Messing About In Boats

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November 1, 2000 Issue

November 15, 2000 Issue

November 1, 2000

Japan Stories
By Jason Spinnett
Back in the hinterland of western Japan on the Japan Sea, Shimane prefecture and Tottori prefecture come together in a region known as Naka no Umi, or "middle sea". The "sea" is actually a fairly large bay enclosed by a narrow pass to the Japan Sea, where two peninsulas come together at the port of Sakai Minato. In the middle of this mini-sea sits a tiny island called Botan Jima because of the peony flowers grown there, although it is also called Daikon Jima for the big white radishes also grown in abundance there. A small ferry goes from Watari village to the island and then on across the sea to Matsue City in Shimane prefecture, a truly antique city never destroyed by war, where Lafcadio Hearn, or Hitotsu Yanagi, the famous expatriate English literary figure and translator of Japanese literature lived and worked. His house is now a museum. Riding the ferry was a scenic delight.
Because the ferry was there I didn't really need my own boat, but I bought a used wooden Japanese fishing boat at a local boat yard. It was 18' long and had a venerable kerosene powered (gasoline is used only as starting fluid, squirted from an oil can) "make and break" engine used by farmers and fishermen the world over. I had seen such antique engines in use powering threshing machines and pumps in Kansas when I was a child.
It had one cylinder, a huge open flywheel and a whirling ball governor which allowed the magneto switch to close only when the flywheel slowed down and the centrifugal force lessened causing the cylinder to fire. In between firings a valve opened, releasing the compression, so that it would just go "poo poo poo" several times and then fire with a big "kaboo", at which time the boat would lurch forward while the cylinder fired a few times, then go back to the leisurely poo poo routine for a few revolutions. It was cooled by an open reservoir of water in the top of it with steam rising up like a kettle on a stove.
I had the fisherman's boatyard put a cabin on it and a steering wheel inside to make it comfortable cruising. I called it Daijobi Maru, a corruption of the Japanese word for strong. It was great adventure to cruise just off the picturesque coastline past small fishing villages and lovely gnarled pines. The water was clear but the bottom was rocky and I did bend my brass propeller.
At home near Sakai Minato I was making a Japanese style rock garden so I needed some attractive gravel to put in it along with the bigger rock I had brought from up in the mountains. On one of my cruises I had no-ticed lots of smooth shiny blue gray gravel on a rocky beach off the point where the open sea met the protected waters. It was a little far out for my small craft but I chose a quiet day and cruised out there armed with a bucket and a shovel. I loaded countless buckets of the choice round gravel onto the deck of my boat, in the cabin and everywhere. On the way home I had only about 3" of freeboard between the gunwale and the surface of the water.
All went well until I came through the narrow pass off Sakai docks just at dusk. The shrimp boats were heading out fast. One passed me closer than I wished, and sure enough his wake came over the side and into the stem cockpit. I started to sink as I chugged for the docks. The workmen at the oil com-pany docks saw my plight and by the time I got to the dock a couple of minutes later they had a gasoline pump going and handed me the big inlet hose from it. I put it in the 2' of water already in my boat and it actually pumped water out faster than it could come in over the sides. I couldn't believe it. I thought I would sink there at the dock but no, the pump won the contest!
The two men laughed as I thanked them profusely and bowed plenty of times in gratitude. I limped home in the dark after all the shrimp boats had cleared the area to relieve Daijobi Maru of its burden of precious gravel.

November 15, 2000

Masts on the Cheap
By Chuck Wilson
A small boat mast is usually made of a light, expensive wood. They can be made hollow by several methods and streamlined and rotated to create a smooth flow of air over the luff. But, if all you want is to hold up a standing lug on a non racer you could try this:

1: Buy two 1'x 2"s (3/4"x 1-3/4") 10' long of rough fir (no knots).
2: Nail these two boards together with a few nails with heads left high for easy removal.
3: Saw or plane one third of the length of both boards from full width to approximately 1" at the head.
4: Taper the opposite end from full width at the partner area to approx. 1- 1/2" at the butt.
5: Remove temporary nails.
6: Make a 1/2"x 3/4"x 1-3/4" spacer.
7: Clamp the 10' lengths at butt and head with the 1/2" spacer at the partner level.
8: Measure the gap at each 18" point above the partner spacer and make spacers to suit.
9: With thickened epoxy butter the inside of each plank 3" at butt, 12" at head and 1" at each spacer point.
10: Clamp the 10' lengths at head and butt and, with the spacers in place, at the spacers.
11: When the epoxy is set, plane the sides at the head to make a 1"square.
12: Round the four outside edges of the mast, sand and.paint to suit.

For a taller mast you might start with 1"x 3" lumber and thicker spacers so the finished width is the same as the fore and aft dimen-sion at any point.
The aerodynamics? Who cares, but it may be better than you think. I once asked an aerodynamisist what he would do at 12 knots. He said, "I would hang myjacket on the mast." Think about that the next time you look out the plane's window at the vortex generators along the top of the wing. Maybe the slot through the mast does something good. In any case mess around!

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