Ahoy from the Hills

I got a lift from Islamorada FL without having to stick out my thumb, we drove straight through swapping drivers and only stopping for fuel. We weren't even inside the Fayetteville City limits yet when we got pulled over by FPD on the interstate for a random search, I forgot how much police presence there is in this state.
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Mattie and I are in Fayetteville AR catching up with old friends. It's nice to be back home for a visit, even if it is a bit cold up here. It's nice to see familiar faces and really nice to be around Arkansas women again but I've had to schedule my time and make appointments to see everybody. Since I have been home I've been eating very well (almost nonstop) and haven't paid for a beer yet.

Nothing much changes in Fayetteville, I compare it to ground hog day, a few changes I have noticed is the emptiness of Dickson ST, another parking garage and more bicycle trails. When I started out on this voyage I was happy to get away from all the sounds of the shore, the engines and car noises, and most of all the sirens, train horns don't seem to bother me too much.

I made a masthead light and hope someone else may benefit from my learning experience. There is not a lot of power to spare on Waltzing Matilda and I have wanted LED running and anchor lights for some time but $150 bulbs are not in the beer budget. In true cruiser fashion I have fashioned some lights myself and run into a few small difficulties I would like to share.

My 1st attempt was pitiful but free, I discovered a bar in Key West (Fat Tuesdays) sells these goofy light up plastic mugs with red, green and blue LEDs in the base, I scored a few from the dumpster, pulled them out of the original circuit board and soldered them parallel to a DIY board (used a safety pin to drill bits from the mugs) with some foraged white LEDs to make a tri light. I used a automotive cell phone charger to drop 12V to 4.5V, and viola..... not bright enough.

The second attempt was not free but less pitiful. I went to SurplusGizmos.com and purchased 16 70ma Piranha LEDs, after shipping it was a total of $20 worth of beer money. Since I am home for the holidays I have better tools to use than I can carry in the boat including a great adjustable power supply from a model train set.

I soldered 4 red, 4 green and 4 white in parallel arrays and powered them up to test. The red was nice and bright, the green and white, not so much. If I disconnected red the green and white lit up. Once the red was on it sucked all the power, so it seems, the red array draws twice as many amps as the green and white combined. Using a multimeter as an adjustable resistor I found I could get all three arrays to light up by limiting the power that went to the red array on the negative line but had no way to see how many amps were being used (I only have 1 multimeter).

I found a resistance calculator for LEDs online and according to it I need a 30ohm resistor to solve my problem and make all 3 arrays light. If anyone that reads this and knows more about LEDs than me I'd appreciate if you can contribute some info, I don't know much about electronics. I know what the markings on a the resistor I need look like, I'll just have to find a toy in the dumpster to find the right one.

I haven't encased the new lights in epoxy yet, but they will be before I climb the stick

I'm heading back down south in early Janurary, a few weeks recharging my internal batteries will be nice.

Land Lubber Dog

It's been nice to be on land, I haven't left the property except to go grocery shopping and get beer, the bike has recovered from the flat tires acquired in Key West but I just haven't gone anywhere. There is a big old trawler that needs TLC and I am sanding the teak to refinish the bright work. Waltzing Matilda hasn't been getting any work done on her, but she isn't breaking anything as she is just sitting at a dock.

I've had several people have asked about Mattie lately, yes, I am fine, and so is the dog. She is currently snuggled up in a big comforter on a big bed refusing to get up since the temp has dropped to 65F. She is quite happy to be ashore after 7 days without a walk when we left Key West. She cannot seem to figure out that I don't have to take her on a walk for her to pee here, she can just go outside and go pee. Peeing has been a problem for her as long as she has been with me, she pees when she is happy, or sad, or hungry, or full, or wants to play, or is scared, she pees all over herself all the time. Not sure why but I know that when we get to Arkansas to visit home she will have to stay in a crate rather than pee anywhere in my parent's place. Did I just write a whole paragraph about my dogs urine habits?.... I cannot believe how much of my life has been taken up by the dog's toilet.

The laptop donated by Map Oil Tools a year ago is dying, I have to keep the case off and wedge my fingers between the main board and case to get it to boot, the keys y,u,r don't work, nor does the zero key, it makes typing very tedious I cut and paste missing characters in. I've removed ever non-essential bit in the machine, only a HDD, WiFi card and main board are left, I need to get a small net book and modify it to handle the rigors of sea life.

Headed home for Christmas, looking forward to seeing some familiar faces.

Photos