Early Fall in Baltimore - 2017

Oct 7 thru Oct 10

--Blogpost written by Bob

Having completed the toe rail refinishing and the fabric cover for our onboard barbecue grill, one of the last remaining projects is making the under dining table shoe rack.

Under Dining Table Shoe Rack (cont'd)

Maggie constructed these four shoe bins for use in our
under dining table show rack.  The bottom of each
container is constructed from black mesh,

I made a rectangular wire loop using 1/16-inch diameter stainless steel wire to keep the shape of the ends of the openings of the shoe bins.

While it was still nice weather, I cut the 1/4-inch thick teak-veneered plywood pieces that will be used to hold the shoe bins from above.  The assembly had to be made with the dining table turned upside down.

The dining table was disconnected and turned upside down
for the assembly of the individual shoe bins.  In
this photo Maggie is assembling the first
shoe bin to the mounting frame.

This is the assembly of the last shoe bin.  Each bin is
supported by its 1/4-inch thick plywood panel.
Four screws fasten (thru the shoe bin's
top) to the plywood panel.

This is the completed shoe rack assembly.  Each bin holds
one pair of shoes plus a pair of flip flops.  The
black mesh bottom on the shoe bins
assures some breathability.

It took us one entire (rainy) morning to assemble the shoe rack, which is about one half the time I originally estimated.  This is the last of the three remaining projects we planned for this summer.  Now, we can focus on provisioning and some minor changes we want to make for our upcoming trip to the Exumas.

Hydrofoils for Dinghy's Outboard Engine

Since downgrading from our 1-year old 10 HP to our new 6 HP outboard engine for our rigid-hull inflatable dinghy, I have been a little disappointed in that the dinghy will not plane with only me onboard.  (Maybe I need to lose more weight!)  Planing allows the dinghy to move a lot faster.  We considered a couple options: adding trim tabs to the transom of the dinghy (about $200), changing the propeller pitch (about $100), and adding hydrofoils to the outboard engine (about $30).  The desired performance increase may involve more than one option, but we decided to start with adding hydrofoils to the outboard engine.

We selected the Davis Doel-Fin Hydrofoil as shown 
above.  The hydrofoils bolt to the existing 
horizontal cavitation plate on 
the outboard engine.

Adding the hydrofoils to the outboard engine was the least expensive of the three options we considered--these cost about $30 on Amazon.  The hydrofoils are constructed from some type of plastic and were relatively easy for me to install.  I had to cut down the zinc which was mounted on underside of the cavitation plate because it interfered with the plastic hydrofoils--five or ten minutes with my portable grinder solved this issue.

The cavitation plate on our outboard was not large enough 
to get the hydrofoils nice and straight--instead 
they angle inward slightly but they 
are solidly attached.  

In a short test run after installing the hydrofoils, I was able to plane rather easily--this was my goal and it was accomplished with just a $30 investment!

The hydrofoils look like large dolphin fins and they make
a huge difference in performance!  I was able
to plane with just me on board.

Conclusion

The last project to be completed while in Baltimore is to get our RAINMAN water maker out of the cockpit locker and get it running as a test.  We also need to get several spare filters for it.  Then, of course, comes our provisioning...


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