July 2008
Solar energy storage
Submitted by cac on Thu, 2008-07-31 23:09One of the major problems with solar power is that you only get energy when the sun is out. When the sun is down (or even just low on the horizon or it's cloudy), then you need another source of power.
Right now, batteries are often used to store that energy for later use, but weight and inefficiencies limit the technology. read more »
Golden Shellback, waterproof your gadgets?
That’s a Blackberry getting dunked in pan of water, which it apparently survives just fine, thanks to a new “vacuum deposited” polymer coating process called Golden Shellback. You can see the CNET video “Waterproof your gadgets” below, Gizmodo filmed a cell taking a call while in a glass of ice water, and Tekzilla had some fun with an iPhone. But I’m a little confused...
News in my inbox
Side decks and more dewatering
Submitted by v28build on Wed, 2008-07-30 21:34Had another time of laminating side decks and removing water. I thought it was fairly dry last night... apparently not. Had to clean it out a good bit.
Going to HAVE to find a good cover soon.
Dane spent a good while vacuuming out sawdust and various ick that is already collecting in the bilge. In between he helped hold side deck boards and flexed them into place for me to fasten. Went pretty well. read more »
Wooden Sailboat Blog
Submitted by cac on Wed, 2008-07-30 15:43Are Fuel Prices Changing Boating?
Submitted by cac on Tue, 2008-07-29 22:52Mad Mariner™ has done a poll and article on how much fuel prices have changed people's boating plans. A bunch.
Check the article for details and some links to a variety of builders who are beginning to build more economical boats.
A trial subscription to the site is available which gives you full access to try it out, or you can purchase a yearly subscription for a modest fee. read more »
Bilge pump
Submitted by v28build on Tue, 2008-07-29 22:42Well, I think I need a bilge pump.
This afternoon we got a storm... quite a storm. 1.5" of rain in about an hour. That's coming down pretty well. Had a tarp nicely covering things up, but rain like that points out why building outside is NOT recommended. I had a large, funny shaped swimming pool.
Thankfully my friend Roger who helped me flip it had brought along an old sump pump he had. Dane and I spent about 20 minutes dewatering the boat.
It holds a bunch :-)
Time = 30 minutes
Fuel management 5, Northstar & Smartcraft
Mad Mariner just polled 400 U.S. boat owners about how they’re handling goosed up fuel prices, and the results are depressing. Though not terribly surprising, which is why I’ve gotten so keen on fuel management (part four is here, and you can work back). Actually it was years ago that I first saw the benefits of combining...
Navagation by chance?
Submitted by cac on Mon, 2008-07-28 23:20Kind of a fun one... a guy is planning to circumnavigate the globe, choosing his routes by chance and public input. Have a few choices for each segment of his trip and roll a dice to choose.
Might be an interesting tactic :-)
Side decks
Submitted by v28build on Mon, 2008-07-28 23:08Sorry, no pictures today...
Got the first 1/2 or so of the side decks in place. Seemed to fall in fairly well. Just a matter of laminating them in (after getting things notched and ready yesterday). There will be plenty of planing and shaping to get everything totally smooth and nice looking.
This thing is going to be tough with that much wood at the edges like that :-)
Time = 1.5 hours
