Make a Useful Canvas Bucket

Call me a packrat, but I hate throwing anything away that could still have some use aboard. David uses old line to make ocean plait rugs. I use old jacklines to keep jerry jugs firmly in place on deck and also as hoists when making courtesy flags. So when it came time to buy a new mainsail, I couldn't just throw the old one away. Though the sail had seen several thousand miles and many years of use, it had some life left in it. I carefully cut out large useable chunks for future use and tucked them away for a rainy day project. Over the years, I've found lots of uses for used sail material beyond mending and patching working sails in a pinch.

The absolute best project, however, was a versatile canvas bucket. When we bought Nine of Cups, there was a canvas bucket aboard which we used regularly for washing decks and general clean-up. It was easy to toss overboard, fill with sea water and haul back aboard. The original one was getting old and lost more water than it held. David suggested that we could buy a new one or maybe I could sew a new one. It looked simple enough and I had the time, so I thought I'd give it a go. Whenever an existing pattern is available, the process is much easier.

There were a two things we didn't like about the existing bucket, so I decided I'd implement a couple of changes. First, it sometimes collapsed when we tossed it overboard to fill it with sea water and second, it was so lightweight, it sometime just skipped over the water and wouldn't fill at all. I decided if I could make the top rim and the bottom more rigid, it would have enough extra weight to sink below the surface while keeping the top open for easy filling without collapsing.

I cut a rectangular piece of sailcloth 3l.5” x 12”. To make the bottom rigid, I found the flat lid of an old plastic crate and using a pencil with a string attached, measured, marked and cut out an 11” diameter circle. I later thought that cutting out the bottom of an old plastic pail that had a crack in its side would have been just as easy.

I then traced the plastic circle onto sailcloth and cut out two slightly larger (1/2” all around) circles which would allow for a seam allowance and room to maneuver. I sewed the plastic disc between the two pieces to keep it in place.

The next step was to form a tube with the 31.5” rectangle and sew along the side. Though I have a heavy duty SailRite sewing machine, this project could be done successfully with a lightweight machine as well. Checking that all seams were facing out, I pinned the encapsulated disc to one end of the canvas tube. This is a tricky process because there seems to be too much material for the disc. I initially used four attachment spots and then spaced the pins so that the material was evenly distributed. I used a zipper foot, rather than a standard presser foot in order to sew as closely to the plastic disc as possible. It started to look like a bucket.

The top rim needed to be finished and it needed a handle, of course. I used two 6” strips cut from old 1” jackline webbing and sewed them on opposite sides of the buckets spaced about 1” from the top rim. This reinforcement would accommodate full buckets of water without the weight tearing out the sides of the bucket. I installed two brass grommets spaced 3” apart on each strip which would accommodate a rope handle. It was important to do this step before completing the rim to insure that I could get the fabric under the sewing machine needle.

In order to make the rim rigid, I employed a 31” piece of old 1/4” lifeline (any stainless wire, ~1/4” would work just as well) and hand stitched it inside the rim by folding the 1” of canvas I had allowed above the handle reinforcement strips over the wire.

I attached lengths of rope to each side of the bucket to act as handles and knotted them securely through the grommets. I later tied another piece of line connecting the handles so the bucket could easily be tied to the aft lifeline for convenient access and use. Without much effort and an investment of less than two hours, we had a new canvas bucket.

To see the original article in Ocean Navigator, click here.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Zoo Lover's Day

The first zoo was in Egypt in ~3500BC. Find out what's new at your local zoo.

Vesahka (Buddha's Birthday)

Throughout the Buddhist world, people will celebrate Buddha's birthday today. Learn more about it and how to celebrate.

Vinegar

 

My Mom put a little paperback book simply entitled Vinegar in my Christmas stocking many years ago. I glanced through it quickly and it was filled with so many great ideas, I still refer to it from time to time. Vinegar is what happens when wines are allowed to go through a second fermentation process and are exposed to bacteria. We can vouch for this. Sometimes we've made our own vinegar, but never on purpose! For sure, there are many practical applications for store-bought vinegar on the boat that we're happy to share with you.

Vinegar … what would we ever do without it on the boat? I buy white vinegar by the gallon and we divide it into smaller bottles for uses in the galley and the head. David dilutes and decants it into spray bottles for various uses throughout the boat. If you Google vinegar, you come up with 60,700,000 results, so I guess there's lots to be said for it.

First of all, there are so many vinegar variations nowadays, it's mind-boggling. There's balsamic, of course, which I use lots of. Then there's rice vinegar, cider vinegar, malt, red wine, white wine, herbed....the list goes on. I've got at least 4-5 different varieties in the galley locker, but quite honestly, it's the white vinegar that gets used the most. Not only for cooking … but for so much more! With a gallon of vinegar, a gallon of bleach and some baking soda on hand, I don't ever buy any expensive cleaning products.

Here's a quick list of where and how I use vinegar on the boat...

In the galley:

Use as a tenderizer and for marinades and salad dressings; also for pickling.

Soak fresh veggies in water with a spoonful of white or cider vinegar and a dash of salt to remove bugs; it's a good replacement for expensive fruit/veggie washes. You can also perk up wilted veggies with a quick soak in vinegar and water.

If I'm short on eggs while baking at sea, I substitute 1 Tbsp white vinegar in place of one of the eggs. Really! (This only works, I'm told, if there's baking soda, baking powder or self-rising flour already in the recipe.) I put a dash of vinegar in the water when I'm poaching eggs to keep the whites better formed (a tuna can with both ends cut out makes a good egg poaching form, BTW).

Cheese keeps longer if it's covered in a cloth moistened with vinegar and then placed in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag.

Rub vinegar on your hands after cutting up onion or garlic and the smell disappears. It also removes stains from berries, curries, etc.

Wipe off the outsides of canning jars with vinegar to remove residue and inhibit mold/bacteria growth.

Wipe off countertops to remove bacteria. Spray full strength on cutting boards and leave overnight. Odors disappear and so does the bacteria.

Get rid of mineral deposits in the tea kettle by adding ½ cup of vinegar to the water, bringing to a boil and leaving overnight. Rinse well in the morning.

Deodorize your drains with a ½ cup of baking soda followed by a ½ cup of hot vinegar. Let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse with hot water.

On the rest of the boat:

Wash down walls and the insides of lockers to remove mold and mildew, dust and odors and prevent more from growing.

Remove lime and mineral stains by pouring full strength vinegar on them and letting the vinegar dissolve the build-up. Some elbow grease may be required. Add a paste of baking soda for a little extra oomph.

Allow about 3 cups of full strength vinegar to sit in the toilet bowl for an hour; then flush/rinse. It removes stains and deodorizes at the same time.

We have acrylic portholes, portlights and hatch lenses which are adversely affected by window cleaners such as Windex and products containing ammonia or bleach. Use a water/vinegar solution (16:1) to wash and wipe dry with a soft cloth (not a paper towel!). This same solution works well as an eyeglass cleaner.

In the laundry (done manually and in a bucket), I use a tsp of vinegar when I'm doing a final rinse (usually rainwater). Vinegar doesn't hurt the clothes and prevents yellowing, helps remove soap and acts as a fabric softener.

When I was a kid, we sometimes used a water/vinegar solution instead of a hair conditioner. In actuality, when I run out of conditioner, I still do this (2:1). It's a good de-tangler and supposedly helps to prevent dandruff. You only smell like a pickle for a short time. ;-)

Treat jellyfish and/or coral stings with a good dousing of vinegar. It helps to deactivate the venom. You can also dab full strength vinegar on bug bites for relief from itching.

David uses malt vinegar for cleaning and removing verdigris and corrosion from our bronze through-hulls.

Got any other applications for vinegar that I should add to the list? I'd welcome them.

Legend has it that Cleopatra dissolved pearls in a goblet of vinegar and drank it in order to win a wager with Marc Antony that she could consume a fortune in just one meal.

Some warnings:

Vinegar should not be used on marble, in metal drinking cups, on unglazed pottery or on pearls!

I've just discovered that there's an International Vinegar Museum in Roslyn, SD. WHAT? I can't believe we missed it on our trek across the USA this past summer in search of the odd and obscure. We found the SPAM Museum and the potato museum, but I'll be darned if we don't need to make another trip to South Dakota. Always something more to see.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Frozen Food Day

Thank Clarence Birdseye for this one. He patented flash freezing in 1929 and the first frozen food to hit market occurred in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1930. Skip the peas...go straight to the ice cream.

Frugal versus Cheap

Frugality. The definition in my Sage dictionary is “prudence in avoiding waste”. Nicely put. It then goes on to give synonyms which seem to diminish its value in my perception. Parsimony (nice...but no one usually knows what it means), thriftiness and finally penny-pinching. Cheap on the other hand connotes stinginess and an ungenerous nature. I think we're frugal, not cheap. We keep to a budget. We actually account for everything we spend...from postcards to boat batteries, laundry to souvenirs. We just like to see where our money goes and it's always amazing at the end of the month when we determine what things we've frittered away our money on. It's definitely not meals out, but sometime we overdo on wine purchases or books or entertainment. Though we might not alter our spending habits, it's still nice to know where the money goes and where we could cut back should it become necessary. We both agree that boat parts and repairs take precedence over most other expenditures.

We hate to spend money on something we can't really enjoy. For instance, if we sail instead of motor, we save on diesel. At $1.65/liter (that's US$7/gallon), this can really add up. That said, there's sometimes more enjoyment in the arrival versus the process of getting there, so in that case, it might be worth the diesel expenditure. The point is, we weigh the enjoyment/necessity factor and make the decision. It doesn't just happen without some thought involved. When we save by not turning on the engine, we think of it as “credits” towards something that we'd enjoy more like going to a museum or a wildlife sanctuary. It's all about making choices.

We prefer to eat on the boat rather than eat at restaurants...obviously cheaper. I frequently pack picnic lunches for day-long excursions. We've found that when we have limited time some place, we hate to waste that time looking at menus and waiting for food service, when we can suss out a nice place to picnic and have some fruit and cheese, soak up the ambiance and not miss a minute of sightseeing.

I try to research every place we visit to determine what entertainment is free and what activities we think will be worth paying an admission fee. Self-guided city walking tours are fun and free. They give us the layout and feel of the city and if I've done my homework, we see the highlights without incurring major costs. We always see more when we're walking anyway...the architecture, statues and artwork tucked into nooks and crannies, historical markers, buskers. Many festivals offer free admission. The Royal Botanical Gardens are free here in Hobart as they were in Sydney. They might ask for a gold coin donation (Aussie $1 and $2 coins are gold in color), but a day in the botanical gardens is definitely worth a dollar or two to us and goes to a good cause.

On the boat, we're recyclers. An old dock line becomes a ocean-plait rug. We have several on the boat and we also give them as gifts. Old jacklines become the hoists for our homemade courtesy flags. They're also great for retaining extra jerry jugs in place on deck. Old sails become canvas buckets or are used for patching. The salvaged parts of our old bimini became the cover for the outboard and several ditty bags David uses for stowing various tools and parts. We try to make sure that nothing of value goes to waste.

If we're doing a haul-out or major repairs, we bite the bullet and stay in a marina. If we decide to leave Cups for any period of time, we also prefer her to be in a marina or at least on a sturdy mooring where someone can watch out for her every once in awhile. Otherwise, we prefer to anchor out. No fees involved.

I might add that we were not always this way although we've both been pretty conservative spenders most of our lives. We did, however, buy a boat, sell off all of our land anchors and head off into the sunset over a decade ago, so there go the theories of logic and sobriety out the window.

If you follow this blog, you'll know that I've always shopped in thrift shops and love going to yard sales. Part of me likes the adventure and the challenge of finding something I need or want and not paying full retail price for it. I was always a coupon-er, too, although that's not as popular here as it is in the States. We do get fuel discounts with our grocery purchases and they especially work to our benefit when buying diesel fuel for the boat. A diesel fuel purchase last week with a discount coupon saved us $27. We also stock up on paperback books when we're back in the States at 25-50¢ each. Books in the rest of the world are very expensive. We read them and then trade them. Twenty five books purchased for 50¢ each become 25 new books... over and over and over again. Kindle may change all that.

At the grocery store, we're pretty good about buying what's on sale. Unless there's some special occasion, like turkey for Christmas, we don't shop with a preconceived notion of what we'll be having for dinners for the coming week. Instead, we tailor our menu choices around what's available, in season and on sale. I remember finding and using recipes for breadfruit in the Carib and taro in Vanuatu.

We shop at local markets when we can and buy in quantity when it makes sense. Onions and potatoes are particularly good buys here at the moment and store well. When bought in 5 or 10kg sacks, the cost per pound/kg drops drastically. We do not buy frozen foods nor any prepared foods. Well, licorice sticks, chips and cookies once in awhile... although with the junk-less New Year's resolution those purchases have nearly disappeared. (You gotta splurge once in awhile!) I can-process (jar) turkey burger (mince) and chicken which we alternate with caught fish when we're out at sea. We pick local fruit and berries when it's available and can those for later use as well. Can-processed food, by the way, can last a year or more.

When it comes to buying something we could make ourselves or buying a service we could perform ourselves, we're usually willing to expend hours of our own labor, rather that buy a product or contract a service. If we make it, we know how it's made and the materials that go into it. If we perform the service ourselves, we know what was done and how it was done. Part of our rationale for this is being prudent as much as frugal.

The primary difference between frugal and cheap? I think it's the intent. We always attempt to pay our way. We don't sponge off people. We don't try to gyp anyone out of money that's due them. We don't avoid paying national parks fees or sneak into museums to avoid paying admissions. We are discriminating, however, in which parks and museums we choose to visit. We're not extravagant in our tastes. We're okay with inexpensive wine and home brew. We're not embarrassed to tell people we'd prefer not to eat out in an expensive restaurant nor attend an activity that doesn't seem value-rich.

Frugality has become more of a challenge and a game for us than a negative issue and it's allowed us to continue sailing for these past 13 years with the hope of many years to come. When we quit sailing, it won't be because of lack of funds.

So...how much does it actually cost us to live aboard Nine of Cups each year? Stay tuned for Part II of this blogpost. And if you're interested, we'll also share our budget with you.

And the nautical terms from yesterday are:

Futtock - curved timber that forms the rib of a ship

Sny - Curve of a ship from amidships to the bow or stern

Joggle - notching process

Trunnel - wooden pegs (or dowels) used to fasten timbers together

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Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Feast of Fabulous Wild Men

I don't get this one. What's a wild man? A cave man type... neanderthal? Hmmm. Maybe more the adventurous type like Jack London. Let's go with the creative, wild types. Read a little “Call of the Wild” or go to the zoo.