Ventilation Air Subduction other reasons why paddles dont work as well as they should

One of my readers recently informed me that what I called air subduction already has a name in the field of boating, namely, ventilation.  OK, there we go, the internet once again comes to the rescue and dissipates darkness by spreading light, at least in the linguistic domain.
The original post, the one just before this was all about ventilation diminishing the efficiency of paddles.  Ventilation, the sucking of air down the back side of a paddle blade is a problem but can be fixed by appropriate modification of ones paddling technique.
But the problem, fundamentally of getting the best bang for ones paddling buck is that there are too many variables to the deployment of a paddle by a human and inadequate means for measuring input energy vs. forward propulsion, the two key numbers one needs to measure efficiency.
I thought the problem was more or less insoluble.  But perhaps it isnt.  Quite coincidentally while launching my kayak to do some paddle testing, I fell into conversation with a painter who has been commissioned to do paintings of some of the Americas Cup boats. He told me that the boats have a person on board whose title is tactician and he advises the helmsman, the person who actually controls the boat.  The tactician sits at a computer which gets constant inputs from a variety of sensors and then suggests ways to wring additional performance out of the boat.
Thats all I know, but I suppose that as software and sensors get more sophisticated, some of that learning paid for by sailing syndicates might also be used to increase the efficiency of lowly kayak paddlers.  I havent done any serious research on the topic, but who knows, paddle design might be advanced from art to science, assuming of course that someone cares enough to spend the money to do the research.

Read More..

John Wesley Powell Descends the Colorado River

This year we visited the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, a place which gets about 4.5 million visitors a year.  Most of these visitors never descend into the canyon and until a century and a half ago, most of the canyon had never been traveled by anyone.  Indians of the area descended into the canyon and even farmed and lived there in certain areas, but they were not able to and did not travel along the bottom of the canyon for any distance.  Travel at the time was in and out of the canyon but not along the canyon. 

John Wesley Powell changed all that.  The American Civil War had just ended and Powell who had  been a Major in the Union Army organized an expedition to explore the Colorado River and its tributaries.  The US was still relatively young.  Americans were still moving west and if the movement west was going to go forward in earnest then transportation routes were needed, not only to bring people into the region but also to export resources out of the region.  Major Powell was the man to find those transportation routes.
I knew the basics of Powells story but after my own trip to the Grand Canyon, I pulled Powells report of his journey off my book shelf where it had sat unread by me for a number of decades.  It was time to upgrade my knowledge of this piece of Western history.
I have not finished Powells book so this is an incomplete report, but this being a boat related blog, I will focus on Powells means of transportation, that is, wooden row boats.

Powells boats with one or two exceptions were 20 feet long, made of wood with extra frames added for strength. The front and back ends were decked over and closed off to form water-tight compartments in which food and gear were stowed.

The journey began on a tributary of the Colorado river in territory where the canyons were not yet as imposing as farther down the river.

The expeditions first camp is shown here.  Notably absent from the picture is any kind of plastic, a substance without which modern camping and river travel would be unimaginable.

As the journey progressed, the canyons became deeper and the expedition encountered falls and rapids.  The picture above shows one of the options for dealing with rapids, that is, to run them.

Other options for dealing with rapids were lining the boats down the rapids and portaging.  In either case, the usual method was to assemble the boats on shore at the head of the rapids and secure them while scouting the rapids.  Where possible, the boats were lined, that is, led down the rapids with lines tied to both ends of the boats. 
If the rapids were too severe the boats needed to be unloaded, the gear carried to the bottom of the rapids and then the boats.  All this took time and lots of work. 

Powell and his crew explored new territory and also inadvertently invented a new sport: river running.  This sounds like not that big a deal since totally inexperienced travelers now do this trip every year albeit with experienced guides.  But what made it different for Powell and his crew was that none of them knew whether their boats would survive the rapids or what the severity of the rapids would be.  They also lacked modern gear and were cut off from civilization for most of the trip.  Conditions were sufficiently horrid to make some of the men quit.
Photos are from the National Park Service site.

Read More..

Raptor staples WHAT Raptor staples

While pondering my next move on the bottom planking, I finally got around to trimming and sanding away the rest of those Raptor staples on the transom. It just took a few minutes, and I was done. Those things sand away in seconds.

I’ve hand-sanded the transom with 220 grit, and am currently smoothing it with 400. I’m trying to decide what I want to do about staining the transom before fiberglassing.

Read More..

Owens Lake

A few weeks ago we left Death Valley by heading West at Panamint Springs to get over to Highway 395 which runs up Owens Valley.  The name Owens Valley probably does not mean anything to most people and probably shouldnt unless they live there or unless theyve read Mark Reisners Cadillac Desert or watched the movie Chinatown.

Owens Lake as viewed from Hwy 190

Owens valley drains the runoff from the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo and White mountains and several other mountain ranges to the east of the valley.  These waters are drained from the valley by the Owens River which at one time formed Owens Lake pictured above.  

It is hard to tell from the picture, but Owens Lake is mostly empty of water.  Water coming down the Owens River from the north is collected in a reservoir a little ways north of the former Lake Owens and from thence diverted into a pipeline through which it is pumped some 200 miles to Los Angeles.  

You can see the valley downstream from the lake below.

The view facing west toward the Sierra Nevada, with the now empty river bed of the Owens river just ahead, LA off to the south on the left and Bishop off to the north on the right.  Note also the minimal amount of snow on the mountains.

If you click on the picture, you can read the green roadsign at the left.  Los Angeles 187 miles to the south, Bishop 80 miles to the north.  At this point, there is no more Owens river.  The Owens river has been diverted into the Los Angeles aqueduct.  Evident in the photo above are cottonwoods, a sign that there is still some water available to sustain these water loving trees in an otherwise desert landscape.  

So here we were driving south on 395 going parallel to the river bed of the former river and I mused out loud that maybe its OK for LA to suck all the water out of the Owens River since does it really matter whether the river is sucked dry by farmers and ranchers living in Owens Valley or by the LA water utility?  Either way,  the local ecology is unbalanced for the benefit of people and at a cost to everyone else both plant and animal who lived off the water of the Owens River before European immigrants diverted it for human consumption.

My wife came down on the side of local consumption of water and I probably have to agree with her. But still, the reality is that LA by applying money and the laws of private property was able to get possession of this natural resource and export it for the greater benefit of the LA real estate industry. But things may change in the future.

Read More..

The Great Boxing Day Miracle of 2015

Miracle? Okay, so maybe I oversold that just a little. 

However, yesterday I did indeed finish painting approximately 4 feet of the port sheer. I also reattached a couple of pieces of hardware.

The rest of the port sheer painted, with oarlock and fender cleat reattached.

I got these little spring-loaded stainless steel fender cleats at Academy Sports.

At this point, the painting is finished — at least for the white and green.
 All the brightwork remains to be varnished, however.

Read More..

ordering plywood

Based on my experience with the Michelak Vireo build, I am staying with the BS 1088 Okoume.  It comes in 98" panels which makes the scarfing much easier as it still allows for 8 panels after the scarfing saving time on layout.  at an 8:1 scarf it should be fine although I may add a little epoxy backing on the 3/8 panels. 

I realize that this wood needs to be protected for long term benefit but a coating or two of epoxy followed up by a good two part epoxy paint should last a lifetime.  This boat would be stored under cover as well, so not too concerned.  The other option is going with Merenti, but it is a little brittle to work with, and a little heavier than the Okoume.  Additional weight in a boat such as this is a poor idea. 

Read More..

Independence Day weekend in the boat shop

The long 4th of July weekend proved very productive. 

I taped off the "waterline" again, and painted a third coat of Sea Foam Green on the bottom. The transition line between the green and the Whidbey White is now much cleaner. Whereas I had "rolled and tipped" the sides for a smooth finish, I simply rolled the bottom, leaving a more textured finish.

How I marked the waterline:
Although I did not try to mark and paint a "true" waterline on the Utility, I did want to avoid the notable upsweep in the bottom paint that you often see on plywood boats. That upsweep comes from following the general practice of painting 2" above the chine (the joint between the side planking and the bottom planking). Maintaining that distance above the chine for the full length of the boat tends to exaggerate the upswept curve where the chine approaches the bow. 

To try to minimize this, I marked 1-1/2 inches above the chine from the transom to the forward-most frame. From there, I marked the line "downward" so that it ended on the actual seam between the side and bottom planking, at the bow. This wont leave a flat waterline, but hopefully the upsweep at the front wont be excessive.

THIS time, to avoid smudges from newspaper ink, I used plastic sheeting to cover the sides of the boat when I painted a 3rd coat on the bottom.

I made & carpeted new bunks for the trailer...

The original bunks were 38" long. These are just a little longer, at 48".

Did I mention I had epoxied the boat to the construction form?

Well, I did. So, another thing I did over the holiday weekend was to lift the boat hull up onto two concrete blocks and a 2x8 balanced on a toolbox. That provided me just enough room to crawl underneath the hull and start cutting away the construction form with a reciprocating saw. So far, Ive got about half of the form cut away. It has actually been kind of fun. Ive also gotten my first view of the inside of the boat.

The Utilitys hull propped up on two concrete blocks, a toolbox, and a 2x8 board.

This pile of rubble is whats left of half the construction form.

Underneath the boat, heres the transom, transom knees, etc...

Looking forward, from the middle part of the boat toward the bow.

Backing block for the butt joint on the starboard side.

Backing block for the butt joint on the port side.

Butt joints across the bottom.

Read More..