VLSC sailing school director in 2012
by admin on Jan.31, 2012, under Sailing/Marine
2012 newsletter submission
Was just sent the jan/feb publication of the vlsc newsletter.
There is a nice one page coverage of my write up that I did about being the new program director for the VLSC sailing school.
Providing a strategy and mission statement I believe was important and then doing a quick review of a marketing effort and the need for volunteers.
I look forward to serving as the sailing school director in 2012.
As part of my compensation the kids are going to be able to register for 5 sailing classes each of their choice in 2012.
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double handed long distance racing
by admin on Jan.30, 2012, under Sailing/Marine
Recently I have been sailing on David Garmin’s santa cruz 27 giant slayer.
David has asked me about doing some double handed long distance racing on his boat.
This years farlones race we will not be able to do because of a trip he has planned.
So instead this year we are going to hopefully go up to Vancouver and do the southern straights race. Our rating would put us on the medium course.
Next year we plan on doing the farlones races for sure. I hope that by doing this type of racing it will prepare/gain me the opportunity for doing a double handed race to Hawaii.
ShareRepair of centrifuge bowl
by admin on Jan.29, 2012, under WVO/Biodiesel
After upgrading to a 1 HP motor in my WVO filtering process I found that pressure spikes had deformed my centrifuge bowls creating a situation were the seal would extrude out and so pressure would not be achieved.
To remedy the problem I went back and put a pressure releif vavle in that will be set for 100 PSI max.
To fix the bowls I came up with an idea of using two pipes one inside the other to “deform” the bowls back to their original shape. Sourced a couple of inexpensive steel pipes and then using the press at work was able to fix the two centrifuge bowls I have.
ShareIceburg regatta on melges 24
by admin on Jan.28, 2012, under Sailing/Marine
At 4 am I got up and loaded 25 gallons of WVO into the sprinter van. Headed up to Seattle to do the Iceburg long distance race on Alex’s melges 24 IRL 417. We started in class 3 when we should have started in class 4, but quickly distanced the fleet.
It was 15 miles long and my hands and feet were freezing when I got in due to the 20 knot southerly that we sailed in. The sprinter webasto diesel heater came in handy for warming up.
On the way back I stopped in a rest stop and cooked some soup in the van for dinner. Took me about 1/2 hour and I just sat in my van with heater running watching some pan handlers making a killing in collecting money from people just stopping for poddy breaks.
ShareXR600R modifications
by admin on Jan.25, 2012, under Mackconsult, Mechanical Engineering, XR600R
XR600R
The trusty XR600R. One of my favorite modes of transportation and I hope to have many more adventures on it in the coming years.
I want to modify this bike so that I can do some over night trail riding on it. Not only that but the bike does not look real good cosmetically.
My thought is to tear the bike down in the winter of 2013. I would rebuild the motor, gear box, and suspension components.
While the bike is tore down I will get the frame sand blasted, and welded (repairs & modification), and painted. Upon rebuild I would make sure to replace some items particularly on the handle bars and front light system. Fenders and tank I am not to worried about, in fact I would probably just clean them up real good and use stickers or decals to dress the bike up a bit.
Saddle bags
The XR400R had an oil cooler on it and so I think I would try and implement this as a modification for further cooling of the bike on hot days. Also would replace the oil level dipstick with one of the temperature gage type oil dip sticks.
When the frame is welded I will repair the cracked part that is under the seat. In solidworks I will design up components & weldments to support having a milk crate above the rear fender/tail light area in the center. Also will design up some custom aluminum boxes like shown in this picture.
The goal would be to make it so I can easily remove the aluminum saddlebags, brackets, and related components with one single allen wrench.
Have access to welder here at work so I envision I would be able to do all these changes pretty cost effectively.
This would be a fun project to have my son involved in, hopefully swaying him into the discovery of enjoyment that one can find in “rebuilding” something …… instead of buying new.
ShareC span TV for up at the mountain
by admin on Jan.25, 2012, under Family, Mackconsult
FTA tv
Recently when broadcasters were required to switch to digital TV broadcasting from analog broadcasting relay stations up on the east side of Mt Hood probably found it to costly to perform this upgrade and continue broadcasting. We tried to setup a digital tuner and antenna but was not able to receive any such signal. So know there is no TV up at sportsman park.
This gave me the idea of implementing C span satellite up on the mountain. Probably won’t be able to get local channel broadcasting but still would be able to get some of the major networks to watch car races, ball games, golf, news, and maybe even some cartoons for the kids.
http://www.21st-satellite.com/satellite_tv.html
http://www.shop4fta.com/free-to-air-faq.php
ShareNew lights and battery for the XR600R
by admin on Jan.21, 2012, under XR600R
New tail light and turn signals
One of my favorite toys got a face lift today. Since I have had the bike I have not liked how the tail light and turn signals work. Just didn’t seem safe enough when looking at the rear of my bike.
Then this last summer while loading stuff in the van I shattered the rear tail light lens.
Ordered on ebay a new tail light assembly and then these fairly large turn signals.
Current 2300 mamp battery
Was able to do just a slight modifications and got everything on the bike. When I rev the engine they all come on like they should.
The current battery is only 2300 milli-amps so I made a measurement of how large a battery I can install and was able to find another larger 2300 milli-amp battery that will fit in the same spot.
new 2300 mamp battery
Pictured to the right is the old battery and to the left is the new battery. It cost me about $35 to purchase it of the internet and the lights are functioning much better.
Still at idle the blinkers stop working so I think I still need more battery capacity on the bike. To the rear of the battery installation is the air intake for the carburetor. I am thinking I could buy another battery pack just like the one that is installed and then wire it in parallel with the existing battery.
Will probably device a way that I can mount it vertically in the air intake box hopefully with out restricting the air intake at all. Might like at mounting some louvers or something on the plastic side plates of the bake to allow for more air entry into the air filter box.
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