On Board with Mark Corke

Oh well, there is always next year.....

 

After spending so much time looking forward to the Antique and Classic boat show  it is rather sad to report that for only the second time in it's 29 year history we have had to cancel. Both times the cancellation has been due to weather. These past 4 or 5 years since I have been involved with the show have been very good to us with stunning weather, light winds and sunshine that really bought out the crowds but this year is a different story as we brace for hurricane Irene to hit over the weekend.

If you were planning on coming then don't but we do hope that we see you next year which with it being our 30th anniversary we shall hopefully make better than ever.

Antique and classic boat show

 

While I can't promise that this Trumpy will be at the show I do want to let you know that this coming weekend is the Antique and Classic boat show in Salem Massachusetts. It falls to me to be the chief judge this year but of course it is not just about the judging, indeed some of the skippers opt not to have their boats judged in the competition.

I'll be there for most of the weekend and if you can get down I heartily recommend it. Truly it is a fun day with music, shore side crafts and stuff to see and do for the whole family.

Hope to see you there.

The hay box

 

One of the reasons for the lack of recent postings has been that I have been away with the family on a camping trip.  I like camping always have and probably always will and if you have a small boat it is very similar to spending time aboard, you can only take what is really essential. Anything that makes life easier and save fuel has got to be a good thing especially if you come up on something that can be used equally well aboard as  well as when camping. 

One of the things that they teach you in the boy scouts is the use of the hay box for making meals. Basically the system goes like this if you are unfamiliar with the technique. All the meal ingredients, stews are good, go into a large covered pot and bought up to a boil. They are then left to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. The pot is then removed from the stove and the still hot pot is placed into a tightly packed box of hay or straw. The straw is tightly packed around all sides, top and bottom and for best results is between 5 to 6 inches thick. The insulation properties are so good that the food will continue to cook for the remainder of the day so that when you come back to camp a piping hot dinner will await you. Essentially this style of cooking is much like using an electric slow cooker.

Anyhow the point is that few boats have room for a full sized haybox and even if they do keeping everything dry could be a challenge thus I was delighted when I came across this contraption which is a new twist on a very old idea. A pot is placed into an insulated outer, similar to a Thermos flask and the whole thing cooks away making it much more suitable for a boat and a camp come to that.

Called Mr D's Cookware you can check out the details here where you will also find link to videos and other stuff.

 

Oh how true!

 

Propeller tip clearance

 

It is essential to have the correct amount of tip clearance between the end of the propeller blades and the hull. The recognised minimum clearance  should be between one sixth and one fifth of the total prop diameter. Therefore with a 16 inch blade like the one in the picture we should be looking for about a 2 and half inch clearance at least What there is in fact is so little room that it was impossible to get even the end of my pen between the underside of the hull and the blade tip. The way that a prop works is fairly complex and it creates lift and thus drives the boat forward. When the tip clearance is compromised two things happen; the first is that the water flow is interrupted and the blade will not be anything like as efficient and secondly the water is 'trapped' between the rotating prop and the hull. With each revolution this slap will be felt inside the boat as added vibration. The only way around this probelm in this particular case would be to either have a slightly longer shaft to move the prop away from the boat a little but even that I doubt would not be enough or secondly would be to go for a different prop of perhaps a smaller diameter but with a slightly increased pitch.

As a footnote the generally accepted practice is that the shaft should project no more than one and a half times it's diamter past the end of the cutless bearing.