Pet Hair

We all love having our companions on board with us, they offer us companionship since they are always by your side.

Morty is a Welsh Corgi, which means he has a double coat. This is great for him because it keeps him warm on the coldest of winter days, but that also means he has plenty of extra hair to shed.

Immediately after cleaning the boat, clumps of dog hair will appear. It is really discouraging when you spend all of 10 minutes vacuuming up his dog hair in the whole boat, to turn around and it look like nothing happened. This is because Morty sheds like it's his job! When you pet him, dog hair flies up and fills the air; when he lays on your pillow, he creates a carpet of dog hair. 

 His hair does tend to collect in corners, and whenever I see a clump (we call them Mini-Mortys) I simply pick it up and put it in the trash. Despite our best efforts to keep it under control, they tend to return in under a day.

We don't mind the hair that much, it's part of the deal when you have a dog on board. The problem comes when his hair begins to cause mechanical problems. The hair that lays on the floor can find its way between the edges of the floor boards and the sole. 

They build up into "Morty Gaskets", which are a sign of greater problems. The hair that makes it past the Morty Gaskets continues its journey down into the bilge where it can clog the bilge pump strainer.

I can proudly say that Wisdom has no leaks, so the bilge pump never runs. This dry bilge acted as a catch all for Morty hair. When I was cleaning the bilge recently, I noticed that the water level wasn't going down. It took me an entire day to find all the problem areas which shared a commonality: Morty Hair.

The bilge strainer was full of hair, the impeller was seized by hair, and a random filter housing installed inline was clogged with hair as well. 

Despite our best efforts to keep the hair under control, the hair can still creep into everything and cause serious equipment failures.  

Mobius Brummel Eye Splice

The easiest way to make a Mobius Brummel is to have both tails free, pass the first tail through the second tail, then the second tail through the first tail. The end result is a solid splice which can't slide apart because they lock each other. 

When you are splicing a stay, it is either not convenient or not possible to pass the second tail through and that is when this technique will shine. Following these steps, you can achieve the same Mobius Brummel Eye Splice with only one free tail.  

To complete the splice, you will need 2 large fids, 1 small fid, a pusher, sharp knife, and a large needle. 

To begin, you must know your measurements. The important parts in this situation are the length of the tail that will be buried as well as the size of the eye. 

The tail that is to be buried needs to be 72 times the diameter of the line. For this example, the line used is 6mm, therefore, 6mm x 72 = 432mm, or 17 inches. For this example, I did not use a long enough tail because this eye splice will never be subjected to loads and it's hard to capture the long tail in these pictures.. 

If you want a 3in eye in 6mm dyneema, your measurements would be: 6 inches for the eye, and 17 inches for the tail. This means that you would begin the splice at least 23 inches away from the end of the line. Having a longer than necessary tail will not cause any harm, whereas a short tail can lead to a weak splice. If you are unsure how much tail to give yourself, always error on the "too long" side.

The first step is to simply pass the fid and line through itself. Be sure to pass the fid through the line at or further inward than the measured distance needed. Like I said before, it is better to have too long a tail (which can be trimmed shorter if needed) than to have to undo the whole splice to gain a longer tail. So far, it is straight forward; but now we move to the trick to working with only one tail.

You will pass the fid through the tail at the location of the end of the eye, or beginning of the tail, depending how you want to think about that point. You will then pull the tail through itself and invert hole. This will introduce a twist in the hole which will be relieved later.

The tail should pass through in the same direction that the eye loop will pass through. If it is set the other way, you will introduce twice as many twists to the line which can cause undue stress on the fibers.

Push the fid through the twisted hole in preparation to pass the eye through the hole next.

I use the back of the other large fid to push the loop through the hole following the largest fid I have. 

Once I have it to this stage, I work the rest of it by hand. You simply pass the eye through the twisted hole in the tail.

Work the line so that the twist undoes itself as the line is passed over the eye and down the line. You will now have the classic Mobius Brummel Eye Splice. You can see how the splice can slide to shrink the eye, but once the two sections meet, they will lock onto each other and make it impossible for the eye to open and the splice to fail (as long as the tail is properly buried).

Here we can see a closer look at how the splice should look. If it doesn't look like this, it would be wise to take it apart and try again. This splice is extremely strong, but certain variations that look very similar are very weak.

Work the small fid through the hollow portion of the line, making sure not to snag any of the woven fibers along the way. Push the tail through and pull it out the other end. On yours, the tail would be much longer, so you will have to bury more of it into the line.

Pull the tail out as far as you can and stick a large needle through the tail. This will keep it from sneaking back into the line while you work on your taper. 

Taper is all math at this point. Dyneema is made of 12 strands, so count how many fibers are sticking out from the needle to the end of the tail. I then divide the number by 12 and ignore any decimals. In this example where there is too short of a tail, there were 15 fibers present. 15/12 = 1.25, so 1. This means that each fiber gets pulled out and then cut off. This will give a uniform reduction for the first 6 fibers. If there were 37 fibers, it would be 37/12 = 3.08, so 3. Then it would be every 3rd fiber gets pulled out for the taper.

When I was building my standing rigging (9mm dynemma), I was pulling out every 4th fiber. This gave a long gradual taper over the 25 inch tail to the splice which reduces any sharp bends that will stress and damage the dyneema line which could reduce its strength and lifespan. 

Be sure to evenly cut the last 6 fibers and make some attempt at re-braiding or at the least, twisting the strands back together.

Now remove the needle and slide the outer layer over the tail to bury it. Work the line so that the weave looks like it did originally. 

When you first load the line, it will stretch considerably at first. This is not creep, it is constructional stretch caused by bunching up the fibers in the 12 strand. Once under load, they will straighten out again allowing the line to stretch in the process. 

Once this stretch has been satisfied, the line will then begin Phase I of its lifecycle, characterized by rapid elongation caused by creep. Once it reaches Phase II, the creep will slow down and the dyneema will deliver as promised!

Sculling Oar: Testing

While Baltimore was under a temperature inversion, the airs were completely still and created the perfect conditions to test out the sculling oar.

Photo courtesy of Siobhan Fahrmeier

We quietly walked Wisdom out of the slip and motored out of the marina. Just outside the marina, I brought the boat to a full stop and deployed the oar.

This was my very first time sculling ever, so it took me a few minutes to figure out how it all works. At first, the oar was splashing water around and we weren't moving forward.

Once I got the knack of it, I was able to propel us at speeds of 0.2 to 0.3 knots. This is by far not an appreciable speed, so I tried a different rowing position.

I moved the oar from its stern mounted oarlock to the genoa sheet winch and lashed it to the winch drum. The 16 foot oar protruding straight out was able to move us at speeds of 0.2 to 0.5 knots. Slightly better, but still not that fast. 

I once again returned the oar to the stern mounted oar lock but this time I tied the oar into its place. One lashing over the oarlock to keep it from popping out of place, and another lanyard to keep the neck from rising. This allowed me to put all of my force into the sculling motion.

By grabbing the lanyard, I was able to control the pitch of the oar without any force on my wrists. This was a significant help in efficiency, though the speed did not increase much.

I feel that the low speed was a direct result of three factors.

1. My lack of experience sculling
2. Not having the oar properly secured
3. Very dirty bottom and a large fixed three blade propeller

I feel that more practice is necessary to refine my skills, as well as finalizing the installation. The large propeller can be replaced with a feathering prop, but I do like the ability to recharge my motors battery bank. The dirty bottom is the easiest problem to correct, and I think it will have a huge benefit on our speed through the water.

While I didn't think it was very much work while I was sculling, I was incredibly sore the next day. I certainly need to practice more to build up the strength needed to move the boat any considerable distance. 

Morty certainly did enjoy the afternoon stroll!

Projects While Living Aboard

Maddie and I both love to do projects, so we need to manage our space efficiently to allow us to work in a small space.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that space is multipurpose. We do have spaces that are dedicated "junk piles" but for the most part, we keep everywhere available to use.

On a Wednesday night,  Maddie was creating a painting​ on the salon table and needed space to organize her paints, meanwhile I'm working on the rope fenders and need space to organize the lines and tie the knots. 

This is where space management pays dividends. The salon table has folding leaves, which allow the table to grow and shrink on demand. ​

I was able to keep the fenders tucked under the galley sink, with the old lines coiled in the galley, and me working in the hallway and the other leaf of the table. 

The quarters are tight, and we have to work around each other, but we are able to complete our projects in the space available. It's just a mindset of being creative with what space is available.

In the past, I have made all of the dock lines, standing rigging, and running rigging inside the cabin in this limited space.  

Things that we have found to help organizing the space is good communication. When Maddie needs space for a project, she tells me and I get my stuff out of the way for her; the same when I need space as well.  We also try to complete the project as quickly as possible to clear the area again. I have been working on these rope fenders for about a week now. As soon as I'm done working, I clear the area for Maddie. The coiled lines go into the cockpit, the fenders slide under the galley sink, and the floors are once again clear for walking.  

Pollution

Baltimore Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Bay

We have been living in the waters of the Baltimore Inner Harbor for 3 years now. There is a plan in place to make the waters swimmable and fishable by 2020, but at the moment we are a long ways away from achieving that level of cleanliness, they currently have an F for water quality.

http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/report-card/

The Maryland Department of the Environment blames the boaters for causing all of the pollution and will quickly come by to hand out fines to offending boaters. While it is very unsanitary to empty ones holding tank into the harbor, the boaters are not the big offender, it is actually the city!

The problem is the aging sewer system in the city. After the great fire in 1904, the city was rebuilt with separate storm drain and sewer drain systems. The separate systems are laid out in close proximity to each other and after more than 100 years, they are broken and leak into one another. When it rains, storm water runs out of its piping and into the sewer system. This overtaxes the sewer system and the excess pressure is released into the bay. At the same time, the sewer system perpetually leaks into the storm drain system which empties directly into the Inner Harbor. 

Back in the 1980s, this was deemed a concern as the Baltimore Harbor water contained unsafe levels of fecal bacteria. Chemical and metal plants built along the shoreline used to dump their waste directly into the water, adding heavy metal and petrochemical pollution to the mix. This problem has continued to grow unchecked for many years, only now we are aware of the problem. 

The city has done some initiative to help clean up the bay. One of the most productive methods to tame the trash pollution has been a solar powered trash collector called "Mr. Trashwheel". 

http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/water-wheel/

While reducing the amount of actual trash that flows into the Chesapeake Bay is wonderful, it still doesn't help with the amount of fecal bacteria that is being dumped into the harbor everyday.

I think most people are oblivious to the problem, and therefore do not worry about the consequences of their actions. To them, spilling a little oil, throwing a plastic bottle out of their window as they drive, or tossing their cigarette butt onto the ground doesn't make much of a difference. They think oil will soak into the ground, and their trash will disappear. The truth is it all gets flushed out into the water with the next rainfall.

After every rain, the Baltimore Inner Harbor has a particular odor, something along the line of a good whiff of your holding tank vent. Gorgeous rainbows glimmer on the waters surface as oil slicks radiate away from the storm drain pipes. 

Usually, the prevailing winds will clear the air rather quickly and all is forgotten. Then the EPA can continue to blame boaters for polluting the harbor waters.

The weekend of December 12 and 13 made it particularly clear how bad the pollution is. A temperature inversion occurred and the whole area was completely calm. There was no wind for days, and the water only moved with the tide. Everything was completely still as unseasonably warm air loomed over the city and its waters. 

The entire area reeked of rotting cabbage and the water became especially "thick" as the locals call it. Water clarity was non-existent, everything disappeared from sight as soon as it entered the foul soup. We noticed that all the ducks had flown away and the entire area seemed devoid of life. Trash began to accumulate as there was no wind to carry it out into the bay and in a few short days the harbor became so ostentatious that we contemplated moving to cleaner waters. I can only imagine how the waterfront property owners felt since they do not have the luxury of easily moving to another waterfront area. 

I feel that land dwellers would be more sympathetic to the environmental impacts of their actions if they saw more immediate reactions. If you spill oil in your yard, it "disappears" into the grass, do the same on a boat and an enormous oil slick will extend from your hull off into the distance. Throw your trash out the window of your car, and it "disappears", on a boat it will continue to float alongside you, reminding you that nothing "disappears".

Living aboard also makes you measurably more aware of your consumption and wastes. If you take a long shower in a house, you pay a higher water bill; but when you have to fill those tanks more often, soon you will begin to take quicker showers. I also feel that trashcans and dumpsters make people underestimate their level of waste since it is out of sight. They simply haul it out to the curb once a week and away it goes. When I was a kid, we (a family of four) produced so much trash that we had three 55 gallon drums on a cart that we would wheel out to the curb weekly. As a kid, I would push the cart out to the street without ever thinking about how much trash we generated. 

Now I use grocery bags hanging from the galley as the trash bags. I have no trashcan to hide my trash and see the bag grow as I generate more waste. My fiancee and I are very aware of how much trash we generate as we carry it down the dock to the marina dumpster. We now produce 1 to 2 grocery bags of trash per week, simply because we are more careful about how much trash we make.

I am not alone in our limited waste production. Most other boaters I know also produce a very limited amount of waste by comparison to land dwellers. We are all more conscientious of our impact on the environment because we see the direct effect of our actions.

If the EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment would turn their attention away from the boaters floating in this polluted waterway and towards the actual problem, they may stand a better chance at cleaning up the harbor and making it swimmable and fishable by 2020.