I was having trouble finding and place to store my anchor on my little Montgomery 17 since it doesn't have a dedicated place for this. Also, I bought a Rocna 13lbs'er and those things are not folding and are a pretty awkward shape but they make up for that in their holding power.
After a good bit of thought I came up with a solution!
Thanks for watching! Stay tuned for more, I'm busy working on my sailboat getting ready for my 3-week trip down through the Florida Keys!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Overlay vs TrueView Ads Test Day 6
{EAV:8febe909decbf57f}
I let the Overlay ads run for 5 days to give the a chance and see if time had an effect on it (I do not believe it does).
My findings were that I still do not make as much revenue with only Overlay ads displayed as I did when I had both overlay and trueview ads enabled. My CPC (cost per click) was up higher than I have ever really seen it but my CTR (click through ratio) was down a lot so I still am not happy with only overlay ads.
This morning I enable bother trueview and overlay ads and I will report back with my findings. Hopefully things will be back to where they were before I began the test..... If not, then there is some sort of flaw in my test and it may not be valid. Keep in mind, I am no expert so this test may not be legit at all but it's for my own personal enjoyment and benefit.
I let the Overlay ads run for 5 days to give the a chance and see if time had an effect on it (I do not believe it does).
My findings were that I still do not make as much revenue with only Overlay ads displayed as I did when I had both overlay and trueview ads enabled. My CPC (cost per click) was up higher than I have ever really seen it but my CTR (click through ratio) was down a lot so I still am not happy with only overlay ads.
This morning I enable bother trueview and overlay ads and I will report back with my findings. Hopefully things will be back to where they were before I began the test..... If not, then there is some sort of flaw in my test and it may not be valid. Keep in mind, I am no expert so this test may not be legit at all but it's for my own personal enjoyment and benefit.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Overlay vs TrueView Ads Test Day 1
The first day's results are in for the testing of my Youtube monetization settings and which ads are better for generating revenue. I must say my findings are interesting.
I guess you could say that the 24hrs that I had only TrueView In-stream ads displayed was a success in testing terms, but you could also call it a complete failure in revenue terms!
The results for the 24 hour period were horrible. I saw a 95% reduction in "page views" (which is also ad views) compared to my normal view count for the past 30 days. I also had 0 clicks so that comes out to about $00.00 of earnings. So, I don't think trueview in-stream ads are the best type of ads to run, at least not for my channel or by themselves.
Now for the next part of the test. I just switched all of my monetization settings over to overlay in-video ads and I will let this run like this for at least one day, and see what my results are. Then I will switch my settings to display both overlay and truview ads and see the results.
Maybe I can get back to making some money, it really hurt me to have to leave the setting that way for an entire 24 hour period knowing that I could be actually making money.......
I guess you could say that the 24hrs that I had only TrueView In-stream ads displayed was a success in testing terms, but you could also call it a complete failure in revenue terms!
The results for the 24 hour period were horrible. I saw a 95% reduction in "page views" (which is also ad views) compared to my normal view count for the past 30 days. I also had 0 clicks so that comes out to about $00.00 of earnings. So, I don't think trueview in-stream ads are the best type of ads to run, at least not for my channel or by themselves.
Now for the next part of the test. I just switched all of my monetization settings over to overlay in-video ads and I will let this run like this for at least one day, and see what my results are. Then I will switch my settings to display both overlay and truview ads and see the results.
Maybe I can get back to making some money, it really hurt me to have to leave the setting that way for an entire 24 hour period knowing that I could be actually making money.......
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Youtube Monetization - Overlay vs TrueView Ads
As most of you know, I have a Youtube channel and I regularly post videos to Youtube. My account is enabled for monetization and I have been running ads on my videos for about 2 months now. I can't say how much money I have been making these past two months but lets just say it's enough to make me want to learn more about it and use the monetization features in the most efficient way.
With my current account status I am allowed to display two different types of ads on my videos, Overlay In-video ads and TrueView in-stream ads. Youtube lets you choose which type of ads you want on your videos whether it be one type or both. When I first learned about these ads I immediately enabled both types thinking that I would benefit the most from using both. Sadly, both ad types do not run at the same time on a video but instead one of them is randomly ran. I have been wondering which types of ads are most effective for generating revenue and I have decided to put them to test.
Just a few minutes ago I edited all of my videos and selected the TrueView in-stream ads to be displayed on all of them. I will leave the settings this way for some time, not sure if it will be one day, two days or a week. I will be recording what my profits and statistics for the ads and then I will switch all of my ads to the Overlay In-video ads. Once I get my results I will know which type of ads to run in order to make the most of my Youtube videos.
Maybe I will learn something here with this test and be able to share my findings with you so that we can all use Youtube Monetization strategically and to it's fullest potential.
With my current account status I am allowed to display two different types of ads on my videos, Overlay In-video ads and TrueView in-stream ads. Youtube lets you choose which type of ads you want on your videos whether it be one type or both. When I first learned about these ads I immediately enabled both types thinking that I would benefit the most from using both. Sadly, both ad types do not run at the same time on a video but instead one of them is randomly ran. I have been wondering which types of ads are most effective for generating revenue and I have decided to put them to test.
Just a few minutes ago I edited all of my videos and selected the TrueView in-stream ads to be displayed on all of them. I will leave the settings this way for some time, not sure if it will be one day, two days or a week. I will be recording what my profits and statistics for the ads and then I will switch all of my ads to the Overlay In-video ads. Once I get my results I will know which type of ads to run in order to make the most of my Youtube videos.
Maybe I will learn something here with this test and be able to share my findings with you so that we can all use Youtube Monetization strategically and to it's fullest potential.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Solving my Rocna Anchor Storage Issues
I splurged and bought a Rocna 6 anchor a while back. I felt the cost of the anchor was justified by its awsome reputation of holding in some serious conditions. Since I will be taking this little boat to the Florida Keys soon and hopefully the Bahamas in the future I wanted something that I could depend on. In such a small 17' boat your anchor could very well save your life someday.
The only downside to the Rocna anchor that I have found so far is that it is awkward to stow. It is one solid piece so there is no folding it or taking it apart to stow it. There isn't much room on a 17' boat to put it anyhow and I wanted it to be somewhere that I could access easily in an emergency. There is not enough room to store in any of the cockpit lockers so it had to go into the cabin. After playing with the anchor in different positions down below I finally decided that it had to go under the cockpit right inside the companionway. I only have about 12" of vertical clearance under there and the anchor is pretty much that high at some point no matter how it lays so I had to get creative.
My first idea was to use a milk crate to store it and it's rode in. I knew I had to have the anchor sitting down in the crate some so I began cutting away at it with my jig saw so that the anchor would "rest" on top of the rode in the bottom. I finally realized that I never would get the anchor down low enough to clear the opening since it was sitting on top of the rode. I needed a larger container that the rode could be spread out more in.
My next thought was to build my own box. After playing with the anchor in it's designated area trying to figure out the best way it should "lay" I think I had it figured out. So off to my woodworking shop I go....
I made the box 22" long, 14" wide and 10 1/2" tall. I put an piece of plywood at an angle in the bottom to hold the anchor on it's side and not let it fall on top of the rode. What this really did was it kept the rode out of a small area of the box so that the anchor could sit all the way down on the bottom of the box, putting my anchor as low as it could go. I put a notch in one side of the box so the shank of the anchor had a place to rest and it made the anchor sit level to the box.
With this setup, there is plenty of room in the box for the 20' of chain and 100' of line, with more room to spare for extra rode in the future.
I plan on cutting holes in the bottom of the final box to allow for water to drain out when the wet rode is put back in the box. Also I will cut holes in the side of the box to reduce the weight of the box, but not enough holes to sacrifice the structural properties of the box. Some hand holes will be added to each side of the box so that it can be handled easily.
I was going to build the final box out of some composite material but after some thought I figured I could save some money and build it out of plywood. With several coats of poly it will be waterproof enough and if it ever does rot I can simply build another out of some more scraps.
I will posting the final box soon so check back!
The only downside to the Rocna anchor that I have found so far is that it is awkward to stow. It is one solid piece so there is no folding it or taking it apart to stow it. There isn't much room on a 17' boat to put it anyhow and I wanted it to be somewhere that I could access easily in an emergency. There is not enough room to store in any of the cockpit lockers so it had to go into the cabin. After playing with the anchor in different positions down below I finally decided that it had to go under the cockpit right inside the companionway. I only have about 12" of vertical clearance under there and the anchor is pretty much that high at some point no matter how it lays so I had to get creative.
My first idea was to use a milk crate to store it and it's rode in. I knew I had to have the anchor sitting down in the crate some so I began cutting away at it with my jig saw so that the anchor would "rest" on top of the rode in the bottom. I finally realized that I never would get the anchor down low enough to clear the opening since it was sitting on top of the rode. I needed a larger container that the rode could be spread out more in.
My next thought was to build my own box. After playing with the anchor in it's designated area trying to figure out the best way it should "lay" I think I had it figured out. So off to my woodworking shop I go....
I made the box 22" long, 14" wide and 10 1/2" tall. I put an piece of plywood at an angle in the bottom to hold the anchor on it's side and not let it fall on top of the rode. What this really did was it kept the rode out of a small area of the box so that the anchor could sit all the way down on the bottom of the box, putting my anchor as low as it could go. I put a notch in one side of the box so the shank of the anchor had a place to rest and it made the anchor sit level to the box.
With this setup, there is plenty of room in the box for the 20' of chain and 100' of line, with more room to spare for extra rode in the future.
I plan on cutting holes in the bottom of the final box to allow for water to drain out when the wet rode is put back in the box. Also I will cut holes in the side of the box to reduce the weight of the box, but not enough holes to sacrifice the structural properties of the box. Some hand holes will be added to each side of the box so that it can be handled easily.
I was going to build the final box out of some composite material but after some thought I figured I could save some money and build it out of plywood. With several coats of poly it will be waterproof enough and if it ever does rot I can simply build another out of some more scraps.
I will posting the final box soon so check back!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Last Sail of the Year - A great one!
My girlfriend and I took out the Montgomery 17 for a nice daysail the other day, 12/30/11. We drove the short 45 min trip to Lake Eufaula, our local lake to spend this rather warm 70 degree day in late December. I had been wanting to take the boat out before the real cold set in so that I could check out a couple of things like:
-Run the new Mercury 5hp outboard I bought
-Lower the daggerboard since it was jammed the last time out which was also the first time
-Practice reefing
-Observe the running rigging and see how the system could be improved
-How much my girlfriend liked or didn't like sailing on a 17'er rather than my old 29'er
Overall the day was GREAT!
When we first arrived at the boat landing around noon there were two other vehicles with trailers at the ramp that had already put in with their powerboats. We immediately got to work stepping the mast and rigging the boat up. My girlfriend, Ashley, had never been out on a trailerable sailboat before so she was slightly disappointed when she found out all that we had to do before we actually set off. Everything went off without a hitch in about 25 min, I had only rigged this boat once several months earlier and the cables were somewhat tangled from moving the mast around when I was working on the boat. Without much trouble we were ready to put the boat in the water.
I let Ashley back the boat down the ramp, giving her instruction on which way to turn the wheel as the truck and trailer "snaked" down the ramp. I hopped in the boat and fired the new 5h Mercury Extra-long Shaft right up. Ashley parked the truck as I motored around waiting to pick her up at the dock when she came back down. Once she was aboard as I was throttling away from the dock the motor quit. I immediately started trying to crank her back up since the wind was slowly pushing us towards a seawall. It would crank every few pulls for a couple seconds before dying again and again. As we got closer to the seawall I had to leave the motor to fend us off. Thankfully the Montgomery 17 is easier to handle than my old Watkins 29 and I was able to "walk" us down the seawall about 15' to the end and tie off to a pylon where the wind kept up stead on the other side. After a couple of minutes fiddling with the engine and blaming Ashley's father (who is a boat/outboard engine mechanic that I bought the motor through)for the trouble I noticed that I hadn't turn the fuel on for the internal tank since I wasn't using an external tank for this short daysail. We had a good laugh, I turned the fuel on and we quietly motored out into the lake with our great little 4-stroke.
I raised the sails and we were off, cruising along in the 5-15 knot winds the rest of the day.
The outboard, being a extra long shaft, still had the prop a little bit in the water causing some drag I'm sure. I couldn't figure out at the time how to raise the motor but I am told by Ashley's father that it should be simple and not a problem to do so. So I will figure it out before I head out next time.
I lowered the centerboard and noticed water coming through the hole I had to drill in the top of the trunk in order to get a bar onto the top of the centerboard to pound it out of it's jammed trunk. I quickly raised the board back up and the water stopped coming into the cabin. This is something that definitely needs fixing!
I hove to for the first time on the M17 to see how well it sat. It did a great job holding itself fairly still slowly drifting downwind and slightly forward. I took this time to join Ashley down below for a quick drink and a snack.
The next thing I wanted to do was to try putting in a reef, which went well but I noticed a few things were missing. There is no topping lift or boomkicker so when I released the main halyard the boom landed in the cockpit. Also, there were no lines in the clew of the sail to hold it down so I just tied a quick line around the boom through the reefing point. Everthing else was good so I shook the reef out taking mental notes of the problems.
At some point in the day I noticed what appeared to be two sailboats heading our way on a close hauled course. Immediatly I got pretty excited and told Ashley who was down below to come check them out. I also announced in a captain like manner that we were changing course heading for the other sailboats to say hello! About a minute later after I studied the two sailboats I noticed that they were actually pilings that marked a channel that extended out into the middle of the lake to the main channel. I was laughed at and slightly embarrased at my reaction to the other "sailboats".
Not sure, but this is probably me when I noticed the "sailboats" off in the distance....
Ashley really enjoyed the day but she did get a little nervous when the boat would heel over in the gusts. That is pretty typical, but I am sure she will get more and more used to it.
The rest of the day was wonderful as we cruised along enjoy the beautiful creations that the Lord has given us to enjoy and take care of. We arrived back at the boat landing at about dusk. Taking the mast and rigging down was much quicker than going up and we were soon on our way back home.
-Run the new Mercury 5hp outboard I bought
-Lower the daggerboard since it was jammed the last time out which was also the first time
-Practice reefing
-Observe the running rigging and see how the system could be improved
-How much my girlfriend liked or didn't like sailing on a 17'er rather than my old 29'er
Overall the day was GREAT!
When we first arrived at the boat landing around noon there were two other vehicles with trailers at the ramp that had already put in with their powerboats. We immediately got to work stepping the mast and rigging the boat up. My girlfriend, Ashley, had never been out on a trailerable sailboat before so she was slightly disappointed when she found out all that we had to do before we actually set off. Everything went off without a hitch in about 25 min, I had only rigged this boat once several months earlier and the cables were somewhat tangled from moving the mast around when I was working on the boat. Without much trouble we were ready to put the boat in the water.
I let Ashley back the boat down the ramp, giving her instruction on which way to turn the wheel as the truck and trailer "snaked" down the ramp. I hopped in the boat and fired the new 5h Mercury Extra-long Shaft right up. Ashley parked the truck as I motored around waiting to pick her up at the dock when she came back down. Once she was aboard as I was throttling away from the dock the motor quit. I immediately started trying to crank her back up since the wind was slowly pushing us towards a seawall. It would crank every few pulls for a couple seconds before dying again and again. As we got closer to the seawall I had to leave the motor to fend us off. Thankfully the Montgomery 17 is easier to handle than my old Watkins 29 and I was able to "walk" us down the seawall about 15' to the end and tie off to a pylon where the wind kept up stead on the other side. After a couple of minutes fiddling with the engine and blaming Ashley's father (who is a boat/outboard engine mechanic that I bought the motor through)for the trouble I noticed that I hadn't turn the fuel on for the internal tank since I wasn't using an external tank for this short daysail. We had a good laugh, I turned the fuel on and we quietly motored out into the lake with our great little 4-stroke.
I raised the sails and we were off, cruising along in the 5-15 knot winds the rest of the day.
The outboard, being a extra long shaft, still had the prop a little bit in the water causing some drag I'm sure. I couldn't figure out at the time how to raise the motor but I am told by Ashley's father that it should be simple and not a problem to do so. So I will figure it out before I head out next time.
I lowered the centerboard and noticed water coming through the hole I had to drill in the top of the trunk in order to get a bar onto the top of the centerboard to pound it out of it's jammed trunk. I quickly raised the board back up and the water stopped coming into the cabin. This is something that definitely needs fixing!
I hove to for the first time on the M17 to see how well it sat. It did a great job holding itself fairly still slowly drifting downwind and slightly forward. I took this time to join Ashley down below for a quick drink and a snack.
The next thing I wanted to do was to try putting in a reef, which went well but I noticed a few things were missing. There is no topping lift or boomkicker so when I released the main halyard the boom landed in the cockpit. Also, there were no lines in the clew of the sail to hold it down so I just tied a quick line around the boom through the reefing point. Everthing else was good so I shook the reef out taking mental notes of the problems.
At some point in the day I noticed what appeared to be two sailboats heading our way on a close hauled course. Immediatly I got pretty excited and told Ashley who was down below to come check them out. I also announced in a captain like manner that we were changing course heading for the other sailboats to say hello! About a minute later after I studied the two sailboats I noticed that they were actually pilings that marked a channel that extended out into the middle of the lake to the main channel. I was laughed at and slightly embarrased at my reaction to the other "sailboats".
Not sure, but this is probably me when I noticed the "sailboats" off in the distance....
Ashley really enjoyed the day but she did get a little nervous when the boat would heel over in the gusts. That is pretty typical, but I am sure she will get more and more used to it.
The rest of the day was wonderful as we cruised along enjoy the beautiful creations that the Lord has given us to enjoy and take care of. We arrived back at the boat landing at about dusk. Taking the mast and rigging down was much quicker than going up and we were soon on our way back home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)