Wishful Thinking My web site for sharing experiences and adventures living aboard a blue water sailboat.

• Where has Wishful Thinking been lately?
• Vessel tracking in the East Pacific YOTREPS
• NEW! I'm in Hawaii, Lahaina, Maui, to be exact. Buddy Bill is visiting and keeping a diary. You can see what trouble were into at Bill and Ken's Aloha Tour 2003
• Or you can check out what's new.
• Bit Wranglers Assoc. Specializing in systems engineering, software development and Unix system administration
• Mutterings by the Global Village Idiot
• Ken Mayer
• My contact information

Experience

• About - About Wishful Thinking and how we got here
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Tour - A guided tour around the boat where even tall people won't konk their heads.
• Photo Gallery (Saturday, 22 May, 1999)
• My local image archive. It ain't pretty, but it's got pretty much everything.
• An old photo archive @photo.net
• Sisterships Information about other MC 34's in the world. (Saturday, 6 November, 1999)

Community and Collaboration

• Q&A Forum - Got a question? Here's the place to start. Have an answer? This is a good place to put it. You can also get automatic e-mail updates.
• Vessel Tracking in the East Pacific (YOTREPS)
• Waypoints A collection of links to other places on the internet. Also where you can add your own.
• Popular Poopdeck: a very unscientific poll on questionable issues of our day. And the results. Or the archives
• Register yourself on our announcement service
• Send e-mail to a friend with satellite mail service

Log Book

Really Old Logs

• Friday, 15 June, 2001 - Travel logs from the Sea of Cortez, Cabo San Lucas to Loreto.
• Wednesday, 2 May, 2001 - Travel logs from Baja California, on the outside.
• Monday, 2 April, 2001 - Travel logs from the trip down the California Coast.
• Monday, 24 April, 2000 - Why Simpson-Lawrence is on our sh*t list. (Well, okay, not any more.)
• Monday, 3 April, 2000 - An update on our projects: The transmission is out and in pieces, but the mechanic quit; the anchor windlass and locker are gone, we'll start prepping for the new deck real soon. The port chainplate is back in, so now we can send out for replacement rigging. The love of boats should not be too closely examined.
• Monday, January 31, 2000: Maintenance fun. 6 February, 2000: AC rewiring, rebedding work. 15 February, 2000: SAD, leakes, taxes, pump service, HAM radio (good) news, our new windlass needs new chain, watermaker research and halogen lightbulbs. 22 February, 2000: The birthday month is back! Chainplate redux, Chinese New Year, salvaging Chardonnay and the transmission comes out, OUT, OUT! almost. 3 March, 2000: The transmission comes out, for real this time. A brief jaunt to the coast. 22 March, 2000: Indian springs (more pampering, but almost the last). The prop shaft coupler refuses to come off the shaft, financial managment by remote control, lesson 1.
• 7 January, 2000 We spent Y2K in our own custom built floating "bunker" - okay, we anchored at Clipper Cove, drank champagne, watched the fireworks and a had a wonderful time.
• Saturday, October 31, 1999 - Winter musings
• A delivery from Mexico - A photo essay of a delivery I did in August, 1999
• April 16, 1999 - Eureka! Charging problem sovled!
• December 24, 1998. (Well, sort of). My first annual, much delayed, most desired, often imitated, never duplicated, year in review.
• The Smartest Boat in the Marina
• Friday, November 6, 1998 - Dive Vacation: Hurricane and shipwreck included at no extra charge
• Sunday, October 11, 1998 - Fleet Week
• Monday, June 1, 1998 - Treasure Island Cyber Cruise
• Friday, April 26, 1998 - any excuse for a party...
• Friday, April 23, 1998 - our ever changing projects list
• Friday, April 10, 1998 - a letter home
• Monday, March 16, 1998 - three bridges
• Friday, February 27, 1998 - the birthday month
• Friday, November 28, 1997 - you never know where your entertainment is going to come from
• Thursday, November 27, 1997 - musings on a boating life

Collected Wisdom

• My library

  Tradition

• Renaming Ceremonies
• Sisterships - A registry of Mariner Centaur 34's

  Sails, Rigging

• Winch comparison chart
• Tuning standing rigging

  Engines

• Repowering worksheet for choosing a new engine
• How to hand start a diesel engine (or at least try)
• An very readable article on diesel fuel polishing

  Living Aboard

• An excellent essay of the reasons for living aboard from the MacNaughton Group.
• My own thoughts on why one would want to live aboard (an operating sailboat).
• Cats on board (where's that annoying yellow sign when I need it?)
• A CNN Financial article on living aboard

  Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical and Gadgets

• NMEA wiring diagram
• Alternative lighting technologies. A discussion about white LEDs, Halogen and Alpenglow (fluorescent) for interior lighting. Some have reduced power (with a non-linear decrease in luminosity), others have higher heat output or throw more RF.
• AGM batteries. A discussion on the technical details of using AGM (absorbed gas mat) batteries.
• Battery combiners and grounds. A summary about how battery combiners work where the two banks are at different levels of discharge. Also a summary (sort of) about whether to bond the AC and DC ground systems and why.
• My adventures with the electrical system. A sordid ripping yarn about my temperamental regulator and how I finally solved the problem.
• A replacement solution for hot water aboard. My 17-year old water heater died, but we have no intentions of replacing it. Here's why.
• Why Simpson-Lawrence is on our sh*t list (especially their windlasses).

  Food

  Maintenance

  
• Cabin sole refinishing. How to refinish the sole without stripping the 1/32" (or less) teak and holly veneer.
• Bottom cleaning - a do it yourself primer.

  Safety Gear

• A Pyro's Night Out. What do you do with all of those old out of date flares? Have a practice night with the Coast Guard.

Floatsom & Jetsom

• Buoyancy: Things for sale (Saturday, 22 May, 1999)
• Ballast: Things we'd like to accumulate (Wednesday, 3 January, 2001)

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