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My Saga of Designing and building a Nimble Artic Gin Pole for Mast raising

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Bagatelle Gin Pole Design Saga Bagatelle is a Nimble Artic. Her mast weighs about 150 lbs. I can lift maybe 50 lbs above my head. So I find it difficult to raise her mast on my own. I decided to design a gin pole to help lift the mast. I watched a couple of videos on Youtube Raise or Lower a Mast with a Gin Pole (Yachtorial) Andrew Price https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-FjH_DlqY 1971 O'Day Mariner mast Raise with DIY Gin Pole (Brad Builds Tables) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsReBbNHFsw My first concern was how to attach the gin pole. My first try at attachment was to cut the mast end of the gin pole to fit the mast. Then add hooks to the side to provide a connection for a ratchet strap to hold the pole to the mast. I tried to use this to raise the pole, I found that the gin pole would rotate about the mast so to use it, I needed an extra hand or two to steady both the Gin pole and the mast when going up...
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on charging the car during my retirement trip 2023

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Fort stockton texas I plugged in the car through the door into the room. El Paso, Texas at the Quality Inn. I ran the cable through the window which I could open and plug it in the room. Truth or consequences New Mexico I ran the cables through the window which I could open and plug it in the room. Albuquerque new mexico At the Red Roof Inn.. I parked close to an exterior plug plugged in the hallway, everything was good.  Crestview New Mexico at the super 8 I could open the window and run the cable through the window, plug it in the room. At The Quality Inn in Baton Rouge. I found an exterior plug by the pool charged the car there. In Lafayette Louisiana. I asked permission to run the cable through a door and plug the car in the hallway. In New Orleans, I stayed at a hotel. That was a mile from a high Speed charger in a park and I walked or skated back-and-forth. From the car to the hotel every night. In Crestview, Florida. I stayed that the Hilton motel (which is not a...
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Decker lake near Austin Texas survey July 2025

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Central Texas had had a lot of rain over 100 people had died in Kerrville due to flooding. So I thought perhaps Decker lake had been filled by the rain.  My friend Kai had taken his shallow draft trimaran out to the lake for sale. He was able to launch his boat easily but his boat is basically a canoe with amas in a trimaran design. So I drove out there on July 15th 2025. I parked outside the park and I walked down to the lake to do my survey and this is what I found. In this photo you can see that the water is about 4 ft below the dock beside the ramp  on the east side of the ramp there's actually a grass growing in the water of the ramp. The Eastern ramp was even worse as the city has dumped gravel at the base of the ramp to keep motor boaters from launching their boats only a light shallow draft boat can be launched from this ramp such as a kayak or canoe.  so I will not be planning to go sailing on the Decker lake.  The reason that the l...
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Granger Lake friendship Park ramp survey 2022

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It's been about a month since I last visited Granger Lake and the last time I was at the Western extremity of the lake or it seems to be pretty shallow today I am at Granger Lake friendship Park ramp which is a well appointed Park most of the facilities are closed for the winter but the ramp is open it seems to be well watered there is no doc near the ramp to tie off while you park the truck but I think I like this place the best of all cuz when you're in the lake you're going to have good wind from all directions that's about all I can say it's a great seems like a great place to go sailing. please forgive the fuzzy pictures The Parking lot and a view of the northern end of the lake. Shots of the ramp Later when I tried to go sailing at Granger lake with Khy and another fellow who I met on Craigslist when we got there we set up the mast, but Khy decided that the wind was too high at 25mph, so we didn't actually g...
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lake pat cleburne survey

Lake cleburne survey.  The lake appears full the ramp is a single ramp not a lot of parking but there is a dock right by the so launching would be easier the wind was up when I got there so I didn't even try launching maybe if I get desperate I'll come back up here.
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Bagatelle bow eye replacement

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I tried to go sailing at Lake Somerville spent most of the morning trying to raise the mast. Once we had the mast up we went to launch the boat and found that the motor wouldn't run so we pulled the boat back out and I noticed in the morning that the bow eye was loose. On the way home there was some traffic on 290 coming in. I had to stop suddenly and since the boat wasn't really connected to the winch it slid forward past the winch and so now I have some gel coat to fix. So I decided to pull out the bow eye that I had bought earlier and put it in the holes that were vacanted by the old bow eye. Looking through the hole I could see that there was no obstructions.The bow eye that I purchased was just a little bit different. The dimension up to down was skinnier than the old bow eye and the holes in the bow post The wood that goes at front of the Bow. So taking a hammer I banged the new Boweye in. It fits snugly but then when I went inside the boat ...
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still house hollow lake survey

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Stillhouse Park Lake ramp is usable the lake is considerably down there is a marina that's closed due to the drought the dock that accompanies the ramp is probably at least 50 ft above the water line so it's unusable I did a little survey of the marina to see if maybe I could tie the boat up there while I parked the truck I'm not sure that would be workable since all the docs near the ramp are roped off to construction and maintenance I'm leaning towards not using still House Park Lake until the water comes up which time I could probably use Travis again the good things about stillhouse Park Lake is there is a restroom close to the ramp unlike Summerville whether they were no restrooms anywhere near by the ramp that I used with Kai I watched a fisherman launch his boat which is probably a similar length to Bagatelle and I noticed that he ran his trailer out onto the ramp and it did not fall off the end. So in conclusion still a house ...
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