Some seriously good news...

There be bigots assholes in Dent County Missouri, just some welfare for rich folks, and I'm not quite sure the military and I share the same definition of the word humane...

I've never been a big fan of carrying around a lot of pyrotechnics as things designed to explode/burn on a boat just make me nervous. A feeling underlined over the years by a too large number of incidents where flares became part of the problem rather than the solution.

Truth be told, flares scare me.

Then there's the ongoing need to replace your flares every couple of years... Yeah, I know flares have a three year lifespan but, try as I may, whenever I find myself needing to buy flares I only seem to be able to find flares with eighteen months or so validity.

Have I mentioned that flares are silly expensive?

So, in the "it's about frelling time" department...

... Finally an electric flare that is USCG approved (and yes I know it looks like a man-overboard light).

The good news is from here on this is the only night signal you need to carry and combined with a distress flag as your day signal (which comes with the Sirius flare) it's all you need to be 100% street legal with the USCG and other powers that be.

But wait... It gets better!

The Sirius electric flare is not "dated" with an expiry date which means the only thing you need to replace is the c-cell batteries when needful. That said, if you lose or screw it up you can order a replacement and get it shipped to you by the US Mail or something similar.

Of course I saved the best for last... It only costs $99!

Doing the happy dance...

Listening to Chuck Johnson

So it goes...

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An improved winch...

An interesting read that involves a speedboat, some very scary reading, and have you ever wondered about the average IQ of some folks into guns...

On "So It Goes" we have some Barlow winches (a pair of 24's and 26's) which are as old as the boat... Considering that they are at least 46-years old, still working finestkind, and looking like they're up for another 46 years, I don't actually pay much attention to the state-of-the-art of new winches. That said, these winches from Pontus are really interesting.



Watching/listening to Mariachi El Bronx

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A boat stowable jig system...

About Denali, some fiscal clusterfuckery, and a prediction I'd be happy to see come to fruition...

Here's a jig system that would come in very handy for various boat projects...



...and it stows! More info can be found at the Woodpeckers website.

Listening to High Dive Heart

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A world with options...

Very much worth reading (and acting upon), a little good news, and the word of the day is S-T-E-A-M-P-U-N-K...

Some time ago a rigger of note came up with a very cool clutch system for sailboats that worked great, did little or no damage to the line, and from the looks of it should be cheaper than existing systems due to its overall simplicity of materials and labor.

This one in fact...



Yeah, the Chinese handcuffs clutch... A small block of alloy with a few holes drilled in it, some Kernmantle cover, and a bit of string. Something an inspired DIYer could throw together for $10- $20 bucks a pop with a little sweat equity and a bit of cunning. No rocket science involved but brilliant all the same.

That said, once the idea became a product of the yachting sort not all that affordable anymore.

Of course, the choice of paths is up to you but it's nice to know you have options...

Listening to Kitty, Daisy, & Lewis

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An alternative to whippings that makes sense

Something of a universal story these days, rewriting history, and some worrisome reading...

Ino-Rope with a simple how-to.



Listening to a plethora of Van Morrison "Moondance" covers

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Surplus to requirements...

News of note, some important political content for boaters, and in the "it's about time" department...

Over the next couple of weeks we're doing our annual purge of stuff not pulling its weight and taking up needful space aboard the good ship "So It Goes".

So, to get the ball rolling...

Anyone need a brand new but never installed AIS receiver that's taking up space in a locker?

You can read all about the unit on its NASA page. We've always had great luck with NASA gear. It can take up space in your locker for all of $125 (and that include USPS Priority  mail for those stateside). SOLD


Or maybe you have a tiller steered boat and need a used but recently refurbed stainless steel NAVIK windvane self-steering gear?

Complete and includes all needful mounting hardware for $750 (plus shipping) SOLD.

More soon come as I still have a bunch of lockers to go through...

Listening to Mel Brown

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Affordable clean water...

Your world economy on austerity and unconventional monetary policy, that's the way it was/is, and I guess in 2015 America bigotry pays off...


Bucket Filter Assembly and Maintenance from Sawyer Products on Vimeo.

We've been using the Sawyer bucket filter day in and day to filter all the water we use aboard "So It Goes" for something like six years and it's still working finestkind.

Listening to the Blue Water Highway Band

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sheet to tiller self-steering...

Someone we should be paying attention to, an interesting read, and a little bit of history that explains a lot...

A guy making a lot of sense.



Listening to Jake McMullen

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Some seriously good thinking in action...

Not the most uplifting read to start your day, how doing the right thing can pay off in a big way, and in the "this video will destroy your faith in humanity" department...

Colligo has a great idea...



More info at Colligo.

Listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard

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more for boat bound guitar players only...

Well worth reading, something that makes all kinds of sense, and Neil Young doing some good...

Some time ago I wrote about how enamoured I was with the Electro Harmonix 22 Caliber and 44 Magnum Power Amps for folks on boats who play electric guitar and I still think they make all kinds of sense.

That said, this amp by Quilter seriously knocked my socks off the other day...



Isn't it nice to have choices?

Listening to the Wailin' Jennys

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a new tool in my pocket...

This kinda rocked my world yesterday, do I detect a certain, shall we say, lack of honesty, and it's turning into the sort of day when covering Led Zeppelin (not Stairway) on a dulcimer makes all kinds of sense...

As a rule I'm not a big fan of multi-tools because they're (mostly) the wrong tool for every job and expensive...

This one's an exception to the rule.

Offhand I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they left the bad knife out of the equation...

Listening to Joe Jackson

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Just a little fiscal common sense...

Some serious NRA ass-backwards thinking, some folks fighting the good fight, and how being number 1 is not always something to be proud of...

I'm in the process of adding two fifteen gallon water tanks in otherwise inaccessible places on the boat to supplement my super simple hose into a jerry can water system.

So, to keep things simple I needed to get a couple of y-valves. This being what I had in mind...

...and West had what I wanted. Well, at least I thought so until I checked out what a couple of them would cost.

So, what's a poor boy to do?

Well, as it happens, I needed to get some propane at the local hardware store so had the opportunity to peruse various plumbing stuff and found just the thing...

A two way hose adapter with dual shut offs in the garden center for about $2 each. The downside is I needed to add three 3/4" thread to 1/2" hose barbs for $1.99 each so the total damage was right around $16. They're tough, bombproof, and affordable... What's not to love?

Which, when all is said and done, that's about a $94 savings (more if you factor in the cost of having a pair of y valves shipped down to the Caribbean). I don't know about you but I can always use and extra $94 or so.

The only disadvantage I see is that dealing with four shutoff valves is slightly more complicated than two valves to deal with but nothing like a deal breaker and, once I stared thinking about it, having four separate shutoffs is actually advantageous in my installation. Something of a win/win as far as I can see.

Listening to the Wailin' Jennys

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a new fridge...

Troubling, some needful reading, and in the "we're all really screwed" department...

We recently replaced our our old fridge for a slightly larger one. Partly because a little more volume would be no bad thing and partly because the one we had started to behave a bit oddly performing somewhat less than optimum.

The initial idea was to sort out whatever was causing the old fridge to misbehave and then use it as a dedicated freezer. You can file that into the seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time drawer as we simply do not have the room for a dedicated freezer and, as we've somehow managed to survive/thrive for thirty years without such a beast, why bother since a trip to the local marine consignment shop is a lot less work than major surgery to the boat to make space... Kind of a no-brainer decision.

The new fridge is performing way above expectations and the lemonade aboard "So It Goes" is almost painfully cold. The little bit of extra volume makes for a a simpler life and when something perishable is on sale (like $1.99 a pound pork chops) I can double up which alone will probably pay for the cost of the new fridge within a couple of years...

Doing the happy dance!

Listening to Lucius

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Now that's some log...

An app that just might come in handy, a very scary picture, and where are the perp walks...

I need to get a new log for the boat as the current bidata speed/depth unit I have is more a mono-data sort of thing and in the nearly ten-years we've had it I don't think the log/speed function has worked more than 24 hours total. Which when you consider it's built by Raymarine is more than I actually expected. That said, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the sounder side of things works just great...

Now, what I'd really like to replace it with is the old model of the VDO Sumlog, a mechanical unit with a tiny little hard to foul prop turning an automotive cable that from my experience is bombproof, simple, and as a result, it simply does what it needs to do which is let you know your speed through the water and the distance covered. Which, by and large, is just the sort of information you need to know.

Being mechanical there is very little to go wrong and the weakest link, the cables, seem to last for a decade or so and replacement cables are a standard automotive part so non-problematic to pick up a spare. I suppose the downside is that it won't interface with your chart plotter or toaster oven... but, then again, my Raymarine does not talk to my chartplotter and I don't have a toaster oven so I don't exactly see the problem..

These days most everyone I know tends to use their chart plotters and the GPS derived speed over ground but speed over ground and speed through water are two very different beasts and they tell you very different things. Personally I'd like to know both but if I had to choose just one it would be speed through water.

So if you happen to come across the old style VDO Sumlog in your local yachtgrot maybe you could drop me a line?

Listening to Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul

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