Just arrived at fort desoto and this year we dont have any boats to build or errands to run. Seems weird but the boat is ready!!!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Homemade USB Charger
Here is my usb charger i'll be trying out during the EC. Its a regular old 7Ah 12v sealed hobby battery and a car charger unit i found at walmart for about 10 dollars. Plus a couple of slide connectors and i put a switch in the side just for fun. Capable of charging 2 usb powered devices at a time. The 12v could easily be topped off with a small solar panel for extended trips.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
External GoPro Battery
I recently got a GoPro Hero 3 camera which is very cool but the battery life sucks. So for this years Everglades Challenge I wanted to have some extra battery power for the little camera so that we can turn it on for a couple of hours at a time or take a picture whenever we want without having to take a bunch of spare batteries with us. I looked around online for others who have done this and didn't find much other than some who are powering the camera externally while also pulling video off of it as a feed for use in RC airplane applications but I couldn't find anything that maintained the weather proofness of the camera.
For our application we aren't too concerned about the camera being wireless and if we did want to mount it out of reach and wireless we can just use the stock battery. So here is what I came up with. I bought the parts from www.batteryspace.com including a 10.4 Ah 3.7v Li-ion pack. The hardest part was the battery facsimile which is made of a small block of wood, some magnet wire, superglue, paper, black sharpie, needle-nose pliers, tweezers, calipers and Lots of cursing.
The resulting setup should give us about 10 times the normal run time of the stock GoPro battery (a mere 1050mah). The tradeoff of course is the umbilical cord. This setup also seems ideal for long time lapse applications.
For our application we aren't too concerned about the camera being wireless and if we did want to mount it out of reach and wireless we can just use the stock battery. So here is what I came up with. I bought the parts from www.batteryspace.com including a 10.4 Ah 3.7v Li-ion pack. The hardest part was the battery facsimile which is made of a small block of wood, some magnet wire, superglue, paper, black sharpie, needle-nose pliers, tweezers, calipers and Lots of cursing.
The resulting setup should give us about 10 times the normal run time of the stock GoPro battery (a mere 1050mah). The tradeoff of course is the umbilical cord. This setup also seems ideal for long time lapse applications.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Nacra 20 Mast Repaired
Been working on all kinds of projects lately but most recently finished up the repair of a Nacra 20 carbon stick that broke albeit pretty cleanly and needed a little "reunion".
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Southbound completes the NCC 2012
My Girlfriend and I just completed the NCC 2012 in our recently restored Core Sound 17. This year provided some very light wind and all sailing boats were forced to practice their rowing or paddling technique whether they trained or not. We finished in 2nd in Class 4 with a time of 28 hours. A CLC rowing/sailing dory who had the advantage in rowing by far got in before us by about an hour. We had a blast despite the rowing. Here are a few pictures of the boat being refinished. Some pics and video from the race to come. Sorry Ken, its not yellow anymore :)
Core Sound 17 'Southbound' deck sanded and cockpit sealed and primed
Deck primed and cockpit painted
Hull fairing bye bye yellow
Ready for a couple sealer coats of epoxy and primer
New Oars of marine ply and 2x4 spruce
New bottom ready to race. Devoe 2 pary poly tinted for grey bottom
Finished oars needing varnish. 9' 6" and 4lbs each and nice balance
The "new" Southbound sitting pretty and ready for her race debut
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
UFC 2012 Debrief and Thank you
I would like to extend an huge thanks to many people having found the time to add to the blog post-race.
My Dad for tirelessly (ok maybe tiredly too) continuing to post our stories, updates and pictures to the blog and for coming to get us multiple times while we "vacationed" down in Florida. Though i'm sure sometimes he would have rather left us down there to teach us a lesson.
My Mom for putting the idea out there that we should make a go at the UFC and for following through. Yes I really did the UFC with my Mom, no we didn't get sick of each other, and yes she is very tough as Moms go.
To Graham and Carla Byrnes of B and B yacht Designs who were supportive, generous, instructional and enthusiastic about the Trimaran project from the get go. B and B donated their materials, work space, tools and many hours of boat design "consultation" to get this thing in the water. For those of you who don't know I work "full time" at B and B yacht designs building boats, computer modeling boats and in some cases helping to design aspects of boats. I put "full time" in quotes because in what other job can you take time off to build your own boat...at work! Needless to say I think I may have used up my vacation time for the year. But there is that NC race coming up...important advertising opportunity I'd say.
To Mark at Kruger Canoes who lent us his personal Kruger Cruiser without a second thought. A marvel of expedition paddle craft evolution, Mark's Kruger Cruiser Canoe kept us dry and comfortable allowing us to focus on paddling fast and putting river miles in our wake. Without this boat I dare say we would not have made it.
To our fellow or future Watertribers for showing their support throughout our adventure. In some cases from the comfort of their own armchairs and in other cases on the ground in Fl, at the checkpoints and at the finish line. The involvement and interest of fellow tribers is hugely motivating. Thanks also to the UFC competitors who kept us moving and always looking ahead of or behind us. We were honored to race along side of you and hope to see you guys again soon. An individual thanks also to Sharkchow (Warren Richey). Without his daily updates/forecasts on the WT forum we would surely have been as blind mice in a wet maze. We marveled at his often uncanny predictions as to what we were experiencing or were about to experience.
To Murrays.com for their generous contribution to the cause. A demanding waterborne challenge such as the UFC requires durable and high quality gear such as is distributed at Murrays.com. High tech (and affordable) sheets lines of blended dyneema and ultra high tensile strength dyneema 12- strand lines really make a boat like this possible. Murrays supplied the lines for all of our rigging, shrouds, forestay, waterstays, mainsheet and control lines.
To Dave Calvert of Calvert Sails for their equally generous contribution to the team and to the boat. Our custom built Mainsail, Jib and Code Zero sails powered us to victory with efficiency and grace. I found Calvert's sails to be on the leading edge of material technology, sail shape and design and I give them high marks for durability and ease of use. We were very pleased with the shape and control-ability of the mainsail, the Jib was powerful and easy to douse and while the conditions of the race didn't lend themselves to very much work with the large Code Zero we did fly it briefly with great results and I look forward to using it in the future. Check out Calvertsails.com for your next set of sails.
Being back at work and moving to a new apartment, I am quite busy but I will be working hard to complete a write up of our experiences in this years UFC, the design and construction of our Trimaran "Mosquito" and post some of the many pictures and video that we compiled during the race.
My Dad for tirelessly (ok maybe tiredly too) continuing to post our stories, updates and pictures to the blog and for coming to get us multiple times while we "vacationed" down in Florida. Though i'm sure sometimes he would have rather left us down there to teach us a lesson.
My Mom for putting the idea out there that we should make a go at the UFC and for following through. Yes I really did the UFC with my Mom, no we didn't get sick of each other, and yes she is very tough as Moms go.
To Graham and Carla Byrnes of B and B yacht Designs who were supportive, generous, instructional and enthusiastic about the Trimaran project from the get go. B and B donated their materials, work space, tools and many hours of boat design "consultation" to get this thing in the water. For those of you who don't know I work "full time" at B and B yacht designs building boats, computer modeling boats and in some cases helping to design aspects of boats. I put "full time" in quotes because in what other job can you take time off to build your own boat...at work! Needless to say I think I may have used up my vacation time for the year. But there is that NC race coming up...important advertising opportunity I'd say.
To Mark at Kruger Canoes who lent us his personal Kruger Cruiser without a second thought. A marvel of expedition paddle craft evolution, Mark's Kruger Cruiser Canoe kept us dry and comfortable allowing us to focus on paddling fast and putting river miles in our wake. Without this boat I dare say we would not have made it.
To our fellow or future Watertribers for showing their support throughout our adventure. In some cases from the comfort of their own armchairs and in other cases on the ground in Fl, at the checkpoints and at the finish line. The involvement and interest of fellow tribers is hugely motivating. Thanks also to the UFC competitors who kept us moving and always looking ahead of or behind us. We were honored to race along side of you and hope to see you guys again soon. An individual thanks also to Sharkchow (Warren Richey). Without his daily updates/forecasts on the WT forum we would surely have been as blind mice in a wet maze. We marveled at his often uncanny predictions as to what we were experiencing or were about to experience.
To Murrays.com for their generous contribution to the cause. A demanding waterborne challenge such as the UFC requires durable and high quality gear such as is distributed at Murrays.com. High tech (and affordable) sheets lines of blended dyneema and ultra high tensile strength dyneema 12- strand lines really make a boat like this possible. Murrays supplied the lines for all of our rigging, shrouds, forestay, waterstays, mainsheet and control lines.
To Dave Calvert of Calvert Sails for their equally generous contribution to the team and to the boat. Our custom built Mainsail, Jib and Code Zero sails powered us to victory with efficiency and grace. I found Calvert's sails to be on the leading edge of material technology, sail shape and design and I give them high marks for durability and ease of use. We were very pleased with the shape and control-ability of the mainsail, the Jib was powerful and easy to douse and while the conditions of the race didn't lend themselves to very much work with the large Code Zero we did fly it briefly with great results and I look forward to using it in the future. Check out Calvertsails.com for your next set of sails.
Being back at work and moving to a new apartment, I am quite busy but I will be working hard to complete a write up of our experiences in this years UFC, the design and construction of our Trimaran "Mosquito" and post some of the many pictures and video that we compiled during the race.
St. Mary's river. Mile number who knows. Another tree....sigh
Thursday, April 05, 2012
All the Way Around
The trip report would not be complete without this Google Earth image of the SPOT track of Team B&B / Team Kruger.
The length of the SPOT track was 1,239 miles (or 1,077 nautical miles). Because the locations in the SPOT track are 10 or 20 minutes apart, the SPOT track does not account for short tacking while sailing and does not account for the meandering twists and turns of the Suwannee and St Marys Rivers.
--DWSB
 |
| SPOT Track: 1,239 miles |
The length of the SPOT track was 1,239 miles (or 1,077 nautical miles). Because the locations in the SPOT track are 10 or 20 minutes apart, the SPOT track does not account for short tacking while sailing and does not account for the meandering twists and turns of the Suwannee and St Marys Rivers.
--DWSB
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Home Again
After landing at the finish line of the UFC at noon on Monday March 26, Team B&B spent the afternoon trailering the Mosquito and the Kurger Cruiser. A steak dinner and a good night's sleep followed in St. Petersburg before hitting the road Tuesday for the 12 hour drive back to NC.
_Paul_%5BP1040238%5D__edited.jpg) |
| So THAT's what the pergola is for ! |
_Paul_%5BP1040234%5D__edited.jpg) |
| Welcome to REI |
_Paul_%5BP1040249%5D_equip.jpg) |
| Gear everywhere |
_Paul_%5BP1040276%5D_sails_edited.jpg) |
| Hanging out the... laundry |
_Paul_%5BP1040279%5D_calvert_sails.jpg) |
| Calvert Sails |
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