Miniskirt mounting, Bow Wave Splash Deflector Bar, Navionics AppThis is an update of a few things.
MiniskirtsI’m very pleased with these “expedition” skirts, especially when mounted using the bow post.
First, the bow post mount keeps the miniskirt high enough that most bow waves cannot curl up over the skirt as the bow moves through the wave. This keeps the bow wave below the miniskirt where it must push up though the skirt before it can strike the crossbar/aka and cause a splash. There are still splashes, of course, but they are relatively small and seldom reach further than the driver’s knees.
Second, the miniskirts do not scoop up water if the bow dives below a wave. This is very important when loaded for camping. With a 200# male driver plus 100-150# of food, water, and gear, the boat rides low in the water. If you are running downwind in 15-18 mph winds, the bow regularly cuts through waves. This wave cutting does not seriously affect speed. However, if the bow dives below the waves, that momentarily stops the AI or greatly reduces speed. Undesirable. These miniskirts do not accentuate the diving by scooping up water or slowing the re-surfacing of the bow.
Bow Wave Splash DeflectorRegarding diving of the AI, this occurs largely when you are
expedition loaded, especially on downwind runs.
I now try to minimize weight in the bow and add weight in the stern. In other words, I want the bow high to minimize diving and, generally, increase speed. Cutting through waves does not significantly reduce speed, but it does cause splashes when the wave comes directly over the bow and strikes the crossbar. There was a brief discussion earlier on this thread that the bow post mount provided an ideal place to attach a bow wave splash deflector. Well, I did attach a 1”x1/16” aluminum bar across the bow mounting posts. You can see it here.
Until last week during my annual Flamingo to Chokoloskee 7-day camping trip, I had not done a downwind run to test the bow wave deflector. One day on my trip was perfect to see the bar deflector in action. It was a downwind run, steady winds of 15-16 mph, gusting to 18 mph or so. The bow only “dove” a few times in the 12-mile, open water crossing, but there was regular wave cutting. It is pretty impossible to catch the action with a still camera, so the following pictures were frames from my video.
This first frame shows the bow post and bow wave deflector bar.
The bow has cut through a wave and water is beginning to flow back along the bow directly at the bow wave deflector.
The wave has struck the bow wave deflector bar and produced a 10” high rooster tail plume of water. It is so efficient at disrupting the rearward flow of the water that, initially, most of the water does not reach the crossbar. And, no major splash occurs.
Lastly, here is simply a splash. The splash is caused solely by the bow wave deflector bar. Note, that while the splash appears quite large, none of the water is hitting the crossbar. The bow wave deflector attached to the miniskirt mounting posts clearly works.
Navionics Harbors&Lakes HD USA AppFinally, I would like to update my experience with the Samsung Tab 3 tablet with the Navionics Harbors&Lakes HD USA App. During my 7-day trip, I intended to recharge the tablet as necessary; however, before leaving home, I turned off the WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS capability. If left on, these functionalities can drain the battery. I also minimized the backlighting; although in sunlight, you have no choice but to turn up the backlight to high. During the trip, I did no more than 3-4 hrs total book reading. Every day, mostly at night, but occasionally, in the morning, I turned on the tablet. I then started the Navionics app. Although I knew exactly where I was, I often turned on the GPS function to see how long it took to locate me on the Navionics H&L chart. It always took less than 1 min to determine my location. It was quite accurate. If I did not need the GPS capability, that was turned off. I could pull up my daily tide charts, and they were absolutely great. I would look at them at night and, frequently, the next morning as I was waiting for the tide to come in and “lift my ship.” At the end of my trip, the tablet battery still showed about 90% full—amazing. The same with my "dumb" phone. If you put it in "airplane mode," it consumes very little power. It still had plenty of charge at the end of my trip. It was not necessary to use the clever charging system that I had designed. The Navionics App is useful to get a good overview of each day's planned sail, what are the camping options for the next night, and, occasionally, using the app to determine distances. It worked great.
Keith