Something is Missing from our Keel!

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Something is Missing from our keel…

Patrick Childress, after 12 years on Brick House, on his second circumnavigation explains what he does when he finds out we are missing the proper amount of structural foam in our keel…it is hollow! When sitting on the hard, this problem can cause a keel to oil can, or even crack,  when its blocked in the unsound section of the keel. Patrick then shows the process for the correction of what to do when your keel is hollow or damaged. He demonstrates sailboat keel repair with epoxy fiberglass, and how to fill the voids. Keel repair can be done by a sailor, it just takes some sailboat diy knowledge.

We have been sailing around the world for 12 years on our sailboat Brick House. We are hauled out of the water , and it’s time to fix and upgrade a few things on this 41 year old boat!

We received a lot of valuable technical support from AMT Composites here in South Africa, and we thank them for their patience and time. Very knowledgeable and like-able people to work with.

We will be using a number of products they recommended, imported from all over the world, namely Gurit Fiberglass Resin which is very comparable to West Systems. They seem to have all the supplies we need for this fiberglass keel repair, as well as for our blister repair, epoxy barrier coat, and right down to the paintbrushes! They supply the materials for many of the major boatbuilders in South Africa, and are highly respected among the professionals here.  Every cruiser who hails out here, should definitely consider doing business with this company to make sure they get the higher quality resin and other materials in South Africa! If Sarah doesn’t know the answer, ask for John…he is an absolute wealth of knowledge and will help you figure out the right materials for your fiberglass boat project or repair.

Contact here:

Sarah Cochrane|Amt Composites (KZN) | Tel: +27 (0) 31 705 2034| Email: sarah   

https://www.amtcomposites.co.za

 

What Worked, What Didn’t, After 11 years…on Bluewater Cruising Sailboat Brick House

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Finances When Cruising Around the World IMPORTANT UPDATE

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FINANCES WHEN CRUISING AROUND THE WORLD…AN IMPORTANT UPDATE regarding the “The 3 Most Valuable Sailing Tools We use Sailing Around the World” (Original article here)

I have made an update regarding Transferwise in this article…regarding when you sign up…and the phone number to use when signing up. Transferwise is one of the financial tools I recommend for managing your finances as you sail around the world. It is a way to quickly pay in a foreign currency without exposing your credit card to fraud as you pay foreign businesses for products for your sailboat as you travel. I have used it for years with great success, and many many other sailors have too.

You MUST choose a phone number you will always have when signing up for Transferwise. If you should forget your password, they will need to use your listed phone number to reset your password! (Otherwise there is a security concern!)

I use Google Voice for my round the world phone number…http://voice.google.com. It can receive texts and phone calls anywhere in the world. Skype hasn’t worked for texts for me. There are probably other products too, or if you keep you home cellular plan with roaming, or your same Satellite phone number that could maybe work too…but choose carefully! Google Voice for sure works and it’s free though you may need to put some small credit on it. I signed up 12+ years ago and have never put anymore money on it! But you MUST have access to a phone number in the US to initially set it up. I do not think a number on Skype will allow it, but possibly worth a try if you are not in the US, at a friends house or other. After the original setup, you do not need a US phone number anymore

Read original article about financial tools used on Brick House here: Original Article

Sign up to use Transferwise here. We each get a free transfer (but they are so cheap anyways…) when you sign up through this link.

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Sailing blog? Consider Using WordPress. I switched 4 years ago…

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I run this sailing blog on WordPress. I use to use Sailblogs, and although it was simple, it didn’t offer enough to hold me there..it couldn’t do what I wanted to do as I grew just a bit. I am not a programmer, and I don’t know html at all. I just like a simple platform to write my blog on. Lately I’ve liked to get a little fancy with it, trying out different things.

Whether it be a monetized Website with a storefront that you eventually want, or simply multiple photos in one blog post painlessly, or as a compliment to a Youtube Sailing Channel……WordPress can do what you what it to do, no matter how fancy you want to get.

Or just use defaults settings and make simple blog posts, with multiple photos, and anything else you want to do without a lot of fuss.

Do it from sea, with just SSB and Pactor modem, or with you sat phone, or your Iridium GO. WordPress lets you be as plain and simple or as fancy and sophisticated as you like…. The sky is the limit. It provides great stats if you are a number geek like me, great backup options if you mess things up sometimes like I do. It offers so many plugins (ways to add every option known to man on your site) and lots of instructions and live support. It’s become a hobby that I enjoy, though at times I wonder why…

Anyways…they are offering a better promotion than I’ve seen come in for a bit so thought I tell you about it in case you are thinking of starting a Sailblogs. Yes.it’s an affiliate Link…why not.it’s what I’ve used for nearly 4 years and I still like it. The code is at the bottom of the post.

You may want to just start a free a. Ount, let it sit, and as you get inspired with it, learn a bit more, and add a bit more. Or just start making posts and having fun today with it 😉 It’s a fun hobby, and it can help other sailors know what lies ahead..or use it to just simply let family know what is happening and where you are. Or simply, a log of your travels that one day you can look back at and smile when you see the photos and the funny way you lived while cruising ;).

I started with the personal plan 4 years ago, but quickly upgraded to the Premium for under $100 per year total. I enabled the ads on it right away, but took them right down because it was just so bad and invasive. Now Adsense ads are much much better, and it enables me to at least break even if not make a few dollars each month! It’s nice to have all the bells and whistles to play with, without really paying anything. The ads on this blogsite enable me to pay for this blog…not my time….but at least for the financial outlay to have the site to begin with.

Either way…there are many options out there for blogging. This one can really grow with you. Don’t just get the simplest, most free one you can find, or you will find yourself having to convert everything over to a more robust platform to do what you really want to do, later one…which believe me, is painful. Just start with WordPress. You won’t regret using it! Sailblogs was good for me for a couple of years. But WordPress has offered much more.

Also…if you have a Youtube Sailing Channel…DEFINITELY have a blog. You need something called “backlinks” to your channel. Putting your links on Facebook helps a bit. But having people coming from a blog is even better. Having your own blog is a backlink that really helps to get things kickstarted and makes Youtube pay a bit of attention to the results the post with your video gets. Our YouTube just monetized 2 months ago, after 10 months (Patrick Childress Sailing), and a lot came from this blog…and still does.

If you are about to start a blog…WordPress is offering a 20% off discount from This Sunday for about 2 weeks: Use this code when you check out: WordPress Website. Be sure to use DISCOUNT20 at checkout!

Begins: Sunday, February 24th

Ends: Sunday, March 10th

Coupon Code: DISCOUNT20

Promote: WordPress.com, Jetpack

WordPress Discount Be sure to use DISCOUNT20

Here is the Youtube Sailing Channel: Patrick Childress Sailing, if you haven’t already seen it a million times on this site!!

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