An Origami Kayak--The Oru Beach LT

rev 7-25-2024

Three years later it is going strong. It is now being tested by my daughter and her husband.

 I've noticed a lot of these at the local semi-urban park, Riverbend, north of Washington DC. Typically the owner has a car without a rack. Only sometimes do they live in an apartment. Commonly they do not feel strong enough (smaller women) to lift a kayak onto the roof of a car. None have complained of durability, and they are all older than mine.

 The idea of a folding boat prompts images in my head of cardboard boat races and sinking within 50 feet. However, the Oru is a whole lot better engineered than that, and I've been asked to test one.

                                                        Lifts right out of the box, ready to go.

 Yes, you need to read the instructions the first time, but by the second time it only took 9 minutes to assemble, in the wind, on the deck of an anchored boat. 

 

 

There's a lot to like. Very fast for the type, dry in light clop, good tracking, very light, and reasonably stable.  I'm going to have to live with in for a while to form a final opinion, but it's clearly a lot more boat than you might expect from folded paper.

[It is made from a very, very heavy duty corrugated polypropylene, rated for something like 25,000 fold cycles]

Clearing the Deck

 A standard racing dinghy and beach cat trick is take up slack with bungees and to route lines under the deck when possible. This reduces clutter and speeds work. we don't see it often enough on cruising and day sailing boats.

 In this case, instead of leaving the tail of the shroud adjuster floating on the tramp, from where it is often washed off by waves, I routed the tail under the the ramp via a low friction ring turning block. From there, a bungee stretched to near the bow takes up the slack. Out of sight, out from under foot, and quickly adjusted from the cockpit. 

The Common Clay

Though I've been primarily working from home and observing, my work requires me to travel through rural areas and stop in travel plazas. The last I visited, just north of Haggerstown, MD, featured only 20% of the people wearing face coverings, and most of those had their noses sticking out. Honestly, wouldn't you feel pretty stupid with you nose sticking out, as though THAT part of you is clean in flu season?

The Pennsylvania turnpike was better. Parts of Ohio were pretty shaky, more so in rural areas. My experiences in North Carolina were unimpressive, with the entire Subway restaurant staff going mask-free. I even declined my food in one McDonalds (Wooster OH) because the food prep staff and manager were mask free. I think it's clear the next Covid boom will be slower (because they are spread out) and across rural areas, because they just don't listen. 

In my home neighborhood it's not like this. Mask wear is very high and climbing. I think I'll stay here. 

This isn't about politics. This isn't about personal freedom. How child like. This is about nature and what it takes to staunch a plague. This is why they teach history and biology in school. It's not like work-changing pandemics are something new.

 From Blazing Saddles 

Name This Anchor

 

This is a vintage SMC snow fluke, circa 1980, last used somewhere in the Tetons. In a way, it functions like a boat anchor, except they are driven into firm snow and the Spectra bridle replaces the shank. Notice the slight dihedral angle, in part for stability, but in fact primarily to place a larger cone of snow in compression than a flat plate would.

The point is that a slight angle does not make a plow. It is well know that soil anchors can be made stronger through the use of a blunt V-angle. This is part of what separates the Excel from the Delta--small differences in how the angles fit together.

Excel Anchor--Love It!

Rev. 7-25-2024

After three years, definitely my favorite and sand and mud. Amazing for something that weighs little more than a jug of milk (10.6 pounds). In super-soft mud Fortress still rules.

 No, I don't actually use the Wichard clip when anchoring; that was just for quick-changes during tests.

It may look a lot like the Lewmar Delta, but the performance is on a whole nuther' level, perhaps the best of the new generation anchors. I've just started testing, but my first impression is that this is probably the best anchor, at any price, for the Chesapeake Bay:

• Sets and resets seamlessly
• Holds well in mud. Not as good as Fortress, but better than anything else.
• It does NOT clog with sticks and sticky mud like roll bar anchors. This is a big win in the Chesapeake.
• Does well in hard sand.
• Aluminum. 8 pounds is all I need! But steel would be even better in some ways, so get steel unless ounces matter to you.
• Comes up clean, like a Delta. But it sets 4x faster and holds 2x better.

 I have not tested rock and weeds yet. Yes I have. Not as good as the Norhill, but on a par with other modern anchors and much better than the average plow-type. The flange helps.

Before testing, I had not yet fitted a rode.

I like it!

Update, 7-11-2020

Rocks seem to be the Achilles heel of well, every anchor.  I spent a number of days last week fishing some areas over jointed rock slabs with small pockets. The best anchors are those that present a sharp point straight down. Northill is quite good. Steel pivoting fluke anchors are surprisingly good. Everything else is terribly hit-or-miss and insecure with even the slightest shift. Very long scope is the rull, since ANY uplift will cause intimidate dragging.

Thus, my standard anchors will now be the Northill and the Excel. Both hold well in sand and mud, and the Northill will fill my fishing needs.

So where did the Northill design come from? They  were used to anchor flying boats in WWII. Not this specific model. There was a light weight stainless version. But the same angles.

The Ulitimate Laundry Tub Drain Strainer

I don't know why it took me so long to reproduce for home use, a design I have used in industry for decades.

• Never used wire mesh (bad) or expanded metal (worse). The corners of each opening form a wedge to trap fibers.
• The strainer material should be about as thick as the hole diameter. This also reduces debris hang-up. It makes it more dificult to hang through and staple. It also makes for less friction when cleaning wrapped (stapled) fibers, since it is like a larger diameter pulley.
• Flow outside-in if feasible. It is easier to clean the outside by just it wiping off. No digging.

 

 

This laundry tub strainer was made from a 1.25-inch PVC stub glued inside a 1.5-inch riser, that was then drilled with 1/8-inch holes. The top is open. After drilling the holes, sand or scrape to get rid of all of the burs, but do NOT chamfer the holes; that will actually make it harder to clean.

I could have drilled the holes more closely, but this was a trial version. The hole size I am happy with. Not matter how jammed, I can wipe it off with once swipe of my hand.  The open top means that if it clogs the tub will not overflow.

I made another for a bathtub. Works great. One swipe to clean.

----

Wire mesh and expanded metal are just cost-cutting measures. Perforated metal or plastic is always better. Boat applications? Cockpit drains come to mind. 

Yup, any strainer that is hard to clean. There are companies that make custom strainers for big money, or you can make your own from PVC. Vary the hole size according to the application (but there is seldom good reason to go smaller than 3/32-inch--9/64-inch is industry standard for most plumbing), drill them closer, and a drill press is darn handy, because there are a lot of holes. Yes, you can buy perforated materials, but fabrication is another thing.

Nothing cool to report, so just a few photos from my last outing.

The view from the boom 

On a three-sail reach. 120% of windspeed.

 Warehouse Cove, Chesapeake Bay

Small Boat Jacklines

Conventional jacklines down the sides make sense on larger boats. They can be far enough inboard for safety and still allow mobility. The bow and stern are still problem areas, but stopping them ~ 5 feet short of the ends solves that. You can clip the bow rail with the 3' when working there, leaving the 6' tether on the jackline.

Smaller boats require a different aproach. The jacklines end up being really short, from the front of the cockpit to 5-7 feet short of the bow, depending on deck hatches. Dedicated anchor points are required, a good idea anyway. Then a pair of hard points in the cockpit secure that area; but keep them off the floor due to tripping problems.

To move to the bow you start with the 6' arm on the cockpit hard point. You clip the 3' leg to the windward jackline, then the 6' leg (both), then move forward in a crouch or crawling. When you reach the end of the 3' leg, unclip staying on the 6' leg and move forward until you can clip the bow rail. You are never unclipped. You also never move from 6' radius to 6' radius hard point, which requires unclipping.

May examples are possible. I use a variation of this on my Corsair F-24, with the jacklines rigged along the inside edge of the tramps.

MacGregor 26D
Red lines are jackline range of movement
Blue lines are are point range of movement

For Those of You That Just Can't Get a Big Enough Dinghy

The Idiots Are Out in Force

Is it my imagination, or is the number of boaters on the Chesapeake nearly double what it would normally be at this time, and are they dumber than usual?

My guess is that it is pent-up restlessness after the COVID Maryland closure, and a higher than normal percentage of the clueless are charging out. I should have photographed the mess in the harbor, but I was too busy trying not to run someone over, all of them either paddlers or power boaters that were not good at their craft.

In the off season the average skill and safety level is so much higher.