Bow hatch

[Yannis]

Where can I find this addition(?) to the V berth hatch, usually found on bigger Bertrams, that lets air in?
Is it a separate addition to the existing hatch that can be snapped-on, or is it an integral part that means one has to change the whole assy?
I know there are various aeration (usually round) additions sold, but I fancy this old one better.
Thanks.

[Carl]

not what your looking for...but removable and does the job, so I have heard.

https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?na ... id=3103823

[Yannis]

Ha, I thought about it too but no good.

The thing is my son who wants to sleep in complete dark while having some sort of aeration or some airflow. After 10-11am it gets too hot in the cabin, of course who asked him to sleep-in so long...also why does he come at 5 am to hit the bed? Also why is he 20yo?

By the way, are your old motors been nicknamed “The Betty Crocker” motors? Lol !

[Tony Meola]

Yannis buy your son a pair of eye shades. Make sure you wake him up at 6 in the morning when you give them to him.

[Yannis]

Ha ha ha , you're damn right Tony!

[Carl]

10-11am is when your done with breakfast and make your way to the cockpit for a Bloody Mary leading into a late morning snooze in the breeze.

Tell your son its boating and casual, but there are still rules.



If not, like Tony said, eye shades and a fan...enjoy.

[Yannis]

Carl,

I wake up at 6 (in the winter even earlier) so that 10-11 am for me is lunchtime.
Also, there is no snooze in the breeze, its rather some swimming and sunbathing while drinking beer or wine or ouzo, depending on the mood, HOWEVER when the very first bite of food is ingested all swimming stops.
He who doesn't know this, may end up in the morgue. Numerous, almost up to 100 such cases every summer, mostly of tourists who play it brave.

Also all dress codes are simply unknown. Bloody Marys are for pu&&ies, so is gin & tonic. The only anglosaxon drink that survives is whisky. And in general we do not drink a lot, I mean as a people.
I forgot to mention, very few people eat breakfast too. They drink a nescafe, and off they go! Lately, there are some other coffees in fashion like cold espressos, capuccino freddos etc. Almost never this ugly brown hot thing you guys call coffee.

Last year I was moored next to a 50 or so foot rental catamaran that had just been occupied by a group of Americans. At some point there is this guy who is holding two unopened Nescafe containers (that the crew puts in the boat as bare necessities, together with sugar, water, soap and the like) who is almost furious on the deck, asking passers-by on the dock "who wants them". He looks at me and feeling almost sorry for what he's about to do, hands them out to me saying " I hope you can drink these" ! I replied thank you, of course, don't you? You should see the shape of his face!

Talking about coffee, Tony, what did you end up doing with that espresso machine that makes froth? The one that looks like the ordinary aluminum Italian ones, only it has this valve on top that releases coffee at once, so it doesn't taste like the ordinary filter coffee?

https://imgur.com/2cizZjf

[Tony Meola]

Yannis

Nescafe. Wow have not heard that one in year's. I do not think it is available in the States anymore.

I was going to get the stove top like you have, sells for around 25 dollars here. Then the doc told me I was consuming too much coffee and to cut back. So I did. Oh and I changed docs because I think he was attempting to kill me. But cutting back on the coffee did make a difference. So now I only have coffee in the morning and did not buy the espresso pot.

[John Swick]

I think Yannis meant, 'Nespresso'.
We have that and a drip machine at the house.
I prefer the drip, black please (I'm sweet enough).
But I love the percolator I still have at camp.
Older than me and dirt simple to use.
I get a chuckle from the blank stares the kids (anyone under 30) give it.

[John Swick]

Nescafe...there's a throwback to the seventies.
Doesn't everybody have a case of that in their bomb shelter?
Things would have to get that bad...….

[Yannis]

Ha ha, no, I didn't mean Nespresso.
I meant this very percolator which makes espresso, not just filtered.
It has a valve on top, not visible in the pic, that gives way once the appropriate pressure is achieved. The result is an almost "perfect" espresso.
Remember, I don't have 220V electricity on board, so everything is done with gas or 12V.

[Carl]

Yannis,

Get up at 6?
Why so late? I start work at 6...my eyes open every morning alarm clock of not at 4:50.


I'm not much of a breakfast person...but a late morning Bloody Mary is a very good way to start a vacation day. Its got all the important elements...tomato juice, horseradish, salt pepper, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, fresh lemon and a piece of celery (leaves on please), maybe a bit more Tabasco sauce...who could ask for more?
Well me, add a good healthy shot of Stoli!

Thats about the only mixed drink I thing worthy.
Hmmm...maybe the Vodka Sour - my special recipe- Rock Glass, Ice, slice of lemon and Stoli

Love whiskey, actually bourban but not much of a hot summer drink.


Mornings its coffee.


I like that pot of yours, looks like a Moka Pot. I do see the valve and the froth it makes looks great. Only doesn't the water get too hot and scorch the coffee making it bitter like those cheap Expresso Machines. If not worth a try for me. I don't have the room or deep pockets for a good machine and the cheap ones make lousy expresso. Actually the Nespresso machine is pretty good. Didn't find that till after the Moka Pots were bought. Only down side to the Nespresso is their limited coffee selection. I like different roasts and beans...no flavored.

So your nescafe is something special or just a brand. I'm thinking its an expresso roast and grind...
Here nescafe a brand most known in my circles as being Instant Decaffeinated Coffee

OK...my big question is why does the swimming stop after having a bite?

[Yannis]

Carl,

Let’s take one thing at a time:

The late morning mixed drink I perfectly understand. If it floats your boat, it’s more than fine with me. Only, here, we don't like mixed drinks! We do very much so in the bars at night, but in the middle of the day, well, people don't have this habit.
Also, people don't drink alcohol, unless they are too young or too... alcohol advanced, before lunchtime. We don't wake up with a can of beer in hand, if you understand what I mean. We are near the lowest level of alcohol consumption, per capita, we have other methods of relieving from stress like shouting more, or moving our arms, thus ridiculizing ourselves equally!

Then, its coffee. Nescafe is a brand of instant coffee. Greece for some reason is perhaps one of the very few countries where this segment of instant coffee is still the market leader (over Greek coffee, filter coffee etc) and the brand Nescafe is the leader of the segment. So much so that it’s generic for coffee.
Nespresso on the other hand carries at least 20, if not more, different types. Except for the few aromatized variants that they occasionally come up with around Xmas for limited periods, the rest is non aromatized and there is really plenty to choose from. I wonder also why you call it eXpresso instead!

The eating and swimming combo is something you either believe in, or not. There are doctors who even claim that there’s nothing to it and that its normal to eat and swim. Fine.
On the other hand, its not difficult to understand that while digesting, your heart progressively pumps most of your blood around your stomach. That’s also why, after a meal you feel a bit cold or sleepy.This blood activates the muscles necessary for the digestion.
Now, if you decide to take a swim, you will inevitably put your body into a thermal shock. The cold of the sea water or pool or lake, will demand your body to act. The normal action for your body is to tell your heart to suddenly (key word) move your blood which has been drawn from your periphery to aid that digestion, quickly back to your skin and muscles to protect them from the enemy which is the cold. In that process, if your heart is NOT in good shape it will collapse.
I have heard infinite times people saying, naaah I’ve done it before so it can’t hurt ME, or, I jumped into the water immediately after eating so the digestion hasn’t really started...like if you stick a pin in a plug and surviving because the breaker saved you and claiming that sticking pins in plugs is not a health hazard.
I, myself have seen a 18yo boy washed out on a beach by the waves, his body and face all purple because of having eaten before swimming.
If this boy’s heart was less healthy than mine I will never know. I take a lot of other risks in life, I choose not to take this one.
And it is just because most tourists who come to Greece in the summer have never even seen the sea before, and therefore have not been exposed to such risks, or learned a proper sea conduct code, that are the first victims, by the dozens...
Not that Greeks are exempted from the hazard if they choose to ignore it...in other words, pushing your luck just because the chances that something bad (terminal in this case) will happen to you are perhaps limited, does not mean “pushing your luck” will change its meaning.

[Carl]

Well I could answer that it is 5 O' clock somewhere.

That said, it is far from the norm in my book...a boat vacation, yeah maybe good enough to enjoy a light morning bite and a special cocktail.

Brunch...,it's a rarity, so once in awhile.

Or a vacation to New Orleans...well, there they bring out the wine menu's with the breakfast menu's and substitute spicy green beans for the celery sticks.

I'm not waking up and grabbing a drink and definitely not a beer...unless its been a long nights fishing and I'm not yet on morning time.

Enough of that...


Swimming and eating...or should I say eating then swimming, I see no issues aside from not over exerting which could cause stomach aches and cramps, just like exercising on land after eating. Except in the water you have to deal with cramps while swimming, if you can't deal - panic steps in and its over.




Instant coffee??? just not drinkable.

Think we call it expresso as coffee is reserved for...well coffee. The brown stuff in a mug as you call it.
Also we use to call expresso demitass, which I think is a version of the cups.

[Yannis]

I meant expresso, vs the correct espresso.

[Carl]

eXpresso is an American corruption.

"Double Expresso" was the name of a customers boat that was built to be the fastest Sportfish boat of her size at 92' (28 meters).
Two 16V92 diesels with a pair a 2800hp turbine kickers.

After I got to work on her, take a couple fishing trips on her...eXpresso is about the only way I now remember how to spell and say it.
EXpresso like an EXpress train.

Why the rest of us here use it, beats me other then its a fast cup of coffee.
Express as in quick...maybe.

Anyway, expresso has made it into the dictionary...so its not wrong, but considered a variation.


...yes, it is wrong I know, but accepted here non the less.