On Desire

Here’s where i tack away from the mainland and run for the island.

Your guide, Dan Kelly

My own little spot of heaven, just south of Sleeping Bear Point. All sorts of interesting things to see just over these low dunes, but no time. Gotta move on, North Manitou Island awaits.

Looking south towards the high dunes

Looking north towards Port Oneida and Glen Arbor ...

... as the dunes begin their rise back to the south

Morning clutter takes some time to pack

Stopped for the night south of Sleeping Bear Dunes Point. Here’s the approach as the sun was setting. The peak at the left of the shot (north)  is about 400 ft high. I beached Hello World even farther to the north where the dune sloped down to about 50 ft. That boat in the shot was still anchored there the next morning.

Here’s the namesake of the entire Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. These images hardly do the dunes justice, they’re huge and… sandy.

Late start today 2 hours and then I’ll check in.

After putting a good amount of distance between me and the starter fluid people, I blew off the idea of reaching Otter Creek. It was surely not far away, but it was getting late and I was ready to stop. I hauled her up on the beach and pitched my tent on the trampoline to pacify any passing rangers.

Up in the morning around 8:00 am, who happens by but Ranger Jim. I greet him and he asks if I know it was it was illegal to camp. I told him I was on my way to North Manitou, that I would have anchored had I not arrived very late, that I had a composting toilet and that the North Manitou ranger told me that it was ok to pull up a boat on the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and camp as long as I was 150 ft from the water, but I figured sleeping on my boat would do less damage than trying to wade into the dune grass in the pitch dark. He replied that the 150 foot rule applied only  to the islands, not to the mainland. He said he was going to give me a break because I was on a boat, but that the other campers were going to get tickets. I thanked him and immediately ratted out the arsonists to the south, he told me he had found their empty cans of starter fluid. We parted on friendly terms.

South of Otter Creek, looking south towards Platte River	My first stew, when I discovered that grain alcohol isn't the ideal fuel.
Looking north towards Otter Creek	The tent. Housekeeping on the Macbook Pro inside while charging batteries with the Brunton Solaris outside.

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Why do I pump? First morning on the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, lazing in the sun and expounding on earning water. I am made of water, sipping from the shores of a fresh water sea, feeling grateful.

I recorded an iPhone audio snippet of my moolit sail to Otter Creek.

The slight wind continued for what seemed hours. In the dark, I passed chatty smokers anchored by what I guessed to be Platte River. Later and far ahead, a bonfire surged in brightness almost rhythmically. My destination was supposed to be a sort of Benzie ‘Burning Man’ near Otter Creek and I figured that must be it. After a long approach, I was disappointed to find two idiots squirting their campfire with lighter fluid – for fun. I felt as if I was participating in a post apocalyptic moment, and perhaps my passing sobered them – beyond their fire dazzled eyes, a ghost ship near enough to touch and pale with moonlight, passes in utter silence. Urgent whispered voices…

“There’s a sailboat there.”
“What?”
“There’s a sailboat right there”.
“Whoa.”

Maybe their little moment of squandering petroleum was trumped, their boredom pierced and shredded finally by the sublime. Hello World and I certainly felt like a manifestation of the Mystery that night.

Better figure out which one is proper, wouldn’t want to give the impression I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s all about the lingo.

So here we are heading north in the zig zaggy pattern sailors call tacking. I can see Point Betsie and another sailboat with a big spinnaker. I’m about to tack and head right towards the lighthouse.

It’s 4:57 UTC-4 (EST) and it couldn’t be more beautiful out here in the water wilderness. Nibbling on celery and squashed blueberries whilst blogging and steering with my feet. This is one happy boat.

The gps on my 2g iPhone is a little confused and the cost of repair is about the price of a new 3gs. Hmm. Anyway the fabulous charting software provided by my fabulous brother shows my position as somewhere near the south shore of Crystal Lake. My actual position is about 4 miles from Point Betsie NNE, (45 degrees). I’m heading almost due north now, and will tack after this sentence.
Bearing east more or less after a jibe and a pee. I mention peeing only because my new toasty wet suit is a bit tricky to slide get out of, so it’s kind of a major accomplishment.

I’m in the catbird seat now. Heading is amost due east, I’ll pass on by Point Betsie and claw my way right up to tonight’s camp, Otter Creek, where the dang pagans will be throwing a soirée. 6:04 pm EST (UTC-4.)

That’s the lighthouse at PB and below is what artist’s at the Franklin Mint can use for designing the project’s commemorative coin.

Here’s an excerpt with Larry Kinney discussing Harmony Home Construction, recorded on Elberta Beach, a few hours before I launched. Having Larry’s energy around was a huge gift, but to pull off an interview with him too? Bonus!

Elberta Beach, the most dazzling jewel in Benzie County’s diadem of wilderness destinations. Granted there are fools who occasionally drive their vehicles on the beach and yes, jetskis buzz by once in awhile. In spite of these insults – glory, beauty, bliss.

Someday even these abuses will end – either by the efforts of the resourceful Elberta Parks and Recreation committee or the utter collapse of civilization. In the meantime, Elberta beach with it’s commanding dunes remains a wide swath of publicly accessible wilds, uncluttered by condo or cottage, forgotten by industry, treated mostly with love and respect by those who visit.

The Village of Elberta begins to hitch it’s destiny to this star with the help of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy and the owner of the Elberta dunes – the aptly named Sand Products Corporation. The Land Conservancy has almost completed negotiations to protect of a chunk of the dune property and the visionary executives of Sand Products Corporation have already participated in a similar project in Manistee. What a boon for the backwater little town long ago deserted by the masters of capital, it’s residents the vested stewards of this joy magnet, gatekeepers to one of the most vital shorelines in Michigan.

My favorite interface to the Big Lake, Elberta Beach. Gretchen and I both agreed that it was the ideal launch point. Finally after the travail of Betsie Bay, triumph.

JB on the barbie	Over here you fool!	beach that cat
Future Sailors of America
Bailey and Lauren with Milee under wraps	Big old moon

James Barnes (of portage fame), Heidi Mahler and her brother Will Church were all celebrating birthdays that evening, we just grafted the launch onto this gathering. Larry, Patrick and I camped out on the beach under the light of a big old moon. Larry eventually took his multicolored blanket and retreated to the truck. Patrick and I shared party leftovers with the fruit flies the next morning, supplemented by cinnamon pull aparts and coffee from the Trick Dog provided by Larry.

Morning on E beach	Dunes
Me and Lawrence scope out the plan	We just look good	Isn't that Eric Pyne?

It’s 7:00 am UTC-4 or eastern standard time for you lubbers, and this is it finally, with luck. Hello World has lay quietly at anchor all night while multigenerational revelers ran slightly amuck. I’ve got a garage to clean, some dishes to do, files to copy, gear to stow and a couple of bills to grab… Then I’m on the phone with the portage team for pickup. On the big lake by 1:00 pm – doable.

We made it by 5:30 pm – Jim, Bailey, Patrick, Jonathan and myself – the Hello World portage team. Photos below by Patrick Kelly.

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What’s missing from this set of pix is Hello World at the Elberta put in and Dan paddling into the Sargasso Sea, otherwise known as Betsie Bay where I was alternately becalmed and entangled in weeds while smart asses yelled at me from shore. I ended up paddling out the channel between Frankfort and Elberta, slogging past the breakwater and then with a puff of wind, sailing over to Elberta Beach. The two or three miles from Elberta put in to Elberta beach took almost 2 hours. An auspicious if slightly annoying beginning!

Even a sailboat has an environmental cost. Rebuilding Hello World was intended as a low impact project, not a sustainable project as I defined it a few days ago. Not only was electricity and petroleum poured into the tools, lights and vehicles supporting the repairs, but waste was produced. The steel paint and acetone cans can be recycled and the 30 year old grinder can be dropped off at an electronics recycling box. The big bag of garbage and the vacuum cleaner bags full of fiberglass dust however are destined for the landfill. About 35 lbs of waste was generated to renovate 300 lbs of 30 year old sailboat. About 4 – 6 ounces of fiberglass / mineral dust and and a gallon of VOCs escaped into open air.

Once the entire budget has been tallied I’ll be able to make a wild guess at the carbon cost of the project.

Big Bear makes the point that wind turbine and solar panel factories are powered by coal fired and nuclear power plants and therefor wind and solar power are far from sustainable. Is anything we do sustainable? Do we have any technologies that are in accord with the global life support system?

Launch on Saturday 8:00 am AFTER launch party Friday at 6:00 pm. The checklists are evaporating, I went to bed early-ish last night – should be a productive couple of days. RSVP if you’re coming. I’ll be press releasing from Hello World on North Manitou. Any questions?

That it should come to this. The dreaded pre-travel checklist, lifted from a post a few days back, except this one gets updated right up until launch. Underline items need attention. Last updated 08/30/09

1. Vision
   1. Search for sustainable civilization
      1. design and implement sustainable civilizations ASAP
      2. the project is internally consistent, an exercise in footprint reduction and measurement
      3. I have (or can acquire) the diverse competencies required
         1. fabrication
         2. sailing
         3. swimming
         4. film making
         5. stewardship
         6. open source distribution
         7. curiosity
         8. etc.
2. Budget
   1. financial requirements about $10k total, gear and expenses, assuming some collaboration
   2. excellent health and physically fit principle players
   3. other projects on standby or automatic – summer / fall schedule cleared
      1. client needs simple changes to video
         
3. Survival
   1. warmth
      
      1. shelter
         1. tent
         2. sleeping bag
         3. foam roll
         4. yoga mat
      2. sailing wetsuit / drysuit
         1. Traverse City pick-up, arrives 9-4-09
            
      3. √ clothing (link)
   2. water (Lake Michigan)
      1. 4 x nalgene bottles
      2. ceramic filter
      3. carry
         1. large righting bag
         2. collapsible jug
   3. food
      1. grains – pack
      2. cooking gear
         1. locking pot with lid
         2. big family pot
         3. 4 x bowls
         4. 4 x spoons
         5. ecover dish soap
         6. scrungy
         7. wooden spoon
         8. metal spoon
         9. alcohol stove
         10. fuel bottle small
         11. fuel bottle large
         12. grain alcohol (wisconsin)
             
         13. lighter
   4. sanitation (portable composting toilet)
      1. need sawdust bag
   5. sundries (link)
4. Safe boat
   1. checked and repaired
      1. hull
      2. frame
         1. grind new rivet heads to remove excess post
            
      3. lines, shrouds
         1. new 17 shroud as backup pickup Traverse City, arrives 09-04-09
      4. mast
         1. rivet base
         2. rivet step
      5. rudders
         1. reverse bolts and nuts on starboard
         2. lock down cams adjusted
            
      6. sails
         1. install main downhaul
         2. repair jib downhaul
         3. batten tips on main
      7. sailing gloves
      8. uphaul rope
         1. big bucket system
            1. pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
      9. ditty bag
      10. toolkit
          1. spare parts
          2. basic tools
             
      11. paddle head or new paddle
      12. epoxy uphaul schackle
          
      13. harness with back support and spreader hook
          1. pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
5. Legal
   1. registration
   2. vds (flares)
   3. sound device
   4. life preservers
      1. pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
   5. lights (for night running)
   6. anchor and chain with buoy
   7. 200 ft of line (30 ft depth)
6. Navigation
   1. gps and charts iPhone application
      1. Mike Kelly collaborator
      2. iphone 2gs GPS is broken, cost of repair = cost of new 3gs iphone. Solution? Punt.
   2. compass
7. Production Dry
   1. dry bag Seal line 115
   2. Canon Vixia kit (link)
   3. Apple Macbook Pro and Fusion hard drive (link)
   4. Applications
8. Communication
   1. submersible VHF – icom
   2. Handheld CB radio
   3. cell phone – iPhone
      1. dry case pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
   4. collaboration on key resources
   5. blog revisions
   6. press release post launch
      
   7. hull graphics
      
   8. record iphone conversations
      1. contacted Adam the Maker, maybe he can make me one of his homebrews
         
   9. web connection – Verizon mifi
9. Power
   1. extension cord – marina or house borrow
   2. Belkin surge protector (see Vixia HFS-10)
   3. tupperware container for Brunton Solo 15 with aquarium caulk
   4. Brunton Solaris 26 solar panel
      1. pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
   5. Brunton Solo 15 battery and inverter
      1. pickup Traverse City, arrives 9-4-09
10. Itinerary
    1. where am i landing in TC (labor day weekend)
    2. final schedule before launch
    3. call north manitou rangers
    4. post TC – randy mcmillian, michael the lawyer
       
11. Production Wet
    1. backpack – North Face Snow Leopard
    2. enclosure for Vixia
    3. scuba tank – hydrostated 07/09
    4. pressure gauge
    5. harness
    6. regulator – rebuilt 7/09
    7. mask
       1. suddenly leaking, try shaving
          
    8. snorkel
       1. needs new diaphrams?
          
    9. booties
    10. hood
    11. fins
    12. 2 x weight belt
    13. dive knife
    14. wetsuit
    1. rope
    2. dive weights
       
    3. flag
12. Clean and prep house
    1. garage
       1. vacuum, vacuum, vacuum
       2. clean and organize tools
    2. grounds
       1. van
          
    3. laundry
    4. refridge
    5. bedroom
       
    6. mr boy cat – arrange for care until Melonie comes to pick him up
       
    7. dishes
    8. reassemble tripod and pack
    9. recording cable for iphone
    10. isolating earphones
        
    11. composting toilet
        1. sawdust refill
13. Art
    1. Prang soft chaulk
    2. charcoal
    3. Larrivee Palor Guitar
       1. need another dry bag
14. Logistics
    1. Jim Barnes trailer
       
15. Something else
    1. miscellaneous
       1. print location and talent releases
       2. weigh and take pictures of trash
       3. move needed files to portable drive
          1. all vixia files for editing
          2. ru movies
       4. bills and such
          1. prog 9/28 $170
          2. Chinatown postmaster
          3. ATT
          4. charter cable
             
       5. press release post launch

Reassembly complete and who needs the fancy thread fixing tool when Patrick’s around? Give him a triangular file and 30 minutes – viola! Working threads.

Here’s the last geeky maker shot – a whazit I invented to keep the threads from getting smashed up again when the striker bar gets hammered and tugged through it’s holes. Lesson learned – don’t bang on exposed threads!

We’re going out for a sail now to test of the trapeze and whether I can right her by myself if she flips.

Patrick and I had a fantastic sail, out there yelling and whooping it up. Later in front of the house we did a controlled capsize and total turtle. Turns out she’s too much for me to right alone, unless I drop her sails and even then I’d need some help. We got cold while I was futzing with her alone so Patrick added his girth and we got her back up, but not before two smokers came out to offer help.

Murrray’s sells a righting bag and pulley system to give me the extra weight I’d need should I ever have to right her solo, plus tying a Baolong to the top of the mast keeps it from totally turtling. Lovely sunset after an exhilerating day.

I’m into this WordPress for the iPhone thang. Now outhouse reports can go directly to the big screen.

It’s not polite to talk poop in public, unless you’ve been liberated by Joseph Jenkin’s Humanure Handbook, a fantastic tome that’s now available in it’s entirety as PDF at humanurehandbook.com. I had my consciousness raised oh so many years ago by the paper incarnation of the HH, and when thinking about how to deal with my you know what during ALM, I yearned to once again for it’s inspiration. Let’s face it folks, we are shit machines. That’s a great thing, if we take responsibility for it. The HH is the truth to set us free! While rereading it, I imagined restructuring the whole ALM project around poop, making poop more prominent. That’s the power of poop, my friends.

Oh yeah, today’s the day to figure out how to fix the threads on the striker bar.

Just activated WordPress for the iPhone, and that’s where I’m posting from. Who needs Twitter?

A set back today in the reassembly of Hello World. I bunged the starter threads on both sides of the dolphin striker, so I’ve got to fix ‘em before I can rivet the mast step and raise the mast. I’ve tried grinding off a bit of each end and bought fresh nuts to reestablish the threads, but no dice. My plan is to find a small concave grinding stone tomorrow and round off the ends of the striker so they’ll be more likely to accept nuts. If that doesn’t work i’ll have to find a set of Murray’s thread chasers and pull the whole striker apart. Another busy day ahead.

Patrick and Luke just stopped by with cake.

Look Ma, pictures! A very handy little blogging utility, the iPhone.

This morning I pop riveted the stern/port trampoline casting that Chuck welded yesterday. I’ve got more riveting to do after I apply some adhesive to the mast base, but it’s wet out there – raining. I’ll go into town to buy the adhesive and bring the mast into the garage to dry, or most of it anyway – it’s huge.

Today’s post is a sort of thinking out loud, a rehearsal for what I am about to do.

Yesterday, I heard on NPR Science Friday that multitasking actually impairs the brain permanently – yikes! I’ve mulled that over and have since refined my approach to this project. There are scads of things to do before I go, and up until yesterday I’ve been into several of them at once. This is generally essential because the tasks are interdependent – one task can only progress so far before it begins to blend into another. The insight is that I can physically handle only one task at a time, so it’s best to try and focus on one thing exclusively until it’s time to switch, avoiding distractions. This requires developing a quality priority list showing which tasks are dependent on others. If that list is well constructed, the process of doing and switching is very effective.

I scribbled a list around mid July as a riff on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs… survival, safety, etc.

Here’s a revised hierarchy from the shamanic perspective…

Hello World hit the water Tuesday evening after a month of renovations. Wednesday saw her across Crystal Lake, ready to fly. The ALM expedition is on track for a September launch.

Curious collaborator – “Hey DK, I thought you were planning to be outta there a couple of weeks ago?” Boats launch when they are ready, and not before. The decision is not up to me, all I can do is make wild predictions. She’s raring to go though, practically sails herself.

A short list of recent renovations and fixes – welding for the rudder castings (Monday) and the mast base, mast step and the port stern trampoline corner (Friday), graphics for the hulls (in process), loads of little replacement shackles and pins, rudder rebuilds, rigging tunes and the clearing of a parking space for her. Left to do… reassemble on Saturday, preliminary pack, sail her loaded up, clean house, final pack, order additional parts to be picked up in transit, update blog, etc.

There’s catch-up posts in the queue, but we’ll have to make do for now with her press release picture. For the sailing geeks – unloaded, her helm is ever so slightly weather.

It’s the day before launch, or at least the day before the launch party. Putting a final coart of paint on the hulls today and perhaps a second injection on the decks. There’s a slew of parts arriving via UPS, including (theoretically) the jib from Whirlwind, just about 3 weeks late.

Work in progress images from a couple of weeks back, examples of problems solved towards getting a $400 Hobie Cat ready for the big lake. In hindsight, full documentation of the restoration would have been great, but getting the boat ready was my focus.

Simple patches and more trouble

The damaged area (blister, crack, impact) is exposed (darkish middle) along with some surrounding solid structure.  A patch of biaxial glass is cut to overlap onto the existing structure, then the patch and the solid structure are wet out with catalyzed resin. Some 406 ‘mayonnaise’ is applied to the structure, followed by the patch and finally a sheet of wax paper (brown) to facilitate removal of air bubbles and excess resin.	The wax paper is removed and voila! Note the inner oval of biaxial glass doesn’t entirely cover the exposed structure, just enough to bridge the damage.
First bow patch after the wax paper was removed. New glass is flush with the gelcoat as it overlaps the existing glass.	The compound curve was a little tough to match with one layer of glass, thus we got a tiny air gap at the aft end of the patch that had to be reopened. There was plenty of practice doing bow patches.
Late in the game, Patrick found other issues of concern on the port hull bow. Red crayon marks a suspicious crack, which turns out to be a through hull repair.	Here it is opened up. Multiple layers of biaxial glass built up the curve, followed by an icing of 406 ‘peanut butter’
Another late in the game discovery – rippling hull. We had extensively assessed the hull weeks back, but after several simple repairs our eyes became tuned in and we could spot more subtle clues.	An area of weak glass and delamination, just below the delaminated deck area. Could this have been caused by stress from the weakened deck? Deck delamination ignored can eventually result in the hull snapping in half.

A through hull repair, inner and outer skin breached

To fabricate a backing plate to heal the port breach, we needed to match the curve of the hull for a close fit. The hull provided a handy mold. First plastic is laid over a big swath of hull and stretched tight with tape.	Wax paper was laid on the plastic and the hull was rotated to bring the surface closer to horizontal. Then biaxial glass was cut and wet out. Gravity insures the patches conform to the shape of the hull.	We built two pieces because though the curve of the inner skin closely matches the outer skin, the inner has a ridge where the foam meets the keel. Rather than try to rig something super fancy to take the ridge into account, we just left a gap that could be bonded later.
Here the two plates are placed inside the hull. Of course, all surfaces were sanded and cleaned with acetone first, then wetted out and 406 mayonnaise applied.	Fishing line tied to the backing plates pulls them against the inner hull. Our innovation was to include wooden blocks so that the line is pulled at nearly right angles to the hull rather than to the sides. This really locks the patch in place until it cures.	From the other side, note the fishing line almost wrapping around the hull. That kept tension on the line while decreasing load on the tape. The fishing line was as taught as guitar strings.

More patches and deck injections with guest appearance.

The rudder breach was big enough for a light bulb, but not the right shape for a backing plate patch.	The hole had to be expanded into a more elliptical shape so the backing plate could be slipped through.	We patched most everything in two days of frenzied work.
The injection map. The outside fiberglass skin has separated from the foam core creating a void or empty space between them, compromising strength. This can cause the hull to break in half in high winds. A pattern of holes are drilled Holes are drilled and catalyzed resin is injected to fill the voids.	Unfortunately, about 30% of the holes I drilled went through the outer and inner fiberglass, both because I was a little careless and the inner skin was somewhat compromised. I drilled slightly larger inspection holes to check for cracks in the inner skin.	Finding no significant cracks, I used 404 peanut butter to seal off all the inner holes in preparation for injection.
Injecting resin into one hole forces resin out the adjacent holes. Moving from low to high points on the grid allows air to escape, theoretically filling the void.	Injection complete. Extra resin has oozed out over the tape. The tape kept the cured resin from bonding to surface of the hull.	James Kudlak, local windsurfing legend, stops by to survey the progress.

Breaches in the Hobie hulls are sealed, structural damage is remediated. At 10:00 pm UTC – 4, August 12, I completed the injections of the decks. Only cosmetic and finishing work remains. I know y’all have been starving for pictures, so a gaggle follows after this public service message.

It’s hard to imagine anyone NOT getting excited about the nitty gritty details of hull integrity and fiberglass repair, but believe it or not, a few people might actually be bored by my current favorite activity! For their sake, I’d like to explain why I’ve taken such trouble to document it.

First is the breadcrumbs. I’ve learned a lot doing the hull work that might come in handy on future projects. My swiss cheese like memory will not retain these details for very long, therefor extensive notes are a must. I use the web because the drudgery of mere note making is relieved by the potential of an audience, and that kicks in my showboating circuits. Can I make notes that will be fun to read, that will be engaging even to someone who couldn’t give a flying fuck about fiberglass minutia or even boats?

Second is the give back. To do this work, I relied heavily on community postings about Hobie Cat repair. I’ve made a few mistakes and had a couple of breakthrough’s that could help a future Hobie restorer, so it’s only just that I share the wealth.

Third is visitors. The key to getting plenty of traffic to a website is to provide relevant information that folks need, sometimes desperately. Hobie renovators checking out the content might wonder about the context, and then – they are mine! Links to random stuff like sailing around Lake Michigan, sustainability and the like will snag and beguile them. Of course, sustainability is already be on the radar screen of most Hobie sailors who, (for the most part) are highly evolved spiritual beings in contrast to say, owners of personal watercraft – Jetski, Waverunner, etc.

Now – check out that last paragraph. Because I mentioned “jetski”, that word becomes a searchable tag for this post, hooking directly into search engines like Google. Imagine some dumbass jetski dude / dudette who’s looking for new and interesting places to go around and around in circles searching for “Lake Michigan” and “around” and “jetski”. This post could easily be in the top 10 links. If a dumbass jetskiier clicked into ondesire.com they would be exposed to the concept of sustainability and small footprints for the VERY FIRST TIME! Maybe they would read this text and have an epiphany, a conversion experience, swearing off petroleum powered gluttony and coming over the side of righteousness and light! Or not. Probably not, but maybe…

Enough distractions, let’s see some pictures!

Check out the sand harvest from the starboard hull! The Viglands must have left the drain plug out with the Hobie still in the surf, how many years ago? She was last registered in 2002, and the Vigland’s were sticklers for keeping their reg up to date. Maybe 7 years of wet sand? This is why the rudder foam was saturated with water, sand doesn’t dry out very well trapped inside a fiberglass bottle.

I hosed her out through the breach for a good 15 – 20 minutes, sand was way up in there.

sand

I keep ragging on the Viglands because Alan lost my blocks! I’d also like to interview his son Todd who works for the Land Conservancy as part of Around Lake Michigan. One of the questions I plan to ask him is, do you ever lay awake nights and regret your ill treatment of my boat? It’s not fair really, my family neglected our 14 too, just ask my buddy Dave Crowley who worked on it last year. Where is Dave Crowley by the way?

Here’s the basic steps. Grind down the damaged area, removing gelcoat and broken fiberglass to expose solid fiberglass structure. Clean the area with acetone. Lay a sheet of clear plastic over the area and draw the outline of the repair on the plastic with a crayon. Cut out the shape from the plastic, this becomes a pattern for cutting glass fabric to the same shape. Do a bunch of plastic patterns first and then use them to cut a bunch of glass patches all at once, this will maximize how many patches you get from the glass and minimize the amount of glass fibers released into the air. We used biaxial glass which is tightly woven glass stitched to a layer of glass matte. This makes a very strong repair but the fabric tends to release lots of tiny fibers when cut. Which reminds me, here’s a picture of two scientists investigating a UFO crash site…

Actually, that’s Patrick and moi blessing the beloved hulls, dressed for success. Glass fibers and grinding dust are not compatible with lung operation or bare skin, eyes can be put out with flying debris, ears go deaf if subjected to endless hours of power tool noise. Isolate your work area and your clothing. This stuff sticks to cloths and will go with you, so when you are done or breaking for lunch, vacuum yourself off, strip your outer skin and wash skin with cold water. Keep children and pets far away, they don’t know better.

I did 95% of the sanding indoors and even when outside I kept my HEPA vacuum handy. Don’t even think about doing extensive renovation without a solid HEPA vacuum and plenty of replacement bags / filters. Standard vacuums and shopvacs just put the dust back into the air.

Kai was telling me that in Europe, you have to be certified to do glass work, the materials are not even available to the average Joe. The Europeans aren’t dumb, this shit is not to be trifled with. Sanding outdoors is generally a bad idea. I used a sanding tent in my garage and was able to capture most of the dust. Even so, some objects near the seams of my tent got a light dusting and had to be carefully cleaned. I am not kidding here, don’t skip the preparations. A slick boat is not worth your health. Small footprint!

Patrick and I patched up the sides of the hulls pretty nearly now – all that’s left is sanding, fairing and painting. There’s also epoxy injections needed for both decks a couple of feet forward of the front pylons. It’s usually a straightforward operation, except… I marked the soft spots and drilled holes for the injections, but in about 30% of the holes my bit sank right through both layers of fiberglass. That’s not good.

Hobie hulls are constructed with two layers of fiberglass with a layer of foam in between. It’s hard to imagine that foam could provide strength, but it does, as long as it contacts both the inner and outer fiberglass. If there’s a gap between the foam and the fiberglass, it’s not nearly as strong. If sailors stand on the deck the foam gets crushed, creating a gap. Design flaw, but whatever. Epoxy can be injected through the external skin to fill the void unless the internal skin is also ruptured. Injection won’t work then because the liquid epoxy will leak into the inside of the hull rather than fill the void between the two skins. That means removing the entire sandwich and repairing the breach in several stages, like like we did with the starboard rudder and port side.

Now, I was careful not to drill too deep, but maybe I was just careless on 30% of my holes. If so, I could create a thick epoxy plug for those holes and continue with the rest of the liquid injection. If the inner skin was already fractured and broken before I drilled, then plugging won’t help, I’ll just be squirting epoxy into the hull. The word for this is setback. So close… worse case scenario is opening her up tomorrow, carving out the broken inner skin and patching it – two more days. Best case scenario is a few more exploratory holes near the deep holes to see if the inner skin is totally broken, and if it’s not then continue with thick and thin injections – 1 day. For now sleep and the activation of the unconscious for problem solving.

A $400 Hobie Cat, eh? That’s what I bought it for in May, with a trailer! A week later, (after a full inventory), it turned out there were no blocks for the main and jib. The seller, Alan Vigland, had no idea what happened to the blocks when I called to inquire. Ok, so already the budget is creeping up. Preparing a 30 year old Hobie Cat for a 1000 mile voyage on a great lake has already cost more than 6 times the price of the boat, not including labor. The total budget can be useful for estimating the project footprint, like the calculations for the carbon cost of making a 747 jet – what If we spent the cost of the 747 on gasoline and burned it all up, how much carbon would that produce? This method is probably very inaccurate for estimating the carbon cost of materials, but at least it can get us thinking about the multiple costs of the things we buy. There’s the price we pay in dollars and then there’s the price the earth pays for mining, drilling, manufacturing, transport, etc.

Hull repairs and restructuring
07/15/09 Sears – vacuum cleaner bags $11.65
07/15/09 West Marine – West Systems guide books, Gel Coat and Fiberglass boat repair $11.64
07/28/09 Fiberlay – 3 yards of 38″ biaxial and matte glass knit ~$60 (2nd day air)
07/30/09 West Marine – West Systems epoxy resin, hardener and support products $235.73
08/05/09 Shop and Save – surgical gloves 30 pair and latex 1 pair $5.30
08/07/09 Shop and Save – paper towel and wax paper $2.50
08/09/09 Sears – nitril gloves, 100 pair $15.89
08/09/09 West Marine – Interlux primer and 2 quarts white, tape and collodial silica $183.85

subtotal $526.56

New sails and rigging
07/15/09 Whirlwind Sails – X2 Main and jib $1300
07/15/09 Baolong fenders x 4 $120
07/21/09 Bluewater Sails – Trampoline and hiking straps replacement $90
00/00/00 shroud set $100
00/00/00 blocks $100
00/00/00 tiller $40
00/00/00 spare rudder $200

subtotal $1950.00

total 2476.56

Even though I am not using any gasoline when I am sailing around the lake, I have produced some carbon in fixing up the boat so I could sail around the lake – and a bag of garbage too. Reduced footprint maybe, sustainability no. Dave Hart is doing some serious sustainability research. With a little luck we can get him to talk about it.

Circumnavigations that come to mind… Remember that book by Holling C. Holling entitled Paddle to the Sea? A young Canadian boy carves a paddle person in a canoe and releases him in Nipigon country just north of Lake Superior during the spring thaw. The book documents Paddle-to-the-Sea as he ventures through the Great Lakes making his way out the St. Lawrence, across the Atlantic to France. Wild journey.

A father and daughter circumnavigated Lake Superior in a HOBIE! Is Dan the first circumnavigator in a Hobie of Lake Michigan? We’ve got several kayakers, bikers, walkers, runners, canoeists, but no Hobie in our beloved squash-shaped Lake of Lakes.

Our Great Lakes is under siege with non-native species – what does your sail look like?

There was a bon voyage party for me last night that I missed because I was scatter brained over these repairs and couldn’t remember where Gretchen said it was. I almost sprained my ass riding 11 miles at top speed on Steve Z’s road bike to get to Jim and Gretchen’s, only to find nobody there but their dog Doris, barking, barking, barking. They were all at Elberta beach but even though Patrick showed up and we drove down there, I didn’t recognize any cars. Shite. I’ll have another party at the house after the jib arrives next week.

Here’s a done list on the glass work. Pix coming.

√ build backing plate for new enlarged hull breach by starboard rudder
√ epoxy exposed wood near rudder, three coats
√ sand interior of midsection hull breach in preparation for backing plate and out facing side of backing plate
√ install backing plates in port hull midsection breach using fishing line technique, add peanut butter to half level
√ wet out areas with partially filled excavations
√ use rest of peanut butter to top off partially filled excavations
√ wet out patches for now completely filled excavations and install
√ sand and wet out rudder breach backing plate and interior, install using fishing line technique, fill half with peanut butter

wet out all excavations excluding rudder and midsection breaches (3 remain)
wet out patches for all excavations except excluded and install (3 remain)
wet out bottom jobs and install armor patches
top off midsection breach backing plate patch with peanut butter, install outer patch
sand midsection breach, fair with peanut butter
sand and wet out rudder breach backing plate, top off with peanut butter and install patch
sand, wet out and fair all repairs, minor gouges, bottom scratches
rebuild ridge by rudder
inject soft areas fore of front pilons
UV paint

Though I had thought the grinding was completely finished at 2:00 pm today, it wasn’t. I was prep sanding on the port hull’s bow when I broke through to a big void under the glass. That meant more grinding and eventually breaking though into the interior of the hull. This is the smallest hull breach of the three, perhaps 1 and 1/2 inches long. After prep sanding all the excavations and washing them down with acetone, Patrick and I were finally ready to handle the smallest dings and divots. I mixed up some peanut butter (structural epoxy paste) and following Kai’s recommendations filled to a max depth of 3/16 – 1/4 depth. Most of the repairs were nowhere near that deep and were topped off immediately. We are ready to put in a full day tomorrow, breaking in time for Gretchen and Jim’s evening bonfire up at the cottage art installation.

Here’s tomorrow’s list…

build backing plate for new enlarged hull breach by starboard rudder
epoxy exposed wood near rudder, three coats
sand interior of midsection hull breach in preparation for backing plate and out facing side of backing plate
sand peanut butter in all holes repaired on Wednesday
install backing plates in port hull midsection breach using fishing line technique, add peanut butter to half level
wet out areas with partially filled excavations
use rest of peanut butter to top off partially filled excavations
wet out patches for now completely filled excavations and install
wet out all excavations excluding rudder and midsection breaches
wet out patches for all excavations except excluded and install
wet out bottom jobs and install armor patches

next day

sand and wet out rudder breach backing plate and interior, install using fishing line technique, fill half with peanut butter
sand all repairs
wet out and fair sanded repairs with peanut butter
top off midsection breach backing plate patch with peanut butter, install outer patch

next day

sand midsection breach, fair with peanut butter
sand and wet out rudder breach backing plate, top off with peanut butter and install patch
inject soft areas fore of front pilons

next day

UV paint

next day

reassemble hobie

I decided to skip foam replacement all together. It’s such a minor component of the repair, structural epoxy paste is perfectly adequate, IMHO. With luck will be able to finish closing the hulls up on Sunday.

Even laid up in the intensive care unit, the hobie hulls are still things of beauty. Touching them you can almost feel the physics, they are hydro dynamic sonnets. They long for the water, they sing to me with their shape. These pictures are hardly worth the electrons they’re posted with, you need to run your hands along the profiles…

The reason the starboard rudder excavation was not drying out was because the interior was full of sand! There’s a reason this Hobie Cat only cost me $400 (with trailer). No matter, I cut a hole big enough for a hose to rinse her out and then later a light bulb to dry her. In a few days, good as new! Crosses fingers… Here’s a message from Chip of Whirlwind Sails. He’s making a new main and jib for the Hobie. Looks like there’s going to be slight delay in delivery… The original sails have been hanging in my improvised loft since we cleaned them. They need minor repairs and I was going to hand sew them as a project along the way. It seems like a good idea to have a spare set, I’d also like to carry a spare rudder and a second set of shroud lines.

The originals have been cleaned but need minor repairs

Another day of prepping the hulls for repair. Here’s the latest pix.

Why document the mundane and tedious?

Unless I struggle, you just won’t care what I want. Five days until launch and there are big holes in my boat. Do you care yet?

I like this work, the problem solving and visualizing the steps needed for an effective repair. To remember the techniques I am learning, I’ve got to leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

before	after
Mystery impact with drip	Upside down, "drip" is on the right with stain running up

more…

before	after
1 Starboard rudder damage	2 Still not quite ready

still more…

before	after
Delamination...	Becomes a port hole

fun…

Twice as much fun	Delamination just under the deck	Port hull outside bottom job
Blister constellations are now very lovely	Port hull inside bottom job	Gelcoat ding goes a little further

Dan and I had a great discussion yesterday about twin keels/hulls verses mono keel/hulls. I was noticing that the amas (pontoons) on his Hobie Cat are asymmetrical. When attached to the trampoline as designed, the outer faces are flatter than the curved inner faces. Desire’s keels are shaped in a similar way. The reason for this is that a twin hulled or twin keeled boat usually has the wind hitting it from one side or the other. The upwind side wants to lift up and the downwind side wants to bite into the water as it becomes the fulcrum for a lever. Not only does the downwind keel/hull bite into the water, but because it is curved on the side towards the center line of the boat it behaves like an airplane wing (oriented straight down in the water) and wants to ‘lift’ towards weather (wind). This allows the hulls to more efficiently track in a straight line rather than being pushed sideways by the wind.

After running a few errands today in the BF2 (big fricken ford) I came home to find ‘Desire’s older brother nearby. ‘Good Measure’ is owned by a good friend of mine, Larry Casidy, and was built in the same yard by the same designer as Desire, Lauret Giles. After building several hundred ‘Snapdragon’ boats (Larry’s style), Giles was awarded a grant by the British Royal Navy to do some tank testing and refine the hydrodynamic properties of his twin keeled concept. He came up with the Westerly ‘Centaur’ and built about 2,500 of them between the late ’60′s and mid-late ’70′s.

Good Measure's keels

Desire's keels

When you look at the two boats side by side you can immediately see how Giles refined the hull shape and keel configurations. Larry added two feet to the transom and a 3 foot bow sprit, but other than that they were both 26 foot boats. The older Snapdragon design has straight down relatively flat keels and a more rounded hull. The Centaur hull has a flatter bottom between the splayed keels. It’s hard to see but the Centaur keels are flatter on the outside and more curved toward the centerline of the boat. The new design made the boat much more stable in heavy rolling seas as well as allowed her to point (track) closer to the wind.

I constantly exceed “Desire’s theoretical limit of around 5.4 knots. I think this is is largely due to the flat area between her keels. She is a semi-planning displacement hull! With engine alone she normally cruises at 6.5 knots. Surfing in heavy seas I’ve gotten her as high as 9.3 knots for short periods!

WARNING/Disclaimer!!! Aug 3, 2009: I re-read this post today and realized I need to point out how absolutely foolish it is to surf any boat in heavy seas! …unless you really know what you and your boat are doing and you want to while away a boring storm with some entertaining fun on the ocean…

Here are some things that have worked for me(but may not necessarily work for you, your boat or your sensibilities:

First: (and foremost): Never ever ever go into the trough of a wave 90 degrees to the wave! Several things will surely happen (some simultaneously), the wind will stop, the boat will slow down, the nose may dig in, the following wave can flip you end over end (pitchpole), if you make it home, you will surly be crying…

Second: You have to sense and hand steer every wave differently. Never ever ever use an autopilot or wind vane while surfing. If you absolutely have to sail/motor downwind/downwave in these conditions use drogues, anchors, warps, anything you can think of to hang over the stern to slow the boat down. The safest tack to make it through these kind of conditions is to stear 30-50 degrees off the prevailing (largest) wave sets.

Third: If you screw up or something unexpected happens stear into the wave. The strongest, most hydrodynamic area of the boat is the nose and it’s designed to bust into waves. Use it if you have too but try not to jibe unless you can control it.

Fourth: Learn how to make your boat heave too, with the jib/rudder in light winds and with just the main/rudder in heavier winds. Along with learning how to heave too you will have to learn how to get out of heaving too, preferably without doing a hard jibe. Heaving too will save your life, lunch and/or relationship one day, trust me…

Gosh, everything was just hitting the fan this week! Kai’s friends were calling him a wussy and worse because this blog didn’t make any sense. He complained that he couldn’t find anything. Meanwhile I’ve been scrambling on Plan B, a summer adventure to make-up for missing Hawaii.

His ideas for restructuring our documentation were useful. I hate that there’s no easy way to record our phone conversations with my second gen iPhone (sans jailbreaking), we’d really like to post audio excerpts for all to hear.

I’ve reduced the number of pages to; 1) a mission and disclaimer, 2)  backstory, 3) events 4) collaborators, and 5) how this works. I’ve clarified and obfuscated content as needed. There’s still a bit of category cleaning ahead, but things are much neater blogwise. Previous pages will be converted to posts and then – onward.

So what’s the deal? Kai and I are now On Desire collaborators like everyone else. We are the primary contributors only because we are showing up. Any worthy who’s willing to share wisdom will also be accorded full honors. We are conspiring to recruit other vibrant personalities to On Desire and would especially appreciate a crack editor or two and even a savvy blog mom. I’ll continue to be blog mom until future notice, final arbiter of all disputes and embodiment of divine authority.

Meanwhile, I’ve announced my plan B, Around Lake Michigan. I’ve been hard at work getting ready, stay tuned for a flurry of updates.

Future Sailors of America (Dan, Patrick and Jonathan) met this week for disassembly and inpection of our pre owned Hobie 16. We removed the hulls, washed off surface oxidation and crayoned the problem areas. Here is the most problematic problem… a rear impact, my guess from backing into something when the boat was on the trailer. The impact was hard enough to crack the thick fiberglass lip (bottom arrow) and not only bust the gel coat under the rudder hinge (top) but shatter the supporting glass too (not shown). There are probably about 15 other areas requiring glass and gel coat repair along with a couple of soft spots forward of the front pylons, but none so significant as this. This is a must do.

hull boo boo

jonathan scrubbing trampoline

We also cleaned the main sail with Everclear, somehow managing to not drink any until the job was done.  A day or two before Patrick and I had cleaned the jib – both sails had smears and splatters of an odd greasy paint. Jonathan went to town on the trampoline with a little biodegradable Ecover dishsoap and elbow grease.

After disassembly I did an extensive parts inventory. It looks like we are missing blocks for the main and jib. Alan Vigland, the prior owner has no idea where they are. Alas, another expense.

We could almost sail this boat as is, but the hull damage from the rear impact shouldn’t be ignored. Goodness knows how long the Vigland’s and their friends sailed her like that. Project consultant and fellow Hobie 16 owner Jim Barnes agrees, he opined that it shouldn’t be ignored. Since I’ve gotta do fiberglass, I might as well handle the rest of the hull issues. Besides, Patrick is frothing at the mouth to do fiberglass work, he’s mad for making.

Buy a $400 Hobie Cat and spend another $1000 to set her straight. That’s parts and materials only. Thanks goodness for nephews and sweat equity. I keep telling them it’ll be great for picking up babes, I trust that’s true.

That’s an additional $1000 of carbon footprint as well. This old Hobie was built in 1979 with a carbon cost. One of these suckers new will set you back about $10k in 2009. Using our jet fuel analogy, if we buy burn 10k worth of gasoline, here’s how much carbon we are adding to the atmosphere…

$10,000 divided by $3.00/gal = 3333 gallons x 20 lbs of carbon = 66,666 lbs of carbon.

Back in 1979 Hobie 16′s did not cost 10k, but then again gas was a lot cheaper too, so less money could buy more gas. These are very rough estimates just for discussion, the point is making anything generates a lot of carbon, even a sun powered vehicle like a sail boat.

Now I’ll be responsible for more carbon by fixing her up. I’ll try and track that as I go.

Moon over Crystal introduces Tuesday. An oft snapped scene ever entrancing.

Another week in full tilt at the water temple. The Hobie renovation support team arrives in about 3 hours. For the moment, sweet silence and the moon.

Been doing a little strategic shoving of local allies, helping to deploy web presences mostly while tapping into the thriving tribal exchange. Mike Murphy traded me Hobie 16 transport for some snaps of his Nature of Stone spokesmodel, Amanda. Artist house provided space and quinoa upama for partner dance lessons, though I am not sure whether I trading with Mykl Werth or Gretchen Eichberger Kudlack.  That’s the people’s economy here in Northern Michigan. Love it. Ties in nicely with holes and On Desire collaborators.

Amanda, spokesmodel for Nature of Stone

We’ve assembled a pretty nifty project with some auspicious holes. Holes are the places collaborators and their products / services go. It started out feeling like magical flim flam, but with a little practice it has shaded into a jamming pragmatica. Ok, a little miraculous and gratitude certainly, gotta have it. What the heck am I rambling on about? Read on.

I’ve designed the production kit around Canon’s Vixia HFS10 / 100. This is a tiny camera that records onto SDHC cards as opposed to tape. Future Kid, “Tape, what’s that?” Old Man, “Well back in the day, cameras used to record sound and images onto spools of tape, ok? I know it sounds wierd, but that’s how it was. Soda jerks. Gasoline powered cars. Monetary based societies.”

Anyway, so the HFS100 is under $1000 -  before you buy all the lenses and XLR adapters that fussy filmmakers feel compelled to have. It’s ideal to have more than one camera, in case one goes over board or to get fancy with multiple angles. Even a modest budget could support 2 or even 3 Vixias. Even though the price is right, buying more Vixias doesn’t necessarily enhance the project. If possible, it’s better to borrow those Vixias. By borrowing, other folks get invested in the project’s objectives and the filmmaker. The project has to be in alignment with collaborators outcomes.

Initially, I had objections to making holes. Here’s one…

Question – If I ask for help to fill my holes, folks might get the impression my project is low budget and not worthy of support.

Answer – First of all, well funded projects do not insure a quality outcome. Variety is chock full of crap movies funded by mega budgets. Second, using money for everything is like banging on screws with a hammer, it’s clumsy and imprecise. Third, no budget is infinite. There’s always a point where the money runs out. A savvy Director understands that a project’s success is not determined by the amount of funds available but rather it’s outcomes, people, and structure. Fourth, money is a very limited (some might say impoverished) method of exchange. It’s more natural for my buddy Mike Murphy to ask me to make photo art with a pretty woman, stones and magic hour. The next thing I knew I’m buying a 1979 Hobie cat with a trailer, but I don’t have a vehicle with a hitch. Mike does and we drag that sucker to my place. Mike and I have known each other long enough to enjoy a robust exchange that includes humor, friendship, favors, and fun. Money is in there once in awhile but affinity is the basis of our relationship. It’s my experience that even in business, robust relationships are never limited by the bottom line.

Morrie Warshawski talks about magnetizing the field. Our mission and the objectives of our project point us towards appropriate collaborators. On Desire collaborators are selected because they jive, there is affinity.

I approached Apple, Inc. first because I’ve used their gear like crazy since 1991. I seem to sense an inherent message in thier products – you are smart. It’s true I am, but how many products realize that about me? Computers are nasty things full of toxins and big footprints and Apple seems to working to minimize this.

Affinity works both ways, something about On Desire magnetized Apple. Did I mention that our loaner Macbook Pro shipped today? Kai will be tickled, the big galoot.

Once again Dan is manning blog command. Say that 10 times fast.

Location – Artist house, Beulah Michigan
Weather – overcast
Health – excellent
Morale – high
Electricity – plentiful
Food – adequate
Water – abundant
Equipment – functional

There’s a car leaving tomorrow that would get me halfway to California, or at least Chicago and Amtrak. What is wanted is a boat from California to Hawaii. Whether my boat coalesces gently or pops up with shower of sparks makes no never mind to me. Let’s just do this thing, oh mysterious universe. Thanks in advance.

I’ve got a deadline now, Juy 5th. If the passage from California to Hawaii hasn’t manifested by then, we’ll be implementing plan B. Just two other people are privy to the details of plan B – Kai and my nephew Patrick. The very existence of plan B is known only by the readers of this blog. You are special!

Plan B is a synchronistic implementation of Kai’s principle of ‘dream within your means’. Stated simply, to ‘dream within your means’ is to act with what’s on hand and not wait around for circumstances to change. Plan B is an inspired redesign of On Desire that’s as cool (if not cooler) than Plan A. For now though, I’m all about Plan A and the just in time delivery of a ride to Hawaii.