Casio Ultimate Pathfinder

The following review was published in the August, 2009 issue of Sea Kayaker magazine, which is on the newstands now:

Time and tide wait for no man. The Pathfinder keeps track of both, not to mention direction, temperature, altitude, air pressure, and phases of the moon.

Casio Pathfinder PAW 1500 Review

The Casio Pathfinder series of watches are advanced digital timepieces designed for rugged outdoor use. I recently tested the Pathfinder PAW 1500 model, which is one of the most advanced in the Pathfinder line. The PAW 1500 is a solar-powered, multi-band atomic watch like others in the line, but also features three sensor modes in addition to timekeeping. These extra sensors are the direction sensor digital compass, the pressure sensor barometer and altimeter, and the temperature sensor thermometer. This is an impressive collection of instrumentation in a compact package that fits comfortably on all but the smallest wrists.

The timekeeping function offers the accuracy of radio-controlled calibration by receiving time signals transmitted in Germany, the United States, England and Japan. In the U.S. the signal is transmitted from Fort Collins, Colorado. The Pathfinder watch I tested had no problem receiving this calibration signal from my home in Mississippi. The watch adjusts its time automatically at periodic intervals, but I also performed a manual calibration and the signal was received within two to three minutes. Current time is displayed in hours, minutes and seconds. Checking the time over a four-month period against other timepieces and my cell phone, I concluded that the Pathfinder is extremely accurate and would be excellent for navigation purposes. Timekeeping functions also include world time, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, five different daily alarms and a tide graph and moon phase indicator.

The moon phase indicator is a graphic display in a small circle at the top left of the main display face that shows the current phase of the moon as viewed from the northern hemisphere. A glance at the indicator tells you which quarter the moon is currently in.

The tide graph is naturally a useful function for kayakers. You can set up the tide data based on your selected home city or nearest port city and adjust the tide graph to high tide time at a particular date. After setting this up, the current tide condition is graphically represented, showing the range from high to low and spring tide, intermediate tide and neap tide.

My favorite feature of the Pathfinder PAW 1500 is the digital compass. With the push of a button, the main display switches from current time to a digital bearing readout. Turning your arm so that the watch face is horizontal to the horizon allows it to acquire an accurate bearing in just seconds. I was impressed with the accuracy of the compass when I tested it earlier this year while sailing in south Florida. Bearings were compared between the Pathfinder compass and the vessel compass and GPS chartplotter. The Pathfinder compass was consistently within a five-degree margin of error in comparison with the other compasses and was just as quick to acquire new bearings during course changes. The compass can be calibrated manually for magnetic declination and calibrated to match another compass such as a deck compass. The rotary bezel on the watch allows navigation to a precise bearing while keeping the north indicator on the bezel in a position indicating magnetic north. It’s certainly convenient to have an accurate compass right on your wrist at all times, and nice to have the redundancy it provides as a backup to deck mounted compasses and hand-held GPS.

The pressure sensor mode of the Pathfinder PAW 1500 allows it to function as a reasonably accurate barometer and altimeter. Like the compass, each of these instruments is accessed with one touch from a dedicated button on the side of the watch. The barometer shows current barometric pressure as well as a graph indicating changes to assist in making predictions. The barometer function has proven useful in monitoring the ever-changing spring weather in my region as low-pressure cells move in every few days, bringing rain followed by dry air high pressure systems.

The altimeter function uses a pressure sensor to estimate altitude. Although I haven’t tested the watch very far from sea level, the current reading of 140 feet at my home location is accurate to within 20 feet or so. This altimeter is not intended to be accurate enough for aviation of course, but can be useful to climbers. Sea kayakers aren’t likely to need it anyway.

The built-in thermometer is perhaps more useful, and in testing it matched readings on an indoor-outdoor mercury thermometer I had at the house. The thermometer will not function properly, however, when the watch is being worn, as body heat interferes. It has to be removed from the wrist and acclimated to the surroundings for about 20 to 30 minutes to get a true reading.

The Casio Pathfinder PAW 1500 not only combines all these instruments in a wearable watch, but does so in a package that is rugged and waterproof to 200 meters. It is rated safe for SCUBA diving at normal depths and is tough enough for hard wear in outdoor activities. I’ve worn my test sample through long days of hard work in the boat shop and in the interior refit of a classic Alden schooner where it was frequently banged against a bulkhead or other solid object and subjected to the dust and vibration of power tools. The watchband is black resin, and is tough, flexible and secure. It features a heavy stainless buckle and a wide range of size adjustment slots. The inner side of the band is grooved in a non-slip pattern so the watch won’t rotate on your wrist when it’s wet or sweaty. The built-in solar powered battery never needs replacing and only requires a small amount of light to keep it charged, especially when the watch is in the power-save mode. A green display light that is easy to see allows nighttime use and can be set up for manual activation or to come on automatically when the watch face is tilted up toward the wearer.

As rugged as it is, the Pathfinder is an attractive watch to my eye, anyway and it does not seem too big or heavy for everyday wear unless you have small wrists. It’s a serious looking instrument, and recognizable to many as I’ve had comments about it from coffee shop clerks and others who were familiar with the design. It’s not a cheap watch at the MSRP of $350, but for all the features and the build quality, I think it’s worth it especially as I found online prices as low as $217.90. More information on the Pathfinder PAW 1500 and other watches in the Pathfinder line can be found at: http://pathfinder.casio.com/

I liked this watch so much that I ended up keeping it, working out a trade with the editor at Sea Kayaker. For anyone who is interested in getting a deal on one, I recommend getting it here:

Casio Men's Pathfinder Multi-Band Solar Atomic Ultimate Watch #PAW1500-1V

Making a Rope Bow Fender

My friend David and the crew at Boatsmith recently completed construction of a lapstrake pulling boat to Iain Oughtred's Guillemot design. This vessel will be the new tender to the 1929 Alden schooner, Summerwind. David's construction photos and more can be seen at his blog on the project.

Below is one photo of the mostly-completed tender:

Knowing that my girlfriend, Michelle, is quite accomplished at decorative ropework, David called me last week to see if she could produce a bow fender or "bow pudding", as it is correctly termed, on short notice - like over the weekend. The fender was in the contract for the finished dinghy, but David couldn't find anyone who could make one without a lead time of more than a month or two. Michelle has done lots of ocean plait doormats, turks head bowls and monkey's fist key chains and the like, but making a fender was new territory until this project came along.

Michelle was first introduced to nautical ropework by the late Captain Charley Strickland, who we met at Point Cadet Marina in Biloxi when I still had Intensity docked there. Although we only had the privilege of knowing him for a few short months before he passed away in 2005, he gladly shared everything he learned in a lifetime as a professional seaman and was delighted to find Michelle an eager student of the art of knots. Below is a photo I took of Captain Charley with some of his work on the dock at Point Cadet. More about him can be found in an article I wrote for The Sun Herald that was also posted here.

Knowing Captain Charley would be proud of her continued efforts and not lacking in confidence in her ability to learn new tricks, Michelle told David she could deliver the fender on time. She pulled out her reference books, including the classic, Ashley Book of Knots to get some ideas. None of them showed a fender like David described, but by studying the various drawings, we came up with a plan and I helped her make the seized eyes and build up the core so she could do her thing on the decorative covering.

Below is close-up of one of the eyes, made by seizing a loop of 1/2" manila.

The eye with additional strands of rope doubled back from the other end to form the bulk of the core.

David's specifications for the bow fender required a length of 36 inches for the protective part, with 3-inch eyes at each end, for a total length of 42 inches. The piece of rope used to make the eyes was doubled back several times so that the core would consist of single piece of line in the center. He wanted the finished thickness to be 3 inches at the ends and 5 inches in the mid-section.

The taper from the thicker mid-section to the narrower ends was created by adding more varying lengths of 1/2" manila and binding them in position with smaller cord. The bent shape was also created at this stage by the binding, with longer pieces on the outside of the curve and shorter pieces on the inside radius.

The covering method Michelle decided to use consists of a series of continuous half-hitches, using 1/4" manila. This half-hitching method works well for covering a tapering surface, and provides plenty of cushioning bulk for the fender. Since it also is flexible and fits loosely over the core, the fender can easily be bent further to fit to the bow of the boat.

That's a lot of half-hitches and over 200 feet of 1/4-inch manila.

It takes a lot of patience to tie all those knots when you have to pull 50 or more feet through each time and fight the rope's tendency to unravel and twist.

Here's a closer view of one end of the fender, showing how the knots conform over the taper and form the rounded end at the eye.

The finished fender came out to just the right size. It will be smoothed out and bent to just the right shape when installed on the boat. David has installed a rope rub-rail made from 1 1/2-inch thick manila all around the perimeter of the boat. The bow fender will be lashed at the eyes and pulled up right to the rope rubrail.

I plan to travel to Florida next week to help David with some interior work on the Summerwind. The new tender with its bow fender will be delivered to the schooner while I'm there, so I should be able to get some additonal photos of it installed as well as photos of the schooner to post when I return.

Strictly Sail Boat Show in St. Petersburg, FL

I'm heading to the Tampa Bay area tomorrow so I can work with my friend, David Halladay, of Boatsmith at the Strictly Sail Boat Show in St. Petersburg. The show begins on Thursday at noon and goes through Sunday. David will be exhibiting Abaco, his Wharram Tiki 30 that is documented in Pro-Built Tiki 30. I'm quite sure his Tiki 30 will be the only Wharram catamaran present among many factory-built, fiberglass sailing vessels. I'm not sure what kind of reaction we will get among the general boating public, but I expect we will be quite busy answering questions for the 4-day duration of the show.

David has done a lot of work and added many refining touches to the boat since taking it to the Mystic Wooden Boat show this past summer. All systems are now installed, as well as many cruising necessities such as the bimini. I can't wait to spend some time hanging out on board. David and I are also looking forward to visiting with Reuel Parker again, as he plans to attend as well. For anyone close enough to make the trip, this is a good chance to have a look at a Tiki 30, as well as many other boat designs that will be on display.

DIRECTIONS:

Take Interstate 275 into St. Petersburg. Exit on Interstate 175-
Exit 22 and continue to its end at the traffic light. Proceed
forward four traffic lights. The fourth light is First Street.
Turn left on First Street. The Mahaffey Theater and the show
grounds will be on your right-hand side. Plenty of on-site
parking is available at the municipal parking garages and
airport surrounding show grounds. The parking fee is $5.

Thurs. Dec 4 — 12 noon-6 p.m.
Fri. Dec 5 — 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Sat. Dec 6 — 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
Sun. Dec 7 — 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Adults $10
Children (6-15) $5
Under 6 FREE
$2 off each ticket purchased online

GENERAL SHOW INFORMATION

This year, the St. Petersburg Boat show and Strictly Sail
merged to create one large show for all power and sailboats
in downtown St. Petersburg. Show Management puts on
this show and has been doing so for many years—along
with many other boat shows throughout the South. There
will be docks dedicated to sailboats only, and Latitudes and
Attitudes magazine will be putting on their traditional
Cruisers Bash on Saturday evening after the show at 7 p.m.

In-the-water sailboat displays will have dockage for 50-
plus boats. Brokerage sailboats will also be on display. This
is besides the many on-land sailboat displays. Along with
these boats will be over 200 in-water powerboats and more
on land.

For more info check out the event website: http://www.showmanagement.com/

Interview on Furled Sails Podcast

A few months ago I posted this article about the Furled Sails podcasts that I enjoy listening to so much on long road trips. While putting together the article, I corresponded with the hosts, Christy and Noel Davis, to ask them about the program and how they came up with the idea to start this series of interviews with sailors, boat designers, boat builders, kayakers and other nautically obsessed individuals.

When I wrote this piece about listening to some of my heroes of small boat voyaging and boat design, I had no idea that Christy and Noel would want to interview me for the program. But my interest in their podcasts led them to take a look at these pages and to read my book, On Island Time, and shortly after I was answering their questions and talking about my kayak trips and other boating adventures in a telephone interview.

The interview is currently posted as the most recent one at the top of the Furled Sails website, accompanied by the photo below of me and my Tiki 26 project. The direct link is at http://www.furledsails.com/article.php3?article=776 for those readers who want to check it out. I was talking on my cell phone and the sound quality on my end is rather poor compared to the interviewers, but hopefully you can understand it. Like all the Furled Sails podcasts, this interview can be downloaded in MP3 format or you can stream it directly from the page on the site.

Working on Pangaea at Bay Ship and Yacht

As most of the readers of these pages know, my boating interests are focused on simple, obtainable vessels within the reach of almost anyone who cares to find their way to the water. My approach has always been to select the smallest, least complicated craft available to do a particular job, whether that job is to cross a protected bay, descend a wilderness river, or complete a bluewater passage.

My work, however, has often introduced me to the other extreme in pleasure boating, and as a marine carpenter I've worked on many multi-million dollar vessels from Palm Beach, Florida, to Sitka, Alaska. I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days working on one that tops them all when my friend and sometimes employer, David Halladay invited me to help him out on a job in Alameda, California.

Below is a photo of the Pangaea, a 192-foot steel megayacht that David had contracted to add some new teak decks and covering boards to while she was hauled out at Bay Ship and Yacht for repairs and refit.

The Pangaea is an expedition yacht, used for long-distance voyaging to the South Pacific. She has a range of 12,000 nautical miles at a speed of 11 knots, thanks to her generous fuel capacity of 65,000 U.S. gallons. Top speed is 14.5 knots, cruising speed 12.5 knots, and she accommodates 12 guests in 6 staterooms and 12 crew in 6 cabins. Her beam is 36' and she draws 10'.

I was surprised to learn that this huge vessel was built in my own home state, at the former Halter-Marine yard in Gulfport, now owned by Trinity Yachts. Here is link to more details about the Pangaea on the Trinity Yachts website: http://www.trinityyachts.com/184pangaea.asp

The discrepancy in LOA from 184-feet at time of delivery to 192-feet now is due to the swim platform that the present owner recently added. This change was one of the reasons David and his Boatsmith crew went to California to work on the yacht. The new swim platform, with it's enclosed rails, looks more like the cockpit on a smaller sportfishing yacht. This entire area needed teak decks and covering boards on the rails and doors.

Below is one of David's photos, taken from about the middle of the swim platform and showing the new covering boards they installed. After he and his crew returned to Florida, there were some checking issues with the teak in the curved inside corners of the coamings. This was caused by the extremely low humidity of the California climate, and had never been an issue on similar corners David had done in south Florida. When David asked for my help in changing out the corners, I jumped on the opportunity to work a few days at Bay Ship and Yacht and to get to the West Coast for a change of scenery.

Here, you can see a close-up of one of the corners. The problem pieces were the vertical parts of the coaming right inside the 90-degree curve. David finally solved the checking problem by extending the straight adjoining parts and making the curved parts shorter.

While we were working, we lost a half day while the engineers conducted a sea trial try to determine the source of a harmonic vibration in one of the prop shafts. I took this shot of Pangaea in the ship channel as she returned to the yard.

Cruising on big boats like this does not interest me, but working on them is another matter, and there is always a lot to learn on such a project. Big yachts mean big budgets, so no expenses are spared in fitting them out. This makes for a great opportunity for a marine carpenter to work on projects that just wouldn't happen on smaller, more reasonable vessels. More about the teak decks and other jobs David and his crew did on the Pangaea can be found on his Boatsmith Shaving's blog here:

http://boatsmith.blogspot.com/2008/10/completing-panageas-teak-deck-and.html

Canoeing On Location in the Swamps of Mississippi

I spent the day Monday working as a swamp guide, taking a group of Hollywood filmmakers on a scouting trip to check out possible shooting locations for an upcoming major motion picture that will be shot here in Mississippi next year. This was not the first time I worked on this project. Two years ago when the film was in the early planning stages, my friend Travis Easley and I guided the director and some of his associates on an overnight canoe camping trip along the Leaf River. They came back shortly after that wanting to see some more typical Southern swamp scenery, so Ernest Herndon and I took them to the Pascagoula River. Both trips went exceptionally well, and writer/director Gary Ross was impressed with what he saw and assured me they would be returning to film The Free State of Jones here on location.

That was a little over two years ago, and I didn't hear another word about it until Sunday, when they called wanting to know if I could provide two canoes and take them back to the Pascagoula swamp to for a couple hours on Monday. It was a scramble to get ready on such short notice, but we managed and once again the crew was impressed with what they saw here in the Magnolia State. If things go as planned, some of the scenery in the photos below may be coming to the big screen someday in the not too distant future. I can't disclose the location here, but this will likely be one of many spots in the area that will serve as potential backdrops in this story of Newt Knight and his band of deserters who refused to fight for the South during the American Civil War.

Below: Gary Ross, the writer and director, is well known for his work on such films as Sea Biscuit and Pleasantville. He's a real adventurer who loves getting into the backwoods and has really taken a liking to the remote swamps of Mississippi.

Some of these scenes are undoubtedly little changed from the time this story took place.

Newt Knight and his small army of followers eluded the Confederate troops sent to find them by disappearing into the swamps along the Leaf River in Jones County. It would still be easy to hide out in the wetlands along south Mississippi's rivers and streams.

We saw several small 'gators in just a short stretch of paddling along a dead oxbow lake. Where there are young ones, there have to be some big adults as well. The alligator population has really been on the rise here in recent years.

I'm looking forward to more of this kind of location scouting work in the coming weeks and months as this film comes closer to reality. It will be quite an experience to see how a production crew works in such a difficult environment, and it will be awesome to go to the movies and see the woods and waters I have loved all my life on the big screen.

Furled Sails Podcast On the Road

In the past few months I've been spending a lot of time on the road, including several 14-hour one way trips to south Florida to work in the Boatsmith shop with my friend David Halladay. I like time on the road to think, and often drive with no music or other distractions, but there's no doubt that the time can pass faster when you have something interesting to listen to. Last summer I purchased my first Ipod and uploaded all of my music library, clearing up space in my small truck by eliminating the need for carrying all those CDs around. But even though I love music, I get tired of it after a few hours and want to hear something else.

What could be better for a sailor, boatbuilder, and kayaker than a series of interesting podcasts featuring interviews with some of the leading small boat adventurers and designers in the world? When I discovered Furled Sails, billed as "the world's first sailng podcast," I knew I had found something to help those long hours on the road fly by.

Furled Sails is hosted by Noel and Christy Davis, who are based in the Florida panhandle and are active small boat sailors and adventurers themselves. They had the excellent idea of creating this podcast by conducting telephone interviews with noteworthy individuals in the world of small boat sailing, building and design, and now the site contains well over 100 archived interviews that you can download and listen to for free. Noel and Christy have managed to land interviews with some of the biggest names in boating, and their list of guests includes the likes of John Guzzwell, Lin and Larry Pardey, Webb Chiles, Ted Brewer, George Buehler, Jimmy Cornell, and Reese Palley, to name just a few. Their boating interests seem to lie closely in line with my own, in that most of the designers and adventurers profiled are proponents of small, simple vessels, both wind-driven and human powered with paddles or oars.

It was really interesting to hear some of my favorite boating authors describing the adventures they wrote about in their books that I had read many years previously. I especially enjoyed the two-part series featuring John Guzzwell as he shared many interesting tidbits about his solo circumnavigation in a 20-foot homebuilt boat that were not included in his book:Trekka Round the World The Webb Chiles series was great as well; hearing him describing his ocean crossings in an 18-foot open boat (Chidiock Tichborne) and the intentional sinking of his perfectly seaworthy cruising boat: Resurgam.

If you are a sailor, boatbuilder, kayaker, canoeist or just an armchair adventurer, you are certain to find something of interest among the archived podcasts on Furled Sails. Here are are some of the most recent shows, in chronological order:

Serge Testa

Floating Fox

Fine Tolerance 1

Fine Tolerance 2

Mississippi voyage

Lugnut 1

Lugnut 2

Robby Smith 1

Robby Smith 2

Sailing Grace

Jimmy Cornell

Webb Chiles 1

Webb Chiles 2

John Wellsford 1

John Wellsford 2

Duckworks

Shane St. Clair 1

Shane St. Clair 2

You can download and listen to these and all the other podcasts directly on the Furled Sails website, or if you have iTunes installed in your computer you can go to the iTunes store and search under the "podcasts" category for "Furled Sails." You can then upload as many of the individual shows as you like for free into your iTunes library and sync it to your iPod. This is what I do each time I am anticipating a road trip and I look forward to hearing four or five new interviews each time I head to Florida. Since most of the interviews are more than 45 minutes long, the miles slip away as I get inspired by the words of people doing the things I am most interested in. This is way better than anything I could find on the radio - and best of all - there are no commercials. Christy and Noel are providing a great service and it's obviously a labor of love. Check it out. You won't regret it. http://www.furledsails.com/

Dispatch Photo Service for Long-Distance Boat Buyers

Below is an old Alberg 30 from the late 60's, looking good at the time this photo was taken, with new topside paint and good sails. If you're looking for a sailboat like this to buy, especially one that's located far from where you live, you want to be sure the seller's photos are current and accurately represent the condition of the vessel. Now there is an easy way to get the photos you need without depending on the seller. Read on for more.

If you've ever been in the market for a specific type of boat, particularly a cruising sailboat in a certain size and price range that fits your needs, chances are you've had to look beyond your hometown unless you happen to live in a major boating center like Annapolis, Maryland or Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Popular online classified services like Yachtworld and Boat Trader usually have at least a few examples of every type and size of production sailboat, but the ones you might be interested in can be scattered far and wide.

After losing my Grampian 26, Intensity to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I was in the market for a replacement cruising boat until I eventually gave up on finding the right one and decided to build my own. Naturally there was a shortage of good boats left on the northern Gulf coast, since so many were either badly damaged or destroyed like mine. Several hurricanes in a two year period had greatly reduced the available choices in much of nearby Alabama and north Florida as well. I perused the online ads for months, seeing many likely candidates listed in New England, the Annapolis area, south Florida and on the West Coast - all far enough away to make going to look a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Of course most online advertising sites allow the insertion of photos, and many of the listings included lots of views of the interior and exterior of the vessel for sale.

Naturally the owners of these boats want to project the most positive image possible because they want to make a sale. Many of the photos used in ads are low image quality, making the boat look pretty good overall but lacking sharp details that make a real analysis possible. When calling or emailing about a particular boat for sale, a common response I got from boat owners is that "I don't have any recent pictures" or "these pictures are a few years old." Other boat sellers will use downright deceitful techniques, posting photos of a boat in her better days and representing them as current. This is especially true of ads on sites like EBay, where sellers hope to make a sale before the prospective buyer even sees the vessel in person.

So what can a boat shopper do? If there's a particular vessel offered for a deal that seems just right for your needs, you can do like I did several times and take a chance on going to see it. I took two 1800-mile round road trips to south Florida, as well as some shorter trips to look at boats that were all much worse in real life than in the advertiser's photos. The Alberg 30 shown in the photo at the top of the page is a prime example. I was interested in this boat after finding the ad for it on an Alberg 30 online message board. There were no photos in the ad, but the owner responded to my email query by sending a few, including the one above and the collection shown below. For the price and the included equipment, this deal seemed too good to pass up. After a few discussions with the owner, who lived in the U.K., but kept the boat in south Florida for winter sailing, I drove 800 miles to yard where it was stored, with high hopes that I had found a suitable cruising boat.

What I found when I got there was an old, dilapidated Alberg 30 in need of everything. Nothing short of a total restoration would bring her up to my standards, and it was obvious that some time had passed since the photos above were taken. Below is just one sample of the forward deck area. I wish I had taken more photos, but I was so disappointed I didn't bother. The interior was a wreck, and the engine was a rusted hunk of metal covered with old, peeling paint and grease. It was a project I would not have taken on even if the boat itself was free. Even all the extra equipment advertised, such as the self-steering windvane, was rusted, frozen up, and useless.

Another potential candidate for my next cruising boat was a Wharram Tiki 30 catamaran that was for sale in the Boston, Massachusetts area. I had long been interested in this design and was already considering building either a Tiki 26 or Tiki 30. At the time, I also owned a smaller Tiki 21 that I was restoring, but already knew was too small for my long-term needs. When this Tiki 30 came up for sale at a reasonable price - actually less than the cost of materials to build a new one, I was excited about the possibility of going to Boston and either sailing it home or loading it on a rented trailer to bring it back. The owner pointed me to a site where this photo was posted, showing the Tiki 30 as it appeared when he bought it from the original owner several years previous. It looked good then, but as you can see, this photo reveals very little detail.

I asked the seller for more photos, considering the distance involved for me to come look at it, and he obliged a few days later, sending me more than a dozen current photos taken with a high resolution digital camera. Opening the photos on my computer and viewing them at normal size, the boat looked fine. But the advantage of high resolution images is that you can crop small areas and resize the photos to zoom in, revealing things you would otherwise miss. Below is view from the bow, showing the whole boat, which looks pretty good.

And here is a close crop of the same image, showing the port bow detail, where you can tell much about the build quality by looking at the shape of the sheer line and seeing how it is not very fair. (You can click on these images right here to see a larger version and see what I mean)

Here's another view of the boat, showing the port hull interior and bunk. It looks pretty decent here.

But look at this crop, showing the overhead hatch. The opening looks like it was chopped out with a dull hatchet.

These are just two examples. Using Photoshop, I could examine all the images and crop details from other parts of each photo. What I saw was a Tiki 30 that appeared overall to be okay, but was built and finished way below professional standards in almost every detail.

Some may think I'm being too critical of this particular boat. For the asking price it was still a good deal for someone. But having built a smaller Wharram cat and at the time being in the process of restoring an amateur-built Tiki 21, I knew what to look for and what would be involved in bringing a catamaran like this up to my standards. I was grateful to the owner for sending the high-resolution photos, as it saved me a trip to Boston.

But what do you do if the owner of the boat you're interested in does not have a good camera or is not willing to send you images of good quality? For one, you could look up a marine surveyor in the area and have the vessel inspected, but if it turns out to be a no-go like these above, you'll be out several hundred dollars. It might be less than a trip to see the boat in person, but could get expensive if you have to go through several boats.

A new and better option, at least if the boat is in North America, is Tim Purpura's

Dispatch Photo Service.

Based in Dallas, Texas, Tim Purpura has built a network of professional photographers in major U.S., Canadian, and Mexican cities to serve the needs of businesses and individuals who need photos taken in a particular location. The members of the network are all equipped with high-resolution digital cameras and high-speed Internet access, so they can go out and take the photos you need and have them on your computer screen in as little as two hours in many cases.

I think this is a great service for boat buyers, as there are network members in most major coastal cities and the list is growing. From the Dispatch Photo Service website you can scroll through the state and city listings and find the photographer for the area where the potential boat is and then email or call to request exactly the photos you want. Most of the photographers will also have a cell phone on the job with them, so when they get to the marina or boatyard, they can communicate with you about the details you want photographed.

The price for the service is quite reasonable. Tim asks that all members keep their hourly rates in the $35-$50 range, with a two hour minimum. In many cases the two hour minimum is enough, especially if the boat is in a city where the photographer does not have to drive far. So for $70-$100 you can have all the high resolution photos you want of the boat, which is a fraction of the cost of a marine surveyor or a trip to see it in person.

I think Tim Purpura has hit upon a brilliant idea and I'm sure the network will continue to grow as more people in need of remote photography learn of this service. To see sample photos and learn more about the service in different cities, go to Dispatch Photo Service and view the listings. Many of the members have their own websites with more about their photography experience and services offered.

"Viking" Ship for Sale on Ebay

You just never know what you'll find for sale on EBay.... Anyone need a "Viking" Ship?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Viking-Ship-Rare-and-Unique_W0QQitemZ230214373237QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item230214373237