Posted in Enviroment, Posts by Nick on May 31st, 2011
The Arctic is full of amazing natural phenomenon all serve a purpose be it as a navigational aid or a reward for travelling to such a remote area.
Ice blink is a white light seen on the horizon, especially on the underside of low clouds, resulting from reflection of light off a field of ice immediately beyond. The ice blink was used by both the Inuit and explorers looking for the Northwest Passage to help them navigate safely.
Water sky forms close to icy areas and is when light hits the seas and some of it bounces back up on to the bottoms of low lying clouds and causes a dark spot to appear underneath the clouds. These clouds may be visible when the seas are not and can alert one to the general direction of open water.
Fata Morgana occurs when an image of an object appears above the actual object, due to the refraction or bending of light waves from the object down toward the eyes of the observer. Downward refraction occurs because air closer to the ground is colder, and therefore more dense, than air higher up.
Other optical and acoustic phenomena observed in the Arctic include the Aurora Borealis, Halos (sun dogs and fog bows) and Optical Haze.
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Posted in Boat, Posts by Edvin on May 29th, 2011
As soon as the engine installation was finished I got hold of the crane driver and had the boat launched immediately. Awesome ! There was time for a small cruise to try out the new engine and when we passed a fishing charter boat we saw a man fall from the boat into the water, the large charter boat had some trouble turning in the narrow passage so the Life-sling came out and the engine was tested in his rescue (the man turned out to be severely intoxicated). Anyway it feels great to have the boat floating!
Now it is time to concentrate on the finer details. Mast and rigging will go up shortly and the difficult job of storage and provisioning for the long voyage ahead begin. As with any boat there seems to be a million small jobs to be done,on a voyage such as this one all the work must be done correctly due to the isolated area, difficult conditions and demanding strain that will be put on the boat. Our mid June departure date quickly approaches and the work will intensify to prepare Belzebub for the ice conditions and this unique voyage to the Arctic.
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Posted in Boat, Heat, Posts by Edvin on May 26th, 2011
Finally time for the heater installation! I had decided to install it in the port locker in the cockpit. I started off by laminating a plywood board onto the inside of the hull to be able to fasten the heater to it then moved on to the fuel system. I had already installed the fuel pipe on top of the tank so I attached the hose and pump to it.
The feeder pump should be installed as close to the tank connection as possible so I placed it with the attached rubber mount just above the water separator. The power supply runs directly to a connector on the heater. With the included cable connectors its was easy to shorten the cable to avoid voltage drop. The same applied for the battery cables that should be connected directly to the battery bank to ensure after cooling of the heater.
I then continued with the air connections, hoses for exhaust combustion air, vents for hot air and air inlet. When all the vents were in place I tried the heater and it runs surprisingly silent. In order to lead the exhaust through the transom I had to saw holes in the bulkhead that divides the port and stern locker and i did the same with the air inlet because the stern locker is better ventilated. Next up was the hot air. The main hose is 95mm and it can be branched into 65mm hoses. when I planned the heater setup I thought I would have three outlets but after test running the heater I realized that two was enough. The number of connections and bends affects the heat output into the boat so I tried to keep them to a minimum if there is time I will put pipe insulation on the first meter in the locker in order to maximize the output.
I placed the main outlets as low as possible just beside the galley and the heads got the smaller 65mm outlet with a damper so we can use it as a drying cabinet. The test run eliminated our fears of freezing during our voyage, the heater puts out allot of heat and air which will be great for wet flotaion suits and to get rid of the condensation. In coming posts I will describe the installation of the control panel and exhaust pipe.
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Posted in Boat, Planning, Posts by Nick, Safety on May 19th, 2011
The greatest obstacle to the North-West Passage arises from the dangers inherent in the ice movements. The waters of the Passage, extending over a distance of 5000 miles, carry a mass of floating ice the mobility of which is governed by the various thrusts of currents and wind and by the geographical characteristics of the route. Success is largely to be found in the ability to form a general picture of the effects on the different factors which govern the movements of the ice at a given time. This ability makes it possible to make short-term predictions as necessary.
The thing to avoid at all costs is getting caught in the ice.This involves many dangers. The first is that the boat may be crushed by the pressure of the ice if the pack drifts up against an obstacle. There is a risk of also being carried further north, where there is little seasonal thaw, and you may be imprisoned in the ice for an indefinite period……which could run into YEARS!
For hiding from packice you need to find shallow waters ideally protected by a shallow bar. This arrises from the fact that seven-tenths of the volume of the volume of ice floating is beneath the surface. A shallow bar will therefore exclude all larger peices of ice. The same conditions underlies the whole strategy of safe navigation in icy waters. It is often necessary to choose a course through shallow waters in order to find a way through ice feilds.
Whatever precautions are taken, an accident is always possible and it may become necessary to abandon ship and in that case on must think about survival on land! The absolute best in equipment is required if especially trapped on a moving flow.
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Posted in Boat, Enviroment, Posts by Nick on May 12th, 2011
As mentioned in earlier posts in order to highlight issues surrounding climate change we plan on attempting a unique route that has just cleared of ice through the Arctic, as well as making our sailboat as “Green” as possible. To date we have highlighted our use of solar, wind and water to produce electricity, our new very efficient engine, as well as our plans to offset our carbon emissions. Today I would like to discuss the important steps that should be taken by all sailors (viable alternatives to scuttling garbage as most do) during an extended and isolated expedition.
Belzebub’s waste management plan: Condensed version
PROVISIONING WASTE. (1) As much food as possible will be bought in bulk (or from bulk stores) to reduce packaging. (2) As much packing, labels, etc. as possible will be removed and recycled before provisions come aboard. (3) Transfer foods and liquids to either reusable permanent plastic containers or glass containers on board and recycle remaining packaging.
PLASTIC AND OTHER NON-BIODEGRADABLE WASTE. (1) No waste of any kind, other than dish washing and showering water with use of environmentally neutral soaps, may be discharged overboard. (2) Clean and cut up what little plastic there is left on board that is garbage into small pieces and store until a proper recycling center can be located (3) Clean and crush what cans there is left on board and store until a proper recycling center can be located.
SEWAGE. (1) Only digestive waste shall be placed in the head. (2) Only recycled waste paper shall be used on board due to its bio-degradable characteristics (3)The head is discharged into the holding tank which is pumped out at an approved pump out station after each voyage or as necessary. On extended voyages where the capacity of the holding tank may be insufficient, a minimal pump out may take place as per Arctic marine regulations. (we are presently looking into acquiring a composting toilet)
WASTE FUEL AND OIL. (1) No petroleum-based oil or fuel may be discharged overboard at any time. (2) All fuel and oil materials will be stored in a safe location and only in approved containers. (3) Waste fuel and oil will be stored in sealed plastic containers until they can be discharged ashore in an approved waste oil tank or facility. (4) Any visible waste fuel or oil spills identified during the trip by other ships will be reported to the coast guard immediately.
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Posted in Boat, Engine, Posts by Edvin on May 10th, 2011
Finally after months of researching for the most environmentally friendly engine possible it arrived and installation began! The installation started with the modification of the old iron bars that support the engine. After deciding where the motor should sit lengthwise which took a lot of measuring and calculating before we threaded eight m10 holes for the rubber mounts. The lombardini is significantly smaller than the Md2b and since I got a new shaft we could move the engine 12 cm forward witch opens up new storage possibilities in the engine room.
We were supplied with an engine jigg which simplified the adjustment for the shaft angle. Unfortunately the engine had to go lower than the ajustment nuts on the mount would allow so we had to use washers to get the engine to height. It took a while before our brains got used to the multidimensional logic and a lot of measuring with the thickness gauge was required before the shaft was aligned well enough to get the engine in place. We improvised another lifting rig from the safetyrail and the engine was put to rest on its mount just after dusk.
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Ice blink is a white light seen on the horizon, especially on the underside of low clouds, resulting from reflection of light off a field of ice immediately beyond. The ice blink was used by both the Inuit and explorers looking for the Northwest Passage to help them navigate safely.
Water sky forms close to icy areas and is when light hits the seas and some of it bounces back up on to the bottoms of low lying clouds and causes a dark spot to appear underneath the clouds. These clouds may be visible when the seas are not and can alert one to the general direction of open water.
Fata Morgana occurs when an image of an object appears above the actual object, due to the refraction or bending of light waves from the object down toward the eyes of the observer. Downward refraction occurs because air closer to the ground is colder, and therefore more dense, than air higher up.
