Carefree learning for kids, and some adults

And now for the numbers. Carefree Learner is 41' LOA, was built out of plywood and epoxy in 1978 by 96 students from Sarasota high school at no taxpayer expense, and with a lot of help from the community. She has carried over a whopping 174,000 passengers consisting of 6th grade students, Sarasota high school marine science students, and local community organizations over the past 32 years.

My excursion starts with watching the arrival at the dock of Carefree Learner loaded down with a 6th grade class. I was surprised at how orderly the disembarking was, despite the obvious enthusiasm, and energy of the passengers. Life jackets are collected, water bottles found, thanks given to the captains, and the little urchins are herded off by their teachers to a yellow bus to continue their ongoing incarceration in a state mandated institution. Carefree Learner also sports a very unique marine feature, a not oft used 'Time Out" bench back at the helm.

Blivet: 6" of chart plotter in a 4" space

This was a true greenfield project. This is Mike and Sandy's McAdaragh's shiny new Cruisers 415 MY. Mike wants a Garmin 7215 to go into the left panel, and there isn't quite enough space either in depth, or width to make it fit, or is there?  

We had a left side panel location that was both not quite wide enough, and on the right side not quite deep enough, so what's a body to do? The answer is the Garmin 7215 unit has to be lifted two inches, and some accommodation made for the small amount of extra width we need. Departing from the usual sequence of events, we will jump to show you the solution first, and then we will use Mister Peabody's "Wayback" machine to show you how it was done.

"Holy Boat" Batman

There is a season, Turn Turn Turn. And a time for every boat under heaven.....

I blink my eyes, and look again. At the end of the dock is a church docking, and it's a real church that is docking. I have done a lot of checking, and this one of three powered floating ship churches in the world. There are a lot of floating church chapels, and some power boats that hold services, but only three real boat churches.

A new wind is a blowing

Google's Blogger suffered an outage for about a day, much to my distress. I had posted the little non sequitur piece about the subliminal images I spotted, and the following day, it was gone. After a few brief paranoid thoughts about Nazi frogmen hacking into my blog, and seeing I could not access the editor, I realized that it wasn't FOX's minions who were responsible, but Google's cloudy system. I did suffer some minor P in the A losses because of the outage, and it has resulted in my doing a long overdue full back up of the blog and templates.

It's not about boats, but I found this interesting, and a bit creepy

The oven buzzer went off, and Kate froze the DVR, and this is what was on the screen. This image was inserted several times in an American Idol commercial that was aired in the middle of a Glee episode that played on May 10 at 8:00 pm. I stepped through the commercial with the DVR in slow motion and took some pics of the many images. The funny thing about the images was they had already appeared twice at that time, and we hadn't consciously seen them. But when you know it is there, you can see it very briefly flash. 

The three hour tour and the forces of nature

F5 tornado's, tsunami's, and earthquakes, just for starters are words I would uses to describe Dani, along with her friends Katelyn, Carla, Staci, and Ann. Dani is a bartender at my local watering hole Gecko's. She is a Ringling School of Art graduate, and a true force of nature to say the least. As a developing side job, she has started "Brutus Bites", and manufactures tasty (our two greyhounds love them) natural dog treats.


To promote "Brutus Bites" at my suggestion she has a newly created blog titled The adventures of Brutus. As her blog will tell you, she is a self proclaimed "Thirty-some single white female seeking refuge from an alpha male English bulldog". Dani has a very funny stream of consciousness style of writing, and doesn't pay much attention to formal grammar, but it is fun to read, and the arty part of the site is clever. By the way I have met Brutus many times, and he is a lovely dog, but every encounter is a Turner and Hooch moment resulting in substantial quantities of drool, and a visit to the washing machine.

Classifieds

Grey Goose, a 50' Nordhavn Pilothouse makeover

For starters, I love this boat. It's a stunning Nordhavn 50' pilot house trawler, and it's substantially built to say the very least. The short summary of the work done was to update aging electronics at the helm, provide better integration of the systems, and to end up with hopefully a factory new appearance. This little story as much about the process, as the technology.


Welcome to "Grey Goose", she is beautiful, close to perfect in all respects, and has been meticulously maintained by her owner Don Payzant.  

Sewell tames the VGA beast

This is the "Beast", the unholy mother of all over sized cables on a boat. Its huge square head defies passing through almost any hole or conduit in the vessel. Did I use the word conduit, and boat in one sentence? My apologies for that oxymoronic faux pas. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what chart plotter manufacturers were thinking when they adopted VGA technology to feed images to monitors and TV's, but they sure didn't give the cabling end of this technology a whole lot of thought.  

The Murse, black is the new pink. Tools of the trade.

I carried my black net book bag into the bar to download some software I needed, and did not want to forget. I was met with snorts of derision from the women in my life. Dani, our artsy and crafty clever bartender grins said "nice clutch Bill", Kate says "it's his murse" (man purse). Ann snickers, Christine laughs, and Carla just looks aghast, and says "oh my, you need a messenger bag", and immediately starts to search on her Ipad for one. Sigh, it seems the installer is not the fashion plate he thought he was. It was just a black bag, to carry the small computer, and the associated things I use every day. How little I knew that the world of high fashion would take such umbrage.

Daiquiri Blender

Date 17 MAR 11 12:20 pm 

From: Richard Fogghi

To: Bill Bishop

Subject: Daiquiri Blender

Dear Mr. Bishop,

I have purchased a Daiquiri blender for my Volupturaptor 40' go fast boat and must have a 12 volt outlet installed before the weekend. Please advise me of the exact cost. The boat is located at the downtown marina in slip C-20

Thank you, Dick

Date 17 MAR 11 3:42pm 

From: Bill Bishop

To: Richard Fogghi

Subject: Re: Daiquiri Blender

Dear Dick,

I visited your boat. I can see you're a man of continental tastes, and it has quite the colorful, and furry interior. I assume you would want the outlet installed in what passes for a galley on your boat. I need to know how many amps your new blender requires. The cabin wiring just supports the red LED cabin lights, the rope lighting around the bed, and the stereo. It certainly can't take the additional load of a blender. 

Regards, Bill

The marine installer's glossary

Amateur - Criminy, 20 amps, and he used wire nuts and lamp cord for god's sake.

Arcy sparky - Oops!  

Atocha - Any overpowered, loud, purposeless vessel piloted by someone with an Atocha coin hanging on a gold chain from their neck. Vessels are also often populated with scantly clad augmented females, tunes, and lots of liquor.
Bilge pump - a small inexpensive plastic pump, often mounted in a very difficult area  to access, that requires charged batteries.

Proprietary isn't propriety

It must be by design that technology in life is never simple, and in some cases it can be infuriatingly excruciating. This little adventure follows Jerry's efforts to interface an outboard motor via NMEA 2000 to his chart plotter, and my efforts to assist him. I also want to mention at the onset that Jerry is not slow witted, and did his homework well. It was just the insidious nuances that have bit him. 


Having studied the problem in advance, he ordered the correct interface cables from the outboard manufacturer, only to discover the engine's interface cable would not actually plug into the motor's port. The other end of the cable has some sort of happy colored connector that won't plug into his chart plotter. So off Jerry goes to the forums for help, and he gets it. There are both adapters, and cut and splice options out there, and he buys them. Jerry installs the new parts, turns on the motor, and waits with hopeful expectations, but sadly no data appears. I get a call.

Seafair Grand Luxe

Last week I had my head stuck under a console for about a couple of hours, and when I climbed out from underneath, and looked around. My keen powers of observation said something is different here, and how in the world did this vessel even get into the marina? To my knowledge, I think this is the largest vessel to ever port into Sarasota. Let me now introduce you to the Seafair "Grand Luxe". The popular press calls it a yacht, and I won't dispel that term, but in reality, this vessel is a purpose designed floating art exposition venue of substantial proportions. 

Press reports of Installers demise inaccurate.

An ugly cold has sidelined me for the past ten days or so, causing the MIR presses to grind to a halt. Despite purported reports in the Weekly World News that this dire infection I acquired was caused by Bat Boy, I think it was really a result of too much fresh air, and a lack of sufficient quantities of Woodford's special reserve cold and flu disinfectant. I will have the presses started again by Monday or soonest. Tnx Bill

That boat ain't right, a primer.

I'm currently doing a typical job installing electronics on a new boat. It's a 26' T-top center console boat, and it embodies all of the things I wish the owner had looked for before buying it. This boat is mid range priced, and is really no better, or worse than most of them. I'm not going to show you a picture of it, but I have gathered some examples from other boats to demonstrate some of the issues I perennially complain about in boats of this size and style.


I have never actually timed it, but I think that pulling wires from A to B is at least half of the cost of installing electronics, and in many cases, even more so. So it begs the question, why do boat builders make this task so difficult? The other issue involved is why builders seem to have such a difficult time anticipating what kind of equipment their buyers might install, and provide some accommodation for it. This really shouldn't be too hard to do, or are there cosmic forces at work here I just can't fathom? So today I'm talking to the buyers of these boats, and the intent is to help you avoid the worst of these problems in advance, or at least know what the warts will be when you buy your new toy.

So let's start with the T-top, and what to look for. Ninety degree pulls should be avoided if possible, and where you find one, you will typically find two. These turns are difficult to make with wiring. So stand back, and imagine you, yes you, will have to pull a 1/2" radar cable from the electronics box up top, and into the console. You can then also think about how you are going to install the missing pull wire in the first place. Long hemostats, shop vac, magnets, a skyhook?

Clamp Clips, a really good idea

It never takes long to have the inevitable occur to my clothes. Boats are rife with sharp objects, but outside of the damage caused to my skin by tie wraps, there is no doubt the hose clamp is the number one destroyer of clothes. Like the scars on my hands, I have just learned to accept the fact that damage to my working wardrobe, is an odd sort of badge of honor. It's kind of like seeing a boater in scuffed up boat shoes, you know he or she really boats. That person with the shiny new looking pair, perhaps not so much. 

A customer service grumble

Two bloody hours on the phone, multiple bad transfers, endless repetition of the same information, representatives who are absolutely clueless about their product, and a huge effort by a normally quiescent installer to keep his temper. I do know that the machine you end up taking to doesn't care, but at times I all think that we all want to yell at it, just to make us feel better. But it's like kicking the tire of a broken down car, with the likely end result being a broken toe, and a still malfunctioning auto.

Setting limits

Greetings everyone, for the record this is the monthly board meeting of the Sunny Shores condominium, and marina association. If no one objects, we will waive the reading of last months minutes, and get down to business. I see the first item on the agenda is to discuss putting speed limit signs on the condo roads. Yes Bob? I know safety of the residents is paramount, but do you think they are really needed, I mean we only have two very short roads? No, I remember the incident with Mr. Jones and that electric bicycle he bought on E-bay, but he has promised not to pretend he is racing in the Tour De France any more, at least on the condo property. I agree Sam, but they're expensive, and we used most of the money in the budget for the three no-wake signs in our thirty slip marina. Yes Joe, I know we had that near accident, but it wouldn't have happened if Shirley would just stop driving down the middle of the road all of the time. She's lucky to be alive at all. Okay, we have a motion from Ruth to put it to a vote, all in favor say aye, the ayes have it. 

All right what should the speed limit be? That's funny Tom, but this is not the Autobahn. Yes Ethyl? I don't know, five miles per hour is pretty slow. No I understand, but those little teacup dogs are supposed to be on a leash. I'm more worried about stepping on them, than having them run over by a car, and we have eagles, and ospreys around here also you know. How about setting it at 15 mph? No Ethyl, I don't think it's reckless at all, it's the same speed as a school zone. Yes Ethyl, I know that the kids are faster than you are, but the residents are hardly playing bumper cars in here. Thanks Bob, I think I could live with 10mph, but it does seem slow. Come on now Tom, its not like you're going to expire before you get to your parking place. Splitting the difference isn't a bad Idea Ethyl, but that's 12.5 mph, and the standard speed limit sign only has room for two digits. Bob has a motion to set the speed limit at 13 mph, although it seems to be an odd number to me. Alright then, all in favor say aye. Sigh, the ayes have it. Yes Bob? Really now, a radar gun for the safety committee, are you serious? Yes Bob, I know the rules need to be vigilantly enforced, but come on now, a radar gun? All right then Bob, we will add it to next months agenda to talk about.


Okay now, the second item to be discussed is adding a new rule for using the pool that says you can't swim nude. Yes Bob? I agree, anyone who saw Mrs Henderson in the buff will have a very difficult time forgetting it. Okay, lets open it up for discussion.

Yes I know it's a bit off topic, but I couldn't resist. I was working at the little marina here, and was bemused about how you could end up at the odd 13 mph number, and the discussion that had to have occurred to get there. So I made one up. I suspect there is some truth to it, in spirit anyway. I always enjoyed Bob Newhart's one sided phone conversations. I'm certainly not as good as Bob, but it was fun to do. I will be more on topic next time, maybe, mostly.

Fisherman Paradise revisited after a make over

When I first saw Fishermans Paradise, I was flabbergasted at the sheer scale, creativity, and raw audacity of this project. She was a beautiful vessel, magnificently outfitted, and every thing on the inside, and from the deck up sparkled, but her hull's original paint job was marred by both construction activities, and the time at sea.   

Trumpy Time In SRQ

John Trumpy Sr. came to the US in 1902 after training as a naval architect in Berlin Germany, and in 1908 he was hired as a naval architect by the Mathis Shipbuilding Company. This begins a collaboration that produced some of the most famous, and glamorous yachts of the period, and it all ended in the very early seventies with the advent of fiberglass construction, and labor problems. About 300 of these wood yachts, or in my view "art in wood" were produced, and the owners had names like Dupont, Firestone, and Chrysler. You didn't go to dealer to buy these vessels, you met with Mr. Trumpy, commissioned a design, and then had it built. Owning a "Trumpy" was the pinnacle of yacht ownership for many decades. Freedom showed up at the Sarasota Yacht Club for a few days, and I was able to take a few pictures of this elegant yacht.

This should be easy, it's in plain sight.

If I had even the smallest clue that this would have been such a painful exercise, I would have dragged my camera out at the beginning to show you the original charger in place. Instead you just get to hear my musings, sans the interesting vitriolic cursing I was muttering while trying to get the original charger out.

Watson buys a boat

Hello Mr. Installer, My name is Watson, and I need some help to buy a boat.

I would be pleased to help you buy a boat Watson. Boats are expensive, do you have any money?

Yes I have money, I just won a quiz show on TV, and my parents are also very rich.

Okay Watson, what kind of boat do you want to buy?

I want to buy a good boat with my money.

How do you define "Good" Watson?

It must be well designed, and very easy to maintain. It should be made of materials that will not rust or corrode. I also want all CAD, wiring diagrams, and a complete bill of materiels to come with it.

Ahem. This may not be an easy boat to find Watson. Boats are not easy to maintain, and you do not get wiring diagrams, or other technical information about most boats when you buy them.

Why are boats so difficult to maintain Mr. Installer?

I think the problem is that the designers never have to fix, or install things on them, or they wouldn't design them that way, and the marketing departments try to jam to much equipment into too small of a space. I think all designers should spend a year working for one of their bigger dealers. The end result would be better boats, but alas Watson, that is not likely to happen.

That is non sequitur Mr. Installer, why would someone buy a boat that is hard to maintain?

I think that often buyers just don't know any better. They are not as smart as you are Watson. By the way, you're a pretty big guy, you will need a very large boat.

Yes I am big. I am about the size of ten food cooling appliances, but I plan to use tele-presence to run my new boat. I want to feel the atmosphere flowing over my sensors.

Ah,  elementary my dear Watson, I may be able to help you after all. Take a look at this boat Watson.

I like this boat very much. I will communicate with the designer. Ha Ha Mr. Installer, "What is a literary reference from the Sherlock Holmes books".

You're very smart Watson, your parents must be very proud.

My parents are very proud of me. Thank you Mr. Installer.

My pleasure Watson.

The photograph of "Spin", the robotic sail boat was taken by its builder Chris Miller who is currently adapting some of "Spin's" technology for the Emirates Team New Zealand America cup challenge. Thank you Chris, it is the perfect boat for Watson.


You can learn more about Robotic sailboats at the Microtransat competition website.


The Avatar is Watson's and is no doubt the property of IBM, so don't yell at me, I was nice to Watson.


A little side note about Watson. What you saw on Jeopardy, other than witnessing the fact Alex Trebek can also be condescending to computers, was a huge move forward in the area of Natural Speech by computers. Unlike early Chatterbots like Eliza  Watson truly has an understanding of speech nuances like puns,  metaphors, et al. I think Watson is very close to passing the famous "Turing Test". I was amazed at the capabilities Watson had.