"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:50:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

I do but that's not what I was talking about. Someday, the airforce is
going to detect an unidentifiable radar target and turn the whole system
off
just in case it is a poor mans GPS guided missile.

Supposedly there is some new invention called a "sex tent" or some
such which uses heavenly bodies to determine position without
satellites or radio waves. What will they think of next ?

:-)



Heh. And, for communication, we have sat phones and saxophones, and some
people even have phone sex.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:41:29 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:50:07 -0400, "Roger Long" wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


I do but that's not what I was talking about. Someday, the airforce is
going to detect an unidentifiable radar target and turn the whole system off
just in case it is a poor mans GPS guided missile. This is one reason why
the Russians have their own system and the European Union wants to set up a
third. Like the Internet, GPS was originally supposed to be just one of the
toys the taxpayers buy the Pentagon they can turn it off any time they want.

There are also solar flares and other potential disruptions.

There was a time when turning the system off might have been an option, but
theses days GPS is used for too many other things, both public and private. They
really don't have the option any longer.

I don't think it's any more likely then the government shutting down the
Northeast electrical grid to try and thwart a terrorist attack.

Regardless of whether or not "they" turn of the GPS system, there is
the ever present possibility of receiving a direct hit from lightning
as I have, taking out virtually all my instruments, SSB radio and LCD
monitor with the exception, strangely enough of the laptops.
Electrmagnetic induction can even fry the spare GPS unit in its box
unless of course you have sufficient warning and put all in the ss
oven which would act as a a Fraday cage.

This is why I carry and keep in good order my trusty old sextant.

Peter

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:32:44 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:


"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
.. .
I must have the remnants of 15 years of anti fouling on the bottom so
this time I';m going to scrape it all off, prime and a tie coat and a
couple of coats of bottom paint. Probably be 5 knots faster :-)

You make it sound simple but I have taken all the a/f off a 34' boat and it
is not an experience I ever plan to repeat.
I used a paint remover that was guaranteed not to harm fibreglass and it did
not , but this meant it was not all that brilliant at dissolving paint
either.
It left behind some thin residues which I washed off with the thinners
appropriate to the a/f. We used a lot of it and although the job was done in
the open air we were seriously affected by the fumes.
Get a (really) experienced professional firm to sand blast it off in
controlled conditions. .


One of the great advantages of living in 3rd third world nation is we
have people who are virtually slaves. Paid, but very cheaply paid. And
the best part of it is that any wage that they will work for me is at
least double what they would be working for if they were home.

As an example I can hire a Thai girl to wash my boat for ten US dollar
a day, and she is happy to get it because if she works on a local
construction crew she will be making $5.00. If I get illegal Burmese
workers cut those numbers at least in half.

So we will scrape the paint off the bottom carefully down to the
gelcoat or epoxy and then sand, prime, tie coat and anti foul.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:16 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

if the GPS should go out

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


It is not safe, I'm told, to operate the dinghy when one is too drunk
to find the way back to the boat without a GPS :-)

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:50:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


I do but that's not what I was talking about. Someday, the airforce is
going to detect an unidentifiable radar target and turn the whole system off
just in case it is a poor mans GPS guided missile. This is one reason why
the Russians have their own system and the European Union wants to set up a
third. Like the Internet, GPS was originally supposed to be just one of the
toys the taxpayers buy the Pentagon they can turn it off any time they want.

There are also solar flares and other potential disruptions.


That is why you want about a 200 foot anchor rode. Let it all out and
you'll be anchored before you run aground........


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:10:48 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

(Good chuckle)

In the days when those were used, some sort of speed determining device was
considered an essential adjunct. It's only practical to get a position a
couple times a day on a small vessel and there are days when you can't get a
position on any heavenly bodies at all. Course and speed are then the
navigational inputs. If a sextant is a back up for GPS than a knotlog has a
place on a vessel as well.


If you are going to go for the sextant then no cheating with the
electronic knot log. You'll have to get one of those reels and a sand
glass for speed.

And a lead line along with some tallow to "arm" it with.

Damn, life is getting complicated.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:55:30 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:41:29 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:50:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


I do but that's not what I was talking about. Someday, the airforce is
going to detect an unidentifiable radar target and turn the whole system
off
just in case it is a poor mans GPS guided missile. This is one reason
why
the Russians have their own system and the European Union wants to set
up a
third. Like the Internet, GPS was originally supposed to be just one of
the
toys the taxpayers buy the Pentagon they can turn it off any time they
want.

There are also solar flares and other potential disruptions.

There was a time when turning the system off might have been an option,
but
theses days GPS is used for too many other things, both public and
private. They
really don't have the option any longer.

I don't think it's any more likely then the government shutting down the
Northeast electrical grid to try and thwart a terrorist attack.

Regardless of whether or not "they" turn of the GPS system, there is
the ever present possibility of receiving a direct hit from lightning
as I have, taking out virtually all my instruments, SSB radio and LCD
monitor with the exception, strangely enough of the laptops.
Electrmagnetic induction can even fry the spare GPS unit in its box
unless of course you have sufficient warning and put all in the ss
oven which would act as a a Fraday cage.

This is why I carry and keep in good order my trusty old sextant.

Peter

Charts can get blown overboard. You can break or bend a sextant by
accidentally sitting on it or dropping it. Every method of navigation
is vulnerable in mulitiple ways. Don't overlook plain old user error,
either. That's a very common failure for most navigation methods.

If you are relying on any single form of navigation, you are at
greater risk.

Correct... absolutely. Thus, we shouldn't rely on one method of navigation.
Multiple methods and backups are the way to go. Bring the sextant and 1/2
dozen GPS - they're cheap.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:16 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

if the GPS should go out

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


It is not safe, I'm told, to operate the dinghy when one is too drunk
to find the way back to the boat without a GPS :-)

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)


If you can find the dinghy, you're good to go. LOL

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:42:46 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:16 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

if the GPS should go out

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


It is not safe, I'm told, to operate the dinghy when one is too drunk
to find the way back to the boat without a GPS :-)

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)


If you can find the dinghy, you're good to go. LOL


The dinghy is easy to find - just keep walking until you fall over it.
The boat is another matter 'cus all those anchor lights are the same
color...


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:42:46 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

"Bruce in Bangkok" wrote in message
. ..
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:16 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:13:07 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

if the GPS should go out

There is really no excuse for not carrying a spare hand held or two
and a few extra batteries. I use them in the dinghy at times.


It is not safe, I'm told, to operate the dinghy when one is too drunk
to find the way back to the boat without a GPS :-)

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)


If you can find the dinghy, you're good to go. LOL


The dinghy is easy to find - just keep walking until you fall over it.
The boat is another matter 'cus all those anchor lights are the same
color...


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)


We've had this same ongoing problem in the BVIs after many too many. Finally
we got smart and left one of thos hanging lights in the cockpit. That worked
for a couple of nights until all of our drunken neighbors thought it was
such a good idea. LOL

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com