What's on my mind...

Some scary numbers, more bad news, and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt they're a class act...

I was watching a video over at Off Center Harbor about a super simple water system and a phrase that was used has been circling in my thoughts ever since.

�Trailing edge technology�

It makes a lot of sense...

Of course, not so much if you're obsessed with having the best, newest, fashionable, and hip cutting edge stuff but, for those of us who want simple, reliable, and not expensive, it's something to keep in mind so deserves some serious thought.

Which, I suspect, is why I seem to be looking more and more to the past for answers to my future endevours. The more I think about it, I keep finding cutting edge seems to be something of a dead end.

The other phrase/quote that has been right at the forefront of my thoughts this week is something Lin and Larry said...

"If you can't fix it then it probably shouldn't be on the boat"

Listening to Great Big Sea

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A couple of easy to build and inexpensive dinghies...

The old healthy babies or profits conundrum (but hey, profits are profits right?), hopefully a positive development, and some news from the real world...

This is a very cool dinghy from Atom Voyages...



Plus, there's a newish book "Building the Uqbar Dinghy" on dinghy building of the same ilk I'm looking forward to reading.

So many great dinghy designs and so little time...

Listening to Sons of Bill

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Sewing machine dreams...

Dan Rather getting it right, Badtux asks a needful question, in the wouldn't it be nice if we were treated like rational adults department, and really, are we all bugfuck insane in the US of A or what...

This morning in my email there was a thing from Sailrite about free shipping so I meandered over and took a look. As it happens, the free shipping did not include those of us in the USVI but as long as I was on the site I spent some time looking at sewing machines because I seriously lust after the Ultrafeed LSZ-1.

Of course, we already have a good but somewhat long-in-the-tooth Yachtsman sewing machine made by Sailrite but it would be nice to trade up so I keep an eye out for  a too-good-to-pass-up deal on the LSZ-1.

I may be waiting for some time as the Sailrite machines are pretty fairly priced without the sort of silly profit margin that lends itself to the sort of 50% off sales that are commonplace in the marine trades...

Listening to Richard Thompson

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Something you really should know...

A good point being made, G&T on quasi-fascist sucking up, and sometimes you really should be worried...

There's a guy selling Amsteel on a forum and it got me thinking about what stuff costs.

Now, I don't know about you but when someone is selling something used or surplus to requirements I normally expect them to sell it at a substantial discount... Don't you?

Now in this case the guy is selling some 1/4" Amsteel for 90 cents a foot. which is pretty much full retail but just to be sure I checked the store (LFS Marine) I buy Amsteel from and their normal price per foot was 90 cents a foot.

So not exactly a deal...

Then again, it got me curious about what the more consumerist marine stores were selling Amsteel for and I find West sells 1/4" Amsteel for $1.68 a foot, Defender (who everyone is always telling me is the cheapest around) is selling it for $1.44 a foot, and APS (who everyone tells me is the most expensive) at $1.65 a foot.

I'm pretty sure you can do the math...

Listening to Old Crow Medicine Show

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a worthwhile project...

Water, water everywhere, how greed can cost you a win, and a book you  just might want to get...

Something you may want to be watching...



Listening to Jerry Riopelle

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Just another day in August...

What the FRACK dude, something you should be aware of, and in the department marked rich greedy bastards...

So, it's a day for doing the big-storm-might-come-two-step which involves putting down a couple more anchors and battening down the boat. It is, after all just part of the gig.

Actually, invest 96L does not look to be a very serious threat but it is trundling towards us and storms often tend to surprise people by developing earlier rather than later... Hence me doing the two-step.

The worrisome part is, I expect, I may actually be the only guy doing said two-step and in the event of shit coming to fruition it will be more about dodging boats gone walkabout rather than being a storm problem.

Listening to the Kopecky Family Band

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In the ongoing quest for sharp tools...

Nope, no climate change here so best to move on, not your same old same axe, and an insightful slam-dunk from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

My dad always used to say that you can tell a lot about a man from looking at his tools and, like a lot of the stuff my dad used to say, he was right.

Truth be told, I'd be embarrassed to have my dad see the current state of of my chisels...

The thing is, working on boats is hard on tools. Chisels and  other wood cutting tools were never designed with glass fiber, hybrid composite structure, and epoxy glue in mind and it takes its toll.

Which is why I perked up when I saw this...

It's a smallish affordable sharpening station by Dremel which looks to be just the thing to get those chisels (plane blades, drill bits, scissors, knives, etc) back to the standard they aspire to...

The concept of no longer being ashamed of my tool bag really does appeal.

Listening to Jason Isbell

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