______________________ MARINER'S DINGHY (4) _______________________

It seems a bit like the monsoon season here is Whangarei at the moment so what better way to spend my time than to continue the work I have started on restoring Mariners big dinghy.

After having sanded the outside of the hull I have turned the dinghy upright, sanded the inside, removed the central thwart, stern and bow knees and the internal sheer planks all of which require replacing.

It has become a tricky job replacing the sheer planks as the planks have to twist and bend in two directions to fit. To bend the planks without breaking them I have cut them in half length ways and are fitting them one length at a time. The photo show the second (lower) starboard internal sheer plank glued and cramped in position. The port side is awaiting its two piece fit.

After the sheer planks are glued and glassed in place I will laminate in four sets of ribs which will stiffen up the hull and stop it flexing. The ribs will also provide support for some wooden floor boards; something the dinghy hasn't had before.
 
On this renovation I have realised yet again - you can never have too many G - cramps!

 

______________________ MARINER'S DINGHY (1) _______________________

 

 [ This story was posted in April. I have re - dated this post and re - posted it here to give some continuity to the  'MARINERS DINGHY (4)' post (above) ]

Shipmates in April I bought Mariners fiberglass dinghy home. She's a big stable useful workhorse that I will miss using. I have temporarily replaced her with another smaller dinghy while I do some much needed maintenance. She has suffered being permanently moored to the launching pontoon. She gets knocked around by other pontoon users and has to constantly contend with the weather.

 The new dinghy trailer came in useful to get her home.

The gunwales on both sides been severely compressed which has split the fiberglass hull away and opened up the wooden gunwales to the weather.

 The wooden knee in the bow has rotted out due to water ingress.

 The support for the central rowing thwart needs replacing.

This single reinforcing rib is broken in about six places. To stop the whole hull from flexing I will repair this one and add a few more.

At both sides of the stern sections at the sheer level water has rotted out the wooden reinforcing.

There are four raised rowlock pads that will require replacing.

Having another dinghy at the pontoon ready to go means the much delayed winter work on Mariner will not be delayed due to dinghy repairs. 

I will wash, clean and sand the whole hull before chocking her off on a set of saw horses in the carport so that when the winter rains begin I will be able to get on with the repairs. There's never a dull moment Shipmates.

___________________________ SCAMP (2) _____________________________

This is a picture of the modified Scamp design that is being prepared for a journey through the area of the Magellan Straits and around Cape Horn. In my previous blog [Scamp (1)] I voiced some misgivings about the lugsail rig. I still have those reservations about the lugsail but its not really a big deal. The lugsail is very simple and handy and I would be happy to give this rig a try. But here is the  option for those who share my inclinations for a more 'conventional' rig. It's 'Southern Cross's Ketch rig - which to my eyes looks aesthetically (though not technically) rather like a Yawl.

___________________________ SCAMP (1) _____________________________

This little ship is, I am sure, well known to small boat aficionados. She is 'Scamp' designed by New Zealander John Wellsford. 

Scamp has been described variously as "Truncated", "A little pig like in looks" and "Somewhat amputated". The people I have heard describing 'Scamp' in this manner have all made these remarks whilst totally transfixed with 'that' glazed look in their eyes. None of them were damning 'Scamp' with faint praise, they were all too busy falling in love with 'Scamps' abundant possibilities; and 'Scamp' has this in spades.

To my eyes she is the logical outcome of putting a sail and a small cuddy cabin on an oversized pram dinghy. I think her looks are attractively quirky and immensely enticing. She contains the paradox of something the size of a shoe box providing commodious day sailing and camping type over-nighting accommodation. Her possibilities are endless. As I type this there is someone sailing one around Cape Horn. She is an Everest of adventure in a small boat just one inch under 12 feet in length (3.63m).

Tumblehome designed into the stern avoids a 'boxy' look.

The unstayed lugsail rig is simplicity itself.

The small recessed cuddy provides shelter. With a tent over the boom the cockpit becomes somewhere to sleep.

Commodious cockpit.

It's 'Swallows and Amazons' revisited - (Albeit to date mainly with us older guys).
This is a very popular design with many being amateur built. She is also now commercially built in GRP.

My only misgiving about this design is the lug sail rig - despite the fact that I am aware how this rig contributes to the boats simplicity and ease of handling:

The mains'l forms a nice aerofoil shape on one tack but when going over onto the other tack the sail shape becomes compromised  by the imposition of the mast cutting across the sail. I always like to sail my boats as efficiently as possible whether cruising or racing and I think on one tack I would find things a bit annoying.  I think I would prefer a mains'l attached to the rear of the mast. I am aware that the front of the lug mains'l acts as a proxy jib of sorts and that altering the rig alters the center of effort and perhaps the position of the mast; but to obtain an efficient mains'l on both tacks I would be prepared to trade off absolute lug sail simplicity with a 'normal' mains'l and a small jib on a short bowsprit. I have seen a photograph of a 'Scamp' rigged as a yawl with mizzen, main and jib with bowsprit looking in proportion and well balanced (but of course with simplicity compromised). Other than this point I think she is a great little boat!

Here is a link to a great Blog about building the Scamp:

http://woodnmetalguy.blogspot.co.nz/

Go to the Blog Archive on this page and click the Blogs first page in December 2013 where the log of  building a 'Scamp' design begins.

Here are another couple of good links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCAMP_(boat)

http://smallcraftadvisor.com/

______ Banned TED Talk: Nick Hanauer "Rich people don't create jobs" _____

Via Business Insider: "As the war over income inequality wages on, super-rich Seattle entrepreneur Nick Hanauer has been raising the hackles of his fellow 1-percenters, espousing the contrarian argument that rich people don't actually create jobs. The position is controversial — so much so that TED is refusing to post a talk that Hanauer gave on the subject. National Journal reports today that TED officials decided not to put Hanauer's March 1 speech up online after deeming his remarks "too politically controversial" for the site...".

This banned TED talk goes some way to explain the disenchantment of middle America with the reality of the policies of Americas' political and economic elites. Nick Hanauers talk exposes the vacuousness of the economic neo-liberal lie. The focus of this rage and disenchantment can be seen in the current round of presidential elections which is turning out to be both dangerous and unpredictable.

Wild Horses can’t keep Kathleen Jenkins from singing | Week 3 Auditions ...

I watched 'Britains Got Talent' on the telly last week. Each performance is an individual personal drama with much at stake. The personal hopes and dreams of the performer hangs by a thread. Such a context is ready made for television. I found this performance particularly moving. As is often said, "There wasn't a dry eye left in the house".

___________________ Whangarei Weather In May _______________________

Nah.... This is actually Iceland; which is how it feels here in Whangarei at the moment ........ Iceland.

_________________________ POSITIVE THINGS ________________________

If you watch and listen to the daily news you could convince yourself that the world has gone completely stark raving mad. But happily among the mayhem and madness most of the world continues to live productive and positive lives; working, creating and generally enjoying themselves as they live out their own truth and make the most of the context they live in.

I came across this video and thought it expresses something of that continuity.
I like the name of this lovely little ship. 

___________ SOUTHERN SOJOURN (7) #Royalcam live stream ____________

I am jumping ahead here a little on my Southern Sojourn story. I was prompted to do this post by a news item on last nights TV One News. This is  24 / 7 'Live Cam' coverage of a Royal Albatross chick (and from time to time its parents) on Tiaroa Head at the entrance to Dunedin Harbour. To date it is not known whether it is a boy or a girl Albatross.

What you are seeing in the live cam shots is the harbour stretching inland in a south westerly direction towards Dunedin city in the distance. If you turned the 'Live Cam' 180 degrees in the opposite direction you would be looking eastwards to the seaward side of the headland and the Pacific Ocean.

I was in Dunedin 5 weeks ago and shot this photograph (below) of Tiaroa Headland from the seaward side. The Albatross chick is sited to the left of Tiaroa Head Lighthouse.

If you would like to officially name this Royal Albatross you can enter a competition to do so here: http://www.doc.govt.nz/namethechick If you win you get to fly to Dunedin to see the growing chick.

If you enter the competition remember you can't name the big bird ' (Sir / Dame) Alby Fleetwing Pelagic' as I have entered this name myself:

Sir / Dame ? - Alby is of course a 'Royal' Albatross - having a Knighthood and a Royal Warrant from her majesty to fly in the Southern Ocean as a Royal Albatross.... but Alby is definitely not a member of the Royal family.

Alby? - Short for Albatross (You knew that of course).

Fleetwing? - Two reasons. 1 - An Albatross is very fleet of wing i.e fast and nimble when flying. 2 - The word 'Fleet' makes a passing reference to the wonderful music of the band Fleetwood Mac and their great guitar work 'Albatross'.

Pelagic? - An Albatross is a 'Pelagic' bird. Apart from times of breeding and raising chicks, it lives and has its being in the open sea.

FLEETWOOD MAC - ALBATROSS

______________________ SOUTHERN SOJOURN (6) ______________________

Bill Richardson's Transport World is an interesting visit if you are in the deep south of Southland New Zealand. Apparently this transport museum is the largest private collection of it's type in the world. It is a privately owned collection of over 300 trucks and 150 petrol bowsers, a significant Henry Ford car, a V8 collection, VW Kombis, Pedal Cars, Wearable Arts and much more displayed under cover in over 10,000sqm of sheds.

I thought with a few modifications that this old North American petrol tanker would make quite a nice campervan.

Another option would be to fill it up with petrol and see how far you could drive it before you needed to refill it.

 1907 Ford touring car.

 1950s Ford Thunderbird (Left and a similar vintage Plymouth (Or is it a Chrysler?).

This is either a Cadillac, a Studebaker, an Impala or a Ford Fairlane. I am sure someone out there knows.

 One of Mr Henry Ford's cars that started it all.

My Standard 6 teacher Bill Liddy drove a grey coloured V8 Coupe just like this. He wasn't very impressed in 1964 when we used a couple of pieces of cardboard and some crayons and fitted a set of "L" plates to his car. Mr Liddy who was a great and influential teacher of mine drove a long wheel based truck version of this car in North Africa during WW2 during his time with the Long Range Desert Group.

 They don't make them like they used to. This is what I call a real Ute.

 I could put a sailing dinghy and a whole lot of other kit besides on one of these.

 A Bevy of V8 coupes to choose from and so shiny I almost had to put on my sunglasses.

A very red pedal car from a large collection that was on display.

 Another excellent example of a 1950s Ford Ute.

 In the 1940s there would have been fleets of these buses serving various towns and cities in NZ.

 The red truck on the left completed its working life in Mossburn in Southland.

 Yes, I am tempted to make a silly remark.

 Otautau is a small town in Southland.

 An old timer from the town of Clyde. I am old enough to remember the brown number plates.

 Early example of a Nissan diesel heavy haulage truck.

A rumble seat (American English), dicky seat, dickie seat or dickey seat (British English), also called a mother - in - law seat, is an unholstered exterior seat which folds into the rear deck of a two seat pre - World War 11 automobile, and seats one or two passengers. When unoccupied, the space under the seat's lid could be used for storing luggage..........

............. I know all of this because I looked it up on Wikipedia (So it MUST be true).

If you are in Invercargill Southland, New Zealand then this Museum is worth a visit.

______________________ SOUTHERN SOJOURN (5) ______________________

In the main street of Invercargill NZ is E. Hayes and Sons Ltd which is a hardware, homeware and giftware shop. It is also a museum of sorts. 

E Hayes and Sons Ltd contains among its staple retail fare a generous display of not only memorabilia from the film 'THE WORLDS FASTEST INDIAN' but a number of old cars and motorcycles spanning the 20th century. 

 

Burt Munroe's original Indian motorcycle (above) is kept within a glass case (hence the reflection in the photo).

A streamlined replica of the outer shell that the motorbike is placed into for its record breaking runs on the Salt Flats in the USA.

This old Chevrolet was used by the actor Anthony Hopkins (who played the motorcyclist Bert Munro) to tow the worlds fastest Indian motorbike to the Bonneville Salt Flats.

A rather nice early Indian motorbike.

This is an Ariel 'Square Four' which I remember from the old Christchurch days. They were used by the local Traffic 'Cops'. There was a distinctive black radio box with an aerial mounted on top behind the seat. I can remember being stopped a couple of times on my Triumph Tiger 200 to discuss exemplars of motorcycle riding.
 

I think this is an early Model T Ford, but I am willing to be corrected.

A beautiful 1950s Ford Thunderbird - I'll have two please.

One of the stores early delivery vans.

 

E Hayes is now a 'Hammer Hardware' franchise. If you are passing through Invercargill the shop and museum is well worth a visit.