consequence of hurricane Earl and solution

[curtisv]

Hurricane Earl was a dud on Cape Cod.  It was a big nothing after all the hype.  It wasn't even much of a rainstorm and didn't carry and unusual winds.

I did leave my CP23 on her mooring and there were some unexpected consequences, but nothing to do with wind.

My neighbor Bill and I were the only two in our mooring field (of 12-15 boats) to leve our boats in the water.  There was a similar situation in all of the nearby mooring fields.  This left the birds with very few places to land while feeding, and it was a very good year for terns (which translates to a very bad year for cabintop and cockpit gelcoat and sail covers and the like).

Here is Bill after Earl came by.  Bill is on his O'Day 222 with bucket and scrub brush.



Of all the experiences of sailing, cleaning up after the terns is not one of the joys of sailing.

Immediately after Earl and after about a 2-3 hour session cleaning up after the birds (that was just one day of bird droppings), I decided it was time to do something about it.  So here is my solution.



I made 79 real quick little propellers.  Started with a long square cut on the table saw.  Cut groves at 15 degrees on one side.  Flipped it and cut groves on the other side.  Cut it into little cubes with groves on either side.  Then rip cut some scraps to the width of the slot and then to some length.  I didn't bother to measure anything, just eyeballed and put a few pencil marks on the table saw.  This photo is the glue drying using the tailgate of the pickup truck as a drying rack.  Got a bit of glue on the bedliner.



The URL below is the movie version.

http://localweb.orleans.occnc.com/photos/2010/20100907-twirlie-movie/movie01.mov

That was on the mooring.  We had a bit of wind left over and it was choppy on the mooring.

Anyway it worked.  Now all the birds are now on Bill's boat.  Poor Bill.

Curtis

PS - after I pulled my boat out of the water I let Bill borrow my collection of bird twirlie thingies.

[Caboose]

The KISS (keep it simple stupid) way of life in full swing. Easy, simple, not a lot of $$$, and it works. Good job.

[curtisv]

The KISS (keep it simple stupid) way of life in full swing. Easy, simple, not a lot of $$$, and it works. Good job.

The whole thing took an hour or two on the table saw and then glueing.  It probably took longer to tie all the knots in that line to act as stops for the twirlies and then slide a propeller on and tie another knot.

BTW- the "right" line to use for this seems to be venetian cord line.  Its 1/8 tight braid and very slippery and cheap.  The props start spinning in low wind.  It was the only 1/8 inch line I could find at the time and it worked real well.

At some point before next season I hope to make some more of these so Bill can keep the prototypes.  Then we can watch the birds land on Tom's catboat.  Bird are among the consequences of being the furthest out in the mooring field, though they get everyone to some extent.

Curtis