First of Four Fenders Finished!

​I've been working on these fenders for some time now. I have sufficiently bulked up all the cores using the old running rigging and began the very slow and tedious process of wrapping them with half hitches. I spent nearly 2 full days (broken up over 4 days) tying the continuous weave that encompasses this fender. 

The knot is slow progressing, but when the line gets chafed and breaks, it makes it easier to mend the fender and restore it to "like new"condition. Simply tie up the whole and bury the tails of all the lines involved.  

This fender is completed, now I just have to do it three more times to finish building our armamentarium of fenders on board Wisdom.  

Storing Rice

Rice is a wonderful food to carry aboard. It is filling, easy to cook, and adds substance to any meal. In Puerto Rico, where I grew up, rice was a staple food at meals. Everything seemed to be based around rice and beans (beans are also easy to store). 

Rice is works very well on a sailboat because it stores well and is compact. A few handfuls can make a meal once cooked. It can be bought in large bags which can be tucked away in cabinets for a long time and it doesn't go bad. This means that rice can be used as an emergency food supply. You can plan the provisions needed for the whole trip, and then throw in a 10 pounds bag of rice for insurance against starvation. 

These large bags of rice can be difficult to dispense small amounts of rice from and they are difficult to reseal. This does lead to the problem of rice spilling from the bag and getting all over the locker. To avoid this, when I open a bag of rice, I will dispense it into separate resealable storage containers. 

I like to use the small cereal containers from IKEA. They are small, easy to store in the galley cabinets, and easy to dispense and seal the rice. Being made of plastic, they are also less likely to break while in storage. A 5 pound bag of rice can be evenly distributed between 3 small IKEA containers. 

To dispense the rice, simply flip up the lid and pour out what you need. When you are finished, the lid snaps back into place, avoiding accidental openings in the cabinet. The silicone seal will also help prevent pest infestations in the container. If something did find its way inside, it will only affect one of the multiple containers, rather than affecting the whole store of rice (the same principle of not keeping "all your eggs in one basket").

Give rice a try, it makes great meals and is easy to keep aboard for extended periods of time!

Rope Fender: Outer Cover

The cores are completed and now begins the very slow and tedious task of weaving the outer cover.

A chain stitch would finish the job delightfully fast, but if one strand broke, the whole thing would unravel. Being how these fenders are designed to take a beating, wrapping them in an easily unraveled stitch seems ridiculous. For this reason, the much slower, but also much more secure stitch of half hitches was decided upon.

Each loop needs to be passed through the holes and pulled through. For this reason, I cut sections of line off the spool of rope, rather than passing 600 feet of rope through each turn.

The number of half hitches per loop can be tailored depending on the size of the fender. If it is getting a bit tight, simply do two half hitches on the same loop. If it is looking a bit loose, skip one of the loops and bring tighten it up. If you need to add or subtract a significant number of half hitches, it is best to evenly space out the differences. This way the fender will appear more uniform rather than looking like a chunk got cut out of it.

Progress has been slow, but the results make it worthwhile. It has roughly taken me around 1 hour per foot with this stitch. I hope I will pick up speed as the project progresses!

Easy Water Temperature Readings

Water temperature is useful to know for a range of reasons. 

Do I want to go swimming?
Is there risk of ice forming overnight?
Do I need to shut down the reverse cycle heat pump?
Am I sailing in the Gulf Stream?

They sell fancy add-ons that connect to your chart plotter to tell you the water temperature, but these involve another hole in the hull and are rather costly. 

Another option is to drop a thermometer over the side and record the water temperature, but this runs the risk of loosing your thermometer and watching it float away in your wake.

Yet another option is to pull up a pail of water and drop a thermometer in there, this is both safest and cheapest. The water is a fresh sample, and the thermometer can not be separated form the yacht. The only downside is it involves a lot of effort to raise a pail of water and keep the pail from splashing everyone near it. If you are trying to cross the Gulf Stream, you want to know the water temperature, but conditions may not permit this endeavor; leaving you wondering what the water temperature is. Bet you wish you had the fancy sensor connected to your chart plotter now!

There is another way that is both inexpensive and relatively accurate. Installing an Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer in the boat with the "Outdoor Lead" attached to the hull low in the bilge. By covering the sensor with foam insulation, it will be insulated from the interior air temperature and will pick up the temperature of the fiberglass hull. 

This method will give you a relative idea of the water temperature that the boat is floating in since that will closely correlate to the hull temperature. 

The indoor/outdoor thermometer will provide you with an easy way to watch the water temperature while underway without out complicated processes or expensive equipment.

Plastic Bags

Plastic bags can not be dumped overboard, no matter how far out to sea you are. The plastic will continue to float along as it breaks down into fine particles of plastic that accumulate in the ocean trash gyres.

Plastic grocery bags serve a second purpose on board a sailboat, they make excellent trash bags for tiny homes. Their handles let them hang from the galley and when they are full, they can be tied up to avoid spills. While in port, plastic trash bags can be taken to the marina dump to dispose of them. While sailing, I tie them up to the davits on the transom, ready to be disposed at the next appropriate landfall.

This is all well and fine, as long as you can properly store the plastic bags in an easy to access location that keeps them safe so they don't fly away. An empty bag will fly around in the slightest of breeze and can blow overboard far too easily. I have found an easy way to store the bags, I stuff them in this cloth tube which has elastic around the openings at the end. 

I ball the bag up and stuff it in the top when I unload my groceries. When I need a bag, I simply pull from the bottom. The whole tube hangs from the ceiling next to the galley, near the companionway. 

I have never had a bag get free from this device, yet they are always at the ready and accessible. Recycling plastic bags consumes a lot of energy; by reusing them, their useful purpose can be extended until they are ultimately disposed of.