Sunday, October 30, 2011

Barefoot at Dock

My flight back to Syracuse was cancelled yesterday due to the freak October snow storm in the mid-Atlantic, so with my 'extra' time I am playing around with Google maps. Following is a 'static' map of Barefoot's dock location in Bradenton. It is relatively easy to create a static map, but it does not allow the viewer to zoom or pan. This capability requires javascript, which appears to be difficult/impossible to use on Blogspot.



The section to the upper left of this post labeled 'Maps' contains links to 'dynamic' Google maps that will trace our travels.

If anyone has embedded a dynamic Google map in a Blogstop post, please let me know the trick. I can do it on a stand-alone web page, but not embedded in a Blogspot post.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

October Maintenance

Well I (Tom) have been on the boat for a month, working very hard getting the boat ready to go. Projects have been numerous and include; putting up the bimini and dodger; cleaning, conditioning and bottom painting the dingy; sanitizing water tanks and lines; rebuilding a head (toilet). No sails yet, but they will go up in early November.

However, the most significant effort has been varnishing our teak trim, which Island Packet sailboats have a lot of. It is very pretty to look at, but a lot of work to maintain, particularly in the Florida sun. I touched up some bare/rough spots and applied a couple maintenance coats of varnish to almost all the trim. It is the first time I have varnished, so it definitely has been a learning experience.

Today I am flying home and then returning to the boat next Thursday with Joyce. It will be very good to be together again!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Ship's Barometer


With all the rather sophisticated weather information at our fingertips these days, it is easy to forget that most of the world, particularly the oceans, do not have this type of information available.  A simple barometer is a critical piece of equipment for ships traveling past coastal waters.

Our previous barometer 'headed south' last summer - quite literally, the pointer always pointed straight down - not very helpful. The image above pictues the model of barometer I just installed on Barefoot - it is not a picture of the actual instrument because photographing a glass face is very tricky.

This will be our most important weather predictor when we head to the Bahamas early next year.  Additionally, I hope to be able to receive high-sea weather information (text and basic weather maps) via shortwave radio, but that is another project.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Storage


I have been busy over the last week on a number of boat projects that I could tell you about, but Joyce advised me to talk about something that everybody can appreciate - storage.   
We have spent months in total on this and similar boats for shorter lengths of time, but packing for a 2-3 week trip is quite different than for a 6 month trip when it will often be difficult or impossible to get more supplies.  So one of my jobs is to strategize storage. 
One of the things I often say to people is that our boat is quite comfortable, but it is still a boat.  Storage space is limited and often comes in odd places and shapes and varying levels of accessibility. Also some spaces have greater possibility of getting wet than others. The last dimension is that some storage space is shared with critical equipment (like refrigerator compressors or water pumps) that you don’t want to damage. So the trick is to maximize utilization of the space, provide efficient access (frequently needed items most accessible), protect items from getting wet/damaged, while not damaging some critical piece of equipment in the process.
So, I have gone through every storage space on the boat, cataloging and culling the contents.  Also I have become a regular in the Wal-Mart storage container aisle buying numerous shapes and sizes of storage containers and trying to fit them in the various spaces like a giant 3-D puzzle.
The picture is one of the more accessible and regular shaped spaces, but note the use of various sized containers to maximize space utilization and the presence of air conditioning ducts and a pressure gauge from the water maker (upper right hand corner).
 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

S/V Barefoot Wants to Get Moving

After a long summer at the dock, S/V Barefoot is ready to be prepared to take in lines and get moving!