Ten Year Plan

I’ve been ignoring this site for a while. Time to get to the site updated and the workflow perfected so I can blog/journal and make the site useful again. I am moving the domains and the site hosting off of linode to CloudFlare. The migration was actually pretty easy since I already post everything to GitHub anyway. The site has gone through many hosting options and versions over the years. I was looking on archive.org earlier and the original site I started, ClubReading.com, was back in 1999. At least that’s the earliest record of the domain registration. I started the site originally because php was new and I wanted to learn the language, and since I and some friends enjoy reading, I figured I would build us a site to keep track of reading and reviews. Keep in mind this was before goodreads. ...

For the holidays last year, my good friends, Al and Amie surprised me with a Raspberry Pi kit. I’ve had an idea for a while now to put up a panel or screen that ties various boat systems together and displays relevant information, such as location, boat speed, ais information…etc. Yes, there are turn-key solutions for this, but I would also like to have a system I can tinker with and make my own. ...

A friend gave me this cool metal sailboat ornament to decorate the boat for the holiday. Love it! I’ll have to find it a permanent home.

Rigging repairs on the boat are done. Nothing major, I had a short list of items I wanted repaired/replaced. The secondary supports for the port and starboard spreaders, and the running backstays. All done and everything is looking great! The work was done by Jason of Argonaut Rigging. Great vendor! Highly recommend him.

s/v Ten Year Plan received it’s official number plate today. U.S. Coast Guard documented boats are assigned a lifetime documentation number. The requirements are the number be affixed to the interior of the boat in such a way as altering them would damage the numbers or the hull. Folks solve this problem in a varieties of ways, including wooden plaques, plastic or metal carved plates. A friend of mine, Al, owns the AutoMetalSkin company, and offered to make a number plate for me. Using a jewelers saw, he cut out the numbers from a sheet of metal, then using his unique finishing process, coated the number plate with brass. He left it exposed, without a clear coat, so we can watch the metal patina over time. See the video below to see more of the reveal process. ...

My new Tender arrived today. So of course I had to set it up in my living room. 😁 It’s easy inflate and it all fits in the provided bag. It’s the PHP-310 Air Floor Inflatable from West Marine. Looking forward to many years of service from this great little boat. The question has come up several times regarding what to call the little boat. Is it a tender, or a dinghy, a zodiac or a skiff? Here’s a rough definition of each as I understand them: ...

When I was looking to redo the V-Berth on my boat, I researched mattress options, and ran across several ‘under-mattress’ systems and ended up going with the Froli Modular SleepSystems. The big challenge is ventilation under the mattress. Affordable and well made Easy to follow instructions Easy to assemble and use Comfortable and adjustable Great ventilation. As others have noted, it can be a wrestling match with the Froli to get to the lockers under the cushions in the V-Berth. What has worked for me so far is keeping the overall pieces small enough to handle, instead of creating one large connected piece, I have three smaller pieces: One on port, one for the bench starboard locker cushion, and one for the center key piece. ...

Since purchasing the boat, I’ve been focusing on internal renovations and minor updates. The first big change was getting the v-berth updated. I took out a couple of small shelves, refinished the drawers, and made a key board and mounting rails. The biggest job was making the cushions. The next big project was ripping out the cabinets on the starboard side of the main cabin and creating a pilot berth. ...

Thank you to Lindsay S. Powell Designs for the great boat cards. Another item checked off the list on the Ten Year Plan 🙂 I’m very happy with how they turned out.

“It’s all part of the ten year plan.” So part of the plan, along with learning sewing and canvas work, sailing, diesel repair…and many other things, I decided to get my amateur radio certifications to improve my communications options on the boat. Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It’s fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need. ...