Right Dinghy for Us

Sailing a boat is a lot of fun! But sometimes you want to go ashore without having to pull into a marina, up to a dock, or grounding your boat on the beach. A dinghy comes in real handy. So, we have been searching for the right dinghy for us.

There are various types of small boats that can be used as dinghies. Inflatables, inflatables with hard bottoms, kayaks, canoes, fishing, utility, and even a boat that folds up; to name a few. After looking at what other boaters have and reading reviews we decided to go with a ridged utility boat from Pelican International called the Scorpio.

The Scorpio is 10'3" long, 61" wide, rowboat with a maximum weight capacity of 520 lbs. The boat also has prefab motor mount that can handle a 7 hp outboard engine. From all of the reviews, the boat is very stable and durable. It's made with Ram-X, which is known for its high impact-resistance, its ability to regain its initial shape after a violent impact, and its UV-protected exterior finish.

Compared to selecting a retailer, selecting the boat was the easy part. All of our local sporting goods stores offered the boat on their web sites, but not in the stores. Apparently, all of the retailers have it set up so that the manufacturer drop ships the boat, to the consumer. The price of the boat ranged from $699 to $899, plus shipping and taxes (none of the local retailers allowed for the boat to be shipped to the store). These costs pushed the boat to over $1,000, a little more than we wanted to pay. So, I kept looking for a retailer. We finally purchased the boat from Gander Mtn. The total cost was approximately $850. We chose Gander Mtn, because of the price, lower shipping cost, no sales tax (no retail stores in GA), and we had a 10% off coupon code :).

Obtaining Free Food, legally

The power of being nice at places we frequent continues to amaze me. Tuesday I had free $13 lunch at my favorite spot, and this wasn't the first free thing I've obtained from the place. I've had free beer, burritos, and tacos too. I've had 50% taken off my bill twice before. Yet, I've spend very little of my own money there.

How does all this work? It works by being a repeat customer whom makes himself known to the management staff. It works by bringing friends, family, and co-workers to their place. It works by being nice, and fun, to the waitstaff. It works by being the type of customer whom seems to be having a great time so that when other patrons come in, they pick up the vibe and have a good time too.

Does all this imply work? sure, to some degree.... but I have to eat anyway, and I personally enjoy eating free. When I come in, the management staff recognize me on sight, call me by my name, and they come and chat with me for a few minutes. They deal with asshole customers all day, and here I come in and am a pleasure to deal with. The waitstaff, especially the new ones, notice the extra attention I'm getting from the management and they too pour on the niceties. The management often carries my food out and again chats with me. Many times there will be something extra on the plate, or some comment like, "we've got you covered today."

What do I talk with them about? Anything I would talk with a friend about if they worked there. I ask how business is going. I ask how their career is going. I ask if they've had any particularly hard customers. I ask if they are doing anything interesting on their day off. I ask how their family is doing. It is all very easy.

The folks whom work in restaurants bust their asses and deal with jerks while not making much money. It is quite easy to set yourself apart from the crowd by simply being nice and social to them. If you do this repeatedly at the same place, a place you particularly like, you will find all sorts of freebies thrown your way.

Not All Stainless Steel are Equal

You know the old adage, "You should learn something new every day"? Well, when you own a boat you never have to be concerned about that. I'm always learning something new, whether it is about the boat, sailing, mechanical systems, fiberglass, food, or even stainless steel. Lately, I've been focused on stainless steel, as if you couldn't guess ;).

The latest thing that I have learned is that not all stainless steel is made equal. There are numerous grades of stainless steel and some are more noble (the higher the quality) than others. So with all of these different grades of stainless steel, how do you know if yours is more noble? Well, there is a test. All you have to do is take a strong magnet and hold it to the stainless steel. If the magnet is attracted to the stainless (strong pull toward the stainless, sticks right to it and holds on tight) then your stainless steel is less noble. If the magnet is somewhat attracted to the stainless (weak pull, may stick to the stainless, but is easily pulled off) then your stainless is more noble.

On a boat, we want the highest quality of stainless steel we can get. So it's time to get out the magnets and test every screw, bolt, nut, and every other piece of metal on the boat. It's sort of fun, as long as a majority of them are high quality stainless steel ;).

4 Days Home

In a few more days, we will be heading off for our 4 day weekend on our boat, our home. It has been about 5 weeks since we've slept overnight on the boat. With my travels, rudder cage problems, and such we've not been able to fully enjoy our home. Ugh.

The anticipation is palpable. Each day KJ asks, "are we going to the boat today daddy?" She can see the provisions starting to stack up around the apartment. I also want to ask if we are going to the boat today. I can't wait either.

The weather looks good. It should be in the mid 80s and there is only a 20% chance of rain on Saturday. The winds are predicted to be light most of the day. Our plans have us anchoring up in our favorite spot and staying put.

In addition to finishing off the provisioning, there are a few things that still need to be addressed. The first is remedying out dingy situation. The second revolves around our boom and mast.

We purchased a dingy about 3 weeks ago ... and, well, it was dingy. When it arrived it had a hole in it. From the shape of the hole, it looks like a fork lift arm ran into it. I'm sure Val will post the gory details of the episode along with pictures, but needless to say, the dingy is on its way back home and we are dingyless again. We enjoy having a dingy on the boat as it makes runs to shore so much more simple, so we may be picking up another dingy this Friday.

The other thing that we have to address is the boom on the main sail needs to be re-seated. It looks like it is sliding out a tiny bit, so on Friday we will push it back into its proper position.

We are 2 work days out from going aboard and sailing away mentally for a few days..... imagining the life of living aboard full time. We are all very excited and we can't wait be back on our rocking home.

Cheap Stainless Steel Polish

Maintaining a boat is a never ending story. Every time we go to see Ariel, we do something. Whether it's checking the batteries, washing the outside of the boat, oiling the teak, or polishing the stainless steel; something always needs to be done.

A big choice in doing theses kinds of upkeep maintenance is what to use. We could buy the "specially formulated for boat" products, which translates into expensive or we can use simple home cleaners. For instance, you can clean stainless steel with a simple paste of baking soda and water, scrubbed with a piece of aluminium foil. You can also polish your stainless steel with "Pledge" lemon furniture polish. Just spray the lemon scented furniture polish onto the stainless or a soft cloth and rub. Not only with the stainless steel shine, but will also be protected from corrosion. The citric acid aids in preventing rust on stainless steel. If you don't want to use lemon furniture polish or none is available, you can always use lemons. Lemon juice also aids in preventing rust, but it doesn't help with the shine.

So, whether your stainless steel is on a boat or in a home, don't shell out the extra cash on a stainless steel polish when you probably have something that would work just as well at home.