Two weekends ago Betsy and I were in Florida checking out a Junk Rig.  Last weekend, Bart, Jack and I were at the Tulsa Mini Maker Fair showing off Seeker, the ROV and recruiting help.   And this weekend is our open house.  So when do we have time to build something?   We are building something.   We are building a community, and it is that community that is making Seeker possible.

Drew Morgan

Patrick Forringer

Barry ‘s Creation

Zachary Scott Carpenter

Drew has the new guidance IMU component for the ROV and working on new code for it.

Patrick has gone through OpenROV’s code and started adapting if for  Seeker’s ROV.

We met Barry from Navico at the Maker Fair, and he happens to be the mechanical engineer that worked on the Lowrance side scan transducer.   He answered some important questions and will be a great resource moving forward.

We also met Zachary who had a great idea for using Coax instead of Cat5 for the ROV Tether because it’s smaller, cheaper, and there is a gadget that can run 10Mbps Ethernet 1.5 miles over RG6 coax.  See more here.

And that the way it goes.  Invention and construction are best done as a community.  Nothing worth doing is going to be easy.  It’s going to fail many times, it’s going to take longer that expected, it’s not going to look like what you envisioned in your head,  it’s going need to be attempted again and again.   Community is not just about finding the best answers, it is there for support.   So come out to our open house this Saturday 10 to 2.   See what we are doing and consider joining our crew.

“Slovak robotic sailing boat was trying to cross the Atlantic”   Meet Andrej Osusky from Lanzarote, Canary Islands who is designing and building an autonomous sailboat.    That’s the kind!   …and yes, he has great taste in T-Shirts.

Photo courtesy of Arron Starnes https://kinja.com/aaronstarnes

Some ideas take root and grow faster than the weeds.  SV Seeker is one of those ideas that started from a chance conversation about building a boat and getting it to the ocean via the Arkansas river.  That was about 12 years ago and the though of sailing a boat I built across the oceans was something that scared me.   …and it made me feel alive.   And it still does.  What’s the point of living if you don’t LIVE.  Feel the fear and do it anyway.

If you are in or near Tulsa, we invite you to come see us at the Tulsa Mini Maker Faire,  or stop by for a visit on Saturday, September 3rd from 10am to 2pm.   –Doug

The old plan was to have to ROV in the water this weekend and on display at the Tulsa Maker Fair in two weeks.   ….I hate that plan.  Deadlines suck the enjoyment out of most everything.  I understand the need for them especially when other people are counting on you, but that is not the case.  This was self imposed.  It did not make me work any harder or better, it just made normal work feel like pressure and failure where there was no failure.  I though I had learned that lesson.  Over a year ago I took down the “Count Down to Launch Clock”  from the web site.   That felt great.   And we have worked more and completed more on the boat this year than any previous year, and did it joyfully and while taking time to learn new skills help others learn new skills.  We are about enjoying life and enjoying the journey.   No more deadlines.   We  LIVE now and sail when we are ready and the wind is blowing.   We enjoy every moment.   If you don’t then you miss the special things.   Like those socks.   Much love and appreciation to  our supporters and especially the Seeker Crew.   Betsy and I are off to Florida next weekend to see this thing they call an ocean and scout out a Chinese junk rigged sailboat.   Jack and Bart are in charge of the boat yard.