There have been a couple of persistent headaches in getting the boat ready to sail. One of the most stubborn has been getting a rigger to come repair my back stay I don't understand why I cant get anyone to come, but I just cant. Unexpectedly they did come today, but by the time I walked to the office and back, they had left without explanation?
The second is the documentation. I sent the paperwork to the Coast Guard months ago, and still no response.
Over the weekend I did manage to get a few things done such as changing the engine oil, and getting the auto pilot working. So some progress anyway.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Time is flying by, and the departure date is coming up quickly. The boat is coming together nicely and all the essential systems are up and running. I replaced the starter and now the engine starts up effortlessly which is good. The roller furling line and the control lines for the windpilot were worn so they have been replaced.
The whole "alternative energy" program with the solar panels and the wind generator never really cranked out any power, largely (as I came to find out) because one of the panels was wired backwards. Now she puts out steady amperage all day which seems to meet my electric needs. I also purchased a portable Yamaha generator that will power the battery charger and the AC receptacles. The side benefit of this is I get to keep the microwave which is pretty handy. It also has a DC outlet for charging the batteries directly if ever needed. I thought about 'going green' and installing larger solar panels and wind generator, but the ones I have now are sufficient for normal sunny days, and there is just no substitute for AC power when you need it. I have friends that have spent thousands of dollars on panels with mixed results. Having the generator adds a lot of redundancy to the overall system. Loosing power offshore is probably not the end of the world, but it could be dangerous, and definitely uncomfortable.
A note on Navigation. While I've never gotten lost on the water, I don't consider myself to be a very experienced navigator. I've had plenty of exposure in practice, I'm just not sure how much actually sunk in. Fortunately modern satellite navigation has dumbed things down enough that even I feel fairly confident in finding the place I'm looking for without too much embarrassment. To start, I purchased the three chart sets from NV charts that cover the area between Puerto Rico and Trinidad. They are very nice charts and well worth the money. Next, the boat came equipped with a Furuno GPS unit that looks like a relic from the 90's but works fine. Technically these two items are all I would need to get to Trinidad regardless of where I stop on the way. However out of an abundance of caution, I have also purchased a Garmin chartplotter and a chip for the eastern Caribbean. I hope to integrate this with an AIS transponder to track ship traffic and let others know I'm out there. I also have a Garmin Gecko hand held GPS unit, which I love, and have used extensively. On the iphone, i downloaded the Navionics app for all of the Caribbean and South America. For only $15 it looks as good as any of the chartplotters I have seen, and always shows my exact position and speed, at least around St. Thomas. So all in all, I hope I'm covered on the Nav front.
The whole "alternative energy" program with the solar panels and the wind generator never really cranked out any power, largely (as I came to find out) because one of the panels was wired backwards. Now she puts out steady amperage all day which seems to meet my electric needs. I also purchased a portable Yamaha generator that will power the battery charger and the AC receptacles. The side benefit of this is I get to keep the microwave which is pretty handy. It also has a DC outlet for charging the batteries directly if ever needed. I thought about 'going green' and installing larger solar panels and wind generator, but the ones I have now are sufficient for normal sunny days, and there is just no substitute for AC power when you need it. I have friends that have spent thousands of dollars on panels with mixed results. Having the generator adds a lot of redundancy to the overall system. Loosing power offshore is probably not the end of the world, but it could be dangerous, and definitely uncomfortable.
A note on Navigation. While I've never gotten lost on the water, I don't consider myself to be a very experienced navigator. I've had plenty of exposure in practice, I'm just not sure how much actually sunk in. Fortunately modern satellite navigation has dumbed things down enough that even I feel fairly confident in finding the place I'm looking for without too much embarrassment. To start, I purchased the three chart sets from NV charts that cover the area between Puerto Rico and Trinidad. They are very nice charts and well worth the money. Next, the boat came equipped with a Furuno GPS unit that looks like a relic from the 90's but works fine. Technically these two items are all I would need to get to Trinidad regardless of where I stop on the way. However out of an abundance of caution, I have also purchased a Garmin chartplotter and a chip for the eastern Caribbean. I hope to integrate this with an AIS transponder to track ship traffic and let others know I'm out there. I also have a Garmin Gecko hand held GPS unit, which I love, and have used extensively. On the iphone, i downloaded the Navionics app for all of the Caribbean and South America. For only $15 it looks as good as any of the chartplotters I have seen, and always shows my exact position and speed, at least around St. Thomas. So all in all, I hope I'm covered on the Nav front.
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