Monthly Archives: March 2009

changes coming to loose moorings?

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One of my technical drawings showing how a duoprop lower gear system works.

I have spent almost a year doing research and development on over 100 subjects dealing with boat repair and maintenance. i was intending on creating a series of DIY (do it yourself) books and flogging them to a major publisher of the genre such as mcgraw hill. as of late of been thinking that that is so 20th century, and that learning materials should have a strong audio-visual component such as video and animation.

following that line i was thinking of generating online courses for quadrant marine in sidney, BC. and then a strange thing happened. i was sharing a pint with some friends last night when i was introduced to a fellow that does this professionally. he doesn’t actually develop content, but works with schools and universities and such helping them to create online learning opportunities. i told him of my plans, and he told me tear up the model i was using as the net has changed everything about how we learn.

the old way of acquiring knowledge or media required institutions to deliver them to us. or more accurately we had to go to them, and that was the same for universities as it was book or record stores. they had what we wanted, they controlled the dissemination and we followed their lead.

not anymore. knowledge is no longer “owned” in the old sense. in fact, some of my research was based on reading “previews” of marine service manuals on google books, as well as lurking around manufacturer’s websites for technical info. all free, albeit copywrited, but the knowledge they contain is available for all. although i did not used them for my books, user forums are also a great source of public info on a variety of marine-related subjects.

because we are all linked and we all have knowledge or sources of knowledge, the big institutions no longer control the game. mcgraw hill no longer controls the content of the books just like sony no longer controls who listens to their music; the public has bypassed them.

this fellow i was talking to told me that the new business model involves developing community and supporting that community.  through the community you will be supported economically. it’s like the bike shop that supports biking and advocates biking, and therefore grows as biking grows. but they have to have a major personal investment in the community itself.

in this model, you give a lot away for free. by doing so, you develop an online community that supports itself and you, as long as what you provide is needed, inexpensive and supports that community.

there’s is nothing wrong in making money and we all have to live (and as you can tell by my blog, big bucks isn’t where it’s at for me. mostly this blog has been about the liveaboard lifestyle, but i’m also very passionate about anything marine related  – except mega yachts and insane people who go at 90 mph on the water). i’m thinking of putting this material up for free, on this blog or a related website. it represents many hundreds or even thousands of hours of work. maybe i’ll put some up for free and some that you download for ten bucks, once you can see the quality. or maybe with a subscription fee of ten bucks a month for everything, including streaming videos.

user self-help forums could be included where people share ideas and advice. i have connections to professionals in all marine trades and could provide pro answers to questions, perhaps for a small fee.

basically, the model goes from a series of mcgraw-hill books to an interactive community dealing with the whole gamut of marine DIY topics from fiberglass repair, stern drive teardown, to boat electronics. most of it free, the exclusive bit here and there available for a low cost.

i get pretty decent traffic from this blog, and most of you are lurkers. i don’t even know how many of you are boat people and how many are alternative-lifestyle people. but i would be interested in hearing what you think about the idea? would you be willing to spend ten bucks a month to subscribe to a huge library of marine DIY technical info? or for an online booklet that would for example explain how to install new electronics on your boat, according to ABYC standards, complete with diagrams and video?

if you have an opinion it would be great hearing from you. personally, i would much rather be part of a new online community of people helping people rather than support mcgraw hill.

PS, i just received an email from a man who is a major consultant in the industry – he told me that the learning materials are among the best he has ever seen. i can’t use his name yet as i don’t have permission, but after all that work it’s nice to know that we have developed real quality.

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simplifying your life has its challenges

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a lot has happened recently. we of course have sold the car and have been getting around on bikes and bus; it’s been challenging at times as:
a) i’m spoiled.
b) it’s been a damned cold spring.

mostly it’s the nighttime bike riding that gets tough. it’s been windy and cold, although not particularly wet. the problem is we are too damned close to downtown, where everything is, and it just seems ludicrous to take (and pay for) a bus. walking takes awhile as well, and when it’s three degrees and blowing and drizzly, it’s just not a lark.
on the other hand it is SUCH A RELIEF to not have to deal with the car. victoria is notoriously car-hostile, and every square inch is patrolled by parking nazis.  there is not a city block that doesn’t have regulated parking and it can be stressful finding parking downtown. and it’s expensive. and it feels stupid driving the fifteen blocks.
now i don’t have to worry about where the car is, has someone done a hit and run on it last night, have a got a parking ticket. don’t have to worry about speeding (a constant issue when you drive a car like the galaxie) or what the cost of gas is right now.

i’ve been toying with the idea of getting a scooter but again it feels stupid to get one for such short distances.

the other thing is we have just signed up with the victoria carshare co-op. it costs a $400.00 refundable deposit, but the car usage is only $0.40/kilometre + a few bucks an hour. they have a car in james bay and another one downtown. best of all they have a convertible smart car that i’m looking forward to driving on the next sunny day. there is also a pickup for moving and work-related stuff. you can book by phone or online and it’s very easy.

one major expense gone. and today i transferred my cell over to pay as you go. i was sick of paying $60.00 and more for cellphone usage so we quit the contract (with virgin you can change anytime you want) and we are only going to use it when we have to. we have an internet phone on the boat that we can use for most of our calling.

in some ways things are more complicated as we simplify our lives, but generally all it means is more planning. and the great thing is we are no longer at the mercy of gas companies, ICBC, parking nazis, city parking bylaws, and exorbitant phone costs. it’s unplugging, one step at a time, and it feels a little scary but a relief as well.

we went sailing last saturday. what a lovely day. we went further south and further west than ever before; whenever we go sailing we have gone to the gulf islands; this time we went around the corner at race rocks. even far out from the rocks there was quite the current when we came about. i’m dying to head up and reach the pacific.

a catlina 38 that wanted to race. he had two feet of waterline on us, not mention a full fin keel so he very slowly pulled away…

nova kool replacement

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it’s been a bit of an ugly spring maintenance-wise. first the old freedom charger/inverter went to the tune of $500.00, and then the nova kool icebox conversion. there could of course be a relationship between the two  – the fridge has an electronic motor controller that is hard-wired to the 12v system and when the charger went it could have sent a spike down the line that took out the controller.

i say controller although it is very hard to tell. nova kool simply repackages danfoss compressors under it’s own brand, and the danfoss is a special kind of compressor motor that you can’t simply apply 12v to test the motor. there is only one place that tests these old (~20yrs) danfoss electronic modules, and it’s down in florida, and that just seemed crazy as we would have been w/o a fridge for quite awhile, there would be testing and shipping costs, etc. even if it was the module, they go for $350 US + shipping and taxes.
a compressor would set me back somewhere around the same. a whole new unit goes for $850.00, so that seemed the wisest choice. it is possible that the compressor and evaporator would have kept going, but i have no idea what the designed life span of these things are.

on one hand i’m disappointed that the fridge was only good for about 20 years, given that it costs almost as much as a regular residential fridge that would last a lot longer (and is a whole fridge, not just the guts), but a guy has to remember that these little guys are quite complex to limit the power needs. running on 12V they only draw about 5 A, which is as only as much power as a 60W light bulb. you’ll never get that efficiency with a residential fridge.

i was a little tremulous about what it would entail to replace the refrigerant unit, and i was damned certain i wasn’t going to let refrigerant escape into the atmosphere. i remember learning about CFC destruction of the ozone layer in organize chemistry at university and how destructive a single molecule of the stuff can be. fortunately, nova kool has these two-part kits that can be taken apart without losing the refrigerant. the new units don’t even have CFCs any more.

i would have to get the cold plates out of the freezer section and the compressor/module and evaporator out of the port lazarette. as it was it took me about 5 hrs. to swap everything over.

view inside the freezer.  i was concerned that the hole for the line has been filled in with thickened epoxy and it would be hell getting the coolant line out of there. as it turns out it was just a crust over pieces of foam.

now i gotta get all this out. not much room down there. turns out the plywood base is through-bolted to a galley locker; the little L brackets are really rather pointless. the square grey thing is the motor control module.

undoing the cold-plate lines. the system has valves in it that close when you dismantle the lines, preventing refrigerant from escaping.

heavy and ugly, but pretty sophisticated for old technology. the evaporator fan had given up the ghost a long time ago.


the new unit. notice how much smaller (and lighter the components are.
the evaporator is the same size, but the compressor is at least 50%
smaller). I’m not sure if it’s just cheaper or more efficient…

installed and waiting for connections to cold plate. the lines are 12 feet long so they have to be coiled up.

This is where i ran into my first, major hitch. originally, there were two plates, one mounted on the icebox wall on the upper side of the photo and one on the lower side. the problem is the wall is only 13.5 inches at the narrowest point, and the plates are 16.5″. i took at look at the old plates and realised that a PO had rented out a beaver to gnaw the plates down so that they would fit. it appears that the refrigerant just passes through obvious lines inside the plates but i didn’t know for sure, and it was certain that cutting them would void any warranty. so i decided to mount the plates perpendicular to each other instead of facing each other across the ice box.

the second and third plate. although the compressor is smaller, this unit has three plates instead of two.

how does it work? amazing. much, much better than the old unit. it helps that fainleog’s icebox is very well insulated with 6″ of foam, but we’ve got the thing turned down 1/2 way and still the fridge section is right at freezing. we’ll have to turn it down even more but it takes a long time for temps to equalise because the box is so well insulated. the fridge hardly comes on and you never hear it, unlike the old unit. this compressor draws the same amount of power, but it has to run much less often, so our batteries will last longer when we are out sailing.

overall this was one of the better repairs in terms of complexity vs ease. it’s a nice system that you don’t need to phone in a refrigerant tech.