------------------------

 Sat, Jan 17, 2009 11:40 AM  - My life, new boat, poker, coffee, life on Mars

Things are going well. I realized something last night while I was sleeping or actually trying to sleep, I need to 

push up the installation of my woodstove on the list of things to do on the new boat. The temperature was 38 this

 morning. Not as bad a Cedar Rapids with minus 31, and not as bad as it would seem, since the boat is well 

connected with the 65 degree water. The topsides are insulated well and the floorboards are up since I'm still 

working on painting the bilge and installing the water tanks. So even with just a mosquito net for a door it is still

 only a two blanket and stocking cap night. I will probably start and hopefully finish (at least enough to use it) the

 woodstove installation this afternoon. A couple of days ago I had fish for breakfast, a mullet had jumped into the

 dingy overnight. This was the first time I've had mullet, can't say it was too great, but then I don't know how to 

cook them properly. I'm sure with the proper seasoning they are probably better. Ricky, the guy from Little Rock 

came down to look at the 38 foot Hughes that he is buying from me over the next year and he is happy with his 

prospective purchase so I'm down to one boat. He only stayed a couple days so it's still in the water and he 

offered to pay me to watch it instead of paying the boat yard. I also might be buying another boat, it's a good 

deal on eBay. It's a 27 foot steel boat, designed by the same person that designed mine and it on a trailer about

 60 miles away. I went to look at it last week. I should be able to make some money on it, might even use it for

 a while. I might build a trailer and take it to the west coast and sail it to Hawaii to visit my sister that has just 

moved there. The trailer that the boat is on is just a car trailer and it doesn't sell with the boat, but I should be 

able to use it to move it to a boat yard here in town. This place is very cheap, it's not geared toward sailboats, 

since it is not near the water. I met the guy looking for fiberglass that I needed to build the hard dodger for my 

45. I've got lots of windows that I bought from power boat windshields, hardened glass, I need to learn how to cut 

that if possible, I think I should be able to grind them if careful. I don't need to cut many, I also plan to back 

them up with Plexiglas on the inside and put a steel rod across the middle to support them well against a solid 

wave crashing on deck. They are slightly larger than I would choose if specifying them, the Plexiglas and steel rod

 should effectively cut them in half structurally. The fiberglass I found is a flying bridge top and windshield form a 

20 some foot power boat. It has the curvature that will match the curved top on my boat well. Basically I will build 

this by cutting and pasting pieces together blending them with new fiberglass. This should be cheaper and easier

 than building it all from scratch out of new fiberglass. Anyway I bought the top and was working on removing it 

and came up with the idea of moving the new boat to his yard. If I do that I will need a trailer to move the boat 

out of the yard. I've had the idea for a sailboat trailer that would move and launch large sailboats for quite a while

 now. It involves two separate supported frame rails with a removable cross piece in the back. Each frame rail 

would be supported by two mobile home axles that are three feet wide so that the center would be completely 

open. So I may need to look for stuff to build this. If I do build this, I could use it on the 38 and store it in this 

yard too, saving some more money and helping to pay for the trailer. I also might be able to use the trailer with 

the 45 next time it needs bottom paint. I can unstep the masts with a gin pole idea using the mast from the 26 

footer I salvaged in Mobile. I also told the city that I will tow away a sailboat that is slightly damaged and has 

been abandoned at the city dock, we'll see where that goes, again I should be able to make some money on 

that too. Had an interesting poker hand last night, playing 5 card stud, 6 players. I got 2 pair queens and 8's 

and was feeling quite good about it. Turns out a couple others where also feeling good about their hands and the 

betting was spirited to say the least. One went all in and the other guy and I both called. Very surprising, even 

more surprised, I had the low hand!!!! there was A's and 5's and three 10's in the showdown. Quite a hand and it 

involved a $25 pot in a nickle ante game. Luckily I had been doing quite well before that hand and broke even 

for the night. It's fun, that what's important. The new boat and the trailer will push back my trip but it will also add 

to the coffers and give me more flexibility in the future. Again, I'm having fun, that's what is important. Have a 

great day. Jon News flash..... My sister just sent me an email that says if you drink 5 cups of coffee a day you 

reduce Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s by 65%. Guess it's time I start to drink coffee, I've always loved the 

smell of it, just never drank it since it was addictive and expensive when I was in college. Just saw no need for it.

 Now where did I put the other queen I needed last night...... 

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20090116/coffee-strong-enough-to-ward-off-dementia ..... Also just in today.... 

NASA has found methane on Mars, might be produced by carbon forms of life.... 

------------------------

 Thu, Feb 12, 2009 01:40 PM - dislocated shoulder rehab  

 I dislocated my shoulder in a fall on the boat one morning at 2 am, figting some tarps that where blowing around

 when a gust front come through proceeding a storm. I fell into the cockpit, that normanlly would not be a big 

problem, but the engine room is right below the cockpit on the boat and I have the floor of the cockpit (ceiling 

of the engine room) removed to have good access to engine room modifications. So it was about an 8 foot fall 

landing on my back on the engine. On the way down I grabbed and held onto the wheel and that yanked my 

shoulder out of joint. This involved a trip to the emergency room. They took a couple xrays, and put it back in 

place and sent me home with an arm sling that held my arm in front across my tummy. I found out online that 

holding the arm straight out in front of you in a sling is many times better so I modified the sling with a piece of 

bent PVC from an heated and split plastic pipe. I wore this for a couple weeks. My arm is doing better, I'm out of 

the sling and I started to do exercises the other day. That makes a huge difference. I've continued doing some 

small jobs but not tackled anything major. I've got the starter motor fixed for the 27ft boat. Did I tell you I bought

 another boat? This one was local and on eBay and real cheap because it was very poorly advertised. I figure I can

 make close to $10k on it with a little over a months work. First thing is get the motor running and the starter 

motor was rusted tight. They wanted $900 for a local auto parts shop replacement shipped tomorrow kind of thing,

 I said "no thanks." I've got a couple worn spots in the sails I will work on today. I'll put paint on the bottom and 

launch it and then bring it back to LaBelle to finish work on it. I've also been working with the digital TV transition 

and got that figured out yesterday. I now need to find the best type of antenna for the boat. My biggest problem 

was the antenna, I was using an amplified rabbit ears and loop table top model but it was inside the garage. The 

garage is covered with metal and a metal roof. Not a good place for an antenna but good enough for analog with 

snow on 5 stations. When I moved the whole system outside, I got 15 stations, 9 of them digital. The reception is

 amazing, as good as cable and I get a 6 hour online tv guide. Concerning the arm, 2 days ago I could not lift it 

above my shoulder and even that far was with extreme pain. I found and downloaded a good set of exercises 

online. One of the exercises involves lieing down on my back and lifting the arm straight up toward the sky. First 

time I could only get about 45 degrees of upper arm rotation with extreme pain. This morning I could get full 

extension with extreme pain. I do this 10 times and hold it for 5 seconds. There are lots of other exercises I also 

do, most are static pushing exercises. The hardest one is walking the fingers up a wall in front of you. They are 

helping, that's for sure. The exercise plan also calls for 30 minutes a day on a stationary bike. I figured why 

stationary, so for the last two days I've been riding my bike to town and the library, over 5 miles each way. The 

evening before searching for the exercise program I took the rowing dingy out to the river and found I could row 

normal, pulling on the oars without a problem but rowing backwards was near impossible, that involed pushing on 

the oars with a load. Concerning riding the bike to town today, while waiting for the library to open I was just 

riding around town and I got a front flat tire, so I'll walk it to Norms and fix it over there. Life always has it's twists 

and turns. I maybe won't be doing many on the dance floor for a while even if I do go to a singles valentines 

dance this weekend. Time will tell, it'll be hard to resist trying, and it may be worth the pain. No pain, no gain. 

-------------------------- 

Mon, Mar 23, 2009 09:19 AM - march 09 letter with pictures 

Everything is OK, My shoulder is getting better but I still have trouble lifting my arm above my 

shoulder, it's not so much pain as it is just not having the strength yet to do  it.  It's better 

with each week but I'm sure that there is at least a month more of  recovery. It hasn't been 

keeping me from doing anything except swing dancing, everything else I can  figure a way to 

accomplish without lifting my arm up high or assisting it with the other  arm.  I can hold it up 

there, I just can't lift it.  So if I swing it or help it, I can  get it up there.    I've been working 

on the new 27 foot Steel boat.  I haven't moved it yet.  I'm having  trouble with the starter 

motor.  It turns out is is a very rare item and costly too.   They want $850 for a new one.  I 

need one, everything else is ready to go to move the  boat over here but the starter motor.  

I've identified a Subaru Legacy 2.5 Liter starter  as a possible replacement with modifications.  

I'm working on that this morning waiting  for a email back from a starter place in Little Rock.  

Basically I need to find a pinion  that is identical to the one from the original Bosch starter on 

the boat.  I don't want  to destroy the one I have, it still works, sort of, and might be worth 

more as a  rebuild-able starter to a possible engine collector in the future.  I'll need to modify  

the drive gear and also the mount on the Subaru starter.  I've fixed the bottom and painted it 

and also worked on the electric system.  I've  checked many of the other systems on the boat. 

 I still have the gunwale to rebuild and  work on the window and topside paint, but much of the

 work is done.  The old owner has  come up with new sails and salon cushions that came with 

the boat.    We will pull the 38 footer out of the water soon and I will paint the bottom on it.  

The  new owner is continuing to make the payments as promised and has decided he wants to 

pay  me to paint it for him.  I'm also working on a hard dodger for the 45 footer.  It will be  

made of fiberglass.    I have bought a digital TV, 12v, LCD and also a computer monitor.  I built 

an antenna for  it and am amazed how well it works, also I should be able to mount a copy of 

on the mast  built out of copper foil tape that is taped to the wooden mast.  I'll include a 

picture  here.  The Black wire are all connected together and the white goes to the other side. 

   It should have a matching transformer to connect it to coax but for reception that's not  as 

important as transmitting. It's easy to build and works very well.  The most  surprising thing is 

that it makes no difference which direction it points, even flat and  very close to the ground 

works well.  I've bought a number of things for the boat, such as a suitmate clothes wringer, 

barnacle  anchors (3 of them, need to sell a couple, they where real cheap, 40 pounders) and 

many  other things. 

--------------------------Fri, Apr 03, 2009 02:56 PM

Where's my car

I'm at home in Kansas, got here Monday morning, had a meeting with the county about my 

 car problem that I thought I had all straightened out last fall. I got a call last week 

 telling me that it wasn't all done, spent an hour on the phone and then last Saturday 

 decided I needed to be back here for a Monday morning meeting with the county and a 

 lawyer. Long story short, it's all straightened out now. I've got a paper signed by all 

 the important parties that I'm OK, just have to move a couple cars before August and get 

 rid of some junk tires, appliances and bicycles. Standard cleanup that needed to be done 

 anyway. I drove up here in a new Nissan Maxima, one I bought the middle of last week. I didn't 

 run when I bought it, but it's the same model as one I bought form the police a little 

over a year ago. The police one is in perfect condition but it's a drug bust 

 confiscation car and comes with a non highway title. This new one will let me combine 

 the two and make a good car. The new one really is not as bad as one would figure for 

 230K miles. It ran well once I got it started, after a couple hours of debugging 

 electrical problems. It had sat for the last couple years. It was owned by a sail boater 

 and left while he cruised. Once I got it started I learned all the other problems it 

 had. One of the dual brake systems had a major leak, so it only had brakes on 2 wheels, 

 It essentially has no rear shocks, it has flat spots on the tires that have the brakes. 

 Put all this together and not much time or desire to fix any of it since I needed to be 

 up here quickly I drove it to Kansas stopping in St Louis to pick up an eBay item for the 

 boat. It runs well, so I started off on my trip home Saturday afternoon with only about 30 

 miles of debugging the car before the trip. I did take a good tool kit. The biggest 

 problem was if I hit a bump the back wheels bounce up and down continuously and I have 

 very little control till I slow down to near 40 mph. There steering had a nasty shimmy 

 in it due to the flat spot on the tire. I stopped and jacked up one whole side of the 

 car and moved the bad front tire to the back. That got rid of the steering wheel shimmy. 

 I found I had to drive 50 mph so that I could slow down fast enough if the back wheels 

 bounced, but they very rarely bounced at 50 mph and below. At 52 mph the bounced with 

 every bump. So I was in for a long drive home, but I could still make it in time if I 

 had no other problems. 20-20 hind sight, I think if I jacked up the rear end and 

 stuffed a couple 2x4's in the coil springs it would have increased the stiffness and thus 

 the frequency of oscillation and I probably could have driven at 60 mph. That's what 

 practical application of engineering can do for you. Anyway I made it home and in time

 for the meeting, I was able too, or had to sleep 4 

 hours Sunday morning at a rest stop and got here 4 hours before the meeting. The car was 

 actually quite comfortable, quiet and it has a 4 channel Bose stereo system, and a 

 climate control system that works just fine, set the temp and it does all the rest. I 

 did get 37 mpg driving 50 and calculated that i was making half of minimum wage for the 

 extra time the trip was taking by saving so much on fuel. I burned slightly more that 35 

 gals going almost 1500 miles. This morning I started thinking about heading back to Florida

 and I was planning on 

 taking this car to my brothers in Arkansas and replace the shocks and fix the other 

 problems. But then I had a problem with the car. I started it and the gauges, tack and 

 speedometer didn't work, turns out all the power to the dash was gone while the engine 

 was running but not before you started it. I checked all the fuses and got out the 

 manual but even after an hour I'm still baffled. The electrical diagram in the manual is

 very difficult to figure out, since it's got manuals for many years of car and all the 

 different versions. The car has close to a hundred fuses and probably 30 relays, that's 

 the problem with modern luxury. It still runs well and charges the battery but I have no 

 signals and no brake lights or headlights. 

 So it's time for plan B, take the good Maxima I got in the police auction. I looked for 

 it where I thought it was and it wasn't there, I racked my brain where did I leave it. I 

 have too many cars and I move around too much. How did I get to Florida last time? My

 brother was up helping me with my house plumping last fall, he got a spider bite and I 

 had to drive his motorhome back to Arkansas with this Nissan in tow, where did I go after

 that? I came back up here to home. How did I get to Florida just before Xmas. I called 

 my friends, nobody helped much. I went back to old emails and I was able to figure out

 I got a free flight from KCI to Ft Meyers and I had to figure out how to get to KCI. I got 

 an email from a friend that wanted me to come to a Singles in Ag dance in Leavenworth the 

 night before my flight. She would take me to the airport if I could figure out how to 

 get to the dance. An old friend an hour north west of home was going, but not past my 

 place so I had to get to his place. My car is sitting outside his barn. It all comes 

 back with a little help. And all you people thought I write these letters for you, 

I write them for me, so I can  remember what I did with my life.

 Have a good one. Now I just need to figure out to get 

 an hour north west of here, probably should take some jumper cables too. My friend is 

 not home, he's off in his motor home in Texas, probably dancing. 

------------------------ Thu, Apr 09, 2009 11:11 AM

Back in Florida

 I got my car, the battery was dead, but I had a spare along just in case. with the

 new battery installed my car had problem with the anti theft circuits, every time I 

opened the door, the lights would flash for 2 minutes. Also the starter would not work

 but I figured out how to bypass that problem. We worked on it at my brothers but the 

problem went away on it's own before we could trace down the problem. It will reappear 

in the most inopportune time at a later date. While in Kansas at friend Glen's house I 

played a game of horseshoes. I won and my arm felt good doing it. 

I'm starting to be able to get it above my shoulder. There is some 

pain if I really push it hard to reach something in the back seat like a can of pop while 

driving. I figure the pain is good, I need to stretch it to regain pre injury range of

 motion. I'm back in Florida, got here late last night. I'm at the 27 ft boat in Englewood. I 

spent a day in Arkansas and helped my brother move some big stuff. We moved the end of 

the concrete conveyor over the roof of the house and got the big A frame up on the roof. 

That gets the conveyor where it will be needed for pouring the retaining walls at the 

front of the house roof. I started to head down here early yesterday morning, got an 

hour down the road and got a cell phone call, I left the starter motor to the 27 ft boat 

sitting on the bench in my brothers shop. I had it out to discuss possibilities on 

fixing or replacing it. He came up with the idea on running it on 24 volts, that should 

work and get the boat to LaBelle. I ordered the new starter, a Subaru salvage yard item, 

that needs a different drive gear made and installed, on eBay. I might not need that 

now. If 24 volts works and the engine loosens up with a few hours of running 12 volts 

might be OK. Driving down here I took a scenic trip. If your driving from Tallahassee to Tampa, you 

can take the old highway for most of the trip, save money and not lose any time. Take 

highway 19, 98 and 581. It is 40 miles shorter, only 5 mph slower and there are about 5 

little towns with with 45 mph for less than a mile. You probably average 10 mph slower, 

so it'll come out even on time. One town has 6 stop lights. The southern most last 5 

miles of 19 was congested, It would be good to avoid that by taking the next road east. 

The scenery is much better than on the interstate, you have 90% less traffic, in fact 

there where a couple times I was the only person on the 4 lane road for over a mile, that 

was at 4 pm in the afternoon. If you run into a stoppage you can turn around, often 

difficult on interstate. Highway 19 is all good 4 lane. It is a very interesting trip 

through almost all the vegetation zones of north Florida. Highly recommended, just buy 

your gas before leaving the interstate. The side roads take you from interstate 10, 15 

miles west of Tallahassee to interstate 75 40 miles north of Tampa. 

------------------------May 04, 2009 02:31 PM

move 27 ft boat 

I bought a new boat, a 27 ft steel sailboat built in Holland in the same yard as my big 
boat.  I'm planning on fixing this one up and sell it.  I've been working on it for most
 of the last month.  Basically it needs some welding done on the top rail and around the 
windows on the dog house.  It also needs the cockpit enclosure to be rebuilt.  I bought 
it sitting on the hard, so I concentrated on the hull this last month and getting it ready
 to make the trip back to LaBelle where my other boats are, 90 miles from Englewood, Fl 
where the 27 ft boat was purchased.  I found this because I never shut down my automatic 
steel sailboat search on eBay.  It was a price that was too low to ignore.

I had to build up a starter motor for the 2 cylinder Norwegian diesel engine.  It used a 
Bosch starter but when first checked to buy a replacement they quoted $965....  It turns 
CCW, most all starter motors turn CW, at least they used too.  The bendix is the problem, 
making a DC motor turn backwards is not hard at all.  Anyway I researched the problem and 
found a 2002 Subaru Legacy starter that turned CCW and was of the proper Hp. and shape to 
fit.  I had to modify the mount and change the drive gear on the Subaru starter, but that's 
all better than parting with a grand of hard earned and scarce dollars.

I ordered the new starter off eBay, $40 shipping included, and did the  modifications last 
week.  I took the gear off the old Bosch starter and brazed in onto the Subaru shaft where 
the old gear was ground off. In order to do the brazing I had to set up my new cutting torch.  
It uses small tanks and I wanted it to use propane instead of acetylene.  I had to make an 
adapter that connected a standard propane torch bottle to the fuel regulator on the torch.  
That involved using parts from a propane torch head and making a special threaded brass 
adapter.  I found out I don't have pipe thread taps and dies in my tool collection on my 
big boat.  That will be rectified next time I go to the Harbor Freight tool store.  
Anyway I decided I could make the part on my lathe aboard the boat, that's what's it's 
there for anyway. So that involved setting up the lathe for cutting threads.  That meant 
I had to build an adapter to hold the new tool post to the cross slide on the lathe.  Are 
you starting to get the picture, do this to be able to do that to be able to do 
this........5 or 6 stages deep?  Anyway, these are all things that needed to be done 
sometime, I just hadn't had the need and other things where more pressing, now I have 
much more capability.  The starter was built and it worked, it was installed and boat was 
now ready for the water, at least I knew of no reason at that time and the people I bought 
it from wanted if off their trailer.  So last week the boat was splashed. 

A quick check of the bilge and no water was leaking in, so far so good.  Move it around 
the corner and tie up to the dock, time to raise the mast.  The boat has a hinge 
(tabernackle) at the base of the mast.  I've never raised a mast like this but with 
sufficient lines and blocks (pulleys) and other hardware there is nothing I can't do....  
I hope I appeared to have more knowledge of what I was doing than I felt inside.  I had 
no safety net for this procedure, if one of a couple highly stressed components failed, 
the mast would have come crashing down and destroyed itself. Basically it involved putting 
the mast on the deck straight back and boom at the base of the mast straight up with fore guy 
lead through the top of the boom and the main sheet tackle leading from the top of the boom 
to the bow.  Pull on the main sheet and up goes the mast.  Then it swings to the side, that's 
not supposed to happen....  It needs support side to side, a couple ropes quickly added and it 
has said support.  So the slow process of raise a little, back off on the side supports, and 
then raise a little more, and an hour of sweat and worry later and the mast is straight up.  
The sweat was more worry sweat than work sweat.  Quickly attach the fore guy to the bow and 
all is secure.  The side stays where already attached and adjusted having never been removed 
so side to side once the mast is in position was already taken care of.  20/20 hind sight, 
If I ever do this again, or if I was going to keep the boat, the side stays would connect 
at a point about 1/2 inch below the axis of the tabernackle.  That would give the side to 
side support needed while raising and would release the tension when down, 1/2 inch of 
slack.  This could easily be done by shortening the side stays and replacing the lower 
part with a rigid bar connecting to the present side stay connection and a short cable 
or bar from the base of the forward lower stay to the top of this side stay bar to keep 
it from moving backwards when the pull is backwards as the mast is raised and lowered.  
Enough with the engineering, is anybody still listening or understanding?.....  

Anyway I started the engine, there was a question if I had burned up the cooling water 
pump running the engine dry, I didn't think so, since I think the water pump in this 
engine is a diaphragm pump and not a rotary impeller pump since the spare parts has some 
diaphragm looking things in it, but I'm not sure. I checked the water output in the 
exhaust and it was very little, but some.  Not being sure how much it should be I was 
unsure but is seemed like it should be more.  Soon  the flywheel started throwing water 
everywhere, I checked the bilge and found water flowing into the rear bilge, my first 
thought is I just blew the packing out of the prop shaft, but the I found the water 
coming from the exhaust thru hull area, turns out a rubber hose that connects the exhaust 
pipe to the thruhull wasn't there, 99% of the cooling water was flowing into the bilge, 
good news, it had plenty of cooling water and the problem should be easy to fix if I can 
get to it.  I decided to motor out into the bay and anchor out till I could get repair 
parts, take the car back to LaBelle and then move the boat to LaBelle.

I also had three turnbuckles that needed to be replaced on the lower shrouds, I should 
have them on my big boat supplies salvaged from the 25 ft boat in Mobile.  I searched my 
supplies and couldn't find them, I may have taken them home since they are too small for 
anything on my big boat. Someday I'll find them, they are probably tucked away in some 
nook or cranny.  I bought a chunk of hose at the local hardware store that is slowly 
going out of business and then asked about turnbuckles, the price was right so I bought 
three standard aluminum body, galvanized bolt steel turnbuckles.  The material is not 
right but basically all I needed was the bodies and this would let the boat sail back 
this way and buy some time to find the salvage ones.           

Anyway I got a ride from a new sailing buddy (Mike) that was pulling his boat out for 
storage and heading north.  I spent the evening having diner with my new friends where 
the boat was stored and I worked on it for the last month.  Then it was night, they gave 
me a ride to the place I thought was closest to my boat.  I inflated the kayak and went 
out in search of my boat after dark, I could see a sailboat anchored out, it's about a 
mile out to where I left the boat, but it appeared to have it's cabin lights on, did I 
leave mine on?  I've never kayaked from this location.  I tried to fix the exhaust hose 
but didn't have much luck, I just don't fit in this tiny cockpit locker and my arm is 
still giving some trouble. I got most of the cooling water going outside I think.  I 
replaced the turnbuckle bodies and set up the sails for the first time, figuring out how 
they should be rigged along the way.  The boat has a set of brand new sails.  The boat 
came with no cockpit winches, but it does have new cockpit side boards, with winch 
mounting pads and nicely varnished, but not installed. 

I motored down the inland waterway until I got to Stump pass, I was advised that stump 
pass needs local knowledge, so I asked around the last couple days.  I found a winding 
unmarked deep channel, I gave it a try, I almost made it, ran aground just before breaking 
through to the deep water on the other side, I could try to plow through with power but 
decided to try to turn around and motor back out and find another channel.  It turns out 
there is a wide channel a little south of the this winding channel and it's even marked 
with a couple channel markers,  it was no problem.  I got out to the gulf, set sail and 
headed south, the wind was out of the south west and I could follow the coast but not 
gain much distance to deeper water and security.  At dark the wind failed and I spent the 
night anchored out in the gulf and got some much needed sleep.  I did get to talk to a 
coast guard boat sometime in the morning, stating no problems, just no wind and I needed 
sleep.  I was tired due to the fact that sleep was difficult the night before due to 
hundreds of sea creatures that are best described as having the sound of an underwater 
woodpecker.  It sounded like 6 where pounding on my hull and hundreds with hearing range, 
the noise was continuous and sleep was impossible.  While kayaking out to my boat, I 
stopped by and said howdy to my neighbor, the boat with the cabin lights on, and he asked 
me about the noise, at that point I didn't know what he was talking about.  First  step 
into my cabin and I instantly knew.  I still have not found the identity of the offending 
creature, probably a crab, or shrimp like or something.  There was a couple them in 
Ft Myers harbor the 3rd night but not a problem like in Lemon bay.

The sailed 72 miles to gain 60, the was 8 miles of tacking the 2nd morning to gain maybe 
2 miles to windward, but then the wind slowly veered to the SW and a close reach took me 
around Sanibel Island and into the Callosahatche waterway.  I anchored out for another 
good nights sleep and the next day motored and motor sailed to Ft Denaud where my big 
boat is anchored, arriving at 5pm.  I was happy to learn the the boat only burned a little 
over 2 gallons of diesel with 50 miles of 3.6 knot motoring.  That's very good.  I had over 
20 gals on board in 5 gal cans thinking the 3 gal tank was far too small, turns out it's not.

I really like the main sheet arraignment on this boat, it has the line arranged in a 
circle with two 3 power tackles attached to the rear of the boom leading to each side of 
the railing.  Basically one is used at a time but the other can serve the function of a 
kicking strap tackle pulling down on the boom to flatten the sail.  It also allows a very 
controlled jibe, often one of the most dangerous sailing maneuvers. I will add this to my 
big boat.  I also learned I don't like the motion of a small boat, I often was hitting 
things and getting banged around because the motion is so quick, my big boat is so much 
nicer in this respect.  After making it "home" and anchoring I noticed the leak that I 
thought was exhaust and caused the need to pump the bilge 3 times during the trip was still 
leaking after the engine was stopped, I think the prop shaft seal needs some new packing 
added and adjusted.  But right now I'm going to pump the bilge, head to shore, clean up and 
head to town for something cold to drink and a good meal.  At his point I needed attention 
more than the boat did.  I'll check on the boat before going to bed.

The leak has slowed to a slow drip, no problem, a prop shaft should have a slow drip to 
keep it cool.

Now it's the next morning, I'm typing this letter.  I'm mostly taking the day off to 
recuperate, I've already done a couple hours of work, removing the sails and adjusting 
the anchors, checking the drip, etc, etc.  I've got some of the designs on how to do the 
welding I need to do, still have a couple problem to solve, that's the enjoyable part, 
solving the problems.

 ------------------------ Mon, Jun 01, 2009 03:15 PM

Lucky and spreader repair

 Last thursday we played poker, I started out real bad, I lost 4 of my 5 dollar buy in 

 very quickly, but then another player came and since he smoked, he needed to sit by the 

 window, I gladly gave up my "unlucky" seat. I rebought in so I would have money 

 to bet if I did get a good hand and my luck turned around, maybe the new seat was 

 "lucky." I had one of the best nights I've ever had. Finished the night $15 

 ahead. $5 poker is no big deal but it's much better than spending the night in a bar and 

 spending $5 on beer. Countinuing with the lucky streak, I was listening to country radio tuesday morning and 

 they had a contest for 2 round trip airline tickets for any where AirTran flies. All you 

 had to do was know the city that they where giving clues for. The clues, "home of 

 Shepard of the Hills", and " the "Live country music capital of the 

 world." I figured it was worth a dime of cell phone time to try and be lucky caller 

 number 7, I was, and the answer Branson was easy. I have until december 2010 to use 

 them, they fly all over the lower 48 and PR. I bought the steel to start welding on the 

27 foot boat, That's next after finsihing the spreader repair on the big boat, 

still have one bolt to instal on that job, the spreader  in the anchor pic is the new one. 

I still need to get the steel tubing to make the oval  hull top rail on the 27. 

I bought a 3 inch rotary table for the mill on eBay. My weekend went ok, I spent it working 

on a new spreader for the boat and have been  climbing my mast. 

Today I winched up a 110 lb anchor to the top of the mast so I could 

 attach it to me when I climb, it comes down as I go up. It worked real well, I was able 

 to use two hands when working, next I'll try a bosuns chair. I climbed up the rope 

 ladder that goes up the sail track. I need to put a much better pulley at the top of the 

 mast to allow hoisting things like this. The anchor rides the fore stay on pulleys to 

 keep it under control and out of the way. The new spreader is an alluminum one I 

salvaged from a guy throwing them away when I was  in Mobile on the 38 footer. 

I had to make new ends to fit the socket where the old wood  spreader fit. 

I made those out of starboard, I love working with that plastic wood. 

------------------------Tue, Jun 30, 2009 05:50 PM

wanted, 3 liter pop bottles

 I'm looking for 3 liter pop bottles, they are bigger than 2 liter bottles with a larger

 top (see picture, there are three 3 liter and one 2 liter bottles) I use them for food 

 storage on the boat, they are almost indestructable, and extremely bug and moisture 

 proof. If you know of a store that sells pop in them or better yet you know somebody that uses 

 them and can save me the emptys, I want about a dozen more. The local store stopped

 handling them before I got as many as I wanted. I haven't seen them anyplace else, but I

 know they have to be somewhere. I didn't buy them often since the pop was more expensive

 per ounce in them, no wonder they stopped selling them. I figured I would find them 

someplace or somebody that bought them. 

------------------------Thu, Jul 09, 2009 08:25 PM

I'm home in Kansas

 I just got home, my motorcycle and all my vehicle records and deeds have been stolen, as 

well as a canoe. The house is a mess, not much broken but all upstairs cabinets have

 been rummaged through and the stuff left all over the floor. Downstairs is mostly intact

 and the semi trailer has not been touched. I expect that they just emptied the safe's 

contents in a box assuming that there must be  something valuable and took it it to sort 

through later. Nothing but papers I didn't want to lose in a fire, the safe was not locked. 

The house is a mess. The lost  paperwork will be a problem for years to come. 

I'm sure I'll find other stuff missing as I look for stuff and can't find it. 

------------------------ Sat, Jul 11, 2009 02:13 PM

Canoeing and stolen stuff.

 I was searching for stuff that's been stolen in my house. and had just written this letter, I 

figured this person was going to ask "What's an Ally packboat?" so decided to search for an 

internet site pictures. I found these interesting videos and felt they needed to be shared. 

The letter ====== They stole my hand made chess set I made one winter during college 

break. I designed the pieces and made them. They didn't take the bag that they were in, 

I don't understand this. They were in a crown royal bag, surely if they wanted the pieces 

they would have kept them together and protected in the bag. This is extremely upsetting. 

They didn't take the hand made chess board, they didn't take an antique grocery scale, 

probably turn of the century in extremely good condition, it was just thrown on the floor. 

It's probably worth close to $100 in any antique store. I also found my ally packboat fold 

up canoe I bought at a yard sale in North Pole Alaska. I'm glad about that. I haven't found 

the Russian fold up kayak, but I'm sure it is in a place not to found. They did dump a boxed 

full set of bought wooden chess pieces into a box, some seem to be missing. I'm at a loss to 

explain these actions. I'm thinking of buying some game cameras to take pictures of people 

that snoop around the place. 

====== the videos ====== 

Canoe Paddling - Canadian Style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4RJAeP7pDI&feature=relate 

Packboat in surf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtJUlLumxE 

folding kayak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYYJa2wTFqg&feature=related 

------------------------Fri, Aug 28, 2009 09:17 AM

Kansas, poker and health care

 The following was just forwarded to me and I signed up, it basically a petition to force congress 

to use the same health care they force on us. I'm fine I'm in Kansas, the boats are fine, I've got 

a little more work to do on the 27 before it's ready for sale and sail. I've just run into an interesting 

grocery bag, called "green bag" actually I haven't seen them, I bought bananas in one, and experienced 

what they do and then googled it. The science backs up the claim. The plastic contains oya, a form of 

zeolite, discovered in caves in Japan where farmers have been storing vegetables for a long time. It 

absorbs ethylene gas. Basically it didn't work on my bananas for the long run but it got my attention, 

The bananas sat in my car for too long, (probably 4 days, in the heat) they looked great but the inner 

fruit was soft and mushy. I google it and eventually found this info about oya. Oya is also the goddess 

of change. I came home to attend a wedding get some stuff done on the house and also play in a poker 

tournament I previously qualified for. I took 4th in the tournament. I was 2nd in chips, drew ace king suited 

and went up against a small pair. After that I was crippled and next blind was all in and then was out. I 

finished in the money, since I had nothing invested, I have infinite return, actually I had travel expense 

invested and the return isn't that great. I played again the night before last, first game I couldn't get 

anything, then a cash game same luck, final tournament I took 5th, again ace king against a small pair, 

no luck. I also stopped in Nashville on the way up here to pick up some eBay stuff. The gals up here 

want me to stay an extra week to go to a couple more dances, even offered to pay my way in. I might 

do it. I also may have found a couple of my stolen musical instruments on eBay. A collector up in North 

Dakota is selling them, I'd have to go up there to look at them to be sure. And even if I did, I don't know 

how I'd positively identify them. Unfortunately I don't think I have any pictures. Maybe his records might 

show they all came in together and that would be sufficient. I've also been getting some road signs for 

tarps, they are great and priced right. Basically any outdoor advertising firm ends up with dozens of these. 

The going price is $5 and you get a very well made, 13 by 40 ish vinyl tarps with fiberglass reinforcing, 

either white or black with a sign painted on one side. I've made a nice custom cockpit cover for the boat 

and have a bunch of them here at home for the cars and such. They should last many years outside in the 

sun, even more if you paint them with cheap paint. You can get the paint from most county recycle/waste 

centers (aka dumps) for free. They mix all kinds and colors of old paint and give it away, it's normally a blue 

grey color. I'm watching the weather in Florida, if a hurricane is heading toward the boats, so am I. Don't 

forget to sign up for the health car thing below. 

-------------Mon, Nov 16, 2009 12:18 PM

Need Job and ride to Florida, painting bilge. I'm headed home,(actually already there, I wrote this a couple 

days ago but haven't been anyplace to send it) helping drive a Uhaul. It's filled with stuff that a guy 

(Michael Anderson and girlfriend Shawn) is taking to my place, he will live in and fix my place up while 

I'm gone. He will need a job, he is basically a jack of all trades, been a ranch hand in Montana, carpenter, 

welder, plumber, etc. If anybody knows of anything please let us know. Even temporary, couple day jobs, 

basically all he really needs is to be able to make enough to buy food and pay the electric bill, a couple 

hundred a month will allow him to survive and that's what is needed right now. Something permanent 

eventually, but he's got to have food now. He lost his job and then his house to foreclousure, and to 

top it all got divorced. He did everything to save it all, but now he's almost flat broke. The boats are 

all fine, I've finally been working on the big boat, painting the bilge, and getting ready to intall the 

water and waste tanks. I spent the day before yesterday up the mast replacing the 2nd top spreader. 

I still need to varnish the masts, but stopping rust, painting the bigle, has the highest priority, the 

varnish will come before the tanks go in. I should be back down here in Florida by the 1st of Dec, with 

a stop in Arkansas to visit Skip and Sue and have some turkey. I will need transportation from Kansas 

to Arkansas and then Arkansas to Florida, so if anybody knows anybody heading those directions about 

the right time, please let me know. We also need farm cats. ----------- 

------------------------