Captain’s log
Dateline: 31.08.2022

MMSI

Finally filled out that form for getting MMSI for my AIS from FCC today.

It had to be done via FCC because my catamaran can and hopefully will go offshore and to visit other countries. And of course there was a one-time fee of $185. Not an arm and a leg, but just WTF, what for?

In 2–3 days I should have it in my email. Then I’ll be able to connect my AIS and later get a modern DSC VHF radio to also use the same MMSI for my comms. That number belongs to my vessel just like the federal registration number.

I guess the value of my boat has gone up by $185 today. Or I’m just $185 poorer, all depends on how you look at it.

Wanted to have a cool call sign, something like MEOW, KTTY/KITTY, or at least CRCT/CURC/CURCT. Gave them a call, a very chill and friendly dude said that it’s all random and can’t be customized like vanity plates or HAM radio call signs… it also sounded like he gets that same question all the time, he basically right away brought me the disenchanting piece of information after I mentioned I had a question regarding the call sign.

Hey, at least I tried.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 03.09.2022

QR code

One of the ideas I’ve had since early on when I bought this catamaran is to have two QR codes slapped on the sides of Curious Cat instead of writing her name there. This way I could avoid a lot of questions about the vessel from seemingly friendly randos, so people could just find all the answers for themselves by pointing their favorite portable surveillance device at it.

Now I need to find a company that prints marine-grade vinyl stickers out of SVGs, but first need to generate that baby. Doing so locally could be done, but why torture your OS when you can just go online and generate one? qrd°by was one of the top search results, so I went with that service. The contents of my QR code is https://svcuriouscat.com. The error correction level I went with is M (up to 15% of the code can be damaged or covered with dirt). Q and H promise up to 25% and 30% respectively, but they seem to generate way smaller modules that may be harder to read from a far, and L is only 7% with the same exact module size as M... so M it is.

Of course when I saved that SVG to disk and opened in Inkscape, each module (black square) was a separate path, hence you could see teeny-tiny gaps between them — not Feng Shui. Since my boat is going to be even more white in color than she is currently, I removed the background level completely, and then selected all those black paths that represent the QR code, and then did Path → Union. Now the gaps are gone, and this QR code should look perfect when printed on vinyl and applied to the hull. Leveling shouldn’t be too hard as I have a rub rail there, and besides could also just measure distance from the waterline by hanging something off my lifeline — there are ways of not messing it up.

SV Curious Cat QR Code

Captain’s log
Dateline: 05.09.2022

Gas spill

Was about to take a nap around 4pm, when a sudden smell of gasoline entered my boat. The first thing I always assume is that it’s my tank or one of the canisters leaking, but that has never been the case so far.

I got out, the smell outside was even worse. Then I saw a small power boat on a lift in front of me, running its bilge pump and leaking either a ton of gas or mix of water and gas from its bilge. The owner was next to it, an older guy, in his 70s or 80s. I yelled and said he seems to be leaking something into the water. Explained that I’m not going to tell anyone, but he may get into a very serious trouble for it. He tried to bullshit me saying that there might be some oil in his bilge. The smell of gas was almost unbearable at that point. I said he might want to do this on land if there’s oil or gas in his bilge, then he turned off his bilge pump. At that point the film on the water was larger than the size of my boat, it was flowing towards my catamaran. One spark and my boat could be sitting in a pool of flame because of that idiot.

A guy named Sam who stays here at Golden Palms, said something very wise to me regarding what happened, that many old people just don’t give a fuck after a certain point. It makes a lot of sense, especially if they have no kids and especially if they were told they have less than 4 years left to live by their overpaid doctor.