Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

(You Gotta Take The Other, Too.  It's A Set.)

 Crab Pot Minefields

The crab fisherman in the Chesapeake seemed to have patterned their distribution of crab pots after the mine plan for Tokyo Bay in 1942.    Any time you are in waters of less than about 25 feet, constant vigilance is required.  Every one of those colorful little floats (and also the old Clorox bottles) is attached to a line leading down to the wire pot.  Hook one with your propeller and you will reel the pot up like Tommy Smothers' yoyo until it crashes into your rudder like a torpedo.   We've learned that our trip routing software plans our courses based on Irish Lass's 4-foot draft and often sends us right thru the minefields.   Solution?  Tell the software you draw 15 feet and it will route you thru (relatively) deeper water. (He He He)

The Ball is in Volvo's Court (So, There!)

Our post "Changes in Lattitudes, Changes in Lubricants" is now in the hands of the Volvo Penta design team.  (Yes, really)  Courtesy of my brother, Jim, who it just so happens sits on Volvo's Board of Directors.  (Yes, really)  Thanks, Jim.   Perhaps together we can improve the breed for future boaters.  Now if we can just get the guys at Cruisers Yachts to may more attention to how they install engines....... (He He He) 

Santa Came Early

Strap wrenches!  Via the sale table at Ace Hardware - Baltimore. 👍 Thanks, Santa. (He He He)  

New Units of Measure

Like any crisis, COVID 19 had driven innovation out of necessity.  The state of Mayland has adopted the Golden Retriever as the unit of measure for social distancing.  👍

But Admiral Maggies says "Just try to get two of them to stand nose-to-nose like this."  (He He He)

Apparently, the same honor has been afforded the blacktip reef shark.  But when they wag their tail, it means something entirely different.......... 

Fixed Docks (Broken Legs)

One challenge we have encountered this summer is the prevalence of fixed docks in marinas. These are the ones that are bolted to the pilings at somebody's idea of the optimal height.   Not like the floating docks we're used to.    Often seen in areas with larger tidal swings. Like 4+ feet.  And offering a HUGE step to get on or off the boat at low tide.  Or, you can just wait 6 hours..... (He He He)

Baltimore

   We enjoyed our extended stay in Baltimore,  despite the city's littering issue.  It's a treat to have floating docks (see above) plus a Safeway, Ace Hardware, West Marine, and Starbucks right across the street from our marina.  A short Uber took us to Little Italy for a delightful (and reasonably priced) dinner.  A slightly longer Uber took us to Fells Point on the Inner Harbor for shopping and a visit to the National Aquarium.  It's nice that not all moorage has to be at the end of a dirt road. 

To their credit, the City has positioned these rather Rube Goldberg-ish devices in the mouth of significant points of urban runoff.  Driven by a water wheel in the runoff current or tide, they attempt to draw trash up a conveyor into an onboard dumpster. Cool, but sad that it's necessary.

Continuous Duty

It is common for diesel engines and electric motors to be assigned a Continuous Duty rating.  This is the output the device can safely provide when operated continuously for long periods.  It's easy to see how that might be useful on extended voyages.  We're not aware of formal Continuous Duty ratings for any of Irish Lass's equipment, but we will award one to the device shown in this picture.  

Powered by shore power, generator, or our inverter, this unit supplied us with a continuous stream of ice from the first day we moved aboard on June 8th.  (Except, of course, when we forgot to refill it with water.)  In our travels, we consumed the equivalent of a bag of ice every few days.  And this wonderful little machine insulated us from bagged ice prices of up to $7 ea.  Clearly worth every penny its $100 +/- price.  And even more valuable to us, because Commadore Kathleen convinced our seller to include it in the deal. For a big fat nuthin'.  Yeah, BABY!

All Things Are Relative, I guess,

The boat we sold to acquire the Irish Lass was a 32' Carver named Emerald Isle (see a trend here?)  In our home water, she was considered a BIG BOAT!  The boat on the left in the photo below is identical to Emerald Isle.  Not so BIG in Baltimore............

Thanks for watching

Wade and Kathleen