eat, drink, play, and sleep - jul 2014

I didn't start my first sailboarding trip this season until the week after July 4th. I should have started in June. June being much cooler can have a lot of big wind days. The down side is the frigid river water from the mountain snow melt.

the first order of business is to catch up with the deferred maintenance; this fin is very old and was made when the sport hadn't quite figured out the optimum foil shape

i now hate the miserable mess in sanding fiberglass; i use the angle grinder with a rather coarse sanding abrasive to remove the unwanted thickness of the fin in a hurry; i was surprised with my ability to use only the grinder to achieve the very smooth end result - patience and check often with your hand is key

With the angle grinder I took off as much as 3mm at the thickest cross section of the fin.

a bit of very old batch of West System epoxy (that is why it is deep red) reinforced with bits of glass fiber to patch a small fracture

i always "dry" camp

pasta with prawns and andouille sausage for brunch after a vigorous early sailing session

I leant now that when on a sailing trip, always bring a lot of food supply than I estimate I need. Reason being I never want to caught short should I decide to stay longer due to unexpected improvement in weather forecast, or an impromptu shared meal for a friend.

this morning was a full house

plenty of things to keep me occupied when not sailing; i had been really into Leoš Janácek lately

camping by a small lake

french omelet and homemade smoked salmon for breakfast

pasta with wild prawns and parmesan cheese and lots of root vegetable

one very angry river

my smallest sail (3.0 sq. m); there are folks using 2.8 that morning; i am happy with the improvement with my re-foiled fin and i think i can slim down the foil cross section a bit more

my friend from utah with his very capable Sportsmobile 4x4 rock crawler camper

home made smoked salmon with morning glory and potato - definitely a fusion dish

the owners of this motorhome with a jeep in tow insisted to assert his version of American freedom and liberty (and to hell with everyone else's) taking up 10 precious parking spots; eventually they were shamed to leave but only after a long standoff

i wanted to capture a shot with the barge going down river with water spray that runs half the length of the barge

smoked chicken with long beans

this morning i was the first one on the water - it blew over 30 knots with much higher gusts

For the last three days, I used my 3.4 sq. m sail. There was time that I could have gone down to my 3.0. I hate going to my smallest sail knowing if then wind increase say another 8 knots or so I am game over.

one afternoon i went forage for blackberries on the rocky shore

pasta with smoked chicken and napa cabage

open sores from having too much fun

one of my witty friend coined the word windsuffering (as opposed to windsurfing)

I have been on a campaign against solar gain as well as to protect the interior of Brunnhilde from UV damage. Here are some recent enhancements. Today I painted the skylight in the bathroom white. For me the only time the translucent skylight make sense is if you live in countries like Norway.

with my neighbour's help i backed Brunnhilde right against the roof of the house so i can work easily

precision driving - we both decided not to push the luck with the automatic transmission on a 4 ton vehicle; i actually feel more in control had it be a manual transmission

i discovered a corner of the 2-ply has delaminated - the glue joint failed; i clean the seam and apply acrylic adhesive by Weld On

conduct test with acetone to see if the paint will damage the skylight; the acetone does dissolve the plastic mildly which is what i want - forming a chemical bond with the paint

 all is well so i went ahead and apply the white spay paint

while i am at it, i also painted the cap of the kitchen vent - it is made of crappy plastic that is obviously don't do well in the sun so the coat of white paint hopefully will extend its life before it vaporize in UV

i made these reflective foil inserts in all the side windows; they hugely reduce solar gain; i can feel the obvious different sitting inside by the big window and there is no long the repulsing heat on the blackout curtain

It is so often poorly recognized. Insulated panes do little to combat solar gain from direct sun. I content the dual pane insulation actually contribute to temperature rise as the heat rise on the internal space is trapped by the improved insulation (like when you pull down the grey blackout curtain) because the heat is better insulated.

The reflective foil work because it reflect most of the sun light back out through the double pane window.

Before the painted skylight I always deploy the insect screen because it helps to cut down on the harmful UV. Now I can save the wear and tear of doing so.

my home made low power ventilation fan is great to keep the inside temperature down when parked in direct sunlight

I want to paint the big skylight also. I will however, decided to wait a bit before doing so to observe the bathroom skylight in case the paint develop adverse problem on the plastic. The skylight plastic looks to be polycarbonate.