Happy Birthday Bling

Bling bling

For my birthday Tom surprised me with a new anchor.....sort of.  I say sort of because a cruising friend accidentally told me this summer when it arrived in Trinidad and we were KC.  "Your new anchor is here."  Ooops.

Wrapped up like a proper birthday present

I was THRILLED.  It is a known fact that most women like bling.  A gift of bling gets a big thumbs up.....and maybe more.....ehm.  Boat bling is two thumbs up with certain boat chicks (SISO =sailing in sail out).

New anchor chain

So this fall when we returned to Trinidad we collected our new anchor chain and my birthday bling.
Our previous anchor chain was very rusty.  The trip of the Esiquibo River sealed it's fate.  There are no facilities in the Caribbean capable of re-galvanization.  Actually, cruisers used to get it done in Venezuela but those days are gone (for now) as it is not safe to cruise there currently.  *We hope that changes in the near future as stories of cruising days gone past there sound wonderful and we look forward to the day when we can safely cruise there.

Shiny

The choice of anchor is like asking Ford or Chevy, Republican or Democrat, Bud or Coors, salty or sweet?  Ask this in company of a group of cruisers and you are sure to get a wide variety of answers, discussion, and potential raised voices and maybe a fight if it's a long happy hour.  The truth of the answer is that there is NO perfect anchor.  NONE!  Anchors are designed for specific bottoms (anchoring floor).  Modern anchors are designed as best they can be for as many different bottoms as possible.  However, it just isn't possible to design one for ALL bottoms.  So you buy the best solution for the type of bottom you will be anchoring in most.

Old (left) New (right)

Our previous anchor - a CQR was THE anchor in it's day.  It is a good anchor.  However, technology has come a long way.  The new anchor is a Rocna 20 - 42 some pounds.  It is THE anchor of the day......according to many.  It has many kewl features.   From the Rocna web site - "The roll-bar ensures that the anchor always arrives at the ideal angle for penetration, and the setting skids guide the fluke tip which acts as a sharp chisel cutting into the seabed. With a third of the anchor’s weight on its fluke tip, an instant reliable set is ensured with every use.  Of all anchor types, a concave fluke gives the greatest resistance, and through clever design Rocna provides the largest fluke area possible. In very soft seabeds, this provides the holding power to secure your boat. On hard or weedy sea floors, Rocna’s chisel tip ensures that it cuts through and bites deep."
Well there ya go!

We decided to go with 175 ft of  5/16 G4 (high test)  galvanized chain.  We prefer all chain for our primary anchor rode.  However, we ditched our old chain last year in Carriacou - giving it to Lumba Dive to use on a dive buoy.  After that, we used our 75ft of chain and 150 ft of nylon line (5/8).  It worked just fine.  That given, for purposes of sleeping through the night, ALL chain is much preferred by me - so I don't freak out AND for Tom so I don't wake him up when I am freaking out.

It fits

We are pretty excited to use this new set up this coming season.  I posted a pic of the new birthday bling on FB.  Many,  many of our cruising friends left comments saying that we are going to LOVE the Rocna.  One cruiser warned Tom to hang on when anchoring the first time.  "It really bites so hang on".  I hope so.

UPDATE -
We are currently in Grenada in our second anchorage.  LOVE the new chain and my birthday anchor bling.  The Xmas winds have arrived aka it has been blowing and yet, we are set.  Woo hoo.

New anchor and chain in action

PS - if you are a cruiser, sailor, boater and you have a different anchoring configuration, good for you.  I post this only from our experience standpoint.  Chevy, Ford, Democrat, Republican, Bud, Coors, salty or sweet......I don't care.  It's all good.     

Dinghy Seat Cover and Storage Solution

Oddjob does not have a forward storage compartment.  Nick Nack did.  Many dinghies don't.

Inside OddJob - bow

Instead, they have seat covers with built-in storage.  A good, alternative idea.

Big pocket in front

I have been keeping my eye out at all the dinghy docks for design ideas so I could make one for OddJob.
I took pics of designs I liked and then hit the web.  There is a Facebook Group called Sewing On Boats - SOB.  Seriously, that is the nickname.  Ha!  I searched there for good ideas.  Sure enough, my fellow SOB's had designed and sewn some of their own.  I found one I really liked.  Jan had done a terrific job on hers.  I commented and asked a few questions.

Smaller pocket, long, skinny pocket and two drink holders

Soon we were chatting on FB Messenger - me in Martinique and she in The Bahamas.  She answered all my questions, sent more detailed pics and guidance and gave me encouragement.  "Keep me posted on how it goes."

Design, layout and cutting phase

I wanted to use up some of the leftover fabric pieces I have.  However, I wanted it to look nice as well - not too hodgepodge.  I THOUGHT I had enough fabric.  It turned out I really didn't for my type of sewing...."D-oh!  Damn it!  I cut it too small.  Argh Sabrina!" 

Not much leftover

However, I pieced and patched, using the same two fabric colors - grey and black as well as good amount of webbing and was just able to pull it off.

Expansion when needed

Velcro'd when extra space is not needed

I had some old, used zippers from our old dodger/bimini but I decided not to use them.  I didn't think they would hold up in the harsh environment that the dinghy has to take.  Additionally, I simply didn't have ANY spare fabric to make zipper covers and such.  Plus.....honest truth is....zipper are not my forte.  They intimidate me.  Instead, I decided to go with Velcro.  I love Velcro.  I am the princess of Velcro.  

What is in here?  

As with ALL canvas boat projects, the size is weird, odd shaped and not symmetrical.  But that is standard by now....that all canvas projects will not be standard.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, I used a plastic drop cloth to design the pattern and check it before I started cutting on canvas.  This doesn't mean I still didn't do some swearing when I cut the fabric wrong/too short.  But, I was developing it as I went, working with the spare fabric I had.  Really quite tough doing it that way.

Drink holder

Additionally, I was doing all this on the water.  Oddjob is in the water working as our dinghy.  I could have hauled him to the beach but it wasn't really necessary for just the seat.  However, it still wasn't easy.  I sometimes feel bad when I see all the beautiful, perfect canvas projects that fellow SOB's create.  Why can't mine have more of a finished looked?  Then I noticed in the pics from fellow SOB that whatever they are sewing it is sitting in someone's garage/basement/dinning room aka they created it on land....where stuff doesn't move....where there is room to spread out yards of fabric absolutely FLAT.....where the wind doesn't blow your pattern/material around as you try to fit it!  Mind you not all, but many, many are created on solid land.

Long, skinny pocket for say.....a bamboo outboard handle.  Note the drain hole

Anyway, I used our bed, the cabin sole and our main table in the salon to design, pattern, cut and sew my dinghy seat cover.  It turned out pretty good.  Anyway, good enough for us as I always say.

One last look - webbing with quick release clips under the seat keep it all place

  

Digital Selective Calling - DSC

It is time again to talk about DSC.  Yes, we have discussed this before DSC.  However, it seems we need to discuss again as not enough cruisers are taking advantage of DSC.  In fact, only a small percentage seem to know what it is and a smaller percentage don't know how to use it, leaving the tiny population using it.  How do I know this?  Because we have been in place name removed to protect the guilty for six weeks now.  We keep our VHF on 68 when we are on the boat.  This is the hailing channel.  The same group of boats keep hailing each other multiple times each day without using DSC.  One particular guy is driving us nuts!  If he is on his boat, he is hailing 10-15 times a day!  It is not just us.  He is driving everyone in the anchorage nuts.  And I know I really shouldn't be sharing this with all of you but it's just between us, right?   

By the way, if you are around me personally, you may hear me call it DCS in error.  You will just have to "know what I mean and not what I say" as my mother says.

As a reminder for us all - what is DSC?  In simple terms, it is a method for calling one ship to another directly vs hailing over an open channel for everyone to hear.  All modern radios for the past 10 years and probably 12-15 yrs have DSC capability.  You must have a MMSI number.  You get the MMSI number from FCC or equivalent authority (in non-USA countries).  The MMSI comes on your ship's radio license.  It must be programmed into the radio.  You only get two tries.  After that, the radio must be sent back to the factory to be cleared or a professional marine radio tech has to be brought in.  Stupid I know, but that is just how it is.  Note - our particular brand of vhf requires you enter the MMSI number two times thus sucking up BOTH chances.  What does this mean?  It means if we ever sell our boat, the next person will have to send the VHF back to the factory to get their MMSI in there.  Stupid, I know.  BTW - why can't someone figure out a hack for this two time MMSI thing?!  Russian hackers......get on it!

This brings me to some of reasons people don't use DSC.  1). They bought their boat from someone and never filed for their own ships radio license. 2). They never programmed in the DSC into their VHF radio. 3). They don't use their main VHF radio but instead a handheld (no MMSI #).  4). They don't know another boat's MMSI.  Btw - easy fix.....ask or if they have AIS and you receive AIS, get it off your chartplotter.  5). They don't know how to use it AND have never learned.  The last one is where I suspect most cruisers fall.  At least that has been our experience.  

Next let us refresh the WHY you need to use DSC.  1). Safety and security.  I give you a common scenario - average Caribbean anchorage, hailing channel 68 that every cruisers and many locals monitor..... "Tango, Tango, Tango, Honey Ryder here."  "Tango here."  "Shall we go to channel 72?"  "Switching channel 72."  Of course anyone listening and interested can switch to 72 and listen along.  Continued on channel 72....  "Good morning.  How are you two?"  "We are fine.  How are you?"  "We are good.  Are you ready for our grand adventure today?"  "Oh yes."  "Ok.  Let's take one dinghy into the dinghy dock because it is so crowded.  We will drive since you are on our way.  We went ahead and got the rental car for two days.  It is a big island and I think it will take two full days.  Which reminds me, I am going to take the dinghy lights because we will no doubt be out very late each night but can you bring a torch as well?"  Do you see the safety and security concern here?  You have just announced to anyone listening that there will be two boats with no one aboard.  I know you might think this is not a big deal during the day time, only a worry at night.   No - in an anchorage in broad daylight, no one is going to say a word if someone gets on your boat.  They might think it is odd but they won't say anything because you just don't know.  It might be a friend or workman or even the owner or new crew, you just don't know so no one says anything if they even notice at all.  

Second safety reason to use DSC. - ships, bigass ships.  When we have crossing situations with big ships, we usually hail them to be sure that they know we are out there with them.  These huge ships have such small crews and we are a tiny boat in a big ocean.  Often times when we hail them on vhf we don't get a response on the first or second attempt.  They respond better if I hail them - something about hearing a woman's voice in the middle of the ocean prompts them to answer quickly.  With DCS, we can call them directly.  This call is logged on both sides (unless erased) just in case.  Additionally, these big behemoths often have odd or complicated names.  Hailing them directly, eliminates butchering a ship's name so badly that they don't answer.  The crews can also be multi nationality with limited English so if you don't say the ship name correctly when hailing, they may not answer.  But DSC eliminates all that hassle because it "rings" them directly.

Finally and most important reason to use DSC - because the constant hailing throughout the day is driving everyone in the peaceful anchorage up the wall!!

New Dinghy - OddJob

Woo Hoo - looking good

The new dinghy is here.  The new dinghy is here.  The new dinghy is here.

A-OK

For you land people, that is our car.....so.....The new car is here.  The new car is here.

Nice!

Tom has never had a new car.  In the past, I always got the new car since I was roaming around various states with my sales job.  Additionally, we usually drive our cars until the wheels come off so to speak.  Tom's jeep had approx 475,000 miles on it when he sold it.

weeeeee

Sidenote - As long as we were getting new, we got the flying dinghy model.  Just kidding.  This is OddJob flying out of the sailloft.

Still weird - boats should not fly

It seems we are no different when it comes to dinghies.  Nick Nack (our old dinghy) was 18 years old.  That is really old and quite frankly, amazing down here in the Caribbean with the harsh conditions.  But he was/is well built.  He has served us well.  But he was getting tired, so tired.  I have shared with you some of our efforts to get "just one more year" service out of Nick Nack.  The dinghy cover.  The dinghy paint.  Patches and 5200.  Besides being old and tired, Nick Nack is also very, very heavy.  He is a double hulled fiberglass dinghy.  He weighs 150 lbs alone by himself.  Now add an outboard motor, fuel tank, and passengers.  Plus some water that leaks in through the bottom hull.  Heavy dude.

The dinghy fleet.  We are currently trying to sell Nick Nack to a good home

So we knew we needed to get a new dinghy.  Better to get one now in a place with selection and pricing options vs someplace in the middle of nowhere.

New chaps - notice the yellow reflective ribbon?  

That is the main reason we came to Martinique.

Woman who made OddJob's new dinghy chaps.  FYI - French don't call them chaps.

We shopped.  We made our choice.  They (Clipper Ship) were out of our choice.  "Shipment is coming in."  Turns out even though this is France, it is also the Caribbean and so "island time, mon" .

But it arrived - finally.  And it is wonderful.

Christing - OddJob

Meet OddJob.  An AB 9.5 ft aluminum (al-you-min-ee-um for your Brits).  He weighs a mere 95 lbs.  Why OddJob?  James Bond of course!  Oddjob was the lethal hat throwing henchman that worked for Auric Goldfinger in the 1959 book / 1964 movie "Goldfinger."

OddJob, James Bond and Auric Goldfinger

Al-you-min-ee-um - powerd coated

We have witnessed first hand the power of dinghy chaps.  Attempting to make dinghy chaps for a new, bigger, different dinghy while it was in the water seemed like a complicated project that I just wasn't up for.  I made Nick Nack's cover while he was on the hard in Trinidad and I had plenty of room at Coral Cove Marina to lay out the fabric at the covered pool area.  Not so much here.  So we decided to have Incidence Voile sail loft here in Martinique make dinghy chaps.  They did a terrific job.

A SEAT!  I have never had a seat.  I must practise my princess wave

The price for chaps was reasonable at $725E (duty free).  I spent $250US on material alone on Nick Nack's chaps + beer.  I have had for some time reflective ribbon, two sections - one orange and one neon yellow.  I put the orange on Nick Nack's chaps.  Even today, despite the fact that the orange ribbon is very worn, it still reflects when hit with a flashlight at night.  I dug out the unused neon yellow reflective ribbon and the sail loft put it on.  They had never seen anything like that.

Do you see the bow design?  Oddjob's bow is curved up much higher.  When we dinghied back to sv Honey Ryder in Sainte Anne from the sail loft in le Marin (no small distance!) I didn't get splashed once.  Not once, I tell you!  Not once!!  For comparison, if we had been in Nick Nack, I would have been soaking wet on one side from waves.  Dry I tell you!!!

New stainless steel bling to protect Oddjob

We are busy adding all the personal things that make a dinghy yours like you would a car....only it is dinghy things - chain, chafe gear, new painter, lifting mechanism, lights, anchor, storage, floor matting etc...

Tom heading out - look at those chaps!

Thank you Nick Nack for all your service and for taking care of us.  Hello OddJob, we look forward to many adventures and exploration with you.

Jeremie - new owner of Nick Nack

Update - Nick Nack still had some life left in him.  We put the word out - "old but good dinghy for sale - cheap."   A young French couple that live on their boat with two small school age kids bought Nick Nack.  They work ashore and the kids go to school ashore as well.  They were trying to juggle all that with just one dinghy.  This was the perfect new home for Nick Nack.  

Off The Charts In Guyana - The Cutlass man

Tom's cutlass and custom made sheath/scabbard

12-1-16

Cap10 Tom has become the cutlass man of Guyana.  Or he is trying to by corning the market on cutlasses. 

We had discussed a couple of years ago, getting a cutlass to have onboard as they are such a common and handy tool.  When we were at Iowkarama, Addit suggested to the guys that they should get one or two while in Guyana.  “You can get a really good one for very little money.  Let me show you mine.”  He proceeded to show all three of his.  Brazilian made.  Yes, really  - not made in China but in Brazil. 

Customized greenheart wood handle

That was all it took to light the fire in Tom.   He was on the hunt for a cutlass.  The fever spread to Jim on sv Inishnee and David on sv Persephone.  One day in Bartica, Tom located a place with the Brazilian cutlasses so he and Jim stopped in and soon each came out with a cutlass.  $1500 G$ or $7.50US$.  However, Tom didn’t stop there.  He decided his cutlass needed customizing.  He found a spare piece of local greenheart wood ashore in the scraps of new BBQ hut that is being built at the resort.  Tom took the old handle off and fashioned a new one out of the greenheart.  Carpenter Terry helped him cut it out and sand it down.  Voila – Custom cutlass for Cap10 Tom. 

Made by Tom with Terry's help

“Wow, cool.  When did you do that?  How?” were the questions Jim asked Tom when he saw the customization.  I put a pic on Facebook and a fellow sailing sista said “I want one too.”  Tom came up with the idea to get a couple of extra cutlass for gifts.  The first purchase lot was a bundle of three.  Boat guy Kelvis wanted to know “what all the cutlass for?” when he handed them to me as he assisted me in getting into our dinghy at the boathouse.  “Those are for my girlfriends.”  His eyebrows shot up.  The next trip, Tom acquired three more.  Rut-Ro.   Me thinks my husband may be turning into a small arms cutlass dealer.  Hum?  However, these cutlasses were slightly smaller with a better edge than his.  “I think we should keep one of these as well.  It’s small and the handle of yours is too big for me now so maybe one of these can be mine?” I said.  “Yep.  We’ll keep one and I will customize yours as well.” 

Sabrina's cutlass

Then Tom stumbled into a lumberyard on a visit to Bartica.  The two guys recognized a fellow wood admirer and thus they took a liking to him, showed him all around and gave him two nice scraps of purpleheart wood.  The next day started customizing my cutlass handle as well. 

Purpleheart wood

Isn’t it beautiful?!   

Sabrina's customized cutlass

Custom made by Tom

FYI - The cutlass is a very common tool in the Caribbean.  It is used to cut fruits and veggies from their growing spots and well as open them.  It is also used to clear brush.  We often see locals carrying their cutlasses.  On some islands it is illegal to carry a concealed cutlass but one in a sheath/scabbard is legal.  

Grill and Spare Parts

Workshop on the beach, made by some other cruiser, used by many

I know I have mentioned before many, many times how corrosive this environment is, and yet it still amazes me how fast things break down.  We are finding numbers items labeled MARINE have tiny piece and parts that are not set up to handle the salt and sea.  Boom!  Corrosion.  Even things that are built to withstand this environment start to show signs of corrosion at some point.

Our grill has been in a sad state of affairs since we moved aboard.  We carry tons of spare parts but none for the grill.  We didn't bother using it until we got to the Caribbean and then discovered we needed parts.  Grill parts are uber expensive down here so we have been on the lookout for used / second hand parts.  No such luck.

The solution came in the form of visitors from the USA or Sherpas as we call them.  Just kidding.  Our friends delivered the parts, so now all Tom had to do was take old off and put the new on.  Simple, right?  Not!  Remember....corrosion.  It was as if they were fused together.  Finally, he was able to get things apart and installed the new stuff and we are cooking with gas.....literally!  It's good to have the grill running again.  Yummy too.  Who knows, maybe we will start catching fish someday instead of fishing floats and old outboard motors.  Ha!

FYI - A seasoned cruisers told us they generally have to replace grill parts every year or two so now we will carry spares of those items too.

Digital Selective Calling

Or DSC as it is commonly referred to in any VHF radio manual or on chat groups, is an important tool.  All fixed mounted modern marine VHF radios come with DSC these days.  This feature allows you to directly call any vessel with an MMSI number that is within VHF range.  Remember the MMSI?  We have discussed it here before FCC Licensing -Clear As Mud .  In short, you get your MMSI number when you apply for and get your ships radio license.  In our case from the FCC.  Note:  US boaters planning to leave the USA waters should only get their MMSI number from the FCC and not the free one from BoatUS.  The BoatUS MMSI number is only good in the USA.  The FCC assigned MMSI number is good internationally.

Anyway....  Normally cruisers monitor channels 16 and 68 on their VHF radios.  If they want to hail another boat they usually do so on 68 and then move to another open channel (like 69) to talk.  Of course anyone listening can follow along and listen too.  Definitely a party line sort of system.  However, if I have another boat's MMSI number, I can use the DSC feature on my VHF to call them directly on the VHF radio.  It actually rings rather loudly like a phone on their end.  Once the other vessel answers, it automatically takes them to the open channel I selected.  The conversation can still be heard by others listening to that channel or any vessels that has their radio set on scan.  But the nice thing is that everyone doesn't have to listen to you hailing other vessels throughout the day.  This can get to be a bit much for others if you are trying to plan an outing or solve a problem or such.  It doesn't take long to identify the social butterflies, buddy boats or kids boats in an anchorage as they are hailing frequently.  Imagine hearing "Mousetrap, Mousetrap, Mousetrap, this is Blowhard.  Come in please."  "This is Mousetrap."  "Oh hi.  How are you?"  "Good.  How are you?"  Good.  Can we go to 67?"  "Going to 67."   multiple, multiple times throughout the day.  Argh!  Unfortunately, we have been guilty of this at times in the past.  Now we are trying to use DSC as much as possible.  

There are other great benefits of DSC.  A couple of big ones are as follows.  If you have an AIS (automated identification system) receiver then you will see the ship names and MMSI number for bigass ships.  It is my understanding that by law (maritime law I guess) they are required to have AIS and transmit.  Normally when we see a giantantic ship (usually at night...why is it always at night), we hail them on the VHF radio and say something like "Hello Captain.  I am the little tiny sailboat off your port bow.  I just wanted to be sure you see me.  Please don't run me over.  We will try to stay out of your way."  However, even though they are required by law to answer your hail, it doesn't always happen.  Some ships have a frighteningly low number of crew.  Special Note - they respond better to a female voice hailing them verses a male.  With DSC, we can simply call them directly, waking them up on the bridge with a loud ringing from their VHF radio.  Additionally, the call is then logged in their radio and yours, provided neither deletes the log.  Having a record of a VHF hail to a big ship might be a good thing.  You can also receive and send position reports.  This means I can actually send my exact position to the bigass ship.  Sort of a...."Hello....here is where my little tiny sailboat is.  Please don't run me over."  only using your lat and long position to say it!  Another good thing about DSC calling speaks to something I mentioned before, privacy, even if it's limited.  Because it rings another boat directly and then automatically goes to another channel you selected, fewer people can follow and hear your conversation.  Since many of our conversations are about events and activities, fewer people hear the details of your comings and goings and thus fewer people know when your boat is occupied and when it's not!  

The interesting thing that we are finding is that most cruisers don't use the DSC feature.  It seems most don't know how to use it and haven't taken the time to learn.  We were guilty of this but I thought it was because we are still newbies.  No....many seasoned cruisers don't know how to use it.   You need a buddy boat to try it out on.  We did our learning with s/v Allergro while in Trinidad.  In return, we recently answered numerous rings from s/v Karinya as they learned to use theirs.  "Bloody hell!  I've read 71 pages of this VHF manual.  It's actually quite interesting."  

If you have a marine VHF with DSC, do you use it?  Do you know how?  If not, maybe find a buddy boat and give it try.  I think you might like it.  FYI- some cruisers actually put there MMSI number on their boat card.  We did.  

Final Note - I am NOT a VHF radio expert.  For that matter....  I am not a MMSI, or AIS or bigass ship expert either.  The above is simply based on our experiences and discussions with a few seasoned cruisers.  

Ile Les Saintes Dinghy Cleaning

April 27th
We took advantage of a nice little beach in the Saintes to clean the bottom of our dinghy.  It was very very gross.  We beached Nick Nack, took off the outboard, removed everything from the forward dinghy storage area and them spent close to 3 hours scrubbing.  Yes, 3 hours.  I told you it was gross.

Update- Turns out the dinghy scrubbing was not such a good idea.  It seems all the dirty, grim and fuzzy growth was what was holding it together.  Since the cleaning we now have to pump Nick Nack up several times a day vs just once.  D-oh.
Lesson?  Don't clean your old dinhgy.
Update - May 7th We took our dinghy into Liftrafts and Inflatable in Rodney Bay St Lucia.  They tested it and found 3 leaks.  Now that those have been patched Nick Nack has been holding air.  Yay! The lower drain plug needs to be re-bedded but that is something Tom can do.
  

Boom Brake

We have been trying to rig a preventer and or boom brake on vs Honey Ryder for some time with varying degrees of success.  A preventer keeps the boom from doing an accidental jibe - which is a very bad thing/very dangerous/can kill someone/de-rig a boat!  We find that even on a good point of sail, ocean swell can cause the boat to roll enough to potentially have an accidental jibe.  Therefore we always rig a preventer.  Generally Tom goes out on deck and ties a line from the boom to the toe rail forward.  This works great until you want to tack and go a different direction.  We needed a better system.

For the passage down to the Caribbean, we used a line off the end of the boom rigged on both sides, the idea being that we wouldn't need to leave the cockpit.  It worked....ok but still needed improvement.  Additionally it chaffed on the brand new dodger - argh.

We then started seriously talking about a boom brake.  There is one on the market and we looked at it in a chandlery in St Martin.  It's really beef, which isn't a bad thing but the cost was beefy as well!  Cha-ching Cha-ching!

Then Tom got to thinking.....ours doesn't have to be that beefy.

Who else uses something like this?  Bing!  Mountain climbers.  Baxter on Sv Terrapin has done some climbing in his day to put it mildly.   He and Tom talked through the concept.  Tom ordered a Super 8's from REI and our friend Michelle brought it down when she visited us in St Martin.  The price was so reasonable that Tom decided to order two.  Take the word marine out of a product and watch the price fall to something reasonable. 

We are still testing and tweaking.  Remind me down the line and I will try to report back how it is working.