Drawings from Aprovecho

Cheap energy ain't so cheap, anymore. A friend, who suffered from arthritis and heated with wood, once told me, "I want the best return in BTUs on calories invested." Mmm. There's a deep thought! It's become much more common, recently, to consider efficiency in terms of  insulation. But our crafty forebears applied it to cooking, upping that return on investment of which my friend spoke. The general concept of a haybox is an insulated container, closely fit to a lidded pot. Anything with lots of air spaces trapped within it (hay, newspaper, foam, wool, etc.) may be used... 4 inches all round the pot being a good working minimum. Historically, hay was a choice insulator. It would be chopped coursely and, while damp, packed firmly around a dedicated pot. Once dry, it would retain the pot's shape in a tight fit. Hence the name haybox. They were common by land and sea. Soldiers used them to cook rations in the field. Bring the contents of the pot to a solid boil, put it in the container and close the lid. No more fuel necessary! Cooking continues at a simmer for hours. Recipes are similar to those for crock pots. Piping hot soup on deck in the wee hours! WOO-HOO!! Don't even have to wake the cook (and a cook awoken is a grumpy cook). Additionally, a thermal mass (brick, stone, shaped concrete plug) may be heated on the side, and inserted with the pot for dry baking. A metal liner is a safety feature for this method, as the thermal mass can reach scorching hot temps if not watched carefully. A notable refinement is to line the container (outboard of the insulation) with a reflective layer of foil or equivalent. Tristan Jones (I seem to remember from One Hand for Yourself, One for the Ship) spoke of layering foamboard cut to fit a pot. Nomex cloth? Here are some pics of various DIY solutions, and commercial thermal cookers (vacuum insulated). Search for any of the title terms under images for a quick overview, or go straight to any of the many excellent articles posted online. DIY:

Looks like a Sailor's work!

How easy can it get?

Lanny Henson Green Pail Cooker

Here's a row from Africa.

Commercial: Here are a couple just to get the flavor... can be very spendy. Many claim advantage over a straight, retained heat cooker by enabling convection cooking vs. straight simmering. Anyone out there got one and care to comment? Watch out for thin bottomed inner pots, which don't heat well. Some complain of warm spots and heat loss around the lids, especially but not always in cheaper models.

Thermos Shuttle Chef Thermal Cooker by Nissan

Thermos Thermal Cooker by Thermos

One of the most important tools on the water is a tender... the small workboat in service to the larger sea-stead. Lighter, yawl-boat, load hauler, gad-about. Ready to fish, set or haul anchor, take the dog ashore, convey lubbers ignorant of small-boat physics... in a pinch a life boat of last resort. Self-rescue is an important ability for us. Should we ever lose our home, we need a tender that can keep the sea and cover some ground. To help ourselves or others, we need a boat that can handle a sea of troubles. Early on, we settle on dories as meeting the greatest number of our needs in a single boat. For years, we towed Phil Bolger's GLOUCESTER GULL (may he be happy in the heaven, to which this boat was ticket). Its dimensions are 15'6" x 4' x ~4" over a two foot bottom beam. It exceeded all promises. A GULL is efficiently built from three sheets of 1/4 inch, it rows and tows beautifully under most conditions, carries a raft o' goods... it's light but sturdy. It has high windage, and it's difficult to make good speed along a straight line in a gale of wind, lacking the mass to carry between strokes. But the high freeboard keeps the wild stuff outboard, where it belongs, lifting the boat over waves that would swamp a lower hull. Downside is that there is no way to take one aboard a small cruiser... we're stuck with towing. But hey. If you want everything in one boat, get used to disappointment! For our purposes, however, it had a couple of draw-backs: When towing in a gale plus, it would surf and sheer, tripping on its chine. That would pop the windward side high, exposing the wide, flared side panel to the wind... the leeward gunnel would cut under and WHOA!! Suddenly we're towing a sub! Droguing the dory eliminated the problem, but only if you got to it before the wind came up. A related problem is that, when beached, a sudden gust might fling the boat downwind, rolling and bouncing like a 16ft, deranged boomerang! No place to be standing when it happened!! Launching in a surf, neither bow nor tombstone transom generated enough lift to carry hull and passenger clear of a comber. Not enough to even threaten swamping, but we often got wet, launching or beaching in these conditions. Lastly, while it rowed about as well forward as backward, narrow ends made it sensitive to weight distribution. If Anke and I wanted to trade off rowing, we'd have to switch ends (I outweigh her by 30 some pounds, and you don't want to trim bow down). In a tender (tippy) boat, with a little chop running, that was an uncomfortable procedure! Finally, I designed a dory for ourselves (my Brother calls it NOT-A-GULL ) with a 3ft bottom beam on the same dimensions. I widened the tombstone, considerably, and carried the bottom a skosh more full toward the bow (adding displacement at both ends).

Sampan Bow

It rows either direction without us having to switch ends (the longitudinal seat lets us adjust trim by scootching a bit). We call both ends 'the bow'... pointy bow, or sampan bow(tombstone end). We launch into surf, sampan first, and haven't shipped a drop in five years. The wide bottom and reduced angle of flare (with consequent reduction of side panel area) have meant no cut-under in gales, and (so far) no cart-wheels on the hard. We can haul even more stuff with more stability. Reduced flare gets us closer to the mothership, meaning shorter arm extension while loading/unloading. Downsides are that it's that much heavier to carry, and no longer so efficient to build. It takes four sheets of 1/4 ply with more waste, and a sheet of 1/2" for frames (we usually scrounge scrap for these). And, lets face it, it doesn't have that breath-taking line of Phil's GULL... Probably be my ticket to purgatory.  8)

Pointy Stern... Paddling through Sloughs

A few Tips 'n' Tricks:

• A longitudinal seat affords great flexibility for any number of loads. Make the frames all the same, comfortable sitting height off the bottom and spring in as narrow a plank as you can stand (It will take the same curve as the bottom).

• We use two oar stations equidistant from the middle. They're arranged so that we can balance with one rower, rower and passenger(s), or two rowers, forward or backward. With two rowing, the aft person will face forward and push stroke.  They don't have to work hard, but it adds a lot of speed. When rowing into heavy wind, sit at the sampan end. This decreases forward windage by depressing the broad base of the tombstone without burying it (so won't sheer off course). At the same time, the after (pointy) end is lifted, increasing its windage and acting as a weather-cock (wants to stream downwind, holding the bow up into the wind). Row with short, alternating strokes.
• We use thole pins with polypropylene rope grommets. Dirt cheap (beach-combed line and blocks, spruce limb pins)... only cost are the bolts and glue. All pieces float! You can put the oar forward or aft of the pin... we prefer forward (pulling away from the pin on the power stroke)... not as efficient, but very quiet.

Spring Paint in Order!

• We use 7ft spruce saplings of about two inch diameter at the fat end. Carve a conic handle (base toward the end) into the fat end. Flatten one face of the other ('tang' runs the full blade length... good strength for poling or clamming) and screw on a 2ft x 4in x 1/4in, plywood blade (strip up that waste from building the dory... make a stack and carry 'em as spares). If the sapling has a curve, make sure you mount the blade perpendicular to its plane. If you don't, the oar will want to spill and twist... even a bit of this soon tires your hands. We like to mount our blades on the aft side of the loom(shaft), though I'm not sure it makes much difference. A narrow blade won't catch as much wind or water. Do learn to feather the oars... lay them nearly flat at the end and return of a stroke. If done right, the blade will skip easily if it does catch water. Consider rounding the upper shoulders of the blade; one steeply angled to clear hang-ups (shed line, weed, etc.); angle the other shoulder more abruptly to catch line when we want to (dropped a painter, anyone?). Row with abrupt side down. With a good stroke, the shoulders barely get dipped, so the difference doesn't throw you off if you don't get a pair matched (happens when carrying two sets). These oars are obviously cheap... between them and the uncommon thole pins, we've never had any lost to theft, even in the midst of a crime spree. They aren't quite as efficient as a super-fine tuned oar, but are much easier, and don't require a good workstation to build, last longer, take nearly zero maintenance, don't frighten one from 'special' uses (aka, abuse) such as beach skids, their loss can be shrugged off. A surprising benefit is that the tapered loom affords a bit of spring, which is easy on the joints... high end oars have this quality, but it is painstakingly crafted. Just pick your diameter to suit your size and strength.
• If you're retrieving an anchor with the dory, you may have to break it out. You can depress the gunnel to within a couple inches of the water, haul tight and make a sharp turn over the edge with the chain, locking it in place. Lean back toward the other side to apply a lot of leverage, and rock the boat sideways. You can add cleats, if you want, to improve the lock, but tailing works fine. Works like a charm from mud or sand, not as well from rock. Watch that, if it releases suddenly, you don't tumble back and overboard!
• Put tow straps (U-bolts) at each end... one will tow better than the other in certain situations. Use a locking caribiner if you don't want two painters.
• Consider an electrical cord spool, wound with 300 feet of 1/4 inch line.  If you're around tidal flats, these are great! A sand (helix) anchor helps when there's nothing to tie to... use a thole pin, limb or rod through the eye to drive it deep.