Mercury 25, Part 1

by on in Recipes

The saga of our Mercury 25 2-stroke is nearing an end.  Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it is going to be asuccessful one, at least from the perspective of that motor’s continued serviceto us.  This will be a multi-part post;first to discuss the problems we continue to have with the Mercury, and then towalk through our options and thought processes as we begin to consider a new motor.  By the end of next week we should have a final decision up or down on the Merc.

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There were warning signs from the beginning; we just didn’tknow enough to see them.  When we boughtthe motor, the skeg was damaged and it had a new prop.  The owner told us he had hit a rock and thedriveshaft had also broken and been replaced. 
There was also salt buildup around the cylinder heads from a coolingwater leak.

We used the motor daily for 6 months without so much as ahiccup.  It started immediately on thefirst pull or first touch of the button. 
It ran smooth and never gave us any trouble.  It idled evenly, though perhaps a touch fast,and it smoked a little, but not abnormal for a 2-stroke.  It was plenty fast; pushing our 12 foot RIBat 29mph.  The power tilt was a boon forTanya and she was the envy of other women struggling with big motors.

But after awhile we could no longer ignore little drops ofoil we saw leaking from the lower unit when the boat was lifted out of thewater.  And we noticed lots of oil aroundthe inside of the lower cowling. 

We thought the oil from the lower unit was a bad rear oilseal on the gearcase, and pulled the motor to work on that.  In retrospect, the length of time that weobserved oil without the gears seizing and the presence of oil up top shouldhave led us in a different direction. 
Sure enough, the gearcase was full and had no water in it, so the sealwas fine.  But during the course ofchecking it, we discovered that the prop shaft was twisted and the thrust hubdid not want to come off.  We alsolearned that the exhaust body had lots of oil and tar-like buildup inside it.

It was also during this initial project that we removed andcleaned our perfectly running carburetor (or so we thought).  That was dumb and it took a good bit oftweaking and tuning to get it running again, and it never ran as well as before,with misfires and fouled plugs in the #1 cylinder.  At this point the salt around the headreturned to our consciousness and became a likely factor.

This is the stage we were at when we began to think that anew motor was justified; faced with the twisted shaft, the mysterious oil, andthe wet cylinder heads.  But weconsidered it a learning opportunity and told ourselves that “the motor we knowis better than one we don’t”.  So wehauled it again, took it completely apart, and inventoried the parts thatneeded replacing.  The parts list topped$700 (at Internet prices), plus the powerhead needed a $300 trip to the machineshop to rethread some broken head bolts.

In the lower unit we replaced the prop shaft, thrust hub,bearing, bearing carrier, and rear oil seal. 
The oil seal itself was fine, but the bearing carrier was broken,probably from the same impact that did the other damage.  We were operating under the philosophy ofreplacing everything that wasn’t right, whether it was actually detrimental ornot.  The water pump received a newimpeller and new gaskets.

We discovered a broken exhaust tube between the powerheadand the lower unit, which explained the strange rattling noise from that partof the motor.  It also had an amazingamount of exhaust buildup.  We weren’tsure exactly how the exhaust tube was supposed to be attached, so rather thantry to fix it we just replaced it, which entailed a new adapter plate under thepower head.

Removing the head bolts was a serious exercise infrustration.  Aluminum block + stainlessbolts + salt water = corrosion.  Thebolts really, really should have been treated to prevent them from freezinginto the block and then breaking when we tried to remove them.  It turned out that this motor doesn’t reallyhave a head, just a cover for the water jacket. 
The cylinders are sealed except for the spark plug holes.  So the salt buildup (and leak it indicated)was relatively innocuous except to the bolts holding the cover on.  Like the carburetor, we would have been much betteroff to just leave it alone.

The powerhead was removed because we wanted to inspect thelower seal.  The impact and brokendriveshaft were factoring heavily at this point.  This necessitated removing just abouteverything from the powerhead.  All the electronics,the throttle controls, and flywheel came off. 
It was a good thing we took pictures during the disassembly because itwas a lot of little parts and wires.

Through the course of removing the electronics, wediscovered a bad coil on the #1 cylinder.  This was an excellent explanation for thesource of the misfire, and possibly for the oil, too.  We subsequently discovered that the lowerseal was fine, but the exhaust manifold was full of oil.  This hurt, because we could have figured thatout without taking the whole thing apart if we’d only thought to look.

Now the problem simply looked like incompletecombustion.  The leftover oil was oozingout of the block through the exhaust, down the body, and out of the lowerunit.  The oil in the lower cowling underthe powerhead was leaking past a failed gasket on the exhaust manifold.

With the problem presumably solved and all the parts wecould find to replace replaced, we began reassembly.  Miraculously, there were no “extra” partsleft over and after a few initial problems, it even ran.  But it ran like shit.  And that’s about the way it has been eversince.

We have rebuilt the carburetor multiple times.  We have fiddled with the bowl float level.  We have checked the timing.  We have tested the spark with the mostreliable (and painful) method we knew. 
We’ve gone through multiple sets of plugs and played with the gaps. 
We’ve endlessly adjusted the idle speed and thelow speed air mix.  At times we thoughtwe had it, but then after a high speed run it would fail to idle at all.

We are completely baffled. 
Configured to the specifications in the shop repair manual, the motorruns so rich it pours smoke and little droplets of oil are suspended in thewater.  When completely closing the lowspeed air mix screw, the motor continues to run, and idle speed actuallyincreases when the motor is supposed to die. 
This seems to indicate some type of leak or malfunction inside thecarburetor.

Carburetors are magical devices.  Their job is to mix atomized fuel into amotors air intake, and maintain the proper mix at all engine speeds.  It took us awhile to comprehend how this actuallyhappens, and then we were amazed that somebody thought of it, and then justshocked that they could make it work. 
There aren’t very many adjustments available, and those are rather crudeconsidering the precision of the carburetor’s function.  So when faced with a carburetor that isn’tacting normally, there is really only one option we can think of: replace it.

So that’s it.  Thecarburetor was probably off the entire time and the previous owner (or hismechanic) managed to make it run smoothly, but it was probably running way toorich even then.  The only choice we feelwe have with this motor at this point is to throw more money at it in alast-ditch effort to make it right.  Ifit doesn’t work, and we don’t have a lot of confidence that it will, we’ll ditchit and get a brand new motor. 

During the course of the repair we’ll have spent about asmuch again as we paid for it to begin with. 
And if our time is factored in, it would have been more economical tosimply buy a new motor each time.  Youread that right; we could have two brand new motors for what we’ve spent onthis used one.  That’s the hidden cost ofbuying used gear.

In the meantime, there is a toolbox in the dinghy at alltimes and Tanya won’t drive it by herself.

Kids Aboard

by on in General

We are beginning to look for a weather window. This, in case you do not know, is a departure date based on an ideal weather forecast. When crossing the Gulf Stream, that means wind going the same way as current. Ideally, we will set out past the reef, raise the spinnaker and glide all the way to the Bahamas. We are not in a rush, so we can wait for this weather window, and be ready when it “opens.” But, for the moment, we are still in Marathon. Although I’m starting to get antsy, I’m glad that were are still here, since it meant perfect timing to meet up with some old and precious friends of ours.

The Tucker family was in the keys doing a boat-building workshop and came by to see if we were in, so to speak. After some wild-goose-chasing and a game of phone tag, we finally connected with them. What a joyous reunion! We made a hasty dinner plan, invited them all back to our boat and had a wonderful evening. We comfortably had nine children, four adults and two cats on our boat for dinner and fun, and reconfirmed why we love having a large catamaran. Take Two is great boat with plenty of room, in this case, to take two large families!

We met the Tuckers at the St. Pete Boat Show about five years ago. They run a booth near the entrance of the show called “Kids Aboard.” It’s a place where young sailors can be dropped off for a few hours to do a boat building workshop. The plywood boats get worked on every day of the show (save Saturdays, which are reserved for Shabbat—the day of rest), and are launched and sailed the last day of the show. At the time when we met them, we were not of the “dropping off” mentality, so we barely paid them any notice. But later, as we were coming out of the show, their kids were playing soccer in the field and our kids asked to join in. I got to talking with them and we discovered a world of commonalities between our two families.

We ended up inviting them over to our house for dinner and becoming good friends. They had lived aboard their French-built aluminum catamaran “Fellowship” (currently for sale) and were able to share what living aboard with a large family was like (they had four girls at the time, and have since added a little boy to the mix). To us, they were the dream personified, truly inspiring us to keep working toward leaving a land life and buying a boat.

As we sat in our cockpit after dinner and reminisced, we realized how much had changed since we last invited them for dinner at our house!  We had done the thing they had helped inspire us to do—perhaps they will now know how important their friendship was in helping us on our way. We all agreed that boat shows are important for those dreaming of going cruising, not just for the boats or sailing gadgets, but because of the people one meets there with inspiring stories and good advice.

For those sailing with families, or who are home-schooling, Kids Aboard is a great resource. We have the Kids Aboard burgee, which we can fly when we get to a new place to find other boats with children, and a plethora of tee-shirts, which always get a lot of comments when we’re out and about. Their website is a great place to read about homeschooling, good books, and family life aboard, with lots of links. Also, they still do boat building workshops for kids of all ages, church, school or homeschool groups, and can be seen at the Miami Boat Show in February. You can find them at www.kidsaboard.com.

Someday we may have the privilege of meeting up with folks dreaming of sailing away, and we will happily “pay it forward” by sharing our lives and stories with other young sailors. And thanks to all of you (whoever you are) reading our blog and sharing our life aboard!

 For anyone interested, the recipe for salmon cakes we shared that night follows.

Salmon Cakes
Prep time: 1 hour
Makes: 6 servings

3-4 cans wild salmon (a pound of fresh, steamed salmon would be great)
1 egg
1 c. cracker crumbs (whole-wheat w/sesame works well)
1 carrot
1/2 onion
1 large stalk celery
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 red pepper
1 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive oil

Use a food processor to crush crackers and mince veggies. In a large bowl, mix salmon, egg, cracker crumbs, minced veggies, and seasonings. (If too dry, add another egg; if too wet, add more cracker crumbs.)  You should be able to use a large spoon or your hands to make 3/4“ thick patties. Heat oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. When hot, spoon/shape patties and cook until lightly browned on one side. Flip and brown other side. Keep warm and serve with tartar sauce if desired.

Shaft Retention Collar

by on in Product Review

Not many things will ruin your day on the water like losinga propeller shaft.  We once backed down underpower to spin some grass off the props and had one of the shafts slip out ofits coupling.  Thankfully, there was azinc nut on the shaft that kept it under the boat, but it wasn’t in the boat,and there was a large hole in the hull where it was supposed to be.  These types of things are typical fordelivery trips, but not really something you ever want to happen if you canhelp it.

So the Shaft Retention Collar from PYI seemed like cheapinsurance.  And they were easy to put on,even with my ridiculously tight bilges. 
Getting a picture was tough, though. 
There isn’t much room to swing a camera, much less a wrench. 

Shaft Collar

I placed them right up against the couplings so any movementwould be apparent.  If the shaft comesfree, it will slide back until the collar hits the shaft seal.  Ideally I want enough space between thecollar and the shaft seal so the shaft can completely exit the coupling.  This would let the prop freewheel,drastically reducing the pulling force against the collar and letting the helmsmanknow something was wrong. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have that much room.  I will only know if the coupling has failedby making visual checks, or until the collar lets go too, probably making thecollar pointless in my case.  I shouldhave had the shafts through-bolted to the couplings the last time they werepulled, but didn’t think of it.

The shaft seals are new and quite a bit bigger than the oneswe had during the delivery fiasco.  Lookingat the picture above, I suddenly realized that if I do lose another shaft I’m goingto have a hell of a time getting a plug in there.

Going Natural

by on in General

I recently visited both of my sisters and their new baby girls. My sister in Chicago is on her first go-round and it was fun to see her “ooh” and “aah” over every little yawn and hiccup and remember how miraculous tiny babies are. My sister-in-law in Naples had a little girl about a month after my sister, but she’s number six in her family. She’s no less miraculous, but by now yawns and hiccups are ho-hum. What was fun about that visit was seeing how loved a baby in a big family can be. That little one has learned the “I’m bored, come love me” cry perfectly. She wails loudly and tearlessly for about thirty seconds, or until one of her brothers comes to pay her some attention. I picked her up after hearing this alarming sound when I first arrived, and she quieted immediately. I had a good chuckle, realizing how smart little humans are.

These visits, in addition to my stop in Sarasota to meet with my midwife for a check-up and to hear our baby’s heartbeat, reaffirmed my desire to do this whole baby thing again. The logistics, however, are a bit tricky. Plan A entails bringing the boat back to the Tampa Bay area in March, plugging the boat into a dock and waiting comfortably, near friends and family, for the baby’s arrival. Or, we can do like we did last time, and leave for a “two week’s vacation” and not come back. I guess that would be plan B. People have babies everywhere, right?  We’ve pretty much abandoned plan C, which was to go straight to Panama and have a baby there. That seemed a bit premature. We are eventually headed that direction, but we were planning a leisurely trek through the Caribbean island-hopping before we spend our time there, possibly preparing to go through the Canal.

The biggest hindrance to our happy-go-lucky attitude is our desire to have this baby naturally. People are always suggesting locations where we might find “U.S. style medicine,” but that’s exactly what we are hoping to avoid! Ideally, we would stop a couple months before the baby is due, find a local midwife, have the baby in a birth center or similar location, with as few interventions as possible, and recover at home. The birth center in Sarasota represents the perfect scenario for us, as it is homey, but away from home, close to a hospital if there’s an emergency and completely supportive of a natural, drug-free birth. It’s just a little hard to get to from, say, the Bahamas.

Although the other four children were born in a hospital setting, I always had midwives and always insisted on the nurses leaving me alone as much as admissible—fewer needles, fewer monitors, fewer, or no drugs. I’ve had good experiences, although I come off as a bit of a troublemaker. The average American woman arrives at the hospital, asks for her epidural and promptly falls asleep through the first part of labor. They are docile and need minimal help. The natural mom, on the other hand, requires constant companionship, and can be demanding of time and attention, always wanting to change positions, go for walks, labor in the shower, and so forth. She never just lies there, waiting for a baby to show up. It’s called labor for a reason! Of course, those that opt for a less painful birth may pay a price (and not just financially), since one intervention often leads to another (not to mention the risks of paralysis or spinal headache). An epidural can slow labor, requiring a drug to speed it up again. Sometimes the baby objects to this drug and appears distressed, and suddenly, what was a natural, normal process becomes a medical emergency requiring invasive surgery. The U.S. has abysmal rates of C-section, and also high infant mortality among developed nations, and much of this is due to the medicalization of childbirth. Of course there are lives saved by C-sections, but some are also unnecessarily lost.

What does all of this have to do with a life afloat? It is yet another aspect of a similar theme: we desire to do things thoughtfully, not just be a part of a system, to take responsibility for our lives and health, to be self-sufficient while recognizing our interconnectedness with life on this planet. Everything we do, including raising children, fits into this schema.

How can we make a thoughtful plan, but then ultimately leave the outcome to chance? It requires faith in Providence. We will make the best decision we can based on the variables of which we are aware, but be open to a different approach that may be better than we could have planned. For now, plan A is in motion, but we shall have to wait and see if our path leads that way or to another, as yet unknown plan.

SeaTalk NMEA Bridge

by on in Product Review

The Raymarine ST 60 Wind instruments can calculate the TrueWind Speed (TWS) and True Wind Angle (TWA) from the apparent wind data (AWS& AWA) and the boat’s speed. 
Unfortunately, they’ll only do this from the speed as measured by apaddlewheel in the water.  This measures theboat's speed through the water and is itself an apparent measurement, as opposed tothe true Speed Over Ground (SOG) that can be obtained from a GPS receiver. 

There is some disagreement among sailors as to whether thetrue or apparent speed should be used for the true wind calculation. 
Frankly, I think those using an apparent speed definition are from oldersources that haven’t fully incorporated the changes that GPS has made tonavigation.  For my boat, I want to usethe SOG in the TWS calculation.  I alsowant to see the SOG displayed on my other Raymarine instruments that are designedfor the paddlewheel.

Opinions true vs. apparent aside, Take Two’s paddlewheel is not accurate and I’vebeen unable to calibrate it.  I think theproblem may be because of water turbulence where it is mounted.  Keeping the paddlewheel in the water all thetime gets it fouled with growth and swapping it in and out with a plug getswater in an otherwise dry bilge.

The solution that works for me is a SeaTalk NMEA Bridgefrom gadgetPool.de.  Its primary purposeis to translate sentences between a standard NMEA instrument network, and Raymarine’sproprietary SeaTalk network.  I don’treally need it for this purpose, but it has a very nice feature to specificallyaddress the speed problem.  When the optionis enabled, the bridge can translate the SOG sentence from the NMEA network intothe SeaTalk sentence from the paddlewheel. 
This effectively tricks the Raymarine instruments into using the GPSspeed. 

I’ve been using it for about a year now and it works well.

Torpedo With Teeth

by on in Recipes

There are plenty of things to fear in the water, but fortunately I’ve never seen them. The closest I’ve come is a large tiger shark I saw from the deck of my father’s boat when I was younger. My memory could be flawed, but I remember it being about 10 feet. It was certainly a big one. That was on the Gulf side in the Florida Keys, which is relatively shallow water, so it was strange to see such a big shark there. It just goes to show that sharks are everywhere.

Different species have different dispositions. Understanding those can help you interpret the creature’s behavior and determine if it has dangerous intentions. Bull sharks are just mean and will attack for no reason. Tiger sharks are perpetually hungry and not so choosy about what they eat. Great Whites have a bad reputation because of the Jaws movie, but probably only bite humans in cases of mistaken identity. That pretty much covers the man-eaters. We would clear the water immediately if we saw any of those.

Other sharks we take on a case-by-case basis. Nurse sharks are generally harmless if you leave them alone. Most sharks I’ve seen in the water are small and afraid of me. I’m sure the bigger ones are out there, but have no interest in us and stay clear. If we happen to spear a fish, however, that definitely interests them and we’ll move to a new spot.

I teach my kids that barracuda are harmless. They are so common that it would be silly to fear them; you’d never go in the water. I tell the kids barracuda are dumb, don’t see very well, and are just curious about what you’re doing. They seem to just hang in the water a short distance away and watch. They look aggressive, like a torpedo with teeth, but I had not heard of any barracuda attacking people the way sharks sometimes do. Conventional wisdom to avoid trouble with barracuda is to not wear jewelry or anything shiny or sparkly.

So it was a little disconcerting when a 4-foot cuda charged me yesterday. I didn’t see it, but our friend Ken did. I was at the back of the boat handing up my gear and about to get out, when I heard Ken call for everybody to get out. I assumed that he had seen a shark, was being cautious, and that there was no immediate danger. Since we had kids in the water, my first thought was to round them up and bring them in first. But then Ken reiterated more urgently that I should get out immediately. That was all I needed and hopped straight out.

When we had everyone back aboard, he explained that he had seen a large barracuda charge at my fins and it only veered away within inches of striking. Neither of us had seen that kind of behavior before and that’s what led him to get everyone out. Upon examining my fins to see what could be so interesting, I realized that the logo painted on them is somewhat iridescent and shiny. It seems I unknowingly broke Rule #1 for barracuda. Needless to say, I scratched that paint right off.

 

Raymarine ST 60 Wind Instruments

by on in Recipes

I added a new instrument display to the boat recently — a repeater for the existing wind instruments.  The master display is outside at the helm station, and I wanted to be able to see this information inside.  There is also a ST 60 CH Wind (close hauled) repeater at the helm that displays the forward wind directions on a larger scale.

It should have been as simple as plugging the new display into the instrument network, and it was, except the analog direction needle was off by about 150 degrees.  Through the course of getting this solved, I learned a few things about these instruments.

The first thing I did was get out the book.  The book talked about “linearising” the instrument to the transducer (wind vane), and then calibrating it to the wind direction, but does not go into a lot of detail about what either of these things mean.  And it says nothing about repeaters.  

I did play with the calibration and noticed that when I changed it, it was changed on all the instruments, not just the one I was calibrating.  So I could make one right, but then the other two would be wrong.  I reset them all to factory defaults, which essentially removes any calibration factor, but that didn’t help.

Since linearizing requires taking the boat out and turning it in circles, and since I couldn’t understand how this would help, I called Raymarine Technical Support.  They confirmed that I really did need to go do the circles without elaborating on what that would actually do.  But since I was at their mercy, I went ahead and did it.  

It was both easy and hard, and utterly useless.  The book says you’re supposed to turn two circles.  In the middle of my first one, the instrument started beeping which is an indication of successful linearization.  How has that not happened before by accident?  Okay, great.  We’re done, right?  Wrong.  Now my master display was wrong, but not the same wrong as the new repeater.  The close hauled repeater, which is not actually connected to the vane, was still right.  Bizarre.  Further attempts to linearize failed.  I turned the instruments off and back on, did lots of circles, thought about it awhile, did more circles.  Nothing.

So I took the boat back in and called Raymarine again.  This time I talked to someone else, who apparently knew more about their products.  Linearizing is nice, but useless in this case.  What this does, I’ve figured out, is synchronize the needle to the vane.  The vane must send a signal when it is straight ahead and linearization must be the process of synchronizing the display to that signal.  Because there is no guarantee that the vane is actually straight relative to the boat, the calibration process allows the user to configure the master instrument to compensate for any physical difference.

None of this was the problem, however.  The tech support guy knew it wasn’t the problem, but he didn’t seem to know what the problem was.  He punted and sent me an internal technical document about how to put the instruments in self-test mode.  He was thinking I’d use the document to determine if the units were defective, but the document contained the solution.  

One of the self-test modes for the ST 60 Wind instrument allows a technician to adjust the display needle for each of the major graduations.  Basically the display says “I’m pointing at X degrees,” and the technician can adjust the needle direction until it actually points there.  

I did this for both the master display and the new repeater and now we’re all set.  It seems the vane was sending the correct direction, and the master was interpreting it correctly and putting the correct signals on the network (since the close hauled display was correct).  The new repeater was somehow “off” internally, and through the course of testing my master display got confused too.  Even though the displays had correct inputs, they had lost track of their needles and could not show it correctly.  

I did some Googling while trying to figure out this problem and did not find much information about “linearising” the wind transducer beyond what is mentioned in the book.  I also don’t see that the ST 60 Analog Instruments Service Manual is available anywhere publicly.  Maybe this will make it easier for others.

Lego-rama

by on in Product Review

If you have spent any time at all reading cruising magazines or looking at other boating family blogs, you by now realize that Lego bricks are the ultimate toy for children on boats. They are among the best toys for any child anywhere, but because of their compact size and endless creative possibilities, they provide hours of entertainment and exercise for small brains in the confining space of a boat. For rainy days and weekends they are indispensible. Our kids, if they had to pick one thing to take with them to a desert island, probably even before food, would pack the Lego bin.

My brother loved his Lego toys as a kid, too. Actually, he still loves his Lego collection, which is much improved and expanded. He sometimes even shares it with his four boys. Our boys’ collection, seen below, is quite small compared to the cousins,’ and it exists in a state of chaos. With a collection the size of my brother’s, a bin and a pile would be preposterous. Plus, they have two smaller kids that would be forever eating or choking on them. So they came up with this ingenious solution for organizing Lego and making playtime more productive and less frustrating. It worked so well, my brother decided to build and sell his sorting cabinet/building tables through a terrific website, BrikCrate.com.

Lego Room

He generously offered to build our boys a crate to mount in their cabin, but upon further reflection our boys looked at the trade-offs and decided against it. The two options are: find all your pieces easily and build quickly, then re-sort to clean up, which can be slow and laborious; or build slowly, searching for pieces in a pile, and clean up quickly with a dustpan for a shovel. Because our boys’ play space is also their sleeping space (they inflate/deflate their air bed depending on how they want to use the space), they opted for quick cleanup. This choice is not without cost. They are forever losing pieces; sometimes they fall out of the bed and roll into the bilge. And it can take all day to plan a project, search for the right pieces and build something. At least the collection is out of the way, either locked in the bin or up in their berth out of the reach of small children. But for other boat families, a BrikCrate might make a Lego collection easier to manage.

For families with a large or sprawling collection, a BrikCrate is an ideal solution. Each cabinet is hand-made of solid wood in my brother’s workshop and comes with drawers and customized labels. The cabinet has a hinged cover that folds down to become a table top with a locking support leg. The stools for sitting at the table also serve as storage for road plates or large pieces that don’t fit in the cabinet. While the crate may seem expensive, considering the price of electronic toys that turn kids’ brains to oatmeal, and how much more valuable an organized Lego collection is made, the price is well worth it. And for families with small siblings, the crate protects pieces and projects from grabby toddlers as well as protecting crawling infants from choking hazards.

This may seem a shameless bit of nepotism, but it’s actually a fantastic product, and considering how long Lego has been around, I can’t believe no one has thought of it before. In any case, you might like the website. In his “links” link he’s got a great stop-action film he made with Lego bricks and a web cam. Check it out at www.brikcrate.com.

The Jims

by on in Recipes

Aaron loves outboards, and he knows them all.  If he's seen a boat before, he can tell you what it has hanging on the back before you can see it.  He can tell you who is going past in the dark by the sound of the motor.  We first noticed this trait when he was a little guy.  He was into monster trucks then, and could identify all the pickup trucks he saw on the road.  And he loved tools.

We see our jobs as parents as helping the kids follow their natural interests.  We have no expectations that they will grow up to go to college to be doctors and lawyers.  No offense to anyone intended, but we think the world has enough doctors and lawyers.  What we really want for them is to be happy in whatever they choose to do.  And no matter what they do, we want the boys to learn a trade, to have a marketable skill and learn the value of hard work.

There is a father and son team of mechanics here in the anchorage.  We call them The Jims.  They buy broken outboards by the lot, tear them all down, fix what they can and resell them.  They do all this work in the cockpit of their boat.  They very graciously offered to let Aaron come by and watch sometime.  I wanted to go too, and took him over there.   It's something different every day over at the Jims'.  On his first day, Aaron rebuilt his first carburetor.

We go over there most days now.  When Aaron has finished his schoolwork, and I've done enough work to take some time off.  I'm learning, too.  Some days are slower than others and sometimes Aaron loses sight of the big picture.  He was not impressed one day to find them working on a small generator.  That motor had a broken connecting rod and they took the block completely apart to get to it.  It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.  After just a few weeks over at the Jims' I've learned more about motors than I ever learned from a book.

When our 25 turned up sick, what I'd seen at The Jims' gave me confidence to haul the motor into our cockpit and work on it myself.   I ended up not putting the carburetor back together quite the right way, and I had to limp over to the Jims' for help.  Through the course of tuning the carb and telling them what I'd found elsewhere, we determined that the motor had serious issues.  They thought the problems justified buying a new motor if I could afford it, or they'd help me fix it.  Of course I can afford a new motor.  The dinghy motor is one of our most critical pieces of equipment.  But there are no guarantees that a new motor isn't going to strand you somewhere, either.  In the end, Tanya and I decided that even if with money out of the equation, it is better to have a motor you know than one you don't.  So we're going to try to fix it.  If we can't, or it gets too messy, or it dies on us later, then we'll get a new one.  Probably in a different country where they still sell the good ones.

The Jims are clearly providing a valuable service to us and to Aaron, but it doesn't seem to be a one-way relationship.  They appear to truly appreciate having Aaron around.  Partially I think they enjoy passing on their knowledge and hard-earned experience.  It is rare these days to find a child who respects adults, and is interested in anything but video games.  Sure, he slows them down, but they don't mind.  Every day when we leave they invite us back.  And every morning when Aaron's finishes his schoolwork, he comes to tell me he's ready to go.

Scrubbing Bubbles

by on in Product Review

I've discovered a product to help keep my head clean. 

That would be the toilet on the boat, of course.  We flush with salt water and there are some unpleasant downsides to that.  We get scale buildup in the bowl and the hoses, and there is an odor which isn't directly attributable to the use of the device.  The scale problem we address periodically with couple good doses of muriatic acid.  That's my type of cleaning, but one must always be aware that what he's flushing is not actually leaving the boat right away.  Pete used to joke that I was going to turn my 50 gallon holding tank into a 50 foot holding tank.  The rest of the problem fell on the housekeeper, which wasn't fair.  It wasn't a clean problem, it was a water problem.

The solution came to me on the magic box during a business trip.  Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaner Gel.  It is a little gel turd that sticks to the side of the bowl.  The rinse water runs over the gel and carries the scrubby guys all over the inside.  I haven't seen the scrubby guys myself, but they were on the magic box so it must be true.  The gel lasts for about a week and then you put in another one.  We've been using it for about three weeks and the results so far are good.  Toilet looks cleaner, and smells MUCH cleaner.  In actuality it probably isn't, but who cares?  I'm willing to pretend.

Two things have to be considered when using chemicals like these.  First is how they'll react with our plumbing, and our plumbing isn't just pumps and hoses.  We have a septic tank after all, and there are little critters that live in there.  Those critters work on breaking down all the stuff we send them.  If they're alive and well and have lots of air (ironically) there shouldn't be much odor from the tank.  But if we kill them with the wrong chemicals, then its like living with a septic tank in the house.  Having used the Scrubbing Bubbles for three weeks with no apparent change to the tank, we're considering it a success. 

The second concern is what impact the chemicals will have if flushed overboard.  Considering all the other cleaners and detergents we routinely send overboard in our graywater, there probably isn't much additional impact, but it is still a good thing to think about.