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Jammersix
02-15-2014, 09:08 PM
I have another hobby, to soak up any dollars I have left from shooting. I race sloops.

To make a a long story short, one uses charts when one is sailing. One must update charts. One uses drafting equipment for this.

I have three drafting machines, that were state-of-the-art when I was in junior high school, in 1970. One is a Vemco, two are Universal Boardmasters.

No one who does drafting in business uses drafting machines, anyone with any sense uses CAD. The last architect grad student I talked to, about ten years ago, said that even in Architect school, he had to do exactly one drawing by hand. The rest was knowing how the different programs work, and knowing document control.

So drafting machines have gone the way of the buggy whips. However, they are still enormously handy for correcting paper charts, which still must be done by hand. If I had room on board, I'd have one aboard, too.

I've found scales for the Vemco, but I would like to get the Boardmasters back into action, too. Vemco lasted against the current, and finally went out of business just a couple months ago, so scales are still plentiful, but Universal Boardmaster went out of business almost forty years ago.

So my question here is this: does anyone here happen to have any parts for Universal Boardmaster drafting machines? In particular, does anyone have any scales?

uscra112
02-15-2014, 11:13 PM
evilBay. Until I finally had a bellyful of Paypal, that's where I went for stuff like that.

BTW I am old enough that I trained on those, and only gave it up because of work.

And if you race boats, how is it that you have any money left over ?

MaryB
02-16-2014, 02:55 AM
Maybe this http://www.ebay.com/itm/Boardmaster-Serial-number-Q27-1513-Protractor-Drafting-Machine-/181322807635?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a37ae7953

leftiye
02-16-2014, 08:46 AM
That hole in the water will surely use up all you can pour into it.

Jammersix
02-16-2014, 01:54 PM
I have money left over until I race sloops.

gnoahhh
02-16-2014, 01:59 PM
I wonder how much equipment like that is mouldering in school basements around the country. Inquiring with school administrators would likely get you nowhere, but a friendly conversation with a janitor or two might yield results.

wv109323
02-16-2014, 07:42 PM
Another place you might try is shopgoodwill.com . People give things like that to Goodwill all the time.

SciFiJim
02-16-2014, 09:55 PM
I didn't know that it needed a drafting table to update charts. When I was a QM in the navy in the 80s, we did updates by hand on the chart table. It was always a pain in the rear, but it gave us something to do while in port. Is the Notice to Mariners still published in paper form, or is it all online now?

Jammersix
02-16-2014, 10:54 PM
It's online, but I'm told it's in the same form as it always has been. (That's clearly not true, I've seen the form change just in the couple years I've been watching it.)

You don't need a drafting table. But you don't need to cast boolits or reload to shoot, either. I don't have two men and a boy to help me handle the charts, and I'm old, lazy and grouchy, so my dog wants it easy, so I don't take it out on him.

bearcove
02-16-2014, 11:15 PM
Ah! I've heard of you! The guy that updates his charts.

I must confess I too update mine. When its too worn out to read I buy a new one.

Jammersix
02-16-2014, 11:27 PM
It's like a sickness.

I spent forty five minutes looking for a light that wasn't there anymore, and when I got back, a buddy asked how old my chart was. When I told him, and told him which light, he told me the light had been gone for four years.

bearcove
02-16-2014, 11:35 PM
I like charts. Still draw on paper with a pencil when I design boats. But for current charts I been printing the booklet charts.

mac60
02-16-2014, 11:43 PM
That hole in the water will surely use up all you can pour into it.

Right. The two finest days in a boat owner's life - the day he gets it, and the day he gets rid of it!

bearcove
02-17-2014, 12:23 PM
Nothing like a positive outlook on things

Doc Highwall
02-17-2014, 01:08 PM
BOAT is a acronym for “Break Out Another Thousand”