Picking colors

How do these colors work for a SeaMunkey?

I decided to paint the topsides primarily white instead of blue. I do plan to have a small navy blue cover stripe line near the rails -- and a thicker navy blue bootstripe by the waterline. The bottom paint will be a lighter blue.

Comcast internet down? It's their DNS servers.

Looks like Comcast internet problems tonight, you can temporarily change your DNS on your router (or computer) to point to an open DNS server

like opendns.com's:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

or one of Google's (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) click for detailed instructions

new macbook pro!

It's been a long time since I bought a new computer, the days of upgrading every few years have seem to become less of a necessity. I am very happy with my new purchase thus far....



Features which I am using and plan to take full advantage of--

-Intel Mac's, means windows can run great! I'm currently using a trial of Parrallels (VMWares competitor) to run windows applications alongside my Mac ones. This is very important for ASP.NET development, IIS testing, and simulating an environment which I support and work in.

-Bluetooth audio support - I've beamed music across the room to my Sony MBR-100 and my brothers Jabra bt3030, it's been working great.

-SD Memory card slot - great for picture syncing

-Calendar and Contact sync with my online accounts - MobileMe syncronization is a snap, I'd mention how to do it, but its so easy instructions aren't even needed.
(Separately, I'm syncing my iphone with the same Email/Contacts/Calendars, and together they are quite powerful)

-Iphone development and simulation with X-Code - I probably won't be able to experiment with this, or jailbreaking the latest iOS and updating my iPhones firmware until around the new year. I'll let you know how it works out.

Gloucester MA first frost date?

Looking at this image, courtesy of NOAA -- I think our first frost for the region is most likely to happen in early October, somewhere between 10/1 and 10/15. I'll try to track down and see if I can find historical data to back this up.

Do you usually pick your gardens green tomatoes after the first frost?

Dyer Dhow, bottom paint and topsides

After sanding the old paint off the dinghy, I did a final cleaning with Interlux 202. I then painted the bottom with Interlux no sand primer, thinking that this hopefully will be the last time I sand as much as I did. I then put on a coat of Interlux bottomkote paint.

For the topsides, I used a quart of Interlux Brightside, but first primed with Interlux Pre-Kote.

For the oak rails and seats that I replaced with white oak, I used a 50/50 turpentine/boiled linseed oil mix. I stuck with the Interlux line and did all the prep work more for the experience of working with the products, and learning the process. After the painting was 'done', and the seats were in, I took her for a test row.. Unfortunately, I still have some leaks! It looks like around the rear skeg and where the dagger board used to drop I still have some small leaks that will require some fiberglass attention!

Quincy to Gloucester, by sea

Sailed Seamunkey from Quincy to Gloucester today! I had my GPS data logger on, but the settings were not correct for capturing data along the way, so I only had 4 actual reference points recorded and the line drawn is my extrapolated rough estimation of the trip-- We left early around 7am and arrived in Gloucester harbor close to 3:00pm..

The weather forecast looked great, with light winds getting stronger as the day moved on from the SouthWest. Seamunkey is now on her mooring in Gloucester Harbor --



Bram joined me for the voyage, and my neighbor Howie picked us up in southeast harbor, thanks guys!

Eastern Point Light, sunset on the dogbar

Catch the Waves

Starting to study wave swells, this map is a forecast and covers the whole northeast seacoast... Wind forecasts from sailflow.com are also useful...

exploration

and looking at my posts, thoughts, experiences and projects
I wonder
why do I enjoy the mountains? what is it that brings me back to the sea? what am I doing?

I like to explore, but my travels have not been to far exotic places.
Sometimes they are only within the bytes of the computer
sometimes they are only within the woods of a mountain
within the streets of my town
and water which surrounds me

who's coming with me?

Random orbit and toxic dust

Using a random orbit sander hooked up to a shop vac, along with wearing a respirator, I started to wire-brush and sand with a rough grit the bottom of the dinghy. It is now pretty clear where the bottom paint originally was, and it looks like the centerboard slot has been somehow patched over. How much more sanding will I do before I get anxious and move on to bottom painting?

4.5 hp Sears Ted Williams Eska - Model 217.59462

Started working on an old outboard I aquired with the dinghy, its a 1972 Sears Ted Williams (217.59462 made by Eska) 4.5 HP outboard. It is a two-stroke, and a great introduction to working on outboard motors for me.. First steps -- drain old gas, clean or replace fuel lines, make sure spark plug is working correctly, and check compression. With some starter fluid, was able to start the engine for a few seconds until it burned up(note: better to spray gas/oil mix from old spray bottle, as starter fluid doesn't have required oil lubrication) -- Next steps will be cleaning/rebuilding the carb, and possibly cleaning some carbon off the cylinder head and replacing the head gasket if I can find the part. Anyone else working on one of these?

Late summer update --

After reading through a manual snagged off of Ebay, I found that the recommended gas to oil mixture is 24:1, replaced the spark plug(manual calls for Champion J13Y, I used substitute Champion RJ14YC), recut the high tension lead wire and rebooted the spark plug cover. I rebuilt the carburetor with parts (Carb Kit DI-52030) from www.discount-marine-parts.com. I replaced the black gas line with a clear line and have an inline fuel filter which I highly recommend. The lower cover I currently do not have on, mainy due to how hard it is to spray gas/oil mix in a pinch into the carburetor with it on.

She is running pretty nice for an old single stroke(33 lb) motor, sometimes starting on the first few pulls... Gets me out to the mooring a lot quicker, although the row is long -- it can be enjoyable too in some conditions.

Red Flag evening on the Charles

Tonights sail got a bit gusty! First red flag day of the year for me... data courtesy of cbiwind.org

Opening day on the Charles

CBI opened for the season today so Kate and I went down for a sail. Light wind eve, but we had a nice night out and used a jib-- First sail of 2010.

Dad got crafty

Check out the nice woodwork. New white oak seats for the dinghy! Thanks Dad.

9' Dyer Dhow dinghy restoration begins

Picked up a dinghy from Marblehead to be able to get out to Seamunkey's new mooring in Gloucesters Southeast harbor. From the looks of it, I believe its a 9' Dyer Dhow. I'm not seeing any kind of serial on the transom, so perhaps the transom was replaced, its older than '72 or its serial was painted over. She is probably in good enough shape to get out to the mooring, but I'd like to gain some experience in repair/restoration and this dinghy is going to be my first project.

Step 1 - cleaning, seat replacement, paint removal and sanding...

Niles Beach and southeast Gloucester harbor

Seamunkey will soon be floating outside of Niles beach here in Gloucester Harbor. Its somewhat protected by the dogbar breakwater, but still exposed from the southwest, and access through Niles beach by dinghy will work during non-peak season. During the summer peak season, I'll probably launch from flat cove or pavillion beach unless I can find a nice spot to tie-up.

Seamunkey - 1968 Pearson P22

1968 Pearson P22 fact sheet

Seamunkey has been sailing in Providence waters, but is moving on up to Gloucester harbor.

RJD2

Deadringer doesnt get old

Colorado Trip to Vail, Breckenridge and A-basin

Click on image for picture slideshow of the trip!

has facebook killed blogs? or created more bloggers?

I have started to blog less, do I have less to say? or less to say to random people?
I started this blog mostly as a way to share thoughts, links, concepts, opinions -- sounds pretty similar to my reasons for using Facebook. Originally, I was still writing on my blog and even linking from Facebook back to it. It seems easier to reach the audience of people that know me through Facebook than it is through this medium. So I start to wonder, has facebook killed the web-log -- or just created many thousands more bloggers that are within facebooks walls publishing to closed circles.