Summer 16??

[Frank]

OK everyone

It's mid July, sailing season for even the northerners.

Whats everybody doing?

Cruises?
Boat projects?
Day sails to?
Beach parties at?

Gotta be lots happening out there!!
Share  ;)

[CharlieJ]

Must be busy- yours and mine first posts in three days!!
Busy on projects at house, but the wind has been ferocious last several weeks. 25 at least right up the channel , so no sailing til it breaks. can't tack out that channel- too narrow

[ralay]

Living at anchor in Boston Harbor Is.  Woody is working on boats.  I'm working on bikes.  We've been doing more exploring of the land than sailing, though we go out every once and awhile.  I have a hard time wanting to get the boat all ready just to go out for a few hours.  I'd rather sail the dinghy. 

I'm still finishing the trim and painting from last winter's galley refit.  Then we're going to try to work on our sails since there's a big gymnasium on the island.

Anyone nearby?

[Bubba the Pirate]

Finally on the hard, the work begins:

[CharlieJ]

Raylay-Did you find a place to get the bike parts??

[ralay]

CJ: Not sure what bike parts you're talking about.  I've done a lot of bike repairs this summer.  But, yeah, the internet has everything. 

To try to bring this back around to boating: One of my other summer projects has been tuning up my folding bike, which I see as being as important to our cruising lifestyle as the dinghy.  I like to walk as much as anyone else, but it severely limits where you can go, especially if you're carrying groceries, laundry, jerry cans, etc.  Two of the biggest reasons I see for having a larger boat (I mean, 32' vs. our previous 25' boat) are for carrying tools and bicycles. 

For the past two winters and all summer, I've ridden my folding bike 12mi round trip to work.  I would have been severely limited in options if I had to confine myself to walking or public transportation.  Likewise, all our groceries, supplies, lumber, etc. have come back to the boat loaded into the cargo trailer I pull behind it.  No fun hitch hiking with 2x4s. 

Anyways, since spring, I've put on a new shifter, new cables and housings, new freewheel, new chain, repacked the hubs and bearings, sprayed it all down with Boeshield and ordered a new bottom bracket.  The beautiful thing is, that because it's a bicycle, all that only cost $~50.  Unlike a certain boat I know...  I freaking love bikes. 

[Capt. Tony]

Floating a couple hundred yards from Todd (aka Bubba the Pirate) ;D

[Bubba the Pirate]

Nice! I believe that Kevin is right, its 10 degrees cooler in the water than out in the yard!

I'm on the road but will be back soon and will try to look you up.

[CapnK]

Ralay - what bike(s) are you using?

Capt T - congrats, bud! :) Them Ariel botes sure are pretty...

Todd - I both envy you, and don't. ;D

Been working on MeleLani a good bit. One thing I wannado is get rid of the Edson pedestal and wheel steering, and when the throttle cable mount inside there broke, it kickstarted that process/project. So I've moved the engine controls off of pedestal and onto the side of the cockpit (at least for now), because buying those things new Cables & control box) was pretty close in price to what, if I could find one, it would cost to fix the old with parts for something that hasn't been made in some 20 years or so. I'll keep the wheel steering at least for a bit yet, as it looks like a pretty complex job to remove all that stuff. But I think when I do, the weight of it coming out of the stern will offset what I add when I mount the Monitor. Yippee.

Moved the boat out of her slip for the first time ever, finally. Only went right into another slip a few away, but hey - that's progress of a sort. :) She went really slow, too, so I had the local diver guy give her a scraping, and I'm hoping to get off the dock for an overnighter this coming week. HUGE yippee.

Still some other issues to tackle before I can really start sailing her, #1 being corrosion at the mast base. Think I have come up with a solution which will allow me to do the job without having to pull the stick. Gotta get me some G10 and do some fabbing first.

[CapnK]

WOW. Tony - just looked at the large version of your picture. Again,

WOW.

Nice job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;D 8) ;D

[CapnK]

Katie says she wants some CaptT attention... :D

[Bubba the Pirate]

Grog    :-)

>
>Todd - I both envy you, and don't. ;D
>

[w00dy]

Congrats CK on getting underway.

[ralay]

CapK: At the moment, I have a cheap Chinese bike.  I think we got 2 new with bags for $300 out of some Houston warehouse.  I've had Dahons in the past too.  The most important quality, IMHO, is getting a bike with a beefy enough seatpost (ex: 34mmD) to allow a full leg extension.  I'm reluctant to buy a really nice bike for a boat knowing the abuse it's going to suffer.  I'm not going to buy really nice components just to douse them in sand and salt.

[Owly055]

I bicycled 30 miles a day in HS...... ( 1969 to 1973 ).  Lived in SW Portland and went to school in NE Portland (by choice).   I learned a few things about bikes needless to say.  #1 is that big wheels and high pressure narrow tires roll most easily.  Fat tires absorb shock better and work best off road, small wheels & tires are a pure liability in practical terms as far as transportation.   Small tires make a folding bike compact, but they also reduce the utility of the bike for longer trips.  With quick release, wheel removal is not an issue.........but finding a place on a boat for large wheels IS an issue.  If you are sailing to the Caribbean, or Baha, Up the inside passage, or to French Polynesia, small wheels make sense.  If you are going to Europe or the UK  (Or the US), Australia, or NZ, or South Africa, the distances you might want to travel might be greater.  I've traveled as much as 150 miles in a day on a bicycle........ I don't see that at my age anymore.   Electric assist could be a real asset.   Most people after a long passage like the ARC or the Puddle jump are pretty flabby when they get there.   I've advocated a pedal powered water maker...... something that would be fairly easy to build....... for passage makers, as a way to make water as well as stay in shape.  Most of the islands we are likely to visit...... and cruisers tend to visit islands..... either have coastal roads or virtually no roads except one or two crossing the central highlands.    I would bet that only the most intrepid and fit of cyclists will cross Nunuhiva or Fatu Hiva.  Tonga is a different story.   It is worth researching where you are going  and making decisions based on that information.  There is no "one size fit's all" where bicycles are concerned, but the largest diameter wheels you can carry are probably the best choice.  I've had many bicycles, but in the end I prefer the 3 speed coaster brake bicycle.  It's simple, it's rugged, and it's cheap.  The question in my mind is "is it suitable in a salt water environment", and I would say NO.   I've never liked derailleurs, but they are the most simple and reliable multi speed shifting systems for a harsh environment.   I've always owned bikes with this system.    The single speed bike with a coaster brake is the best by far for reliability.  If you are cruising to distant places, is having to get off and push your bike up a hill an issue?   Or is it an opportunity to flag a ride from a local, and perhaps make a friend?  I lean toward the latter.   My choice would be a folding single speed coaster brake bike.   I would want a bike without sealed bearings, a bike I could dismantle, clean and grease.  Seals in my experience keep moisture IN rather than keeping it out.  The reason for this is the fact that the seals run on the shaft instead of in the housing.  They are the reverse of what they should be.  Seals are driven into the hub and run on the spindle.  Any moisture that enters cannot exit, a situation that has annoyed me and caused frustration for many years.   This is a problem especially for boat trailers, but applies to everything.  We live in "topsy turvy land" where everything is backward.    Nobody does what I used to do when I rode so many miles each week.   I dismantled the wheels, headset, and bottom bracket once a week, cleaned and greased them.  The climatic conditions in Portland made this necessary (in my opinion).  I frequently rode as far as Government Camp on Saturday....... and home in the evening in the summer, or out to Tillamook and Seaside, McMinville, to Lincoln City or Corvallis to Newport for a long weekend or up to Olympia to see a friend and spend a few days.     I look at the map today and can hardly believe the distances I used to travel..........Nobody told me I couldn't.............
     At 60, five miles each way is enough for me, and why shouldn't it be?   If we are cruising, our sailboats are our primary transportation, bicycles secondary.

                                                                   H.W.

[ralay]

Agreed about sealed bearings.  This bike needed all the bearings repacked after 2 years of riding 50+ miles a week.  The hubs, pedals, headset are repackable.  The BB is a sealed cartridge, so it's garbage.  The trend to put sealed bearings in new bikes is a step backward IMO. 

[Norman]

Ralay, you and I and Owley are the only people left that clean and regrease bearings anymore!  Actually, my sons both do too, but the reality is only a small percentage of modern owners even have the tools to do it, much less care to get dirty.  Years ago a neighbor threw out his kids bike because the bearings were loose and grinding.  Duh, he left it outdoors all the time.  I asked if he would be offended if I took it off his special pickup pile, and he said help myself.  New bearings and seat, some spray paint, and my son had his first bike.

Sealed bearings keep the first customer happy longer, assuming no maintenance will be done.  I have a friend who spends a month to 6 weeks in the Keys each winter, and he buys cheap bikes and throws them away after 4 years due to rust and corrosion, and buys another.

Skinny tire bikes are efficient, but I cannot stand the ride.

My first bike was a traditional coaster brake one in 1948, for my paper route  My brother had a similar one, and the summer I was 16, he 14, we made wooden panniers and loaded up 20 pounds of gear each, headed from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC to Skyline drive for a camping trip, with a side trip down the other side to Luray for repair parts, pedal broke off when I hit a boulder on the Appalachian Trail.  The return trip, 112 miles in 12 1/2 hours.

Presently have a 40 year old folding bike with 1 1/4 inch tire in front and retrofitted with 1 3/4 inch back tire,  Sturmey Archer 3 speed, non coaster brake rear axle.  I wish it was coaster brake.  It requires a bit of maintenance but is reliable.  I don't ride it at home.  My wife and I have aluminum unisex frame 18 speeds for riding for fun and comfort. We have had these for 4 years, my wife has an odometer, she rides more than I, and has 1300 miles on hers.  At 77, that is a lot!  And at 82, I can still pedal further than she.

The folder is not going to last much longer, its place on the boat is hung on the stern rail, with a plastic bag for rain protection.  Beats walking if the destination is more than half a mile away, especially if there is anything heavy to carry back.  I don't carry a lock, no one is going to steal it!


Back to the original issue here, sealed bearings are the best for the majority of customers, but there are still a lot of us ut here that get better service from unsealed ones.

[CharlieJ]

Hey Raylay- I was given two Dahon Mariners, with bags. Gave one away and kept one. Pretty decent bikes?

[ralay]

Charlie: Dahon has changed the frames a lot over the years.  The newer models are pretty nice bikes.  Some of the older ones had little telescoping seatposts and weren't really suitable for adult size people. 

[Owly055]

     I once bought a Guerciotti racing bike (70's) frame from a guy, cheap...... just the frame, no forks, nothing else.   The bike had been dropped out of an airplane (on the runway), and bent the forks, and he was heading out of town one step ahead of the law on a drug charge.  It had been painted over with cheap bomb can red paint to hide what it was.   In installed a set of Peugeot forks, had wheels built up, the rear was a Sturmey Archer 3 speed coaster brake hub, everything else was Campagnolo including the cotterless cranks, titanium seat post, etc, with one Campy front brake.   It took some custom machining to get the rear sprocket to work with a standard 10 speed type front.   It used the regular turn down handle bars which I foam wrapped and then covered with handle bar tape, and had a Brooks Pro seat......... a comfortable wide leather seat with big copper rivets.   It made a really nice town bike, and because it was a 3 speed, and had a crappy looking paint job with mismatched forks, I was able to park it at the university without locking it..... Few people ever gave it a second look.   Those that did were fun to watch......... they saw the equipment, and realized that it was no ordinary bike.     I miss that bike.    I now own only two bicycles.  One is a 1952 Raleigh English Racer.  The original one with the three speed hubs, and the "horseshoe" brakes that pull up inside the rim instead of clamping it, all connected by chromed rods to the levers.    The other is a 70's era Vitus, with the glued alloy frame, probably the first aluminum alloy bicycle out there.   I remember when they came out, all the nae sayers who claimed that it would never hold up with the internal lugs and glue.    This one is around 40 years old and still going strong.   Flash = theft.   
    A crappy looking bicycle, and dinghy are good "insurance".   A dressy / fancy boat advertises wealth.  A radar is kind of a give away that you have a lot of electronics.   Of course, just having a yacht brands you as a "target", someone who presumably has money.  Maybe I'll build my own folding bike.

                                           H.W.