paddle wheel

Posted By: Gene Halpern, ex-Nimble 20
Date: 1/2/08 4:36a.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: should have guessed . . . (Brent - N20)

I recall an episode on the ICW at the mouth of Tampa Bay (Near the big bridge.) It was very early in the morning and there was pea soup fog. Dozens of pleasure boats were packed in tight trying to maintain position--no one in his right mind would have tried to cross the main shipping channel in that fog. When the fog finally lifted, we were all amazed by how many of us were actually out there waiting. The paddle wheel is the usual culprit in the scenario you describe. It just stops spinning and needs to be freed up. I used to pull the thru hull fitting and fix it (for a few days anyway). Those thru hulls are in such a difficult position on this boat that I would not recommend this to anyone---the chance of bobbling the devices and letting in a disastrous amount of water are too great. I have put the boat into shallow water and fiddled with the little paddle from the outside, but that is not easy either. I didn't rely on either of those instruments very much. The boat draws so little, you can usually SEE the bottom long before "hearing" it. I had a GPS for those times when I wondered how fast I was going (which was not often.) I prefer traveling slow; that's why I bought a Nimble. A knotmeter on a Nimble is about like a tachometer on a screwdriver. I sewed that zipper with a Sailright Yachtsman machine that was fitted with a monster flywheel---it would sew through just about anything you dared fit under the presser foot. When I was sewing that radar reflector contraption, I'm pretty sure I sewed right through some aluminum flashing a time or two... Ripping out stitches with a seam ripper is... uh, annoying. You always seem to discover a mistake at the end of a long stretch of sewing rather than at the beginning: in this case--- 10 feet! The brass water pump sure looks pretty--but that's all I will say about the water system. At one point I had scoped out a nice solid water tank that would have sat forward (in the V-berth well) but then, what would I have done with my kids? I relied on a couple 6-gallon water containers. Along with a "bunch" of gas cans, they traveled back in the dinghy most of the time. At least with a portable plastic water container, you stand half a chance of being able to sanitize them. The only bad batch of "drinking water" we ever picked up was at a dock along the Redneck Riviera: "Oh yes, Capt... that's GOOD potable water..." The whole crew was puking until we got to Apalachicola. Getting back to that U-clamp thingy at the mizzen clew... my philosophy summed up: whatever it takes to avoid a bowline or a square knot. I spent many happy hours working captive eye-splices in yacht braid and 3-strand all over that boat. My present Melonseed unfortunately has only a very limited number of places where one can keep his splicing skills sharp. If you continue cruising around Florida, it's only a matter of time until someone will recognize Morgan Truce and ask you how your "little girls" are. Just smile and say, "Fine!" To tell the truth, "the boat trip" remains a major topic whenever we get together. The further back in our memories, the more likely we think: "Did we really DO that? Four people on a Nimble?"