Still sittng in the room but ready to go to the spa/jacuzzi/sauna for an
hour or so, after of course, a round on the pain machines. It's only 9:20AM
here. May sound good but remember, while you are out on the ships life goes
on back wherever and you have no control over it. There is always drawbacks
to anything. The payback is the months on end out on the pond. But if I
have to make good use of Uncle Sam's Budget I'd rather be here than most
places. Beats MRE's and a rucksack for sure. Latest rumour is some of the
ship's are going back to the US for whatever reason. All the other guys in
our travelling group, (going to several different vessels) are hoping it's
the one they are assigned to but I kinda hope I can lay back on or near a
tropical atoll and just make money. Say, thinking of Nautica's did you see
the article on the Nickerson 31 in the May/June Good Old Boat? Keel looked
kinda like the Nautica and the rest looked great. Same length as my new one
so I got some ideas to incorporate for the interior. Then a good article on
tiller vs. wheel. My new one had the conversion and luckily the previous
owner did everything right including leaving the tiller post accessible in
the cockpit and allowing plenty of room on each side. For single hand
tacking you get a choice of pushing the wheel over and handling the lines or
using the auto helm tacking button and stand in front. You can also stand in
front when viewing the radar screen down in the cabin area. Standing behind
is even more fun as there is plenty of room for standing or sitting etc. IF
I have to use the tiller it's located in an easy to get spot and I have a
Navico 300 to pop on. The Navico also connects to a stub which replaces the
wind vane paddle so you can have the best of both worlds that way as well.
Scanmar/Monitor actually came up with the idea but it will work well with
any paddle system. Anyway back to the Nickerson they are a bit hard to find
and a bit spendy but seem to incorporate a lot of the best ideas and
compromises. What do you think?

I don't know how long I'll be on as we get our fly/don't fly instructions in
a few hours but I'll check back in as I can.

Michael

"Capt. Mooron" wrote in message
...

Jeee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e--e-ee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-z-z-z-z-z--zz-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-zz-
z--zz-z ......... I HATE YOU!

Damn you... Ha Ha Ha Ha ha


Goood Going Michael!!!

Keep your Blade Sharp and the Liqour Handy!
"Michael" wrote in message
...
| Life is certainly improving in the world. After a long 10 hour flight
to
| Tokyo, three hour wait and another 6 hour flight to Singapore I'm safely
| tucked away in one of the Amara chain hotels. They certainly do treat
us
| right in this business, meals included! Nice to be in a well paid
shortage
| specialty while the rest of the world whines about lack of jobs. Funny
..
.
| .we are about 2,000 short industy wide. Whoever encouraged me to do
this
| gets a big thankyou! First thing I spotted was a T-1 connection but
after
| a few messages decided to catch up on jet lag. Now, somewhat refreshed
I
| thought I'd check in again. Someone asked where the Bombards are made?
I
| don't know actually. Didn't check the box but I wouldn't be surprised
if
it
| wasn't China. They areowned by Zodiac now and could be made in Oz or
almost
| anywhere else. Check with Boatarama I suppose. We are waiting to find
out
| if we fly today out to the ships or wait another day. If so they have a
| night safari tour through a wild life park and I think I'll take that
one.
| For lunch today it's the mecca of western tourists of course. The Long
Bar
| at Raffles for an original sling. True to nature I've already spotted
the
| nearest marina and yachtie hangout so that will take care of the day for
me.
|
| I thought if I can't get through on the newsgroups the regular way from
the
| work area I might send reports now and again via Katy or Oz or Doug or
Thom
| or Bart or . . . .. or any one of a number of my other good .ASA
friends.
| Hell! I'd even send one through neal if I had an address that worked.
I
| did find another sort of discussion group though that is accessible
through
| Internet Explorer so I'll stay in touch that way.
|
| Cheers and fair winds as I drift slowly from Schoonertrash to . . . . .
|
| /s/ Michael Freightertrash
|
| (where's that damn phone booth when you need it!)
|
|
|
|