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| rec.boats Frequently Asked Questions (Part 3 of 5) |
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Posted-By: auto-faq 2.4
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I now have further information about a couple of other boats:
45
Medium-sized powerboat (as I recall), used a good deal. The "Access"
item may be "accessories"_I cannot recall.
Payment Fuel Repair Maint Access Moor Insur TOTALS
March $284 $251 $10 $343 $470 $120 $25 $1,503
April $284 $262 $882 $240 $1,687 $120 $25 $3,500
May $284 $218 $3,905 $18 $71 $120 $25 $4,641
June $284 $384 $0 $8 $126 $120 $25 $947
July $284 $838 $34 $4 $106 $120 $25 $1,411
Aug $284 $94 $119 $39 $232 $145 $25 $938
Sept $284 $395 $0 $3 $19 $145 $25 $871
Oct $284 $0 $0 $18 $0 $145 $25 $472
Nov $284 $92 $17 $0 $0 $145 $25 $563
Dec $284 $141 $0 $0 $0 $145 $25 $595
Jan $284 $0 $0 $55 $359 $145 $25 $868
Feb $284 $335 $9 $371 $13 $145 $25 $1,182
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS $3,408 $3,010 $4,976 $1,099 $3,083 $1,615 $300
ANNUAL TOTAL $17,491 AVERAGE MONTHLY $1,458
________________________________________________________________________
And for another sailboat:
We're under $1,000 a month for a 39' sailboat at the Shilshole Bay
Marina in Seattle.
And one more:
I don't have monthly totals, but the following are my yearly totals for a
22' commercial dory with an 88 h.p. outboard ...
Licensing fees: Fish and Wildlife 450.00
NOAA Marine mammal exemption 30.00
F.C.C. Operators license 35.00
_______
total: $550.00
Maintenance and upkeep: $2884.50
total fuel consumption: 534.6 gallons $787.22
total tackle expenses $825.32
46
_________
Grand total: $5047.04
I fished the boat an average of three days a week (some weeks more,
others less) and I grossed $3372.06 last year. That brought my total
expenditure for eight months of fishing (and boating on the Pacific) to
about $2700. That gives me a monthly average of about $225/month.
My insurance (for an ocean going commercial fishing vessel) was $236 for
1992. That will go up to $242 this year.
And one more:
OK, how's this for cheap: A friend of mine and I bought a used DaySailer
for somewhat less than $3000 last summer and during the fall sailing
season, we spent less than $300 total on maintenance, which included a
new battery for our trolling motor, various rigging upgrades, a new trailer
wheel, grease for the trailer wheels, and a new anchor. We've spent $70
pre-season this year for a reef point and other than new bearings on the
trailer, we're ready to go. OK, so we don't do blue-water sailing, but it
gets us out on the water on the weekends. :-)
And another detailed one from William Courington:
I can hardly believe I'm doing this in public, the numbers are so sobering.
But here's the cost for Lively in 1993. She's is a modified Olson30
sailboat in San Francisco, maintained to a pretty high standard by an
owner who generally values convenience/quality/time over cost.
This year's major optional expense was revarnishing the interior. (Eleven
years old, and quite thin, it wasn't *that* optional-especially considering
that birch ply turns black when it gets wet.) Unlike the three previous
years there were no new sails, no new engine, no new rigging to speak of.
Maybe a typical year in the life of a sailboat.
Note how a few big items dominate each category.
Grand Total $8700.62
Maintenance Total $4823.61
Major Items
Engine Service 434.13 By pros
Bottom Paint Job 1001.39 By yard
Monthly Bottom Clean 261.20 By pro
47
Interior Varnish Job 2473.41 By pros
Ext. Varnish Supplies 380.23 Incl. heat gun, scrapers
Of Total 94%
Misc. Total $ 581.13 Books, etc.
Major Item
Insurance 448.00
Of Total 77%
Slip $2700.00
Upgrades Total $ 595.88 Things not broken or required
Major Items
Vberth Covers 308.51
Seacook Stove 213.12 (Great 1 burner gimballed stove!)
Of Total 87%
Let me also add a remark from Mike Hughes: People waste time, effort
and money on all kinds of things that don't make sense when by owning a
boat one can consolidate and waste them all on one thing.
Think about that before you ever consider owning a boat as an
investment.
Two more interesting facts on this whole issue:
Some years ago I plotted (length, price) for 200 used fiberglass sailboats
(19-50ft) on log-log paper and found a pretty good straight line (scatter
was about a factor of 2 in price). The plot indicated that the price varied
as the 3.6 power of the overall length. It implies that a factor of 2 in
length is about a factor of 10 in price. (pk).
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this, but sailboats, like any other
precious commodity, are sold per unit of mass, not size. My rule of thumb
is that new fiberglass sailboats cost $10 per pound displacement. This
holds (relatively) true from 12 feet to 90 feet. This does not generate
accurate numbers, but gets you in the ballpark. (tf)
48
5.7 Who can tell me about boat X?
Various people on the net know about their own boats and seem to be
willing to talk. Here is a list of boat types, e-mail addresses, and names.
Alberg 30 bobp@sandr.com Bob Parkinson
Alberg 37 jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
Albin Vega 27 gucpe@gd.chalmers.se Peter Gustafsson
Albin Vega 27 currier@ctron.com Tom Currier
Beneteau First 235 lastra@cs.unc.edu Anselmo Lastra
First 405 & 456 gucpe@gd.chalmers.se Peter Gustafsson
C"&C 32 kell@mprgate.mpr.ca Dave Kell
Cal 20 stefan@sunrise.stanford.edu Stefan Michalowski
Cal 20 hchan@well.sf.ca.us Hoover Chan
Cascade 29 lgbarker@teleport.com Larry Barker
Catalina 27 wms@spin.ho.att.com Wayne Simpson
Catalina 25 bobp@sandr.com Bob Parkinson
Cotuit Skiff bobp@sandr.com Bob Parkinson
Cotuit Skiff BroadwayPl@aol.com Kip Gould
Coronado 15 steve@test490.pac.sc.ti.com Steve Comen
Crealock 37 marc@dwp.la.ca.us Marc Hall
CS 33 dgm@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca David G. Macneil
CSY-44 GERMAIN@CDHF2.GSFC.NASA.GOV Andy Germain
DN Iceboat jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
Dovekie jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
Drascombe Coaster lastra@cs.unc.edu Anselmo Lastra
Ericson 27 haggart@SLAC.STANFORD.EDU Craig Haggart
Etchells 22 ross@geac.com Ross Morrissey
Flying Dutchman guido@blink.att.com Guido Bertucci
Gulfstar 37 larry@pdn.paradyne.com Larry Swift
Herreschoff 12 jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
HinkleyIslander bobp@sandr.com Bob Parkinson
J/24 roy@wombat.phri.nyu.edu Roy Smith
J-30 jmruzzi@tasc.com Joe Ruzzi
Jeanneau 31 crossle1@cc.swarthmore.edu Cindy Rossley
Laser 28 JMHBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Jim Howell
MacGregor 19 WILCOX@LCC.STONEHILL.EDU Russ Wilcox
MacGregor 25 kell@mprgate.mpr.ca Dave Kell
MacGregor 26 lgbarker@teleport.com Larry Barker
Mercer 44 jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
Olson 25 stefan@sunrise.stanford.edu Stefan Michalowski
Puddleduck pram bobp@sandr.com Bob Parkinson
R 2.4 (mini-12) gucpe@gd.chalmers.se Peter Gustafsson
Swan 36 tpl@ces.cwru.edu Tom Lightbody
49
Stone Horse jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
Thunderbird ross@geac.com Ross Morrissey
Thistle sblair@tivoli.com Steve Blair
Tige' 2002 Fslm comp wwalker@qualcomm.com Bill Walker
Tornado jfh@cs.brown.edu John Hughes
PearsonVanguard scfisher@oasys.dt.navy.mil Steve Fisher
Shannon 43 KetchJMHBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Jim Howell
Sonar spencer@panix.com David Spencer
Westerly SealordJMHBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU Jim Howell
5.8 What are the laws about boats...?
The FCC form order answering machine is (202) 418 36766 and the
human operated info line is (202) 632 3337. Call these numbers to get info
about getting a VHF license. (dk1)
You can learn about operating procedures for your VHF radio from
Chapman's (see the bibliography). One essential rule: Channel 16 is for
commercial hailing and distress calls. Hailing by recreational vessels is
now supposed to happen on Channel 9.
You are required to carry adequate saftey devices for your boat. What is
deemed adequate varies by size. Most marine stores have a pretty good
idea what's the minimum. Once again, Chapman's can give you details.
There are no "licenses" for boating in the US_you can buy the biggest,
fastest boat on earth and do whatever you want with it, as long as it's
recreational and you do not carry passengers or freight for hire, and you
abide by the various marine laws that apply. Prudence dictates that you
should learn how to operate your vessel before you start out. Note that
many states have begun enforcing Boating While Intoxicated laws, and
that some have begun enforcing speed limits. See the additional material
below.
If you want to operate a marine radio from your boat, you need a station
license. Generally a license application is packaged with each radio set,
and all radio dealers carry applications. If you are licensing any marine
radios, the first will be a VHF set for "local" communications ( <30 miles)
with 2-25 watt output. Marine radios must be "type accepted" which
means you can not build it yourself, or modify a CB, commercial, or ham
set. Pleasure boaters do not need a radio operator's license. (wv)
50
In general, boat registration laws and fees vary from state to state.
Usually a boat dealer or the local state police detachment is a good
starting point for specifics. (wv)
To carry any passengers for hire you need a Coast Guard license. Before
you can even take the required written exam(s) you need documentary
evidence of a full year (365 days) of boating experience. Licenses come in
several categories. To carry more than six passengers for hire, the boat
must also be inspected by the Coast Guard. Fines for violations are quite
high. (wv)
Courtesy of Terry Steinford, we have the following long and thorough
essay about carrying passengers, etc.: (tls@gate.net)
Some of the requirements for carrying passengers, chartering and licensing
were changed about a year ago.
Self-propelled vessels that carry any passengers for hire are required to be
operated by a Coast Guard licensed operator. If the vessel carries more
than 6 passengers, at least one of which is a passenger for hire, the vessel
is required to be inspected by the Coast Guard as a commercial passenger
vessel.
A pure sail vessel under 100 gross tons carrying up to 6 passengers is not
required to have a licensed operator. Way back in ancient history, pure
sail vessels up to 700 gross tons carrying passengers were not required to
be inspected, but that loophole was eliminated years ago.
The minimum license is the Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels
(OUPV), formerly known as the Motorboat Operator or 6-pack license.
Inspected vessels require a licensed Master with the appropriate tonnage
and geographical route. All OUPV licenses are valid for vessels up to 100
gross tons. The "near coastal" route is up to 100 miles offshore. "Inland"
is most waters that are a lake, bay or sound on a chart. The dividing line
between near coastal and inland is based on geography, not the rules of
the road.
On December 20, 1993 the President signed the Passenger Vessel Safety
Act of 1993 (public law 103-206), changing the legal requirements for
passenger and charter operations. The act establishes for the first time
the definition of passenger for hire and requires many vessels operating
under bareboat charter to be inspected by the Coast Guard as commercial
passenger vessels. The law also changes the inspection requirements for
certain vessels over 100 gross tons.
The new law has relaxed the prior strict treatment of situations were a
51
guest provided food or chipped in for expenses. Previous law treated such
such guests as passengers, requiring operator licenses and possibly vessel
inspection.
Under the new law a passenger for hire is is a passenger for whom
consideration is contributed as a condition of carriage on the vessel,
whether directly or indirectly flowing to the owner, charterer, agent or
any other persons having an interest in the vessel.
Consideration is an economic benefit, inducement, right or profit
including pecuniary payment accruing to an individual, person, or entity,
but not including a voluntary sharing of the actual expenses of the voyage
by monetary contribution or donation of fuel, food, beverage or other
supplies.
Previously, vessels operating under legitimate bareboat or demise charters
were not required to meet the commercial passenger vessel standards.
Some vessels operating under charter are carrying hundreds of persons
and are in direct competition with commercial passenger vessels meeting
the Coast Guard inspection and licensing requirements. Under a
legitimate bareboat charter the vessel is in essence "sold" to the charterer
for the duration of the charter, hence the people carried aboard were not
passengers for hire. In some cases the charterer may not have been aware
of his legal liabilities during the charter. Unsuspecting passengers may not
have been aware that they were sailing on a vessel that did not meet the
same safety equipment and design standards as a regular passenger vessel.
Congress has acted to remove these differences for charter vessels carrying
more than 12, or in some cases 6 passengers.
The following vessels are required to be inspected by the Coast Guard:
(1) if under 100 gross tons:
(a) carrying more than 6 passengers, including at least 1 for
hire, or
(b) chartered with crew provided or specified by owner and
carrying more than 6 passengers, or
(c) chartered and carrying more than 12 passengers, or
(d) submersible vessels carrying 1 or more passengers for hire
(2) if 100 gross tons or over:
(a) carrying more than 12 passengers, including at least 1 for
hire, or
(b) chartered and carrying more than 12 passengers, or
(c) submersible vessels carrying 1 or more passengers for hire
52
An uninspected vessel that carries not more than 6 passenger for hire is
required to carry the safety equipment in Subchapter C of Tile 46 of the
Code of Federal Regulations. The requirements are generally the same as
for a recreational vessel of the same length, except that all life jackets
must be Type I commercial style.
There are no federal requirements for insurance for these vessels. Local
government agencies may require business or occupational licenses,
including insurance or bonds.
5.9 What's a formula for top speed?
The answer, verbatim from mp, is:
The formula yacht designers use is called Crouch's formula.
It takes into account the weight and horsepower at the
propeller, and assumes a 50"% to 60"% efficient prop.
Most props fall into this range. Note that it doesn't take
into account the boat length, as that doesn't matter with
planing boats.
Crouch's Formula
V = C/((DISP/HP)**.5)
Where V = boat speed in knots (1 knot=1.15 mph)
C = Constant (depends on boat type)
DISP = Displacement (pounds)
Note that boat manufacturers usually give
innacurate numbers for displacement,
typically on the low side
HP = Horsepower available at the propeller
For comparison sake, here are some average values of C:
150 Typical lightweight, planing cruiser
180 High Speed Runabout
200-230 Race boats, hydroplanes etc.
53
5.10 Accurate time source for navigation
The time of day is broadcast on radio stations WWV and WWVH, which
transmit in the shortwave bands, on 2.5, 5, 10, 15, 20 MHz. The time is
announced every minute, and at other times there is a steady beeping.
Any shortwave receiver should be able to pick up these broadcasts - the
particular frequency you can receive will vary with location and time of
day.
You can also hear the NIST's WWV broadcasts via the telephone. The
number is (303) 499-7111.
5.11 Winter storage for batteries, and their state of
charge
There is a ritual debate on this topic each year. The concensus seems to
be that (1) It's OK to store a battery on a cement floor, but if you stick it
on an old piece of plywood, any drips or spills will be easier to clean up,
so perhaps the old wives' tale has some value, (2) storing a battery cold in
the winter, provided it is fully charged, is an OK thing to do. The rate of
discharge is reduced by the cold environment, so less frequent recharging
is called for.
Here is an article from Finn Stafsnes, which seems to have some hard data
(fs):
The content is taken from a booklet provided by norwegian battery
manufacturer (Anker-Sonnak).
I have done some linear interpolation between tabulated values. Therefore
minor errors due to non-linear effects may be present. I can only hope
that I have not done big errors in my calculations.
State............Spec.gravity.......Freezing.......Spec.gravity
of...............@ 25 C, 77 F........point.........@ freez.temp
charge..........kilograms/litre.....deg C, F....kilograms/litre
Full (100%)..........1.280..........-68, -90......not available
.75 %................1.250..........-52, -62......not available
.50 %................1.220..........-36, -33..........1.263
.25 %................1.190..........-24, -11..........1.224
weak.................1.160..........-17, + 1..........1.189
"0 %.................1.130..........-12, +10..........1.156
54
"0 %.................1.100..........- 7, +19..........1.122
If it is impractical to measure the spec. gravity an approximate formula is
given based upon voltage measurment:
Spec.gravity (@ 25 C) = ((Voltage of battery)/(no of cells)) - 0.84
(kilogr./lit.)
The voltage should be measured after the battery has been disconnected
(left to rest) for at least 6 hours.
A discharged battery will gradually be distroyed if stored in a low state of
charge condition due to crystal growth of PbSO4, even if it don't freeze.
Self discharge rate is halved for every 10 deg C (18 F) the storage
temperature is reduced.
Conclusion: Keep the battery well charged all the time. If you don't want
to recharge during the winter, store the battery cold.
And here is a mini-FAQ written by Alan Yelvington:
The efficiency of batteries varies with time, temperature, and state of
charge.
Batteries self-discarge over time. Lead-calcium (die-hard) discharge faster
that straight lead-acid. Their advantage is that they typically do not need
to have the water replaced.
Temperature will kill a battery over time. If a battery gets too hot, its
self-discharge rate goes up. If the battery gets to cold, the reaction that
produces electricity gets slowed down and the full capacity cannot be
"harvested."
The state of charge limits efficiency because of the reactions in the
battery. If a battery is left dead for too long (this means you), the internal
plates will start to accumulate lead-sulphate on them. This insulates that
portion of the plate so that in can no longer contribue to the output of
the battery. It takes extra power in to remove the sulphation that cannot
be recouped. (EDTA will chemically remove the sulphate....)
A typical battery in good condition will return 90 to 95% of the power
put into it under these conditions:
DO NOT recharge at a rate of more that one tenth its capacity. eg. A 220
amp-hour battery should not be recharged at more than 22 amps. The
55
excess current will generate waste heat and form lead-sulphite. The
lead-sulphite is worse than the sulphate because it cannot be removed.
DO NOT discharge a battery beyond 50% of its capacity.
DO NOT over charge the battery. (Lead Sulphite problem again.)
DO NOT discharge the battery faster than one tenth of its capacity. That
is, don't draw more than 22 amps from a 220 amp-hour battery. You'll
just make waste heat that cannot do work.
DO use the battery and not just leave it dormant all the time. If you
must have a battery for infrequent use, NiCd or gelcells are much better
and are another story altogether. (ay)
Another reader pointed me towards a nice solar panel charge controller
the November, 1993 issue of "73" magazine. It's used by a guy with 200
WATTS of solar panels on his roof.
5.12 Online information
First of all, Mosaic/Web pages about boats are sprouting up like weeds,
and there's no way I can keep track of all of them. I can, however, give a
pointer to a page that seems to keep track of a lot:
http://www-engr.uvic.ca/ jlsmith/
This page is maintained by Jeremy Smith.
Second, there's the Live-Aboard mailing list: To join, send E-mail to:
majordomo@centaur.astro.utoronto.ca; the subject line is not critical but
in the BODY of your e-mail write:
SUBSCRIBE LIVE-ABOARD
Stefan (the maintainer of the list) provided me with the following
information:
Previous contributions are available by anonymous ftp. Just ftp to
centaur.astro.utoronto.ca, login as "anonymous" and use your e-mail
address as the password. Go to the directory pub/archive. The directory
pub/digests contains earlier posts filed into folders. The material in both
directories is updated periodically.
(The following section courtesy of sb)
56
You can FTP hourly surface analyses (one of the things you can recieve
with a weather fax receiver), in the form of .GIF files from
vmd.cs.uiuc.edu, in directory WX.
There is also hourly raw visual and infrared satellite imagery, (from
GEOS-7) which I don't know what to do with these.
The files are SA*.GIF, CI*.GIF and CV*.GIF, where the * is the date
and GMT hour of the picture.
Then, if you are on a unix system, you can use xloadimage to display
them.
There are also .DOC files which describe many other sources of weather
related information on the network.
Also,
telnet madlab.sprl.umich.edu 3000
gets you any forecast you like. If you enter the city "BOSM," you get the
forecast for Boston, PLUS the marine forecast. This may work for other
cities as well.
You can also try telnetting to duats.gtefsd.com. This is an aviation
weather service funded by the FAA. It's really meant for pilots to get
weather briefings, but they don't seem to mind non-pilots using it (in fact,
the particular hostname I mentioned is specifically for non-pilots; there is
another host with the identical service for pilots which requires an
account and allows use of some additional functions).
When you get to the main menu, select "Weather Briefing", then "Local
Briefing", then "Standard Briefing". Anytime it asks for a "Tail
Number", just enter "N1234".
The user interface is kind of clunky, and the reports are all in
technojargonspeak which is probably pretty much incomprehensible if you
don't know how to decode it. You will probably need a book on
interpreting weather service reports to make any use of it, but for raw
weather information, it probably can't be beat as a source. For example,
here's the last three hours worth of reports from LaGuardia Airport:
LGA SA 1850 E140 BKN 12 122/55/46/0513/989 LGA SA 1750 M110
BKN 12 122/54/46/0517/989/ 214 1070 54 LGA SA 1650 80 SCT M110
OVC 10 115/55/45/0616/987/WSHFT 28 FROPA BINOVC
The 1650 (UTC) report is the longest, so I'll decode that. It says:
57
LaGuardia Airport, Normal scheduled report at 1650 UTC (i.e. 12:50 PM
Eastern Daylight Time). First cloud layer is estimated to be at 8000 feet
and is scattered (which I think means covering between 10% and 50% of
the sky). Second cloud layer is measured at 11,000 feet and is overcast
(i.e. covering more than 90% of the sky). Visibility is 10 miles. Sea-level
barometric pressure is 1011.5 millibars. Temperature is 55 degrees F. Dew
point is 45 F. Wind (this is the part you're interested in, right?) is from
060 at 16 kts. Altimiter setting is 29.87 inches of Hg. Windshift from 280,
frontal passage, breaks in overcast.
The coding is baroque and opaque, being designed for the days of 110
baud teletypes when saving every character mattered.
There are also forecasts for the next 12 hours or so for selected locations,
predicted winds aloft (sometimes useful for predicting surface wind shifts),
locations of fronts, etc. As far as 24-48 hours in the future, I don't suspect
you'll find much in the way of that, except in the most vague and general
terms. (rs)
More weather stuff:
ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/
NORAD (TLE) for NOAA sats, tide code
ftp://atlantic.ocean.fsu.edu/pub/Tides/
Tide code (shareware) for IBM-PC compatible
The racing rules updates can be found on the Ship-to-Shore BBS (the
number is listed in the Max Ebb article). Here's a list that I got from the
BBS: (hc)
Ship to Shore OIS
Marine Net for Sailors
Arlington VA 703-525-1458 Boston MA 508-256-1775
Moncton NB 506-386-8843 New York City NY 212-865-3787
Norwalk CT 203-831-8791 San Diego CA 619-435-3187
San Francisco CA 415-365-6385 Salt Lake Cty UT 801-968-8770
Toronto ON 416-322-6814 Vancouver BC 604-540-9596
There are also the following mailing lists for discussion of various topics:
live-aboard@centaur.astro.utoronto.ca
MARINE-L @VM.UOGUELPH.CA
58
YACHT-L@GREARN.BITNET
YACHT-L
owner address: E.R.Kooi@CRI.Leidenuniv.NL
list address : YACHT-L%HEARN.BITNET
listserver : LISTSERV%HEARN.BITNET
or LISTSERV@NIC.SURFNET.NL
TALLSHIP
owner address: CBROMLEY@NVMUSIC.VCCS.EDU
list address : TALLSHIP%VCCSCENT.BITNET
listserver : LISTSERV%VCCSCENT.BITNET
The SAIL-TX mailing list FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) File:
________________________ Listname:
SAIL-TX Title: Texas Sailing announcements and discussion To post:
sail-tx-l@mdf.fidonet.org To SUBscribe: sail-tx-r@mdf.fidonet.org To
UNSUBscribt: listserv@mdf.fidonet.org in the msg body state UNSUB
SAIL-TX ________________________
From Joe Hersey, of Coast Guard Communications: For those who are
interested, the Coast Guard Research and Development Center in Groton
CT now has an operational World Wide Web server, accessable from:
http://138.29.250.20/
I'll try to keep an up-to-date summary of the Coast Guard's Internet
services in the CG Navigation Information System BBS, accessable from
fedworld.gov.
Finally, Boat/US maintains an online mailing list:
"Some info will still be posted in rec.boats, but to avoid cluttering the
group, we've decided to create a mailing list open to all interested boaters.
To subscribe, just email your request directly to boatus@aol.com."
5.13 Should we split rec.boats?
This topic arises about three times a year. The usual proposal is a split
along power/sail lines. Each time the concensus, with a growing number
of dissenters, is that (a) much of what is discussed here would be
crossposted to rec.boats.sail and rec.boats.power if they both existed, (b)
many topics, like maintenance, moorings, coast guard regs, boat shows,
the grounding of the QEII, large oil spills, etc., are of (passing) interest to
almost anyone who goes out on the water, (c) we all learn something
59
about the folks with whom we share the water by reading what they have
to say, (d) the volume of postings is rapidly increasing and is growing too
large, but a power/sail split will not necessarily address this.
Recently rec.boats.racing and rec.boats.building have been formed, and
they seem quite successful; I personally attribute their success to the lack
of overlap in interests between the folks in those groups and "the rest of
us."
Analysis of the traffic on rec.boats suggests that between 1 and 10 percent
of the traffic is devoted to discussions of splitting. All such discussion
should take place in (or at least route followups to) news.groups.
5.14 What sextant should I buy to learn with?
Good sextants are expensive (about $3000US is not unusual), and the
inexpensive plastic ones (Davis make the best-known) are far cheaper. For
learning, or even for real navigation, the Davis models are fine, but
require more careful and frequent adjustment, and often seem to give less
accurate results.
They will give a result accurate to within about 2 minutes of arc, which
should get your position right within about 3 miles or so. Errors made by
beginners are usually computational or mistakes of understanding, and
tend to be far greater than this. So a plastic sextant makes a fine tool for
learning. Buy one, and if you like it, keep it as a spare when you go
offshore.
Hints: to keep the readings accurate, beware of temperature fluctuations,
which warp the sextant (temporarily). In winter, wear gloves. In summer,
watch out for having part of the sextant in sun and part in shade. And
last but not least, always approach your reading from the same side (i.e.,
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