It was seventy-two frelling degrees this morning! Since I have the Simpson Lawrence Anchorman aboard (SHINY!), it’s now time to remove the Vetus manual windlass and put it up for sale to get it (and its weight) off the boat. I had planned to take it down to bare metal then give it a new …
Seems like a good time to dust off this old post… Not too awful long ago, a reader to this blog wrote and asked my thoughts on such things as hydraulic-driven furling systems and electric winches for sheets and suchlike. My view on such things is that they really do not belong on a cruising …
Have you noticed that it’s almost impossible to find a new manual anchor windlass? Or, if you do it’s more expensive than a powered one? When you do find a good manual windlass the cost is often right at the cost of a brand spanking new electric windlass. Is that nuts or what? The Islander …
OK, I’ll start with a phrase I really hate… “It costs what it costs” Sure, this inane assembly of words is correct but it implies that you have near zero control of what you have to shell out money for and that really pisses me off. The reality is that we all have a great …
This whole get an inexpensive boat and sailing off into the sunset gig generally gets a bad rap. A rap that’s mostly generated by folks who seem somewhat lacking in logic and critical thinking. Possibly it’s just me, but from where I sit, most of the bad rap is conditional on the fact that most …
Yeah, not bad for $100 dollars! Seriously, drilling 316 stainless with a battery powered hand drill is so not going to happen ever again… While, no stranger to stationary tools in the workplace, I’ll have to admit that a drill press is a very handy tool aboard. Admittedly finding a dedicated storage place on a …
and in the “Should of bought one years ago” department… Read More »
Having experienced a dismasting due to a chainplate failure on “So It Goes”, and mixed with the fact that the Islander is fifty years old, chainplate replacement was high on the list of the needful things to do list. Of course, being that the Islander’s chainplate design is a bit different from what passes for …
I’m sitting here looking at a couple of hundred feet or so of Dyneema that should/could be the new rig for the Islander and it’s just a little frustrating as I’m not going to use it and will consign it to the “when the rig needs replacing” locker. Now, as someone who is well aware …
I’ve been mulling over various solutions to mount our chart-plotter in such a way that it could live in the boat but allow for it to hinge into the companionway to allow it to be seen from the cockpit. Hardly rocket science but it does exercise the mind into coming up with a workable solution. …
I recently needed to get a VHF antenna for the Islander and, as I had to buy a VHF antenna a few years ago for So It Goes, I expected to find one for between $40 to $50 dollars. The fact that most of the antennas I considered this time around were more like $90 …
