31 October 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
10 October 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
03 October 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
24 September 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
13 September 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
09 September 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
04 September 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
28 August 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
21 August 2024 | Belmar Beach, NJ
11 August 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
24 July 2024 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
08 July 2024 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
25 June 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
12 June 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
03 June 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
25 May 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
21 May 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
12 May 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
09 May 2024 | Somers Cove, Crisfield, MD
01 May 2024 | St. Marys, GA
D4 Redux
11 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
Cap'n Chef Andy | Beginning of Spring
The inflatable (deflatable) dinghy I had bought was deteriorating. It had bottom seams separating. It is a West Marine branded dinghy made out of PVC. HH66 is the adhesive to reattach the seams. A friend had a similar problem and bought the same adhesive. I was waiting to hear from him how it worked out.
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I saw a chined hard dinghy in the boatyard that reminded me of the D4 dinghy that I had built using Chinese plywood that eventually fell apart. I abused it and maybe could have preserved it better. Geoff the chemist sent me a highlighted spec sheet on the “Revolution” plywood. Basically it said not waterproof although it is designated for underlayment in tiled bathrooms.
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It took a long time to build that boat and I thought it would be easier and quicker to not build it with enclosed foam under the seats. I thought I would have made seat stringers inboard along both hull sides and just fasten the seats to them. The original had bulkheads supporting the seats. I supposed some strengthening cross strips, maybe 1X2 would be enough to strengthen the seats. Alternatively I could build it with just one central seat that uses a centerboard case to help support it.
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Komputer Ken had a little project of pumping rainwater out of a boat on the other side of the boatyard and I went to help him. We brought a length of garden hose to set up a siphon. The water was above the floor boards and had a slick of diesel on it. The siphon didn’t work, perhaps there was an air leak in the hose somewhere. We used cordless tool batteries and a bilge pump with hose attached. We were able to bring the level of the water below the floorboards before the batteries died. I was the volunteer who waded around in that mess with my pants jammed up above my knees. My legs were covered with bilge oil and crap. I biked to the communal shower like that and washed that stuff off. No good deed goes unpunished.
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My friend who repaired his inflatable with HH66 adhesive said he was afraid to take it out on the water. He had the same problem as we do, the bottom was separating from the flotation tubes. If the bottom comes off you are in a giant odd shaped inner tube.
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Venus de Milo Restaurant which has gone under was known for its soups and chowders. I noticed their clam chowder recipe used equal parts of onion and celery, so I made a batch. I started by rendering a half pound of bacon, minced, then adding about 4 cups of celery and 4 cups of onion. I added the juice from 3 cans of baby clams, 3 bay leaves, two tbsp of better than bouillon, chicken base. When the veggies were tender I added a quart of half and half and when that came just to a boil I added 8oz of clam juice with two tbsp of corn starch. Mix and when it thickens add the clams and turn off the heat. Dust with fresh black pepper. There are no potatoes and no water.
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Chesapeake Light Craft has a nice pram dinghy design that I will borrow the shape of the seats from. The D4 dinghy has plain straight edged seats that are simple and look so. The CLC Eastport pram has nice curved edges. That little change makes the dinghy look more like a piece of fine furniture.
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I went back in the blog to look at the dinghy construction, Spring of 2018. It looked like 21 days instead of 20 hours. Of course I was doing other things. If I can make one in two weeks, that would be a big plus. The blogpost starts at: https://www.sailblogs.com/admin/blog_manager/post_edit.php?xjMsgID=440809.
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The image is copied from clcboats.com, Eastport Pram, a dinghy kit with precut parts.