About something you really need

Something you might want to think about, a bit of asshat humor, and in the "Wrong then Wrong now" department...

I dont, as a rule, make pronouncements of the "everybody needs to have this" sort but every boat really needs some sort of emergency rudder that works if youre sailing out of cellphone range.

Ya think?

Fact is, building an emergency rudder that works does not cost a lot or take much skill and all of the information you need is available here for free.

That being said, there are folks who just dont GROK the DIY vibe or who are unwilling to spend the sort of silly-expensive costs of having a custom emergency rudder fabricated... Luckily for these folks there is a new emergency rudder that seems to make a lot of sense called the OceanSteer Emergency Rudder.

While not exactly cheap compared to a DIY affair it is much more reasonable than a custom fabrication. Better yet its designed to fit into a couple of flat packs so can fit into a cockpit locker or under a berth which makes a heck of a lot of sense. Definitly worth checking out.

Listening to Motion City Soundtrack

So it goes...

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In pre production or something like it

Some very depressing news, R.E.M. making a point, and and in the "profitability trumps right" department...

So, in the "a bit of warning" department because most folks dont really like surprises.

For a long time Ive been thinking about doing  a somewhat out-of-the-box documentary film on various aspects of boat design, boat construction, and how we actually use boats in the real world. Or in other words, to simply scratch my curiousity on a subject quite dear to my heart and, to steal a phrase from Ratty, continue "just messing around in boats".

Of course, there always a downside, which will mean a bit less time for Boat Bits, VolksCruiser, and Fishing Under Sail but, hopefully, there will be enough spinoff from the film project (outtakes, production diary, and shameless pimping) to keep readers reading and some of it might actually be interesting...

Since we seem to be coming up to the fairly round if somewhat magical number of 2222 posts you might find Boat Bits doing a bit of morphing come 2223 or so.

Listening to Leo Kottke

So it goes...

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Something worth watching

Some needful reading, a sad story involving a man with penis/manhood issues, and in the "I didnt really need anything else to worry about department"...

A video a reader turned me on to he thought other Boat Bits readers would like...


Gyrecraft from Studio Swine on Vimeo.

Listening to The Lone Bellow

So it goes...

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Something we all need to think more about

About that war on Christmas, "Its a Wonderful Life" holiday (isnt it?) and the perpetual fear machine goes on and on and on and...

The last couple of weeks Ive been witnessing the slow agonizing death of a boat that ran aground and it has been a somewhat thought-provoking experience.

I expect Ill write more about it later but the most obvious lesson is that, these days more than ever, in spite of such things as towing services, marine professionals, and government agencies that if you get into trouble on a boat youre really on your own...

The bottom line is that no one really cares and all of those in the aforementioned safety net dont care at all (well except for whatever money they can bleed from the situation) and if you need to save your boat it really is up to you to make it happen.

Listening to Big Little Lions

So it goes...

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