Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
Bullshit
Chasing Elegua
- Thread starter Ajax
- Start date
Bullshit
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
This is getting interesting. I’d like to hear Slug’s side of the story: I.e., number of miles sailed/where; number of rats encountered/how. (rats per mile - no metric equivalent)
Actually, to tell the truth, I’m dealing with a rat in my house crawl space currently. I’m not sure what its presence there proves other than that I shouldn’t have stored the used/filtered peanut oil I once used to deep fry a turkey in there. I don’t think it has any sailing experience relevance.
Max Rockatansky
DILLIGAF?
- 4,030
- 1,102
The bullshit never ends with this one
Rats and waterfronts definitely go hand in hand. Most rats have four legs, but some only have two.
2airishuman
The Loyal Opposition
The Stainless Steel Rat - Wikipedia
slug zitski
Banned
- Banned
- #367
The harbor of Mahon , Menorca ….sailing east west it’s always used as a weather window stop for crossing the Gulf de Leon
no anchor allowed , no dock available …you come along a floating pontoon anchored about 100 meters off the shore …rats
it was cold that night so I closed the companionway hatch
the boat had a varnished cockpit table with a full, down to the cockpit sole canvas cover
in the morning, when I opened up , a pile of chewed up sunbrella was on the cockpit sole with a hole eaten thru the canvas table cover by a rat
1000 dollar cover ruined
rats swim very well and can swim for miles
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
God bless the ratThe Stainless Steel Rat - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Rats at the Karni Mata Temple
The 20,000 black and few white rats that live here are all considered holy and are worshipped. The rats are allowed to move freely all around the temple. These small creatures appear from crevices in the marble covered walls and floorings and pass over the bare feet of the devotees. Eating the food that has been nibbled on by the rats is considered to be honourable, and for the same reason, people offer sweets, milk and other offerings to these rats.If any rat is killed by mistake, it must be replaced with one that is made of solid gold as penance for the crime.
We avoided the rats in Port Mahon by anchoring in Cala Teulera, near the entrance to the harbor. Nice scenery in there, particularly on the weekend when dozens of go-fasts anchored around us with topless sunbathers aboard.
It was, however, a long dinghy ride into town unless you had a planing dinghy.
Anyone familiar with Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey novels will have some knowledge of the lay of the land in Port Mahon.
Port Mahon is mentioned in the very first sentence of Master and Commander, which I re-read while anchored there. (Not surprisingly, we carried the entire series of Jack Aubrey novels aboard our boat, which we sometimes described as "40 feet of bookshelves, surrounded by a hull.")
slug zitski
Banned
- Banned
- #370
To the OP
rat proof your boat ..it will save you much trouble
its always the case ..one minute life is great , the next minute 5 fishing boats come in to offload ..smashed sardines, crushed squid ….
rat happy hour
rat proof your boat ..it will save you much trouble
its always the case ..one minute life is great , the next minute 5 fishing boats come in to offload ..smashed sardines, crushed squid ….
rat happy hour
While sailing somewhere in the Pacific we (wisely heading downwind) passed another power vessel motoring upwind one night. You could tell from the lights it wasn't very big and the name sounded "western" on the AIS. We called them up on the VHF and asked their story.
They were headed to various small tropical islands that were infested with rats. They'd put out rat poison (sometimes dropping with a drone or just using the drone to do aerial surveillance) and come back in a year to see how things were progressing.
The people you meet at sea
They were headed to various small tropical islands that were infested with rats. They'd put out rat poison (sometimes dropping with a drone or just using the drone to do aerial surveillance) and come back in a year to see how things were progressing.
The people you meet at sea
Elegua
Generalissimo
Finally got out of the marina in Jolly Harbor for an evening in Carlyle Bay. My crew’s wife came for a visit along with my wife. Unfortunately my crew’s wife gets incredibly seasick. Oops!
Jolly was nice, but I was going stir crazy. Food and restaurant prices here are mind bending high. “Budget Marine” has a great selection- better than most us places, but someone has a sense of humor with that name. I’ll take your whole budget marine. The prices are nuts even with boat-in-transit.
Dove the boat and the bottom is surprisingly clean. ORC Cert says wetted surface is 30m2 - harder than it looked to clean. Zinc on the prop is almost gone since July. That’s never happened before. Shore power? Marinas? The new bonding? Fortunately I have a lot on board. Short line around the prop and scuff marks on the bow where I may have bumped something. Weird. Some wear on the trunk where the CB interfaces. It clunks quite a bit in a seaway. Also looks like I may have scuffed it a couple times in the Ches.
I’m bbq’ing a chicken on the boat looking at Martinique wondering if we may not be over long for Antigua. I heard Dominica and Guadeloupe are cheaper. The Antiguans have been lovely, even if their officials have been seemingly trained by the Empire school of bureaucracy.
Jolly was nice, but I was going stir crazy. Food and restaurant prices here are mind bending high. “Budget Marine” has a great selection- better than most us places, but someone has a sense of humor with that name. I’ll take your whole budget marine. The prices are nuts even with boat-in-transit.
Dove the boat and the bottom is surprisingly clean. ORC Cert says wetted surface is 30m2 - harder than it looked to clean. Zinc on the prop is almost gone since July. That’s never happened before. Shore power? Marinas? The new bonding? Fortunately I have a lot on board. Short line around the prop and scuff marks on the bow where I may have bumped something. Weird. Some wear on the trunk where the CB interfaces. It clunks quite a bit in a seaway. Also looks like I may have scuffed it a couple times in the Ches.
I’m bbq’ing a chicken on the boat looking at Martinique wondering if we may not be over long for Antigua. I heard Dominica and Guadeloupe are cheaper. The Antiguans have been lovely, even if their officials have been seemingly trained by the Empire school of bureaucracy.
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Elegua
Generalissimo
Food costs, brah. Not marina costs. $4 cabbage.
slug zitski
Banned
- Banned
- #375
I hang out in Falmouth harbor ..excellent anchorage, good facilities ashore and easy to pick up the anchor and go daysailing
jolly harbour is ok , but it’s compromised
For once, I agree with Slug. Over the years, I've spent a lot of time in Falmouth, either at anchor or on a mooring, cruising and during Race Week. It has always been ground zero for marine services in Antigua.
In fairness, I have not been there in a few years now.
If you think Budget Marine is expensive, you should have been in the Caribbean before that. You could barely find anything in stock, and prices were ridiculously high. Budget Marine put some pressure on other suppliers to up their game.
Robbie Ferron, the guy that founded the company more than 25 years ago, was a serious sailor frustrated with the lack off one-stop marine shopping throughout the Caribbean.
We ran across them back in 1997, when the company was quite small and relatively new. Prices then were comparable to West Marine, not Defender Industries or Hamilton Marine, but at least they had stuff you were looking for.
I still have a rubber strap wrench I bought there 25 years ago. It was called a Baby Boa Constrictor, and a commercial pilot friend of Ferron's who was also a sailor would bring them in from overseas. That's sort of the way the Caribbean supply chain worked back then.
The further away from the US you get, the more you appreciate regional suppliers like Budget Marine, if you can find them.
We didn't find anything comparable until we got to NZ, but that was also 20+ years ago. Things may or may not have changed since then.
slug zitski
Banned
- Banned
- #378
Some unique marine stores around
in Greece thier is probably the worlds greatest marine store
the owner is a consolidator…he purchases the inventory from other marine stores, hardware stores, boat builders who go out of business
the shop is a couple small buildings , inside , outside storage with so much stuff hanging from the ceiling that you must mind your head
miles and miles of various ropes , piles of anchors
in stock he will have 25 year old hardware , covered in dust , still in the originAl packaging,
price unknown…it’s how much do you think it’s worth bargaining
another great one in Italy…since Italians don’t like tax you get a printed receipt for 2.50 , with a handwritten note informing you that it’s really 250.
in Greece thier is probably the worlds greatest marine store
the owner is a consolidator…he purchases the inventory from other marine stores, hardware stores, boat builders who go out of business
the shop is a couple small buildings , inside , outside storage with so much stuff hanging from the ceiling that you must mind your head
miles and miles of various ropes , piles of anchors
in stock he will have 25 year old hardware , covered in dust , still in the originAl packaging,
price unknown…it’s how much do you think it’s worth bargaining
another great one in Italy…since Italians don’t like tax you get a printed receipt for 2.50 , with a handwritten note informing you that it’s really 250.
Jud - s/v Sputnik
Super Anarchist
I’m told that there once was a guy known as the “scrap chap” in Bermuda. If you couldn’t find it in the marine store, the scrap chap might have it in one of the likes of scrap this and that...wonder if anyone here has heard of him.
slug zitski
Banned
- Banned
- #380
Places like Sailorman in Florida are still going strong
if you are in Florida stop buy and you may find what you need or unique things that you might need some day
Last time is was there they had a beautiful saloon table from some yacht that was doing a redesign and no longer need it …very high quality
I also spotted a two piece teak , saloon mast cover
Sailorman New and Used Marine: HOME
Sailorman : Shop New and Used Discount Boating and Marine. World's largest and most unique new and used marine emporium. Not Just a Store... It's an Adventure!
www.sailorman.com
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