THE NEWSLETTER OF THE KNOXVILLE POWER SQUADRON

Transcription

1 Now Hear This! THE NEWSLETTER OF THE KNOXVILLE POWER SQUADRON A Unit of District 17of the United States Power Squadrons beyondboating.org KPS BRIDGE Commander: Cdr Janet Bray, P (865) Executive Officer: Lt/C Wayne Baker, S (865) Administrative Officer: Lt/C Bill Brumit, AP (865) Squadron Education Officer: Lt/C John Farmer, SN captfarmer@navcal.com (865) Secretary: Lt/C Jean Armes, AP (865) Treasurer: Lt/C Tom Dietrich, SN (865) MEMBERS AT LARGE: P/D/C Michael Sher, AP (865) Don Perrine, AP (865) P/C Jim Barkley, SN (865) Christie Carrion (865) Newsletter Editor: Mike McCarthy (865) Webmaster/Facebook: Josh Kaczmarczyk Vol. 29, No. 11 November 2017 Commander s Comments Cdr Janet Bray, P Busy As A Bee Way to go Knoxville Power Squadron! On Oct. 6, 7 and 8 Bob and I along with 3 other KPS members attended the D17 Fall Conference in Johnson City, TN. At the dinner on Friday night the District Commander, Hector Colon, asked for reports from all the squadrons in the district. We are one of 10 squadrons and when it was my turn to speak I was proud to announce all the great things we have done so far this year. Our dinners, lock-thru, Eclipse Cruise, special winery dinner, Salmon Roast, successful ABC classes and over 72 Vessel Safety Checks were applauded. Knoxville Power Squadron is alive and busy. There were two very important bits of information from the District. The first one is an explanation of the Hands on Training which involves teaching and fees for on the water instruction. Then they explained the Jump Start program which is a much more relaxed on the water training between one KPS member and another, helping a member learn to run his vessel safely and efficiently. There is no fee for this program and the instructor member is covered under USPS insurance. The second bit of information was a description of the USPS DML or Digital Media Library program. There is a vast library of U-Tube videos covering all sorts of boating topics. The videos are very well done and entertaining, a great addition to our marketing. Many of us took advantage of a boat ride on Saturday afternoon on Boone Lake. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ride. (Commander s Report Continued on page 2) Now Hear This! Our Website is:

2 (Commander s Report Continued from page 2) At the D17 meeting I announced that Knoxville Power Squadron will host the D17 Spring Conference on April 6, 7 and 8 in Gatlinburg. Everyone liked the idea of going to Gatlinburg and helping that community recover from their devastating fires. I hope that many of our squadron members will attend. Thank you for your replies to our survey. I received 10 responses and everyone wanted another downriver cruise as well as other shorter cruises. The salmon roast was overwhelmingly voted in again. Raft-ups were asked for over and over. All the replies were very helpful in finishing up our 2018 calendar. We are finetuning it now and should have it out to all our members in the next couple of weeks. You will see lots of activities. It should be a fun and active year. The only fly in the ointment may be a lack of officers. As I write this column we have no candidate for Commander or Executive Officer and only tentative ones for a couple of the other elected positions. All those fun activities will not happen without leadership. Please heed Jean Armes article about stepping up or we may not even have a squadron at all. What a shame that would be! For now, enjoy our spaghetti dinner in October and watch for possible news regarding a November event. Finish the year with our Holiday Gala. Looking forward to seeing all of you soon. Janet PS Please see note on recent invitation from the Oak Ridge Power Squadron in Currently Underway KPS Mission Statement: As America s Boating Club, our vision is to enhance safety and enjoyment for the local boating community through formal and informal education, social enjoyment and sharing of knowledge. ELECTED NON-EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES AUDIT: NOMINATING: RULES: CHAIR: Linda Sundstrom, S CHAIR: Jean Armes, AP CHAIR: Mike McCarthy, S 2 Year: Vicki Smith, S 2 Year: NEED 2 Year: Bob Bray, JN 3 Year: Hank Davis, JN 3 Year: NEED 3 Year: Hank Davis, JN PORT CAPTAINS WATTS BAR LAKE: Robert McConnel, S/N FT LOUDOUN LAKE: P/C James C. Barkley, SN TELLICO LAKE: P/D/C Mike Scher, AP APPOINTED COMMITTEE CHAIRS and OFFICERS MEMBERSHIP Ed Armes, AP EDUCATION Capt John Farmer, SN SAFETY PUBLIC RELATIONS LAW OFFICER P/D/C Michael P. Scher, AP NEED P/C Jim Barkley, SN SQUADRON HISTORIAN VESSEL SAFETY CHECK PROPERTY OFFICER P/C Nick Tronolone, AP P/C Chuck Smith, P P/C Bob Bray, JN LEGISLATIVE/LIASION ROSTER & CALLING COMMITTEE OPERATION BOAT SMART P/C Chuck Smith, P Nancy Campbell, P Cdr Dave Roberts, JN NEWSLETTER EDITOR WEBMASTER: KPS Website ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATION Mike McCarthy, S Josh Kaczmarczyk NEED ABC CLASS COORDINATOR Otto Schwarz, S MERIT MARK Jeanette Farmer, P Now Hear This! Page 2

3 Administrative Officer Report Lt/C Bill Brumit Abaft Lookout: On Oct 21 an informative Fiberglass and Boat Design Seminar was presented by Capt. John Farmer at a machine shop in Maryville. Eleven hardcore members attended. See FROM THE WATER. October meeting - We had a great night at Naples Italian Restaurant. We honored Tom and Marbeth Deitrich with a Certificate of Appreciation for their amazing job well done planning and carrying out our fun filled August Eclipse Cruise. We also welcomed new KPS members Bob and Elaine Mattison, just transferred from the North Strand (SC) Sail and Power Squadron. They live in Tellico Village and keep their boat New Beginnings at Fort Loudon Marina. Welcome again Bob and Elaine! Our speaker was KPS member Don Perrine who entertained us with his and JoAnn s joyful 18 month experience of custom building their new Nordhavn Trawler, 18 months of International cruising, then their Big Surprise! ending. I prefer to call it their OUCH!, DISAS- TER! story. Thankfully it was not a disaster at sea but rather a disaster in a shipyard on foreign soil. Don enlightened us on handling unexpected legal issues while cruising outside the US. Their story was published in Passagemaker magazine; and for more pics contact Don at DAPerrine@tds.net. Some selected pictures from Don s presentation follow: Now Hear This! Page 3

4 Administrative Officer Report Lt/C Bill Brumit Abaft Lookout: Now Hear This! Page 4

5 Administrative Officer Report Lt/C Bill Brumit Now Hear This! Page 5

6 Administrative Officer Report Lt/C Bill Brumit Currently Underway: Nov. 4 th Color Cruise - Tom and Marbeth Dietrich are stepping up again, hosting a color cruise get together at their Tellico Village lakefront home. The weather is getting colder and with the recent rains, the fall colors should be beautiful this year. Tom and Marbeth s invitation follows: We are planning an event to appreciate the beautiful color visible as you cruise up Tellico Lake. People can cruise up the river on their own and at their own pace on Saturday, November 4. To make the cruise more interesting, we will be putting together a photographic scavenger hunt that can be completed as you cruise. Afterward, we hope everyone will gather at our dock (N ' W ') at 1600 hrs, where we will enjoy some heavy hors d'ouvres and a beverage or two, while comparing scavenger hunt photos. You are welcome to stay the night at our dock, or find a quiet cove to raft in. Those who do not have "sleep aboard" boats, are welcome to participate for as long as they like. Sunday morning we will cruise to the Tanasi Clubhouse for breakfast. If you would like to join in, please us NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 1 st. Final details and scavenger hunt list will be ed to participants on Thursday, November 2. Everyone will be asked to bring a heavy hors d'ouvre to pass around and your own drinks. Hope to see you there, Marbeth and Tom tdietric1@aol.com Now Hear This! Page 6

7 Administrative Officer Report Lt/C Bill Brumit FORWARD LOOKOUT Dec. 7 th Christmas Dinner - KPS is kicking off the Christmas season early! Mark your calendars for December 7 th dinner party, this year at the Barn at Country Kinfolk in Lenoir City. This will be a pay ahead event with great food and fun being planned. More info to come in our Nov BLAST and Dec. NHT. We just received an invitation from the Oak Ridge Power Squadron. They have invited KPS to a combined catered dinner at their Power Squadron building in Oak Ridge on Saturday November 18. The cost will be somewhere between $15 and $20 pp. How many KPS members would be up for a little inter-squad socializing? Oak Ridge needs to know soon for the catering count. Please send all responses to me at or jbbray@charter.net. Thanks...Janet Your Bridge has decided to not have a November meeting because of Holiday travels. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Now Hear This! Page 7

8 Administrative Technical Library Officer Report Lt/C Jean Armes, AP Ken Lt/C Bloomfield, Linda Sundstrom NHT Webmaster Secretary KPS needs your help KPS needs your help. We are running out of time to fill the bridge positions before our elections. We have several positions open at this time, the main one being commander. Without those positions filled, KPS is in jeopardy of joining many other squadrons that have folded in recent years. Several members have stepped up to take on important positions next year, and we are grateful for their participation. However those few cannot keep KPS alive & thriving. We had our organizational chart at the Oct 23 dinner meeting that showed the offices open for volunteers. Won't you take a look to see where you could help the squadron? If you were unable to attend the dinner meeting, you can call Jean Armes at for other offices still available. We have many activities planned to make 2018 an active and fun boating season. Without help, none of those will be able to happen. Please help the squadron now. Now Hear This! Page 8

9 NOMINATING Administrative Technical Library CHAIR Officer Report Salmon Roast Ken Lt/C Bloomfield, Linda Lt/C Sundstrom Jean NHT Webmaster Armes, AP KPS NEEDS YOU NOW KPS elections are getting close & we need your help! Please note the following list of offices we still need to fill: Commander Executive Officer Assistant Education Officer Board of Directors member 2 Administrative Committee members - 2 Nominating Committee Members - 2 Audit Committee member RULES Committee Member. These offices are all elected by the KPS members at the January dinner meeting. We need volunteers to fill these offices & help keep our organization alive, vibrant, & growing. Won't you consider giving your Executive Committee some help in the coming year? Please talk to any of the officers, or Jean Armes , for information on what they do- or WHAT YOU CAN DO- in Now Hear This! Page 9

10 Administrative Technical Education Library on Deck Officer Report Lt/C John Farmer SN Ken Lt/C Squadron Bloomfield, Linda Sundstrom Education NHT Webmaster Officer EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT Educational Department Corner Classes: The ABC courses for next year are tentatively scheduled for: March 8 17 May 7 16 August as shown on our website. If you have other courses that you would like us to offer please let me know by to: captfarmer@navcal.com. Boat accommodations and TV antennas: If you are buying or building a boat from someone else s plans be very careful about claims for the number on people especially for overnight cruises. Back in the day, TV antennas were advertised touting the number of elements they had. A far better predictor of antenna gain was boom length. Boats are very similar and are advertised as accommodating or at least having a large number of births available. The Catalina 25 (the biggest thing trailerable on a weekend), that we raced for 23 years, was advertised as having six births. Two in the V-birth forward, three in the main cabin and one in what we affectionately referred to as the after birth. The V-birth was OK unless you were anchored in waves and then you needed a seat belt to stay in the bunks. The main cabin was fair for only two when you removed the seat backs. The after birth had very low overhead and was a very claustrophobic bunk. We have spent a week on her with one other couple. By the end of the week you are either very good friends or hate each other for life. We haven t seen them for years. Now Hear This! Page 10

11 Administrative Technical Education Library on Deck Officer Report Lt/C John Farmer SN Ken Lt/C Squadron Bloomfield, Linda Sundstrom Education NHT Webmaster Officer EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT Continued Our standard accommodation plan was: One - luxuriously, Two - acceptably, Three - occasionally, Four - possibly, Five - breathlessly and Six - obscenely. The only way we could sleep six was if their entire complement of gear was beer. The sales literature never mentions storage for individual/personal gear. On a sailboat you could at least hang used towels over the boom or railing if they didn t blow away. Think about planned usage and study your intended vessel very carefully. If at all possible talk to someone on a sister vessel and see how satisfied they are with the layout and the storage space. In the West Point Lake Sailing Club we always said the correct way to check out a potential bride or groom was to spend a weekend anchored out on a sailboat. We also said sailboats have less space that the standard minimum requirements for federal prison cells and a big chunk of metal trying to take you to strait the bottom. We were obviously mostly racers. By the way there are two types of sailors: racers and polishers. From the water We had a very successful free seminar on vessel design and fiberglassing in a Maryville machine shop where I am boat building. The fiberglassing presentation was based on the West System and more information is available at: We had eleven participants and everyone, including the instructor, profited from the discussions. Boat building and fiberglassing are definitely arts even if based on science. And if you have a project, fortunately, we have members who have probably been there and done that. If you need help with your project just ask around. Capt. John Farmer Now Hear This! Page 11

12 Administrative Technical Education Library on Deck Officer Report Lt/C John Farmer SN Ken Lt/C Squadron Bloomfield, Linda Sundstrom Education NHT Webmaster Officer Boat Design and Fiberglass Techniques Class Capt John s intrepid helper Captain Farmer lectures on boat design using his own barge for examples. He then demonstrated fiberglass techniques such as filleting, mixing ratios and material selection. Now Hear This! Page 12

13 Education on Deck Mike McCarthy, S Guest Contributor Administrative Technical Library Officer Report Ken Lt/C Bloomfield, Linda Sundstrom NHT Webmaster Technical Corner Twice in the last two years my generator hydro-locked ; that is, water backed through the exhaust valves of the engine and filled the cylinders. This prevented the starter from being able to rotate the crankshaft and the engine locked up. The first time, a marina pulled the generator out of the boat and replaced the starter. They removed the spark plugs and squirted oil in the cylinders. That worked. The second time, after the Eclipse cruise, I removed the plugs, squirted oil, spun the engine, replaced the plugs, changed the oil and it ran fine afterward. What caused this? Listening to the engine when it turned off, I noticed that it spun for several seconds from the inertia of the generator rotor, before stopping. During this time, water is still being pumped into the engine exhaust hose to the wet muffler inlet. After much head scratching, I came to the conclusion that the wet muffler was nearly filled with water when the engine was shut down. The wet muffler outlet hose loops up between it and the exhaust port on the side of the boat. This loop is high to prevent waves from pushing water back into the engine. However, it is higher than the exhaust valves on the engine With water high in the inlet hose of the wet muffler, all it would take is a hard banking turn to let water flow back into the engine... my first hydro-locked scenario. Also, with water already high in the wet muffler hoses, an engine that didn t initially start on the first rotation would be pumping more water into the exhaust hose and that could overflow back into the exhaust valves...my second hydro-locked scenario. Engine exhaust hose must be higher than muffler outlet Gooseneck Now Hear This! Page 13

14 Technical Administrative Library Corner Officer Report Mike McCarthy, S Ken Lt/C Bloomfield, Linda Guest Sundstrom NHT Webmaster Contributor The figure on the previous page shows the recommended conventional exhaust layout. This works fine if the engine is running with exhaust gas pushing cooling water through the muffler and out the exhaust loop. However with my excess water being pumped into the muffler, one can see where the water will back into the engine as it rises above the muffler when the engine is not running, i.e. coasting to a stop, or not starting instantly. My solution was to lower the muffler outlet hose (goose neck) loop so that its highest point was lower than the engine exhaust valves. To prevent waves from pushing water backward, I installed a flapper check valve in the exhaust hose near the hull outlet. In addition, an anti-syphon valve was added to the inlet water line between the generator impeller pump and the exhaust spray nozzle to prevent water from syphoning down into the cylinders from the inlet side. No problems have been encountered with this arrangement, even after extensive maneuvers and stop-start cycles. Check Valve A reference that supports my changes is here: Anyone who would like to make a technical article contribution please contact: Capt. John Farmer captfarmer@navcal.com or (865) Now Hear This! Page 14