The Official "What Did You Do To Your Mac Today" Thread!

[walt]

Working on the boat again today. One new problem caused by the ice chest..

I have a car stereo in the boat with four 8 ohm bookshelf speakers. It uses between 1 to 1.5 amps with closer to 1 amp being typical. The book shelf speakers were all auditioned to the sound I like and I also have two 10,000 uf capacitors on the DC power input to the stereo - very close to the stereo.

Anyhow, in my opinion, it is a very fine clean sounding stereo even at fairly high volume (I think part of that is because of the capacitor).

The two bookshelf speakers in the back have always sounded good. But.. I had to move the front speakers a bunch of times to get them to sound good because that nice big area up front with all the bare gelcoat really reflects the sound and also has some annoying mid frequency resonance.

You can see where I ended up putting the two front speakers and the one on the port side down low was the biggest hassle. That speaker is actually facing up mostly because it sounded better that way, also the speaker cone can’t get kicked since it is at foot level.

When I put in the new wood piece for the ice chest and removed what was there before (including a seat pad), all of a sudden a new "mid" resonance came back. I have the problem partly solved now with different baffle and sound absorbent material (some fleece gloves which are just temporary so see what helps)..

 

[vizwhiz]

BudGates, i was contemplating doing the same "extra padeye" thing for the mainsheet attachment, mostly for long tacks (long time on the same tack) where it might be nice to have the mainsheet on windward side instead of centered.

Trying to work out whether it would work easier to luff the sail, release the mainsheet, and just move it once on the tack I wanted. I'm installing a Harken folding padeye right now to replace the original, so thinking of doing two more while Im at it...

 

[BudGates]

BudGates, i was contemplating doing the same "extra padeye" thing for the mainsheet attachment, mostly for long tacks (long time on the same tack) where it might be nice to have the mainsheet on windward side instead of centered.

Trying to work out whether it would work easier to luff the sail, release the mainsheet, and just move it once on the tack I wanted. I'm installing a Harken folding padeye right now to replace the original, so thinking of doing two more while Im at it...

My thought is to use two mainssheets (could use the boom vang as one since it's not needed for upwind sailing). One main sheet would be left in the center like normal adjusted to give a good sail twist the other I'd move to the windward side. When you tack the windward mainsheet goes slack and the centered mainsheet would be self tacking and will hold the sail in a reasonable position until you can move the other to the new windward side.

I'll try it out this weekend and let you know how well it works.

 

[BudGates]

btw. Vizwhiz The folding padeye in the center is a good idea. Will it bolt up to the same holes as the original padeye or will you have to drill more holes?

 

[vizwhiz]

Have to drill different holes. A bit narrower.
I bought one with as flat a profile as possible because i am going to cut/grind a shallow depression for it to mount in so it won't stick up (much) when folded down. I've stubbed my toe and stepped on and sat on the stock one a couple times and it wasn't comfy.

 

[BudGates]

Have to drill different holes. A bit narrower.
I bought one with as flat a profile as possible because i am going to cut/grind a shallow depression for it to mount in so it won't stick up (much) when folded down. I've stubbed my toe and stepped on and sat on the stock one a couple times and it wasn't comfy.

Thanks for the reply. I totally understand. I've stepped on sat on etc. etc. etc. too many times.

 

[BILLNPR]

Mast rest/crutch

Can you post a picture of your mast crutch, rest? Please describe it and how it is attached.

 

[BudGates]

Burned the List!!!!!

The first time we took Miss Behavin' out we started a list of upgrades and repairs that we needed and/or wanted to do to her. Each time an item was finished we would cross it off the list. Each time we would go out we would add more items to the list. It seemed that things got added faster than they were crossed off. Although some items only took a few minutes to accomplish others wouild take two or three weeks. At one time the list grew to be 4 pages long. This morning I finally finished the last item on the list. To celebrate the occasion my wife and I had a list burning ceremony.

Tomorrow we'll be taking her to Channel Islands Harbor for the long weekend and will likely be starting a new list but for today we have cause to celebrate!!

 

[finding41]

Burned the List!!!!!

The first time we took Miss Behavin' out we started a list of upgrades and repairs that we needed and/or wanted to do to her. Each time an item was finished we would cross it off the list. Each time we would go out we would add more items to the list. It seemed that things got added faster than they were crossed off. Although some items only took a few minutes to accomplish others wouild take two or three weeks. At one time the list grew to be 4 pages long. This morning I finally finished the last item on the list. To celebrate the occasion my wife and I had a list burning ceremony.

Tomorrow we'll be taking her to Channel Islands Harbor for the long weekend and will likely be starting a new list but for today we have cause to celebrate!!

Congrats!!!!
Someday soon I will be there. With the first boat...
I went to ware I store my boats to see about having 3 all together and found this neat science experiment. A hydroponic runabout!
I'm taking my Siren 17 to Port Stanley on Lake Erie this Sat for the day. Bigger waves, more fun!

 

[Doc_holiday]

This spring, I doubled up to a parallel second battery. I added a switch so I can observe battery voltage. Anyway, in the image below, does this seem right? If so, I may make a small sticker to put next to it so I don't have to memorize anything.

 

[walt]

Update on my experimental ice chest..

I’ve changed the design again (and probably not done) but I am going to allow the ice drip water anywhere on the bottom of the chest. The food side will have a shelf (removable for cleaning) which allows air to pass and elevates the food above the water. I also am going to put manual drains on either end of the chest. I am hoping the food shelf that allows air to pass will be good at distributing the cold air from the ice chamber.

The construction is box inside a box separated by Styrofoam. The inside box will have the seam taped with epoxy and glass, then the whole inside coated with epoxy and then painted - it will be completely waterproof.

So far, the weight of just the box itself (no lid or fan or shelf) is 26 pounds. The total inside volume is 98.8 quarts and in the last picture, there is a mock up of a 10 pound block of ice.

The weight is a little high.. the ice chest this is replacing is 16.5 pounds but has less volume. The Edgestar 63 quart electric fridge is 57 pounds so I’m still under that but I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up at 40 pounds for just the ice chest... and with two 10 pound blocks of ice, now up to 60 pounds. But the DC power consumption should be 17 times smaller (ie, 1/17) of the electric fridge.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Impressive work, Walt! Looking forward to seeing the end result and hearing how it performs.

 

[walt]

My 26S is in Lake Havasu (just visited it) and I’m in Denver now - brought back the ice chest to work on.

This is a project I did maybe 5 years ago and I took some pictures while I was just there.

This shows how I did the seats. I got the idea here from "time bandit" and it has worked well. The seat bottom is just a piece of plywood with the foam pad on top and the cloth is stapled to the plywood. No sewing is involed (good since I dont know how to use a sewing machine). At the time, I had picked some plywood that was a little too thin so I also put a laminate of glass/polyester to stiffen it up a little. The seat pad is also a cover for the storage area access and there are registration blocks that hold the seat in place. The ice chest will mostly be held in place with the same type of registration blocks. These seat pads have held up perfectly.

I just threw out the seat back pad and use throw pillows - very comfy..

 

[walt]

one more.. when I was at Lake Havasu last week, one day I took my Hobie AI and sailed the Colorado river near Topock Gorge. The wind was opposite the current and I sailed down the Colorado river into Topock Gorge. It was upwind but down river and I went maybe 3 or 4 miles down stream. It was down wind going back. I hardly noticed the current. Really fine thing to do...

http://analogengineering.com/havasu/topoc.html

 

[Cruiser1]

This spring, I doubled up to a parallel second battery. I added a switch so I can observe battery voltage. Anyway, in the image below, does this seem right? If so, I may make a small sticker to put next to it so I don't have to memorize anything.

Your chart looks like it will act as a reasonable guide. Just for comparison this is one I have put together over time, from lots of reading and a bit of trial and error - once again, near enough:
Rough Approximation for State of Battery Charge
100% 12.9V
90% 12.7V
80% 12.6V
70% 12.4V
60% 12.3V
50% 12.2V
40% 12.0V.
Flat 11.9V

 

[finding41]

Walt This could be an option for your freezer.... (Ice box)
I had really good luck with a small12v 2.5" muffin fan running all the time in my bilge last year. I have a 18v Coleman solar charger and the controller that came with it and an old car battery. (Bat came with the boat.) Some days I would find the controller saying that the battery was fully charged! Even with the fan running 24-7!
I used the fan to keep the bilge area dry. It worked great and kept both sides dry. I installed it (Taped) on top of the battery on the Starbourd side under the seat. It blew towards the bow.
I picked the fan up form a local surplus store for $2.50.

 

[walt]

We have a Microcenter store in Denver and i found a fan I like yesterday. I picked it because it said it was 1 Watt but it actually is less than that. Mounted in the box, it is drawing only .065 amps so will only draw about 1.5 amp hours per day. Seems to move plenty of air. Hard to tell what strange problem I will run into but I did a test last night with a small block of ice placed on the "heat sink" and had nice cold air comming out the bottom slot into the food area. The fan direction blows air from the top of the food area into the ice area - so the air from the ice area comes out the bottom slot after passing by the ice and heat sink.

The lids are next and they have to be air tight and I need some sort of platform for the food that allows for air flow and elevates the food since I am just going to allow the drip water anywhere in the bottom of the chest (either areas).

 

[walt]

It Lives..

I tried to buy a block of ice but the store I went to only had bags.. this thing needs to take whatever it can get so I bought the 10 pound crushed bag.

I also tried to buy a thermometer but didnt find one I liked. So the "test" on does it work will be just to drink the beer that is in the ice chest, see if it stays cold, see how long the ice last.

The finished "hybrid" cooler came in at 45 pounds..

 

[Sock Puppet]

I'm available to assist with the "testing" phase!

 

[Sock Puppet]

Spent most of the evening repairing the trailer lights...which means fixing the mess that had been perpetrated over the life of the trailer. All is well now and I don't have to worry about my Mac becoming a hood ornament.