Log of SV Free Spirit and ships company

The chronicles of the schooner Free Spirit and her crew, embarking on an open ended journey upon the great rolling heap. Free Spirit is currently pursuing humanitarian and commercial goals in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola. Working under the Ocean Reach USA and Paradigm Research banners, she is serving as logistics headquarters, workshop, and development laboratory for many ongoing projects. This is the log of her journey.....

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Back To The Dry Tortugas!

Ok, now I have to admit how very behind I am on the blog! I forgot to bring the ship's log book with me, and I am only guessing on the date that we left Fort Myers for the Dry Tortuga's. I am pretty sure that it was the 26th of January..... :-)



It was soooo great to be 'back at sea' and headed somewhere. We had a fantastic trip, and Bretton was excited about doing his first night watch. We left about 1 pm and arrived about 11am the next day.



The Portugese Man of War, in all it's glory.... They were all over in the water this time. We were really careful about swimming!



Valin and Drake out for a morning kayak ride. Drake has been given ownership of the Sevlor inflatable kayak, and is very proud that he can paddle it all by himself.



Looking for treasures under the water near shore.



FOUND ONE!!



Tamer, taking a rare break to read on the beach. I love to see him finally realxing and getting into the lifestyle we have worked so hard to acheive.



Would'nt everyone love to have an office like this, open to the beautiful ocean and sea air.



The port side of Fort Jefferson, and the walkway that goes all the way around. A fantastic walk....



A cuban escape boat... The Dry Tortuga's happen to be the first and closest spot of Dry land to Cuba. If immigrants reach the sand of the shore, they are not returned and allowed to stay in America.



The crew also enjoying some down time on the beach, listening to Paul's great guitar music.



Valin in the kayak, racing Paul and Bretton in the dinghy back to Free Spirit for some picnic food for the beach. I am still not sure if this could be considered a fair race, but Valin loved the challenge :-)



One of Blayde's beautiful art creations, made from stuff he found on the beach.



When we pulled anchor to leave 3 days later, these little fish were jumping into the dinghy at a rapid rate. Whenever our big deck lights are on it attracts sea life, but we had never had them 'throw themselves' at us before!




posted by CT | 6:00 PM

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Introducing Propcalc 4.0

Use Propcalc to easily match your hull with your engine, transmission, and propeller
Put the known data in the top fields, then hit the Update button to get the answers.
Results, of course, should be verified by a Naval Architect or qualified surveyor.
Data is provided for three bladed propellers of average type
For two or four bladed props, use the modifiers shown below.

Fill out the fields as follows:

Vessel LWL (ft) = Waterline length
Vessel Disp (lbs) = Vessel displacement
(max) HP = Rated Engine Max HP
Engine RPM max = Engine RPM at Max HP
Engine RPM cruise = Desired or estimated cruise rpm
(Cruise or Max) Kts = Speed to work the calculations for
Slip = Propeller efficience. 45% is average for a displacement cruiser.
Gear ratio = 1: Gear ratio of transmission
SL Ratio Adj. = This value will be added (or subtracted, if a negative value) to the calculated S/L ratio.

Key information:

If the "hp required" is greater than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too low for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is significantly less than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too high for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is greater than the "Max HP", then your target speed is too high for your engine/hull parameters.
The S/L ratio is calculated automaticaly based on your input. It can be adjusted if necessary, but normally it should be left alone.
If the calculated S/L ratio exceeds S/L MAX, then the results are likely to be non-predictive. Try a lower speed requirement.
SL Ratios of 1.1 - 1.4 are typical of displacement hulls. Semiplaning or planing hulls can go higher.

Typical propeller slip values:

Sailing auxiliary, barges, etc less than 9 Kts............45%
Heavy powerboats, workboats 9 - 15 Kts....................26%
Powerboats, Lightweight Cruisers 15 - 30 Kts..............24%
High speed planing boats 30 - 45 Kts......................20%
V bottom race boats 45 - 90 Kts...........................10%


Note:

it is possible to get irrational answers by irrational input , I.E specifying excessive speed for hull type and length
Any attempt to exceed hull speed (1.34 times the square root of the waterline length in feet) with a displacement hull are likely
to fail unless the hull is extremely fine (multihull) or otherwise exceptional. In such cases, an S/L adjustment would be in order.

2 and 4 bladed props:


For two bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by 1.05, and the pitch by 1.01
For four bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by .94, and the pitch by .98
PROPCALC
  Inputs:
Vessel LWL (ft) =
Vessel Disp (lbs) =
  (max) HP =
  Engine RPM max =
  Engine RPM cruise =
  (Cruise or Max) Kts =
  Slip =
  Gear ratio = 1:
  SL Ratio Adj. =
   
    Solutions:
  Prop rpm max =
  Prop rpm cruise =
  Pitch =
  Diameter =
  Static Thrust =
  Cruise HP =
  Cruise HP% =
  SL Ratio =
  DL Ratio =
  SL Max =
  HP Required =