Announcing SALTS Pacific Swift Offshore Voyage 2007-2008
http://www.salts.ca/offshore_subsite/offshore_home.html
A one year around the Pacific Rim:  Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji, Solomon
Island, Papua New Guinea.Guam,
China and Japan.

Pacific Swift

Built by S.A.L.T.S. as a working exhibit at Expo 86 in Vancouver,
British Columbia, the Pacific Swift has sailed over 100,000 deep-sea
miles on training voyages for young trainees. Her offshore travels have

taken her to Australia and Europe, to remote communities on Easter and
Pitcairn Islands, and to many other unusual and far-flung ports of
call. When not offshore, the Swift provides sail training programs
along the coast of British Columbia. These include shorter school
programs in the spring and fall and 10-day summer trips open to anyone
aged 13 to 25.
Sparred Length: 111′
Length Overall.: 81′
Beam: 20′ 6"
Draught: 10′ 6"
Displacement: 98 tons
Rig: Topsail Schooner
Accommodation: 37 berths
Coastal Compliment: 5 crew, 30 trainees
Offshore Compliment: 6 crew, 21 trainees

Offshore Voyage Six

Applications will be available for download and are being accepted as
of June 1, 2006.

We have just finished up our second week of cruising the Abacos and
I’ve uploaded a few more pictures to the Weather Underground photo
gallery if anyone is interested:

http://tinyurl.com/p3tuj

In the last week we have spent time at Marsh Harbour and Hope Town,
plus a few quick visits to Treasure Cay, Man-o-war Cay, and Little
Harbor.  I’d have to say that Hope Town is probably our favorite so far
with great scenery, friendly folks, well protected harbor, classic
lighthouse, and several different waterfront restaurants to chose from.
 One of the things on the "must do" list is to rent a golf cart for the
afternoon and drive down to Tahiti Beach on the south end of Elbow Cay.
 There is fantastic ocean scenery along the way and some of the biggest
surf that I’ve seen recently thanks to the 25+ northerly that has been
blowing for the last few days.

Tomorrow we will cruise south to Little Harbor for the night, and on
Tuesday we’ll run across to Chub Cay on the south end of the Berry
Islands as a staging point for the trip back to Marathon in the Keys.

To be quite honest, it isn’t difficult and that is why the oil
companies are so worried. because with a few simple ingredients, that
you already use when cleaning windows or camping, you can convert
rapeseed oil to diesel for your car.
You can make it in your own garage and drive for a fraction of the cost
of fossil diesel.
And that is not all…
Biodiesel is actually cleaner than normal petro diesel, it does not add
any carbon dioxide to the environment, because the plants used to make
the raw oil consume carbon dioxide while they grow.  Reduce greenhouse
gasses in one go!
http://biodieseloxea.blogspot.com/

Peggie:

I’ve got a SeaLand Tankwatch 4 monitor system for my holding tank.  Lately,
the sending unit for the 1/2 full reading has become unreliable.  When the
tank is half full, the gauge will read as such sometimes, but just as often
will not.  When I know the tank is more than half full, I can rap on the top
of the Tankwatch cap with the handle of a screwdriver, and the 1/2 reading
will come to life.

The unit is acting as if either the float switch is being restricted from
its natural movement by grunge, or perhaps an unreliable electrical
connection.  Due to other unrelated problems with the Tankwatch system, I’ve
had to replace the entire assembly twice in prior years.  If it was an easy
job, I’d just remove the cap and examine and clean the reed switches to fix
this problem.  The problem is that the manufacturer of my boat has buried
the holding tank in such a way that major surgery is required to access the
Tankwatch system.  Having done it twice in the past, it’s a several hour job
to gain access.  A number of components have to be removed so the holding
tank can be moved to gain access.  It’s a big job.

I spoke this morning with Bill Friedman (great guy) at Dometic.  He
suggested as a preliminary approach, to try and break up any debris that
might be restricting the movement of the float switch.  He thinks there
might be dedicated chemicals to do such a thing, but couldn’t recall any by
name.  His recommendation was liquid laundry detergent.  Fill the tank just
above half full, flush a small bottle of detergent into the tank, and let
things slosh around a while.  Sounds like a reasonable approach to me,
rather than immediately committing myself to performing the surgery required
to gain access to the tank.

The boat is about six and a half years old, I’ve only used K.O. as a
treatment in the tank, and after pumping out the tank, I always fill it with
water half full and pump it again as a rinse.  The head is a Vacu-Flush.  Do
you have any thoughts to add or recommendations for an approach to this
issue?

Thanks,

Russ

Just getting the boat ready for launch in the next week or so and I am
trying to fix up a couple things yet to do and have a couple questions:
1) My drain plug flange has been leaking, so I got some 3M 5200 silicone to
reseal it.   When removing the flange to clean up the surfaces I found 2
screws were self tapping (as expected), but the 3rd is a bolt which appears
to also hold onto a wire (with a crimped-on loop connector).   The long bolt
goes through the flange and transom and then suspect the connector to be
held on to the bolt with a nut.   The boat is an 1986 model 268 Searay
Sundancer and there is next to no room to get into / around the flange at
the inside of the boat to have someone to hold the nut, so I am going to try
a bit of silicone to hold the nut temporarily onto the wire connector so I
can get it started on to the bolt.   Does this sound like a reasonable
approach or does anyone have any suggestions?

Also I am not certain what the wire is actually even for, as it again is
difficult to trace down in behind and under the engine, but suspect it may
be for electrolysis or something.   Is this a fair assumption or does anyone
know for sure?

2) I removed the electrolysis cathode (I think it is fair to call) from the
bottom of the transom housing (two bolts) to make it easier to paint the
housing, and noticed some sort of build up or contamination or something on
the surface.   Can or should I try sanding or cleaning up the surface to
improve the electrolysis or is this natural and not really a problem?   My
anode (on the outdrive) is eroding as expected and there appears to be a
little erossion on the two (screw-on) knobs at each side on the lower part
of the housing, so I suspect everything is functioning there ok.   Should
the two knobs and cathode be replaced periodically?   I boat in fresh water
on the St. Lawrence.

Mark
The Rail, Canopy, & LifeLine (accessory) Hook guy
www.ripnet.com/vtf/prod03.htm

I have a 1979 115hp Evinrude that I need to get two
oversize pistons for. Can anyone suggest where to
get them at a good price?

Thanks,
David

I’m shopping for a whisker pole and am leaning away from a carbon pole for
the obvious reasons.  Anyone have a suggestion for good deals on aluminum
poles?
Thanks
Brad Snow
s/v Aldonza

i’m interested in reading people’s journals for circumnavigations that
are underway, anyone know any good sites ?  i know that one was posted
recently about the woman who is nearing new zealand in a 28 foot boat,
and another about dee caffari sailing a 72 footer around the planet’s
southern extremes.  anyone have any others ?  makes for great reading!

Peggy,
I am installing a Raritan Electro Scan MSD. Since the output is treated
and supposed to be benign, do I have to use the expensive odor resistant
hose on the output?
krj

I am currently looking at tiller pilots for a 27 footer, and am
deciding between the Simrad TP10 and Raymarine ST1000+
Tiller Pilot A12004.

What I found on them was that both are not really waterproof,
the TP10 is said to be faster and stronger, but lacks interfaces
to other navigation electronics. Both are made by subsidiaries
of weapon manufacturers.

As they seem both equally bad in water resistance and pedigree,
I am leaning towards the TP10. I am not planning to connect it to
other gadgets,I like the "faster and stronger" promise, and hope
that Scandinavian maritime engineering for the professional fishing
fleet beats American for recreational boating.

Am I missing other important points here, or are there other
products I should consider?

Thanks!