Doing it old school

Seriously heinous, following the money, and some Maker Faire (and yes dear reader there is a trebuchet!!!) goodness...

Yesterday I was working on the deck when a boat motored up beside me and asked where we were... Which is not a question you get asked a lot these days in a world where GPS is commonplace.

So, I told him the name of the anchorage...

He then asked, "What island?"...

I told him St Croix...

"But where is Tortola?"

I pointed...

"How far is it?"...

"About 41 miles"...

"Thats a long way"...

"What course should I steer?"

"Six degrees should get you there"

"My compass doesnt work, can you point me in the right direction?"

So I pointed then went back to the job at hand and when I next looked up he was no longer in sight...

Listening to Love and the Zealous

So it goes...

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Doing some math

Some seriously scary shit, Deepwater Horizon the gift that just keeps on giving, and since we were speaking of oil spills...

I need some new chain as our 5/16" high test is getting way past its sell by date. There, Ive said it and Id be lying if I told you I had not been avoiding the subject of new chain for "So It Goes" because it is an expense I never relish thinking about much less going to a purveyor of chain and forking out an obscene amount of money for a 150-foot length of the stuff.

So, Friday we trundled over to the local purveyor of chain to get a quote for 8mm or 5/16" BBB chain (both fit my gypsy). They did not have any 8mm but did have 5/16" BBB for $6.50 a foot... Doing the math that comes to the hellacious amount of $975.

Ouch!

Of course, the chain size Id prefer is 8mm which costs in the neighborhood of $3 a foot and the total on that, while still pain-inducing, is a whole lot better than $975 and all I have to do to get it is sail to a different island...

I can live with that.

The thing is, 8mm and 5/16" BBB are nearly identical in strength/weight/size and 8mm fits most 5/16" BBB gypsies finest kind. Fact of the matter is, 8mm and other metric chains are calibrated for use in gypsies as the norm so its pretty much perfect for use on a boat and, if you factor in the fact that its generally less than half the cost of BBB chain, choosing it is something of a slam dunk.

A quick side note on the high test chain were replacing is that while stronger than standard chain, it has about half to two-thirds the life cycle. The added strength of high test is at the cost of using an alloy more susceptible to corrosion. Something you might want to factor in next time youre buying chain.

Listening to Valley Queen

So it goes...

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