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From: Robert Gainer (no email)
Date: Mon Jun 21 2004 - 07:55:34 EDT
Lew;
I think it’s interesting to see the assumptions that people make about one
another. You think that because of my age I am not computer minded or
technically proficient. I am now 51 years old and spent 25 years in the boat
building and repair business with my own shop. I was in that business
because I enjoyed designing, building and repairing boats. Before that I
wrote computer programs for yacht design in Fortran to run on an IBM 360-50
computer. That was well before the PC that you may be familiar with.
After I left the boat business my partner and I opened a computer shop in
Suffern New York and just last year sold that to a friend of mine. I am now
back in the boating business, its more fun then anything I have done and I
enjoy it very much. The modern yacht is a very complex and very technical
piece of equipment. To work on it you must know a lot more then the average
car mechanic. The fact that I can work on the high tech composites
structures or diagnose and do board replacement (tracing a circuit with a
oscilloscope is not practical or worth the time because you cannot do the
wave soldering on a multi layer board to replace the chips in the average
boat shop) on electronics does not mean that I want that stuff on my boat. I
don’t carry it to the extreme that I see in some of the foreign yachts where
the rigging is spliced, sails have hand worked details and the boat is built
in wood. I was the sailing master on one English 100 ton ketch that had a
blacksmith on board; we did our own work on all parts of the boat and rig. I
do want to be self-sufficient and be able to maintain and repair my boat
myself.
You say something about the choice of cars. I drive a 1977 240D Mercedes
diesel. The last 3 cars that I had were that year or within 2 years of that
model. I have the shop tools for that model car and engine; I do my own work
on it. It’s cheaper to own, run and maintain then the modern car with all
the electronics. Again that is a choice I make. I have a prom burner and I
have copied proms from some of the newer cars to modify and then burn new
ones for friends who want to change the performance. I also have the adapter
for my palm pilot to read the diagnostic code from some of the newer cars. I
just prefer that my stuff is simple and maintainable.
I have a small lath that I use to make parts for boats. I travel with that
and some other tools. The only reason that I had a machine shop make the
parts for my sextant was that cutting such fine thread meant that I needed
to find some tooling that I had stored and didn’t know where to locate on
the spur of the moment. A friend of mine runs the shop and cost was not an
issue. I maintain his computer system for him and we trade favors all the
time.
But yes you are right about the TV and the Home Entertainment system, I read
or build something instead of watching TV, I don’t feel the loss. I do have
a cell phone and I can’t repair that, but I can’t do surgery on myself or
maintain the airplane that I fly in either. That doesn’t mean that I don’t
have a doctor and don’t fly. This e-mail is from a computer that I built.
One of the computers for the boat is in a waterproof 19” rack with removable
drives for quick replacement on the boat. I sail with spare parts for all
the computers on board but that’s not my primary navigation or safety
system.
You say “Modern electronics do not replace prudent seamanship; however,
trying to implement obsolete equipment rather than utilize modern technology
is also to put it politely, not swift”, I don’t think my choices are
obsolete I think they are very practical and after 2 hurricanes 4 trans
Atlantic crossings, sailing though Norway, Sweden, Germany, England, France,
Gambia, Senegal, Brazil, Spain, Portugal well you get the idea, I think my
skill and seamanship should not be in question.
All the best;
Robert Gainer
>From:
>Reply-To:
>To:
>Subject: [world-cruising] Re: Some Observations
>Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 22:03:03 -0700
>
>The whole concept of having equipment on board that can be repaired is
>interesting, but misguided IMHO.
>
>Your view point is influenced by of your age, IMHO.
>
>Those who grew up with computer technology will have a different
>perspective than those who came before them.
>
>If you ONLY use equipment that you as an individual can service and
>repair, then in this day of high reliability, finite use, throw away, non
>repairable products, you will probably not have any of the following:
>
>1) TV. Today, these are throwaway non repairable items.
>2) Home entertainment electronics such as stereo, AM/FM radio. (Same as
>TV)
>3) Automobile. Nobody can work on a modern automobile without the
>necessary test equipment.
>4) Handheld calculator.
>5) Cell Phone.
>6) Personal computer.
>
>The list goes on but you get the idea.
>
>Yes, you can repair a mechanical device such as a sextant, if you can
>find suitable shore side machine shop services, but at what cost?
>
>A basic GPS costs less than $100. If it dies, throw it in the trash and
>pick up the next one. (Save the batteries)
>
>Doubt you will get a machine shop to make sextant renewal parts of under
>$100.
>
>You can draw a new scale for my slide rule, but why bother when a new
>electronic calculator is less than $10.
>
>Before you get the wrong idea, I'm not a big fan of electronic toys on a
>boat.
>
>Being in the industrial electronics business, I recognize that all
>electronics are sooner or later going to fail, probably sooner.
>
>Modern electronics do not replace prudent seamanship; however, trying to
>implement obsolete equipment rather than utilize modern technology is
>also to put it politely, not swift.
>
>Lew
>
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