-05:00

This is the boat George bought.

This is the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

This is the crack
That was in the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

This is the spray
That came from the crack
That was in the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

This is the filter
That was rusted by spray
That came from the crack
That was in the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

This is the gas
That leaked from the filter
That was rusted by spray
That came from the crack
That was in the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

This is the Installer all forlorn
That cleaned up the gas all alone
That leaked from the filter
That was rusted by spray
That came from the crack
That was in the pump
That lay in the boat George bought

Something south of fifty gallons of gas siphoned out of the tank and into the bilge when the filter rusted through. The bilge pump removed the leaking gas from the boat while it was on a lift, until the battery finally expired leaving a few gallons of gas left in the bilge. George was most surprised when he got on the boat, smelled gas, opened the transom hatch, and then saw the gas. I got a very excited call. The remaining gas had water and dish washing liquid added to it, and it was pumped out. Several big flushes with much water and soap removed most, but not all of the odor. Some of the gas may have gotten forward, and a little bit probably soaked into the foam, but it's no longer a hazard.

The seawater spraying from the crack in the bait well pump when it ran ruined almost everything, and what wasn't damaged by the water, the gas took care of. A new bilge pump, (I don't trust the one that pumped all of the gas, although it still ran), float switch, filter assembly, saltwater wash down pump, and of course the bait well pump are all on the grocery list. I think a better quality filter assembly should be used, and mounted much higher up on the transom, so the magic siphon trick can't happen again.

My thanks to Ma Goose, and Jack for allowing me to use their material. I will send the royalty check forthwith.

Weighty Issue

2012-01-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

The US Coast Guard has suddenly realized that the average weight of an american boater is now no longer 160 pounds, and has revised its "Passenger Weight and Inspected Vessel Stability Requirements" document effective December 1st 2011. This weighty tome has not been revisited since 1960 when the average american did weigh a mere and svelte 160 lbs, instead of the now current estimate of 191 pounds. Actually the Coast Guard is being sensitive about this issue, and is using 185 pounds for the calculations, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. This will now result in about a 15% reduction in the passengers allowed on board, or the vessel owner can opt to file pounds of paper to re-certify the vessel's stability. At this time, only commercial vessels that are required to have "Certificates of Inspection", and compliance with Title 46 of the CFR's have to comply. If your recreational boat is rated at 8 passengers, have at it, the more the merrier I say.

This weight gain trend has also been noticed by manufacturers of surfboards, who have adjusted the size of their boards accordingly, and are now providing wheeled carts to assist in getting them to the water.

In other related news, McDonald's has announced it now has over 33,000 restaurants in operation world wide.

For more information on this hefty issue you can visit the USCG Homeport FAQ page

Elementary

2011-12-23T07:12:00.001-05:00

"Watson come if convenient, if inconvenient come anyway. Foul things are afoot on Lord Miller's yacht. Meet me at the quay. I shall be making observations at the scene of the crime.", said Sherlock Holmes on the phone.

"Ah, good to see you arrive in such a timely fashion Watson. I only know at this time the autopilot will not track, and the sounder says "No Data". This should not be a three pipe problem. If you would be so good as to inquire of Lord Miller if any craftsmen have recently performed tasks on the vessel, and come back with all haste." requested Holmes.

"That was most prompt of you Watson. What information did Lord Miller impart to you?" asked Holmes. "Well he indicated to me that the steering mechanism had been lately replaced, and it must have taken some effort due to the size of the bill.", stated Watson. "Ah ha Watson, come over here and observe. Note what happens when I push the autopilot dodge button for ten degrees to the right." exclaimed Holmes. "Why Holmes, I see the rudder bars are moving. Is that not what is supposed to happen?" stated Watson. "you are correct my good Watson, but the rudder bars are moving in the wrong direction. This is an important clue. You know my method, it is founded on the observation of trifles. I now know with certitude exactly what has happened. Help me open the console Watson, and we shall quickly undo this heinous act." said Holmes.

"But Holmes, I don't understand how you could divine the solution to the problems by merely pushing one button." inquired Watson. "It's elementary, my dear Watson. Since we know that the autopilot worked prior to repairs on the vessel, it would follow that the craftsmen changed something. Since the autopilot is now moving in the opposite direction, and the steering was changed, it means that the autopilot hydraulic pump hoses were installed backwards. This can be quickly fixed by reversing the pump's power wires as thus. Now for the sounder module. You can see that the status indicator light is not on, and the power lead to the module is not fully inserted. A quick push, and a twist of the locking ring, and the problem is corrected." explained Holmes. "I am as always amazed at your deductive skills Mr. Holmes", gushed Watson. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to to know what other people don't know.", avered Holmes

The total repair time was under ten minutes. As soon as I knew the hydraulic steering pump had been replaced, and the pump was running backward, I could reasonably assume the pump hoses had been swapped around. Reversing the pump wiring leads on the course computer fixed the problem. I actually installed the system many years ago, and despite the fact that my original labels were still on the hoses, the repair people got it wrong. The sounder module had been removed to get better access for the steering change out, and when it was re-installed, the power cable lock ring was not twisted and the vibration, or the weight of the cord let the plug work out enough to cut the current. No bill for Lord Miller, but I was gifted a couple nice bottles of wine, and some good conversation.

I used as many direct quotes, or variants of them from the Sir Athur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories as I could reasonably work in, and tried somewhat to maintain the flavor of books. The now famous line, "Elementary my dear Watson" is actually misattributed, and the line never appeared in any of the Sherlock Holmes books. Funny how cultural mythology works.

STEEL TRUE

BLADE STRAIGHT

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

KNIGHT

PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS

May 22nd 1859 - July 7th 1930

(From his tombstone)

Installing the Garmin GSD 24 sounder module

2011-12-22T19:20:00.000-05:00

This is the first opportunity I have had to see or install the shiny new GSD 24 Garmin sounder module. This model is replacing the venerable GSD 22 which has been around for a few years now. Before you buy the GSD 24 check first for compatibility if you are planning on using your boat's existing transducer.

Lets start off with what you get in the box. The first thing I noticed is the new GSD 24 is larger, and notably heavier than its predecessor. You get almost everything you need to install the unit, including update software which most will need, a marine network cable, and what I will just call the "Magic Box."

Magic box is the right word, because it allows you to use most, but not all Airmar transducers already installed on your boat, by cutting off the connector, and connecting the wiring onto terminals inside the box. In my case the existing transducer was a Northstar transducer, which loosely translates to an Airmar 744V with a Northstar connector on the end.

The process is straight forward. Start first by identifying your transducer. Airmar placed a tag, and it's a sturdy one, on the wire either up by the connector, or down near the transducer that at the minimum will have a part number. If the actual model number is not on the tag, (In this case the model number is a Triducer B744VL) you can go to Airmar's website and search for the part number. If the tag is missing, check with the old sounder module manufacturer for a list of compatible transducers to narrow the search, or call the boat builder if it was original equipment installed on the boat. Now if any of that didn't work, call Garmin, and or Airmar, and get some advice. Airmar did make a handful of transducers with special features for some manufacturers, that also may, or may not work. In this category are all Raymarine transducers which use a special sense feature. These units are not compatible. Some smaller Lowrance, and Hummingbird transducers are not compatible, along with all side scan transducers. The good news for most users is you will not have any problems.

Without trepidation, lop off the connector, and strip the wiring back about 5". The manual says 3 1/2 inches, but since you're going to strip the wires after you pass them into the box, don't stint, cutting them too short makes them harder to work with, and there is lots of room for them in the little box. There are two pass through fittings, well in my case three. Two smaller, but identical ones you see in the picture, and a third, and larger one installed on the little box. I will save you some effort right up front, the larger dual (Siamese) Airmar cables, will only pass through the larger fitting. Strip off a fat 1/4" of the sheath, and terminate the wires on the block following the wire color tables in the instructions. The wire color tables are not numbered, but are in the correct 1 though 8 order. Another small note is with the Airmar 744vV transducer you will have two bare wires. Twist them together and they both will go to terminal 3 in the magic box. Seal the magic box up, plug it into the module and you're done.

One of my personal gripes with both the new GSD 24, and the Raymarine DSM300 modules is they use a slotted hole mounting feature that pushes you to mount the unit with the cables hanging down from the units. What happens is that in many cases if the status light is facing down, it can be very difficult to see the light's indications. I wish that both of these modules just had round fastener holes in them that easily allowed mounting in any orientation. The provided mounting screws are overly long, and you will probably have to replace them with much shorter ones. The other small screw you see in the picture is the ground for the shields (bare wires) in the transducer cable. Use it.

With the box in place, hopefully with an easily visible status LED, the rest is plug and play. The power cable gets wired, the magic box plugs into the XDCR connector, and the marine network cable goes to an available MFD network plug.

One last step to go now. Turn on your Garmin gear, and take the provided software upgrade chip, and upgrade the system. Once that's done, switch to the sounder page, and prepare to be be amazed. The image is stunning, and the detail is the best of any non-chirping system I have personally seen to date. I don't typically do product testing and reviews, and I'm not starting today. If you would like to see some really good screen shots of the GSD 24 being contrasted with the GSD 22, there is a really good slide show at Spearfish Planet. The improvements in the GSD 24 over the GSD 22 are substantial indeed.

Excellent job Garmin. And for Jim, it was worth the wait, you will love it.

The big hurry

2011-12-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting quietly on my client's boat reading some documents that will hopefully clarify why his MacBook Air doesn't see the USB GPS, and abstractly following what will be the very imminent departure of the boat next door. I can hear garbled snatches of the crew's conversation over the low rumbling of the diesels.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the dingy on the transom disappear, and what appears to be two large rubber bands stretching out from the dock. I looked up through the cabin window and I can see the boat still moving out of the dock. I sat there for a couple of seconds transfixed by the scene, and then suddenly realize those grey rubber bands I'm looking at are two shore power cables, and they are still connected to the pedestal. I bolt out of the cabin and start to frantically yell, and wave at the captain. Just then, one of the two cables really tightened up, the pedestal snapped over, and the cable flew away from the pedestal taking the plug with it. The boat captain just then realized what was happening, stopped, and started to back down into the dock.

The pedestal's final state of repose is laying supine on the dock. The dock master rolls up in his golf cart and starts to try to pick up the pedestal when I gently suggest don't. There is a neutral and ground wire hanging out of the pedestal, and there are still two shore power cords plugged in, and one of them belongs to my client. The just arrived owner, after taking a moment to survey the scene, boards his boat at my request and shuts down the power systems. I gingerly turn all of the pedestal breakers off. Anything could have happened inside the pedestal, and with four live 50 amp outlets, an abundance of caution was called for. Avoiding the hanging wires, and only touching the plastic parts, the two remaining cables are disconnected, and the pedestal was carefully tipped back up in place, sort of.

Other than the untimely demise of the pedestal, the damage was very minor, although the potential was certainly there for a more calamitous scene. Below is another example of a surprising event, at least to a captain at the time. I assure you the piling is not floating.

All of this begs the question, how could this have happened? The captain was very skilled with many years at the helm, and the temporary mate with him was also a long experience boater. After witnessing the majority of the event, I have a theory, and some personal experience to validate it. The notable feature of the event was that the crew was in an obvious hurry. The captain popped up to the bridge and got the engines running, the mate was scurrying around releasing lines, and it was evident to me they were short on time, late, or both.

Accidents happen because we become inured to risk over time. Think of the first time you drove a car. Looking back and forth, trying to shift correctly, watching traffic, and all of the time a parental unit is barking at you, or so it seemed. A few months later, it's sort of second nature, and over time, you're driving the car, talking on the cell phone, jotting a note, eating a hamburger, all while driving with your knee. Okay maybe it's an exaggeration, but driving is still as risky as it ever was, but over time your brain starts to shove the risk aspect onto a dusty shelf in the back of your brain's library.

In my life, when most things have gone awry, it is almost always because I was weary, or in a hurry. Urgency, and or tiredness inevitably leads to mistakes, that more likely than not wouldn't happen if the risk factor hadn't been diminished. Let me put it this way. If you were making your first parachute jump, even if you were tired, and in a hurry, the concept that a sudden stop at the bottom would not be good for your health, keeps you concentrating. But on your thousandth uneventful jump the apparent risk level to you is now not so much. But I assure you if things went wrong on that jump, the awareness of the risk, albeit arriving too late, will instantly be brought to the the brains forefront, and you will be very aware that gravity is pulling you downward at 32 feet per second per second.

"We tend to think in grand concepts, but those concepts are built from a myriad of tiny details, some more critical than others." said RHYS in a comment to a post of mine recently, and he is so very right. This is also why all pilots follow a detailed check list to insure that the critical, but sometimes small appearing details aren't overlooked. So the next time you get on your boat, take a deep breath and remind yourself that mistakes, at the minimum are expensive, and at the maximum life threatening. Maybe a check list at the helm would help all of us, at least sometimes.

Catch 22

2011-12-10T09:28:00.001-05:00

Yossarian: Is Orr crazy?

Doc: Of course he is. He has to be crazy to keep flying after all his close calls he's had.

Yossarian: Why can't you ground him?

Doc: I can, but he has to ask me.

Yossarian: That's all he's gottta do to be grounded?

Doc: That's all.

Yossarian: Then you can ground him?

Doc: No. Then I cannot ground him.

Yossarian: Aha!

Doc: There's a catch.

Yossarian: A catch?

Doc: Sure. Catch 22. Anyone who want's to get out of combat isn't really crazy. so I can't ground him.

Yossarian: Ok, let me see if I've got it straight. In order to be grounded, I've got to be crazy. And I must be crazy to keep flying. But if I ask to be grounded, that means I'm not crazy anymore, and I have to keep flying.

Doc: You got it, that's Catch 22.

Yossarian: That's some catch, that Catch 22.

Doc: It's the best there is.

Welcome to my Friday. This job really isn't very difficult to do. I'm adding a Raymarine wireless autopilot remote control. The boat has a second steering station on top of the hardtop, but there isn't an autopilot control head there. The owner wants to use the pilot while up there. There are two straight forward solutions to the problem. The first is to install a second autopilot control head up top, and hard wire it into the system, or use the Raymarine Smart Controller Wireless Remote. In this case the latter is far easier to implement.

Installing the autopilot wireless system is simple, as long as you can get to everything, and in this boat I can. The base station is screwed to the bulkhead next to the autopilot computer, and its Seatalk link is connected to the course computer. Piece of cake. The remote display cradle is installed in the console dash, and a Seatalk cable used for charging the remote is installed at the same time. Turn on the pilot, turn on the remote, and it all works. Take the remote up to the second station, and it works there. Job done, I think at the time, what's next on the list?

I get ready to bail out. This boat has a "Security Shield", a plastic panel that slides up and down. This is used to cover the electronics, and protect them from miscreants who might desire your expensive electronics for use on their own boat, or to sell on Ebay for fun and profit. I command the panel to rise, and the great electronic gods giveth me said rise. The battery switches are turned off, and all of a sudden I hear a beeping from inside the security shield. On go the battery switches, the shield is lowered, and the autopilot remote was crying the "Looking for Network" blues because it couldn't find the now not powered base station. Silly installer, I forgot to turn it off, and it's running on its rechargeable batteries. I pick up the unit, and push the Off button. Powering down 3, 2, 1, and the screen goes blank, and just as I stick it back in the cradle, it turns back on, and starts to look for the network. Huh? I try it again, and again just as it shuts off, it turns itself back on. I try again, same result. Not being insane, this is not repeated again, and I call the kids at Ray, and ask about this. Here is my version:

Installer: Am I crazy? I can't turn off the autopilot remote.
Ray: If the remote is connected to 12 volts power, you can't turn it off.

Installer: So wait a minute. If it has no 12 volt power, I can shut it off, but if has 12 volt power I can't?

Ray, That's right. If it has no 12 volt power, you can turn it off.

Installer: But if the security shield needs the 12 volt power to close. I can't turn off the remote's power until the shield is closed. When the shield is closed I then can't get to the remote to turn it off.

Ray: That sounds about right.

Installer: That's some catch, that Catch 22.
Ray: It's the best there is.

So in the perfect world, you can't get there from here. The option remaining is you have to unplug it from the charger circuit, turn it off, close the panel, then you can turn off the battery switches. That's some Catch. 22.

The dialog between Yossarian and Doc Daneekas is verbatim from the movie version of "Catch 22", and not the book by Joesph Heller.

That wasn't anywhere near the verbiage used by Ray in the very fictional conversation. But some of the essence is there. They were helpful, and gracious as always.

What's wrong with this picture?

2011-12-10T09:23:00.001-05:00

It's not often I have allowed my visage to appear here. In fact it's only the second time. I'm not shy and retiring by any means, but nowadays when I stare in the mirror, I'm thinking "Well blow me down", I'm looking more, and more like Popeye every day. I'm also reminded of that Saturday Night Live skit, "Whose More Grizzled? I really liked, maybe a little too much, the show's grand prize of "Salted meats, and a bottle of Rebel Yell whiskey". How's that for being "more" grizzled. Getting old isn't for sissies you know. My client Jim Hoyt, thought the picture would be worthy, and he took it. Although it certainly doesn't enhance my sense of inherent infallibility, but at the time it was funny. So take a look at the two shiny new Garmin units, and tell me what's wrong with the picture.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the omnipotent (usually) technician, much to his chagrin, managed to install the Garmin 7212 on the left upside down.

The new Garmin units were replacing older Northstar units. In order to get things to fit, the left side Garmin unit had to be as far left as possible. Although it looks like there is plenty of room, the sun covers have their handles on the right side, and you have to be able to get your fingers under them to pry them off. The upper left corner of the unit was just a scooch on the upward turning curve of the console. This all translated to the unit rocked about 1/8 of an inch from upper right, to lower left. This isn't a crisis by any means, and the fix is to add some foam tape on the bottom left side to stop the rocking. So out comes the unit, on goes some foam tape, and all the while I am yammering with Jim about cabbages and kings. The unit goes in, and since the small now sealed gap is on the bottom of the unit, it can't be seen. The drill comes out, holes are punched, screws installed, and the top and bottom cover plates are snapped on. It looks great, until Jim points, at the power switch, grins, and mentions it's upside down, and out comes the camera. Crap, the cover plates come off, the foam tape is removed and reapplied in the correct place, and it's re-installed. Deja vu all over again.

The point is that there are two kinds of mistakes you can make in both a boat, and in life. The big ones that are costly, and the small ones that are easily, and quickly corrected. The trick is to only make the small ones. I'm sometimes a bit distracted while working on larger jobs especially while doing mundane tasks. This is caused by the fact that during the whole job, you are solving problems, while pondering on the future ones you may encounter. Where is the wire pull? What will I do if it's full? Will the connector have to be cut off the cable to pull it? Do I have a replacement for in in the truck, or can it be spliced? Where is the black box going to fit?

Every boat is different, even if it's the same boat, off of the same line, on the same day. This coupled with the fact that even though I looked at the boat prior to preparing a bid, I don't have, but wish I did, X-ray vision. You just have to trust in your senses, and experience to say whether the problems will be generally solvable, or not. You also remember the times, and the boats that bit you, sometimes hard, and you factor this into the equation. I am always an optimist when I work on boats, even though I know at some subliminal level that using the words boat, and optimist in the same sentence, is oxymoronic at best. But I have learned that happiness in life is often driven by just how you look at things.

Life is all about your perspective!

The photo of the somewhat bemused Installer was taken by Jim Hoyt.

It's the most wonderful, and dangerous time of the year

2011-12-05T12:31:00.004-05:00

"The TV won't turn on", she said, "Could you please see what's going on." "Funny I thought, it worked last week." I know this because I had just installed a KVH satellite TV system on the boat, and had checked everything out. I said, "I'll stop by and look at it."

What was different between last week, and this week was the boat had been decorated for Christmas by a company that I think that normally does this for homes. So what I see first is that two extension cords were running into the cabin, and the sliding companionway door had somehow been forced closed on them and was locked. I unlocked the door, which was a little difficult because of the additional pressure on the door latch caused by the squashed cords, and went down to look at the TV. Yep, she's right, the TV won't turn on because there is no power on the port side of the boat. The port side GFI must have popped, and out into the cockpit I go. The GFI for the port side is under a cockpit cabinet, and sure enough it had popped. A quick reset on the outlet restored power, and the TV, is now fine.

So here is what I think happened. The crew that decorated the boat used a plethora of extension cords that got plugged into the GFI, and something caused it to pop in the process. I suspect it continued to pop, and this would be a warning sign that something was awry. Since the only other power on the boat that was available, was in the cabin on the starboard side. Extension cords were used to feed lighting, and the inflatable Santa I had spotted, that was melted and airless on the transom. They didn't seen to be terribly familiar with boat electrical systems, and I started to ponder about events, and errors that could occur when boat owners start to drag out of their closet tons of Christmas lights, spinning mirror balls, waving Christmas bears, extension cords, and the other assorted detritus that comes with the ho ho season.

They string all of this stuff around their vessel to indicate their enthusiasm for the holiday spirit. This is also often driven by the yacht club's letter reminding members of their contractual obligation to do the seasonal decorating, and the fines due upon failure to do so. I think this is where the expression, "The floggings will continue, until Christmas morale improves", comes from. Did I get that right? So I did a quick survey of several marine basins this week, and came up with a short list of what to pay attention to, if you don't want to end up joining "Them's what's dearly departed", or see the picture of your boat in flames in the local paper.

So whether your taste leans towards the lavish and baroque...

Or you take the "Less is More" minimalism approach, here are some things to pay attention to.

1. Do decorate your boat with UL approved "Outside" lighting, not inside lighting. You will find a white, or silver tag on the lights along with the UL symbol, and the text on the label will typically be red, and will clearly say approved for outside use.

2. Do plug the lighting into a GFI outlet, preferable, if possible on the dock, and not the boat.

3. Do unplug the lighting when not in use. If it's not plugged in, the boat won't burn down.

4. Do a good job of securing the lighting to insure wind, and waves won't allow it to fall in the water.

5. Do insure if the boat is going to be used while decorated, that wiring will not be a trip hazard. Tape wiring to the deck if needed.

6. Blowing breakers is a sign you are upsetting mother nature. Do not overload circuits.

7. Do unplug all systems if it going to rain, whether outside approved, or otherwise.

If you are using a portable generator for a parade or similar event pay even closer attention to safety.

1. Make sure the generator is very well secured, and the exhaust fumes are well ventilated.

2. Never refuel the generator while it's running. Shut it down first. Spills can cause conflagrations in a heart beat. Move personnel away from the fueling area.

3. Secure fuel containers well away from the generator.

4. Use a funnel, and or container with spout to reduce the chance of spillage.

5. Don't refuel if the boat is in rough water. This is a spill waiting to occur.

6. Don't have an ARI (Alcohol Related Incident). In other words liquor, gasoline, and ignition sources are likely to collide in an unfavorable manner. It's a Darwin thing.

7. Don't use a Bic lighter to check how much fuel is left in the tank. You can do this, but only once.

So use some common sense and have a safe holiday. Is that Marley's ghost I'm seeing? Bah humbug!

Alien nuts

2011-11-27T19:43:00.003-05:00

The comet had been captured eons ago by the the sun's gravity, and has been orbiting the sun ever since. On one orbit it passed near the earth, and a few spores locked in the ice of the comet's tail are captured by earths gravity and start to orbit the new planet. Millions of years pass as the spores are ever pulled deeper into the earth's gravity well, and eventually they start on a slow but steady decent to the surface. The spores alight in a field of exposed raw iron ore in what will eventually be northern Minnesota, and following their programming they move into the crystalline matrix of the iron, and start to multiply. They are alien evil incarnate, with endless patience. Eventually the planet's biped inhabitants take their giant earth movers and excavate the iron ore. Powerful machines crush the ore into powder, magnets separate the iron and roll it into small balls. The balls are sent to a foundry, and are melted into billets, with one of them still carrying the inorganic alien spores. The billet is sold to a manufacturer who makes stainless steel nuts. The spores are now embedded in thousand of stainless steel nuts, and their long wait is almost over. Destruction all life on planet earth is their goal, and it is now within their reach.

The nuts are sold to a company that makes marine electrical components. Two of the thousands of alien infested nuts end up in a high amperage fuse holder, which is then sold to a boat builder who uses it inline on an inverter power feed with a 300 amp fuse. The boat is delivered to its new owner who is unaware of the alien presence now lurking in his boat. The aliens now know their time has come. Working with inexorable patience, they ever so slowly start to back wind off of the posts. With every millimeter of movement they gleefully note the increase of electrical resistance the loosening nuts make in the connections. They are so close now, and can feel the heat the ever increasing resistance creates with every use by the owner. They sense their devious plan is nearing completion, and the resistance is now so high, the heat is quickly melting the plastic. The anticipated demise of the bipeds on board is at hand. With a small final loosening movement, the plastic starts to smoke, and ignition is at hand. The owner then notices the smoke coming from under a seat, opens the compartment, spots the melting fuse holder, and turns off the battery switch breaking the connection. The aliens fume at being thwarted, but time is always on their side.

The Installer looks at the melted fuse holder and notes the fuse hasn't blown, and then shakes the cables, and they are loose. He takes one of the nuts, and finds he can turn it by hand, as well as the other one. "What's up with this, someone at the factory must have forgotten to tighten them up, the owner is lucky a fire didn't start.", the Installer thinks to himself. He puts in a new fuse holder, and fuse, and makes sure the connections are extra tight. He looks at the old fuse holder nuts, and muses to himself, "These nuts are perfectly okay", and tosses them in his bag to use elsewhere. The alien presences bide their time, they know another opportunity is now coming.

Nothing like disclosures to ruin a a good story, I was happy with it as it was. One pragmatic aspect of Ohm's law, obliquely stated, is as the contact area of an electrical connection decreases, the resistance increases. Increased resistance causes heat, and if the resistance is high enough, things can get really hot, or as I like to call it "The electric toaster theory of operation". So in the end, make sure your electrical connections are very tight, and secure.

All right all ready, that isn't really a photo of an alien spore, but a photo of a Symian virus, and is believed to be the cause of AIDS. I found it on Wikipedia and it was uploaded by user Phoebus87. It looks cool, and alien doesn't it?

The Installer's inside voice

2011-11-24T07:19:00.002-05:00

Happy Tryptophan day. This is a decidedly odd piece of fancy, even by my standards. Boat safely this holiday if your boat isn't in it's winter wrapper yet.

I got it right this time, now you just click on the video play button. I finally got around to reading how you do it. Embed codes, blah, blah blah, and it does some weird things to my HTML editor.

A tale of two trim tabs

2011-11-21T10:56:00.001-05:00

It's right, it's wrong, or it's gray. In this case it was wrong, and it was grayish on the wrong side of the fence, which meant it worked only for a while. Installing trim tabs are not difficult because things can only go where they go, in theory. This boat has a pocket built into the hull that the trim tab retracts into. If I was installing it, I would have attached the tab to the boat, and then bolt the fully retracted ram to the tab. You lift the whole assembly up, and use a pencil, or marking device of your choice to mark the three ram screw holes. Drill the holes, and then use the template to mark and drill the hole for the hydraulic tube. This is not hard to do at all, I've done it many time with notable success. So looking at the picture below it worked perfectly, no matter how the plant worker went about it. But something went awry at the factory when the other trim tab was installed.

Unfortunately on the starboard side the trim tab ram is located 3/4 of an inch more inboard than the other side. Assuming the pockets for the tabs were in the same place on each side of the hull, and they were, somehow the trim tab ram was put in the wrong place. You can actually stand behind the boat and see it. There is also what appears to be a new screw installed at the top of the ram.

The end result of all of this is that when the tab was lifted to meet the ram, the mounting holes in the tab missed the mounting holes in the bottom of the ram by 3/4 of an inch. So I suspect there was a meeting right there on the factory floor about how to fix this problem, and the emphasis would be on not spending any money if possible. There are now two choices. Take the ram off of the boat, get someone to properly fill the holes, fix the gelcoat, and reinstall it, or wait a minute, doesn't Bubba take steroids? Bring him over here. Okay Bubba you pull the ram over, John you lift up on one side of the tab a bit, and Sam you screw in the bolts. See, that's why I'm the floor supervisor, now get back to work.

Now I wasn't actually there, but I have seen this type of stuff before in boat factories, and this is a likely scenario. I tried to pull the tab over, and I could with both hands, but it would take a second person to get the bolts in, and I wasn't happy with the solution, or the forces involved to do it. This tab has had problems before. At some point in the recent past, the plastic pin that acts as the pivot between the ram and tab had failed, and a dealer for the boat had replaced it with a SS bolt. They should have corrected the problem right on the spot, but they just forced it over again like the plant originally did.

I come onto the scene, but now there is no trim tab at all. The flange that attaches to the bottom of the ram is still there, the part of the tab that screws to the boat is there, but the tab has torn away from the hinge, is missing, and now in Davey Jones locker. Even worse there is now a hole in the hull right next to the tab hinge point. I don't know where the hole goes, or exactly how it got there, but it's appearance doesn't appear coincidental. There is some staining on some of the edges, mixed with fresh torn edges, so it looks like it may have been whacked over time a bunch before it broke off completely. In the end the ram flange bolt holes stripped, and the bolts fell away leaving the tab less then wafting in a forty knot aqueous gale.

So what to do? The hull number is found, and a call is made to the boat manufacturer to get the trim tab part number. This tab was custom made for the boat. A pleasant call is made to the nice folks at Bennett Trim Tabs and a new tab is ordered, fabricated, and shipped. I get the tab and screw it on, and that's when all of the problems were found. Another call was made to Bennett Trim Tabs to discuss options. The tab is taken off, and new holes are being drilled in it by a machine shop with a 3/4' offset so the ram will meet the tab properly. The hole is will be fixed by a fiberglass repair guru, and the owner will take all of this up with the manufacturer. All of this was unnecessary. The builder's personnel knew there was a problem in the first place, but apparently the name goes on before the quality goes in.

Dear boat builder, take good care of the owner, he's a nice guy, me not so much, I've seen far too much of this crap. Curmudgeonly yours, Bill

Failure to communicate

2011-11-20T12:23:00.007-05:00

The urgency was palpable in the service writers voice on the phone. "Could you please go and fix this guy's problem". "What's wrong." I said. "Well he needs a software upgrade on his C-120, he has a cut radar cable, and the boat has to leave tomorrow." "Alright" I said looking at my watch, I will see what I can do". It's nearly 3:00 on Friday afternoon. I pack up my stuff and head to the marina. The boat is a larger walk a round, and the owner meets me with the cut cable in his hand. "What's up with this?" I think. I start to look around, and I climb up onto the deck and survey the hardtop. I'm no rocket scientist, but my keen eyes observe that the radar isn't there, and I start to have the dawning epiphany there is more to this than I was told.

The radar cable on the hardtop is swathed in endless layers of sticky white tape, and after it's cut off, the amputated stump of a radar cable is exposed. I look around, and then spot the Raymarine radar unit laying on it's side in the back of the boat. I look at my watch again and realize that I'm most likely to lose several hours of happy hour drinking time I'll never ever get back again, and with a sigh I start.

The owner and his friend help me hoist the radar onto the hardtop, and I plunk it into place, and stare malevolently at the mangled cables. "Why did someone cut the cables?" I asked. The owner starts to tell me a story that goes something like this. He has shipped the boat from the north down to Florida for several years, and the first time it was shipped, the transporter cut the cable, and it has to be spliced now every year. My inner voice says "The first shipper was a "Class A" moron, a small screwdriver would allow the connector to be removed, and the cable could just be pulled out." But it is way to late, and this is now an immutable event. My outside voice says "That's a shame, but I can splice it."

In a little while I have the cable spliced, and the owner and his friend are busy down below putting on the nuts and washers. I close the radar, climb down, and fire up the gear. While I'm doing this the owner tells me more about the shipping of the boat this time. It seems the marina was moving the boat on a trailer before shipping it, and went under a bridge at thirty miles per hour, and ripped the open array clean off of the pedestal. I stop and listen carefully. "What happen then?" I ask. Well it seems that they removed the pedestal, and gave it to someone to get a new array. I'm staring at the radar display, and it isn't painting. I do the self test, and everything is reported as okay, including the video link. The array is spinning, but no joy with targets.

The owner continues his dialog by saying the guy who put the new array on, couldn't test it because he no longer had access to the display. My inner voice mutters, "The miscreant who did the repairs just assumed it would work, and didn't bother to check it." My outside voice just goes "Huh?" I look at my watch, and it's 5:05, and there will be no tech support until Monday, but I already know what they are going to say. I'll call and ask if having the radar impacted at thirty miles per hour by a bridge could have damaged something in the radars core pack? Then I will cringe and wait for the response which will be something guffawed out like "Do you really think so Bill?" Then we will have a short conversation about what could have failed, followed by it will have to shipped back for repairs. Sorry guys, but we will have this very short conversation on Monday morning. Meanwhile I double checked the splice, but to no avail. I taped up the power wires, and left a note inside the pedestal with the prurient info for the next tech, who will be then more in the know then I was.

The owner, and his friend were really nice guys who helped when they could, and steered clear when they couldn't. I left to have a needed adult beverage and, came back on Saturday morning and did some additional training 101 on the C series display, and proffered some advice on how to get to Ft Myers. All of this would have been easier if not for the problem of "What we've got here is......failure to communicate."

You can hear the original quote from the movie here.

The Parmain laboratory simulated what the array might look like after the bridge impact. I think it would have actually looked much worse. Say Bob, did you hear a thunk when we went under that bridge?

Chalk it up to.... well chalk I guess

2011-11-15T10:01:00.001-05:00

The two greyhounds girls are heaved into the back of the land trawler, (spelled Kate's Tracker) and off we go to meet some friends at the Sarasota Chalk Festival. We were lucky that a client had an office near the festival we could park at, and this was a good thing because about 200,000 people attended the seven day event. It proves that if something is fun to do, and it's free, people will come in droves, and they did. We all find each other, and I ask if anyone sees a boat related picture, call me and tell me where it is. Because of the crowds, and the size of the event it was difficult to see all of it in one day. There were more 250 artists participating in the event, and they used a lot of pavement.

I won't say the 3D pavement art art was the highlight of the festival, but it was certainly the big attention getter. It was stunning to see the drawings literally exploding out of, or into the pavement. The 3D street painting technique is a form of anamorphosis, or "Slant Art" developed by artist/architect Kurt Wenner. The Terracotta Legoman painting above is nearly completed, and it took four artists headed by Peter Westerink 5 1/2 days to complete. One of the most interesting things about this form of street art is that it can only be properly seen from one specific vantage point. By clicking here you can see a series of photographs showing the construction of the Legoman piece, and note how unrecognizable the image is if you look at it from the other side. There is a lot of cool mathematical plane projection going on here.

The festival was broken down into groupings starting with Beaten Earth (terra battula), Historical (prior to 1939), First Festival honoring the very first chalk festival in Mantua Italy, 3D Pavement Art, and Contemporary Art, or from my viewpoint Leonardo to Escheresque.

The fun thing about being there on Saturday was most of the pieces were still being created, and you could watch the ongoing work. This is a dirty art business, with artists squatting on the pavement, hands, faces, and clothing covered with a myriad of colors, and a zillion pieces of chalk everywhere.

And if you thought the professionals could get mucky, the festival closed down a side street just for children, and I'm sure that hoards of little urchin's bathtubs that night had a really colorful ring around the water line. Judging was done on Sunday, and the festival came to an end. The city's permit required all of the art, much to the chagrin of many, to be completely washed away by Tuesday morning at 7:00am, so out come the pressure washers. Kinda sad, but the artists didn't mind, it's performance art you know.

I managed to get the word boat into the story, but alas the only "art boat" that was in the festival was a pirate on a ship, but nowhere near completion. I just hate to throw away perfectly good pixels. These occur all over the world, and there are many chalk festivals in the US. If you get the opportunity to see one, do it, it's a great way to spend the day. I'll be back to ranting about those holes in the water next time.

You can see Kurt Wenner's gallery here

All photos by the Installer.

KVH M1 101

2011-11-11T10:57:00.005-05:00

Marinas and yacht clubs are slowly learning that providing some sort of dockside cable television service to their customers is getting increasingly more difficult, and complex. The switch to digital cable systems more than ever before, now requires a digital receiver box to be installed in a home, or boat for each television. But short of tornadoes, landslides, or sink holes in Florida, your house doesn't typically travel, your boat does. The equipment cable providers give you is based on a home installation scenario. You know the type, you can get behind your TV and plug and play all of the cables, in air conditioning, without sweating or bleeding. On a boat this is much different.

A local yacht club is discovering how painful this is becoming. Their Comcast system now requires digital tuner boxes for each television to receive the channels. That's not quite the truth, the first 24 channels of very basic cable is still available for now, but for most cable TV suppliers a box of some sort is required. So here is the catch, if you install your local vendors box in your boat, and you travel to another marina with another cable TV vendor, your box won't work with their system. This problem is going to get worse, and never better. I do have a suggestion for marinas. With a good quality digital on air antenna, and an amplifier system you could provide in most urban areas 20, to 30 or more digital high quality free local channels to your boaters. The capital cost is low, and you can get rid of those costly cable TV bills.

A good option for boaters that cruise, and who want broad channel options is a satellite marine TV system such as the KVH M1 seen below.

So in this vignette we will follow an install. This really isn't very difficult technically, and a reasonably skilled boater with some forethought, and a basic sense of how TV's are connected should be able to do it themselves. There are a few extra things you will need to do this. String, a good wire fish, electrical tape, patience, and checking things out before you start.

The worst of this job is getting the cable from the hard top or arch down to where the receiver will be located. In the picture above the large opening is below the dome location. The cable run goes from there forward, takes a right turn over to the side access plate, then down to the first Beckson plate, and from there out the arch bottom by the speaker.

The next step on this boat is removal of the refrigerator, and behind it two more access plates. To get through the bottom of the arch, there are actually two holes you have to pass through. The first one on top is easy, the second one is about 6" lower, and you just have to poke the fish around until you find it. Good deal, half way there.

Now the cable has to go forward. In this case the lower access opening behind the refrigerator is just large enough to painfully get your head and one arm in. There is a sealed bulkhead that the engine room wiring is passed through, and it is sealed with lots of goo. This bulkhead keeps gases from the engine room from getting into the cabin. Abandon any hope of using the the existing gooped up hole, and drill a new one, about 5/8" will do. Pass the cable forward through the new hole, and then, and it's important, do a good job of sealing the hole with more goop. Expired boaters are not likely to pay my bill.

It gets easier now, the access next to the helm station comes out, and the cable can now be fished forward into the control panel area in the main salon. Make sure the battery and AC power are shut off when you do this, because the potential for arcy sparky exists if you're using a metal wire fish.

The ideal location for the receiver is to place it as close as practical to the boat's coax splitter block and existing TV antenna switch. In this case this is a storage cabinet just aft of the electrical control panels. A hole has to be drilled to allow the wires to exit, and the small black box with the wire hanging off of it is the RF antenna for the remote control. The receiver comes with mounts that allows it to hang on a wall, or hung from above.

I'd often give my kingdom for more space, but alas I don't have much of a kingdom, so we make due. On the receiver I installed ninety degree fittings for the composite, and coax cables which saves me a couple of inches. On top of the receiver is the A/B switch box we are going to use to switch between shore cable, and the KVH satellite system.

It's time to get our inner geek on and deal with the coax splitter and the Glomex or Shakespeare antenna switch. The splitter is typically located somewhere behind the electrical panel, but it could be anywhere in the boat. It is important to locate this before you start, because you won't have a clue about cable lengths if you don't. I'm going to have a connection drawing at the end of the story to show you how to do it. In effect we are going to take the "line out" from the antenna switch, which goes to the input of the splitter block, and move it onto a input of the new A/B switch. The output from the KVH receiver goes to the other input on the A/B switch. The output from the A/B switch then goes to the splitter block. The little glitch in all of this wiring is The KVH receiver only sends out a composite video signal, which we have to translate into a coax cable feed. For that we need a RF modulator. This little box takes the yellow video signal, and the red and white audio signals, and combines it into one feed on a coax cable that the cable backbone in the boat can use. I will come back to this a little later.

I mount the KVH dome near the end of the install. The first consideration is to answer the question "will the dome be higher than the anchor light?" If so, the light need to be changed out for a higher one. Now is the mounting area flat, and parallel to the water line? In this case it is not. I'm using a Seaview mount along with their circular adjustable mounting wedge. By rotating the two wedge pieces, the mounting angle can be anywhere from zero to twelve degrees, and I need about six degrees to make it level. By the way making it look good takes a bunch of climbing down, squinting at it from the dock, cursing a bit because it is leaning somewhat, and readjusting the angle. This goes on even if you have a small level. Once everything is good, it becomes mechanical after that. Drill a one inch hole for the cable, install the mount, and attach the dome, and the one cable. Now go below, and use silicone, or the waterproof goop of your choice, and do a good job of sealing the one inch hardtop hole, and mounting bolts.

Allmost done now. The final electrical connections consist of getting 110VAC power to the RF modulator, and 12VDC to the KVH receiver. I favor RF modulators that have a regular power cord, instead of a transformer that will require an outlet. I can cut the plug off, and wire it into directly into a breaker. If you're not comfortable with doing this yourself, then this is a sign you shouldn't, and find someone with experience to do it for you. The KVH receiver wires to a 12 volt breaker or source. Turn on the system and off you go into TV land.

A wee bit of clarification, and some thoughts about installing these systems is in order now. The KVH M10 receiver outputs a composite video signal, and passing it through a RF modulator, and then through the splitter onto the boat's coax backbone reduces the picture quality a bit. The final picture is good, but not as good as it could be. An option here I used was to take the second composite output from the receiver and cable it directly to the main salon TV. This will improve that TV's picture. The other option is to buy the DX version of the M1 system, and get a receiver from DirectTV, or Dish Network that has component or HDMI outputs. The trade off is the receiver will be much larger, and will require AC power. Providing high definition cabling to every TV in a boat can be very expensive in both time to pull all of the wiring, and the cost of cables. Likewise, adding a second receiver, or more increases both the complexity of the system, and increases the costs.

Locating the items such as the splitter block, and antenna switches in advance is important, and drives the receiver location options. Cables can be expensive, and in this case, the modulator, cables, A/B switch et al cost about $180.00. If you have the time, you can shop online especially for the cables to save some dinero.

This install took me about 12 hours to do, of which two thirds of the time was spent pulling cables from A to B.

Read the KVH installation instructions first, and then read them again. They are clear and easy to understand.

When you call DirectTV, make sure you tell them that the receiver will not be connected to a phone line. If you don't after some period they will shut off the feed because ET can't call home, and they think you are stealing movies. Also be patient with them, the receiver is a model M10, and it won't be familiar to the agent, just persist.

Here is the basic wiring diagram, see it isn't really that scary.

A good book also offers great entertainment at considerable savings. Here is another article about entertainment systems on boats.

Look back up at me in an old spicy way

2011-11-08T09:43:00.002-05:00

Hello boaters, look down at your panel, and then back up to mine, now back to your panel, now back to mine. Sadly your panel isn't mine, but if you used acrylics, instead of those other poor choices, your panels could look like mine.

Look down, then back up. Where are you? You're on a boat with the panels your boat could have.

What's in your hand, now back to me. I have it, it's an acrylic panel. Look again, the panel is now etched with a laser. Anything is possible when you use acrylics for your panels.

I'm, supposed to be on a horse now, but I don't seem to fit. What should you do? Why of course, look back up at me.

CNC cut 3/8" panels, laser etched nomenclature, beveled, and edge polished. The two panels cost $140.00 and were made by Delcraft, priceless. I would still be trying to sand the fur off of Starboard.

The photo of Thumbelina is from Wikipedia, and was taken by Phil Konstantin.

Five chart plotters installed in one day, a new world record

2011-11-07T08:15:00.001-05:00

I know you're thinking this installer leads a glamorous life always attending store openings, conferences, hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and passing my Grey Poupon to the Bentley next to me. But in the real world most days are just spent grinding it out. Today I am upgrading a Garmin 5212, installing a couple of cable TV boxes, and finishing a KVH M1 satellite system install (I'm writing a 101 piece on it). But every now and then I get something interesting, and different to do. This is the case with the systems you see mounted below.

This is a project I did for Practical Sailor magazine who were testing five small moderately priced chartplotter/sounder systems, and Garmin's GDL40 weather receiver. The trick was to be able to get all of this easily usable in a small split console boat. Units being tested were the Raymaine A70, Garmin 740S, Humminbird's 798 and 788, Lowrance Elite 5, and the Garmin GDL40.

I was familiar with the boat, and had previously installed a small Garmin charplotter/sounder in it. So out comes the tape measure, some beard stroking, and a solution. All of the systems would mount on a 1" x 12" plank that would straddle the two consoles. A strap, and some tie wraps would keep it in place. A power strip was installed, along with a 16' 10/2 power cable with battery terminal connections installed. All of the transducers were connected, and about the first 8' of all of the cabling was tie wrapped at 1' intervals. Each of the transducers remaining cable lengths were coiled, labeled and placed in a bag. The bag had handles which could hook on the end of the plank allowing the whole configuration to be picked up lock stock and barrel. I loaned them my 110VAC to 12V transformer so testing could be done away from the boat if desired. I also put some extra effort into making everything nice and neat because it was going to photographed. Its 15 seconds of fame would come.

The actual install on the boat just took a few minutes. Secure the plank, take the harness and run it down the side securing it with tie wraps, connect the power, and it was ready to go. The transducers were mounted, one at a time on a 1" x 4" plank. A long bolt was glued into the plank that passed through a scupper. It was secured with a fender washer and a wing nut. The top of the plank was secured with a C clamp with silicone bumpers to protect the fiberglass on the transom. It took about 5 minutes to release the plank, take off one transducer, and install the next one.

One the whole it was a fun and interesting project, and the whole assembly is reusable for future projects. If you want to see the testing results, the GPS testing is available online now at Practical Sailor, and the sounder portion will be in next months issue. And yes, you can borrow my Grey Poupon mustard, just be sure to return it. No chartplotters were hurt or injured during this project.

Form ever follows function

2011-11-05T10:25:00.264-04:00

It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,

Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,

That form ever follows function. This is the law.

Architect Louis Sullivan, 1896

The term Modernism generally applies more to architectural, and industrial design, but for this discussion, we will apply it to boats. So let's behold the hammer below. Despite its somewhat battered appearance, to my eye it is a graceful, and beautifully designed object, completely devoid of any ornamentation, and whose design has been refined over the ages. This versatile tools pounds nails, the curved shape allow nails to be pulled and planks levered up. It's mass gives the head substantial impact force. It is used by almost all tradesmen for varying needs, and can also be used as an effective weapon. This is a well designed, elegant machine whose every facet serves some purpose, and it also provides some heft to the phrase, "When reason fails, force prevails".

So lets take a look at a couple of boats that have a Modernism outlook. The word I would apply to the vessel below is purposeful. Certainly no effort has been made to adorn this little boat, but I like it. It's a solid and stable work platform that has sturdy wood planking for a deck, cleats and lifting eyes to pick it up and place it on the barge, and with the little Mercury outboard it really scoots about. It is the tender to a dredging barge.

This less than gaudy vessel's role in life is to set pilings, and if required to beat them into place. The deck is large and open, and spuds hold it in place while it is working. All equipment is exposed and available for maintenance. Everything on the boat is organized, and after watching it punch a hole into the limestone underlying this basin it is well designed to do the task. Its Honda outboard also allows it to move briskly along to its next job. From its well maintained appearance, this is a loved vessel.

Now let's reverse the phrase to "function ever follows form", and this would be at the extreme. Part of me is horrified, and the other part makes me want one. I would dress like Hugh Hefner, wear a smoking jacket, and puff on a pipe while being surrounded by attractive augmented females, and lots of sycophants. No, I don't really think so, and it will be a while before my retina's lose that image. I can just imagine this vessel in a bad storm with Tiki huts filled with terrified hedonists being swept off the deck, and leaving them clinging to empty rum bottles as flotation devices. If it sank in shallower waters they could all cling to the sides of the volcano, and draw lots to see who will be sacrificed. The movie scripts always seem to favor a well augmented female.

I'm not really trying to beat up the design rendering of the volcano boat, for there is a boat out there for everyones taste, but to be honest, this is not high on my list of desirable boats. But someone will buy it, and will be proud to be its master. I bet he is shopping for smoking jackets as we speak.

Louis Sullivan is considered to be the father of the modern skyscraper. His Modernism had no room for Finials and Gargoyles as building adornments. Tall buildings were to be square with flat planes, and built at the lowest cost per square foot. To some degree boats fall into the middle of all of this, from one extreme to another. Modern go fast boats, and cruisers have often have too much form, and not enough function, coupled with being built at the lowest possible cost per square foot, to my detriment, and the owner's wallet when things break. I think it is possible to have your cake and eat it too, if designers put more effort into the vessels we buy. I built the little model boat above off of lines I found in Howard Chapelle's Boatbuilder book. Howard didn't build boats he just designed them, and the end result was form followed function, but the form was always truly elegant when he was finished. We need a bit more of this in modern boat design.

A small foot note to this dialog is that Louis Sullivan employed a young architect named Frank Lloyd Wright as his assistant, who adopted some of Mr. Sullivan's ideas. He added a little more form, and sacrificed a little function in his designs. It's always a balancing act, I just lean a little more toward the function side.

I think I like the dark blue velour smoking jacket, it will go well with my velvet Elvis painting hanging over the round bed.

The rendering of the Tropical Island Paradise vessel, and their other designs can be seen at Island Yacht Designs. They are all very audacious concepts.

Signs of fall in Florida

2011-10-29T10:38:00.002-04:00

For many years I lived on the north side of 43 degrees latitude, and you knew without a doubt that fall had arrived. The signs were crystalline, like scraping frost off the windshield in the morning, getting the boat put on its cradle and winterized, and seeing all of the plants up and die leaving a freezing bleak skeletal Cocytus like landscape that will soon be covered in frozen precipitation that lasts for months on end. That nostalgic postcard crap only lasts for about two weeks, then you have to get rid of all of the leaves, order firewood, hunker down, and watch your tan go away. I still have some shoes with salt line stains on them.

Sensing the arrival of fall in Sarasota, requires a keen eye, for the signs are subtle indeed. The first portent is the precipitous drop in temperature from the upper nineties at ninety percent humidity, to the lower eighties at ninety percent humidity. Just having a temperature change at all makes the local weather persons giddy, and you can watch them sweating on TV while wearing colorful wool coats, sweaters, and fall leaf pins. This also means you still sweat, and smell bad, just not as much.

The arrival of car carriers parked in the road medians on the barrier islands are a sure sign that the weather in the north is getting crappy, and residents are starting to bail out.

Very rich dogs start to appear with their servants indicating the season is changing in Florida. I think this one is from Buffalo. These dogs apparently have an allergy to asphalt, grass, bricks, and concrete. You can also see hanging from the handle of his chariot the container that has his scented toilet paper.

Construction on roads in areas where tourists frequent is always a sure sign fall has arrived. Local governments always start these large projects at the beginning of the fall season so visitors can see that we are all working hard to improve the quality of their stay.

Sagging moldy pumpkins are the quintessential symbol that fall has appeared here. It is still very warm and humid, and by Halloween these turn into truly horrifying half melted biological blobs that have to be disposed of in special red bags. Smart children avoid trick and treating where these diseased, and scabrous things are on display.

Falling back is the true way we all know fall has arrived, and this year it is on November 6th. The great time lords have decreed on this date that we go back to standard time, and we all set our clocks back one hour. For boaters this is important. Chartplotters use Greenwich time, (GMT, UTC, Zulu) and if you want your local time right, you need to put an offset in. When we go back to standard time, the east coast offset will be -5 hours, and add an extra hour for each additional time zone heading west. It's not that the chartplotter cares, because it doesn't, but failure to have the correct offset in place, throws the tide calculations off by the amount of the time error, and this can possibly have a deleterious effect on your propellers, keels, boat bottoms, and egos. So dig out your manuals, and make the change. Garmin units have an "Auto" feature which only works if it is set to "Auto" so check it also. You folks in Atlantic time don't forget the .5 hour. Since you are reading the manual now anyway, read some other sections. You will learn something new about your systems capabilities.

The picture above (taken by J. Cohen (Wikipedia)) shows a GPS indicating its position while being held over the Prime Meridian line at the Greenwich observatory. You can see there is a small error, and the GPS is not quite at zero degrees longitude. The reason for this is the GPS actually uses the International Earth Rotation and Reference System, which places its Prime Meridian line about 336 feet away from the Greenwich Prime Meridian location. This is also the same reference that WGS84 uses for its terrestrial mapping reference. A lot of weird and wonderful things happen because of those GPS satellites.

Mourning field

2011-10-26T10:15:00.012-04:00

Sunday, February 7th 2010 The "Longboat Key News"

"According to Longboat Key Police, there was a “Lights Out” boarding of all the boats anchored between Cortez and the south end of Longboat Key recently. Seventeen boats were boarded by the Longboat Police, Bradenton Beach Police, the Coast Guard as well as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection officers and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers, all checking for drugs, outstanding warrants, proper licenses, and proper handling of sewage." (Editors note: US Customs officers were also involved)

Apparently nothing of magnitude was found during the raid, at least that was noteworthy in police reports, or the press. How much fun would that have been for a transient cruiser passing through to have assorted armed law enforcement agencies rooting through your vessel in the middle of the night. Certainly this should give all of us food for thought, and it begs the point that many Florida communities are not boat friendly at all, and NIMBY rules the waves.

I have seen enough people with easels up painting the scene above to know that some like the picturesque aspects of all the boats resting quietly at anchor, but there have been issues with a small group of live aboard, and quasi-live aboard vessels like the vessel above. It is apparent to me that it doesn't sail anywhere despite the casual appearance of the rigging, and there is no motor. This vessel is someone's home, even as stark as it is, and this drives some locals crazy. You hear statements like they're homeless people, they don't pay taxes, the boats are ugly, and they're polluting the bay. There is some truth to all of this, and this sort of thing causes varied levels of consternation in local, and mostly wealthier communities. Add to this issue some vessel that is a little south of being a multi-million dollar super yacht being anchored, and despoiling, at least in their mind, some residents magnificent waterfront view. "Look Buffy, that deplorable sail boat thing is ruining our view, call the anchoring police immediately."

But what has really upset all of these water based communities is that the local governments have historically had little legal authority to limit non-live-aboard (cruisers) anchoring in their state controlled waters (live-aboard vessels are regulated), despite their efforts to create ordinances to do so, and it drives them nuts. The Town of Longboat Key attempted to do so with their Chapter 93. The ordinance basically says no to everything boating, but the section relating to anchoring has been shown to be in contravention with state law. I'm not specifically picking on Longboat Key, there are many other Florida municipalities that have tried to restrict anchoring by regulation, and Marco Island is another one of many examples.

The brunt of the State of Florida statutory boating regulations are in Chapter 327. There is the old version (pre 2009), and the new version (post 2009), and an additional twist to all of this. In 2009 the section 327.22 was deleted, and portions of it were consolidated into 327.60 titled Local regulations: limitations. What happened here was local governments limitations and regulatory abilities were more clearly spelled out. The notable part of this change was that the ability to anchor your boat, in state waters, which was somewhat fuzzy in the older version of the statutes, was more clearly spelled out. What had become limited, and clarified was local governments could not pass laws regarding the:

f) Regulating the anchoring of vessels other than live-aboard vessels outside the marked boundaries of mooring fields permitted as provided in s. 327.40

Now like all things legal, there was some nuance here, but on the whole, if you are a cruiser passing through Florida you can anchor where you want as long as it is not a specifically marked, and state permitted location, for now, but here comes the twist.

Let's now meet Representative Baxter Troutman, from Florida. He is from Winter Haven in the middle of the state, was a Florida state representative (district 66) from 2002 to 2010, and was term-limited out of office. He is also the grandson of Ben Hill Griffin. Katherine Harris is also Ben Hill Griffin's granddaughter. Representative Troutman is the sponsor of Florida Bill HB 1423 filed in March 2009, and it was co-sponsored by Representative Paige Kreegle (district 72) from Punta Gorda on Florida's west coast.

Buried on page 76 of 89 pages of this bill is the start of the small section you see above, with the operative line being "to explore options for regulating the anchoring or mooring of non-live-aboard vessels". The FWC (Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission) pilot program has selected five sites for inclusion consisting of the city of Sarasota, city of St Petersburg, city of Stuart/Martin county, Monroe county/Key West/Marathon, and St. Augustine. Inclusion in this pilot program also gives the participants the ability to created non-live-aboard anchoring regulations in the area of their jurisdiction.

In Sarasota, the great mooring field project has not gone well. With some fanfare derelict, meaning homeless shelter boats were removed, and all of the other boats in the anchorage were pushed back from the construction area. Engineers surveyed, and pontificated, and called for helical "screw in" mooring anchors. A contractor was hired to install the first 38 anchors, and oops, the anchors didn't hold. There was lots of finger pointing, additional consultants were hired, and $500,000 dollars quickly evaporated. The city still has grant money left, and they will persevere. There will be a public meeting next week to discuss anchoring limitation regulations that are now possible, and I shudder. The one thing we have here is endless retired non-boaters with lots of time on their hands.

The bottom line is this legislated pilot program is a poor way to solve problems that were manageable with current laws and regulations. Pollution problems can be solved with pump out boats like the new one we have above, which will currently come to your boat, for no charge in the for now free anchorage, and solve your holding tank issues. The city initially had set mooring fees in excess of $400 per month, regardless of size, which would be hard to swallow for a boater with a 26' day sailor. Tentative rates are now by vessel size and range from $250 to $345 per month, and transient fees range from $18 to $25 per day, and oh yes, you must have proof of insurance to use the mooring field. These fees do come with with good amenities.

Now that the door is cracked open, the city fathers, and mothers are chomping hard at the bit to get control of all of the anchoring in their jurisdiction, and they all lobbied hard for this. Thou shalt not anchor within view of homes, within 1000' of the shoreline, no anchoring off Longboat Key period, and you can only stay one night, if you can find a legal place to anchor that is not in our mooring field. You don't want to have a "Lights Out" visit from our local constabulary do you? This is a bad idea for all that boat and cruise, I trust these municipalities about as far as I can throw them, and I can't pick them up. They are not boater's friends. Keep a close eye on this issue, and participate in the local public meetings, or you will definitively end up holding the short straw.

Here are some resources.

A good review. and history of Florida anchoring regulations.
B.A.R.R. Boaters Anchoring Rights and Responsibilities, and their Facebook page.