Virtual Ship's Log from Captain Hammer

'Cause I don't have enough to do already

Monday, April 26, 2010



Daggerboards have finally started taking shape. Time to start the yoke on which to hang them. Looking forward to getting some good work done on everything this weekend- not alot planned now, but you know how that goes.


You can see from this angle the profile of the daggerboards- a wing shape. For the most part things that are aerodynamic are also hydrodynamic, the two fluids (air and water) behaving in much the same way. Also pictured is half of a 1/2" PVC pipe that will be fitted to the leading edge, to prevent substantial scarring if the soft pine daggerboards run aground.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Who Doesn't Like Peanut Butter?


I was talking to someone about this the other day, and thought it'd be a good subject on which to test the "take a poll" gadget. Seriously, who doesn't like peanut butter? It's universal. People who are allergic still like it. I don't even know a zoo animal that doesn't like it. It's not just cross-species, it's cross-class (taxonomically): mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish love it. Maybe even invertebrates.


Because there are (currently) too few followers of this blog to make any poll statistically significant, I am expanding the question to include people you know. This also makes the identity of the unholy butter-hater blinded to me, which is how I prefer it. I don't want to lose any friends over this, but if you don't like peanut butter then let me refer you to some counseling. Really. How can zoofulls of critters be wrong?

Wednesday, April 14, 2010



No work on the boat this last week, but I did do a little maritime research in San Diego. Their bay hosts the oldest active sailing ship in the world, the Star of India. Check out its history:






Pretty cool stuff. It's fascinating how much rigging is on one of those suckers. I don't know if I could ever remember which line is for what. And the thing has an iron hull, weighing up to 1,318 tons when loaded. And it's been around the world 21 times! A true testament to wind power. Wonder what the sail area would be, fully rigged...

Does This Tortilla Look Suspicious?


Some people see Jesus in their IHOP short stack. Others get La Virgen impressed into their gordita. This is what I get: a sign from the TexMex Gods- and I don't think it's a good one. Is Mamasita trying to tell me something?

It took me almost five minutes to dispel this bad joojoo. The only way to do it is to maul the Mal Tortilla de Calavera and chase it with 2-3 good tortillas. A "healthy" slathering of queso helps 'em go down quicker.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010


My dad has a lot of great tools. And a lot of great know-how. If a trip ever takes me to my folks' place, you can bet I get a lot done on any one of my ongoing projects. And a lot did get done this weekend: daggerboards have been cut and have started taking shape.

It may be time to take a moment and discuss these, the first parts of my sailing canoe. Daggerboards are keels- the middle part of the boat that hangs down vertically into the water. They help a boat from tipping over, and are crucial in sailing ships to keep them going forward while travelling in any direction that's not directly away from the wind. Most people who haven't sailed wonder how a boat can go anywhere but where the wind is blowing. There's plenty of good information out on the internet, but I'll try to briefly explain the function of the keel. Imagine you are in a boat at the center of a clock, and the wind is blowing at you from 12 o'clock. Your sailboat can actually go in any direction from around 1:30 to around 10:30, thanks in large part to the keel (your sail is, of course, playing a huge role, but I won't talk about this now). If you are in a boat without a keel and you are going, let's say, towards 9 o'clock, then the wind will simply push you side-ways (towards the 6). The keel is like a vertical wing that keeps you slipping through the water 90 degrees from the wind. Take a small boogie board into a pool and test it. If you put it under water and try to "flap" it, it will tend to "slice" through the water perpendicular to the force you apply on it (it will try to "slip" to the side). Same with the keel.
Small boats with a "shoal draft" (boats that don't stick into the water very deep, and can get into shallow water) have ways to make sure the keel doesn't run aground. Nicer boats have a "swing keel" that can be retracted under the boat. Smaller boats have a "centerboard" keel, or one that can be simply pulled up through a well in the middle of the boat. These are sometimes called "daggerboards".

To make sure I have enough keel surface to allow me to maneuver my boat (enough to keep it from blowing side-ways), but keep the daggerboards short so I can get into most of the usual "canoe spots" (shallow water), I am using 2- one daggerboard that hangs on each side of the boat exactly half way between bow and stern (front and back). They will also be able to retract (swing up).

I don't have any pictures of them, and they wouldn't be much to look at in their present state, so here's a picture of one of my hop vines instead- 2 inches tall already! (It looked like a 5 inch long stick, planted horizontally 1" under the soil surface, just 1 week ago!)