I’ve been playing with inexpensive LED lights for the sailboat for a while now. Specifically, the Festoon style bulbs. For the history; view post #1, post #2, post #3, and post #4. I think I have made progress this time. The current batch of LED lights are 18 SMD LED’s and are very bright. I took this… [Read More]
Check the Weather
Note to self – remember to check the weather before going out in the sailboat….
EarthNC Android App
There is a slick app available at the Android Market titled EarthNC. It is described as “seamless charts, user waypoints, and realtime navigation. …features seamless NOAA marine charts for US waters, user waypoints, and realtime navigation.” I downloaded it and have been playing with it for a couple of weeks (on my Samsung Galaxy S… [Read More]
Power Inverter Planning
At first glance, selecting an inverter to convert 12 Volt electricity in your battery bank to 110-115 volt “house” electricity is easy, right? Well, as with most things, nothing is easy. There are a lot of options and a lot of things to consider in your decision making/product selection. I certainly do not have all… [Read More]
Thornless Path To Windward
This is a GREAT book and thornless to boot! It’s real title is “The Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South” by Bruce Van Sant. It has become known as the “Thornless Path To Windward” as it is a guide to making a smooth journey thru “the thorny path”. To a sailor, the thorny path is (basically)… [Read More]
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene is coming – please, please, please turn away from the Fort Myers, FL area!!!! I am a couple thousand miles away from my sailboat and am terribly worried about her.
Shoal Fin Keel
There are a bunch of strange terms in the boating world. One used in regards to sailboats is a shoal fin keel. There are lots of different types of keels and I thought some photos of the last haul out of my sailboat might help in understand what a shoal fin keel is. This is… [Read More]
Dinghy Concert
Beautiful video! You just have to love the song, the singer, and how relaxing it is! Fabulous! 4th Annual Clarkes Court Bay dinghy concert in Grenada. Grenada is part of the Windward islands in the Caribbean sea. North of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago; south of St. Lucia .
Garmin 441 GPS Chartplotter
I purchased the excellent Garmin 441s chartplotter in the spring of 2011. So far, I really like it. I would not claim to have fully utilized it or played with every feature – there are many! I agonized over where to mount it. I have seen a lot of installations with the unit inside the cabin… [Read More]
Port Light Seals
The port light seals (gasket) on my sailboat were becoming dried out and would stick when I opened the window. I do not have any leaks (that I know of) though. I had read that the best way to freshen/recondition these seals is to work some white Vaseline into them. This past week, I took… [Read More]