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Konrad

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Everything posted by Konrad

  1. Imagine a see-saw and its pivot point are laid on its side. Now imagine that the see-saw is the keel of your boat. Choose one end as the bow. If you apply a center-of-effort force nearest to the bow, what's it going to do? Turn down away from the wind (lee helm). Conversely, if you apply a force toward the stern end, what's it going to do? Turn down the back of the boat (weather helm).
  2. I have an acquaintance who lives about 4 miles from me who has a Vacationer about 25% framed up. He's contacted me and thinks he's going to throw in the towel and reinvigorate himself with a Skipjack project. Sorry, no photos of it, but I'm encouraging him not to saw it up. If I recall, he's far enough along that the sides are on, but I think that's it. I don't think the cabin lid is in place, but I can't remember for sure. If anyone knows someone who knows someone else who's cousin might be interested, well.. You know what to do. bosch232@yahoo.com Oh yeah, it's in Lincoln, NE.
  3. I just let the gaff chew away at the mast and I don't worry about it. My Vacationer is 10 yrs old and it's not like the mast is in danger of coming down or something. Character, people... character.
  4. Konrad

    earth day

    One other thing: All those compact fluorescent bulbs? They all have mercury in them, just look at the bulb. I'm sure mother earth is loving those in the landfill.
  5. Konrad

    earth day

    On earth day, I give you the following news story: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/04/poll-green-behaviors-in-us-not-growing/1 To commemorate this day at our house, tonight after work I'm going to go home and run my smokey 2-stroke chain saw, and saw down a perfectly good tree.
  6. I was going to also suggest sanding the most offending sags, and ignoring the less noticeable ones. 220 or 400 on a random orbit sander and some touch up with a good brush.
  7. ...said the guy who started on it 14 months ago. (or did you mean "quick" as in quick on the water?)
  8. "Surely such a vessel could never sink." ~ Elizabeth Shutes, first class passenger of the Royal Mail Ship Titanic. Tomorrow will be April 14, 2010. Ninety eight years ago on April 14, 1912, the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic. Nearly 5,000 artifacts have been recovered from the wreck since Robert Ballard discovered it after his lesser-known agreement with the US Navy: That they would fund his Deep Submergence Laboratory and Argo technology to survey the sunken US nuclear submarine Scorpio, and if he had any time leftover after that survey, he could search for the Titanic on the Navy's dime. Which of course, they did. On Sept 1, 1985, at 1:05 a.m. the night shift spotted one of the 29 boilers that powered Titanic on their monitors. They'd found it. I was a junior in high school when this happened, and I remember having a feeling of disbelief about it. The Titanic was a legend, a mystery. And now it was real. I remember reading and re-reading the issue of National Geographic that was published shortly afterward with all of the photos and story. I remember naively wanting to go exploring inside the boat (Which of course is impossible: It's 12,500 ft to the bottom.) And of course later came Cameron's movie, which I loved for the portrayal of the sinking itself. And now 25 years after discovery, I have 4 and 6 yr old boys that want to know about it. They brought home a book about it from the school library. And they know much of the story very well now. They learned about the "Car-thay-pia" (Carpathia), and the bulk heads, and the rivets in the hull, and everything. I am the bedtime book reader and night prayer parent in our family, so we laid on the bed and read the book. And as little boys are prone to do, they barraged me with the most innocent and, at the same time, the most poignant questions: "Daddy, why were they driving the boat so fast?" "Daddy, why were they driving the boat in the dark?" "Daddy, why didn't they have a big light to look ahead?" And then I came to the part about 'Women and children first.' And that's when their questions really started to become heartbreaking. "Why didn't they put enough life boats on the Titanic for all the people?" "And why did the Daddy's all have to stay behind?" "What happened to all of them?" In their simple 4 and 6 yr old worlds, the concept of all the daddy's having to stay behind just didn't make any sense. And I was at a total loss for an answer. It took me until the following day to come up with an answer that they could understand. So my rhetorical question is this: If my 4 and 6 yr old boys can see the bad decision making that lead to the sinking, why couldn't Capt. Edward J. Smith? Or naval architect Thomas Andrews? Or the White Star Line? Reading that book and having that conversation with my boys that night made the Titanic become more than just a history book story to be marveled at. It turned it into a real-world tragedy about parents and children. And that's probably the way it should be.
  9. Wonderful..!! :grin: LOVE the bow wake at 0:54.
  10. That's only 7 hours from me. Very real possibility I could make this. We'll see.
  11. Bob Smalser is posting again...?? Good on you, mate. :thumbsup:
  12. Konrad

    Logo

    I like the snowflakes, Frank. :cool:
  13. My boys think this is the best video EVER. :grin:
  14. The price has been slashed..!!
  15. Konrad

    Ocracoke 20

    Not me, but try this thread: http://www.messing-about.com/forums/index.php?topic=6986.0
  16. Hah..!! Look what my dad gave me this evening: http://www.ryobitools.com/catalog/power_tools/table_saws/BTS16 Now granted, it's not a professional grade saw. But for your average weekend hack like me, I'm good with it. :cool: (You think my dad reads this forum..?)
  17. My suggestion is that you simply recreate the scenario outside of your boat, in your garage. I also have a 3.3 hp Mercury, and I use one of those big Rubbermaid trash cans 1/2 full of water to test run it in the driveway at the beginning of a season. Use a small piece of 2x6 or whatever to help you get it clamped to the trash can. Than, "store" it horizontally as you've mentioned. See what happens when you do, and again when you pull it down to re-start it "on the boat". Dat's what I'd do.
  18. My friend who owns the kite I was flying in those photos also has a 3 wheeled buggy. But we haven't found many good spots around here to really use it and learn how to run them. All of the soccer fields are fenced & locked, or in use. It's a wierd combinationn of keeping your heading correct while keeping the kite in the power zone. (I guess that's pretty much like sailing, though, huh?)
  19. Anyone have any sailing-related items on a Christmas list? Me = not really, except renewing a subscription to Sail magazine. But just curious about others. Or tools, perhaps? I wistfully pine away for a new table saw to replace the one my dad took to a jobsite and burned up.. (Thanks a lot, dad..) :| But I know that I'm on my own on that one.
  20. I'm just guessing here, but I'd bet the Stevenson's themselves are among the few that have rigged both. I haven't, so I can't contribute much to a reply. As long as there isn't a lot of power boat chop, my Vacationer ghosts along pretty OK using white tarp sails.
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