Heart broken

 If you scroll back to when this blog started you will see my first sailboat, a 30 foot O'day. It was a joy to sail, Easy to maneuver in tight spots. The cabin top was damp. I undertook a huge project to save the boat. I cut the inner fiberglass out and replaced the wet balsa in a manner that ensured it couldn't happen again. Along with a lot of other work I had it looking great. We sold her and moved up to a 42 footer. The guy that bought it lost interest in it quickly , the boat looked shabby. This year I never saw it leave the dock but it clearly did. It looks like he ran aground. The rudder is badly bent and there is damage to the keel. The gelcoat is faded, the canvas is ripped. It breaks my heart. 

  In other news I finally figured out how to get the Garmin plotter to communicate with the AIS receiver, the VHF radio and the Furuno radar all at the same time. The tough part was finding the NMEA cable for the Furuno, I found one in Florida for YIKES... $70 .Anyhow, I'm happy and once again ChatGDP came to the rescue on the wiring.  

Pink Champagne on ice

Boat is on the hard and I winterized it. A total of 36 gallons of pink plumbers minus 50 juice. I altered the hot water tank with two shut of valves and then one more crossing behind them. I shut the two off and open the cross valve, I can run the pink through the hot water side without the hot water tank filling up with it. Then I drain the water from it separately. Then the A/C has a shared raw water pump that supplies three A/C units. I have a bypass plug that starts just the pump (not the units) It took 4 gallons to get it clear of water. Then the generator takes another 3 gallons. I have a 120 volt pump that I hook up to the Cummin's diesels, I run 8 gallons thru each mill. Then there is the bilge pumps, I do them backward by feeding pink thru the hull fittings and down to the actual pumps. Then there are two shower sumps. WOW It costs me about $160, the yard charges $600 and they really skimp on the pink.
 

Season Ends! Boat work starts.

 Nice ride from Windsor to La Salle. We went straight into slip because they hate moving it! Perfect fall day, the only problem I noticed was the rudder angle indicator was drifting. It was damaged when I bought the boat, I fixed it but I'm guessing the little carbon tracks that create the resistance are fading. Add to list! The Autopilot was dead on. The engines ran great. I'm going to start on the generator soon as well as winterizing the boats many systems.

 

AIS and wire stuff!

 SO! I have a Standard Horizon radio that has a GPS input, I purchased a Digital yacht AIS receiver and I have a back up GPS a Garmin. So I used Chat GDP to figure out all the wiring. It kept getting it wrong and correcting itself. After a battle the AIS showed up on the Garmin and the GPS co-ordinates showed up on the radio. The biggest PITA was that the AIS uses a baud rate of 38000 and the radio uses 4800. Turns out there are two ports on the Garmin so you can go to settings and change the baud rate. I have a Furuno radar that keeps begging for the same input from a GPS plotter. Question : can I just share the radio connection? Time will tell, I need to find a 6 prong plug to tap into the radar before I can do it. It would be the cats arse if this works.  Stay tuned. The boat is being pulled early this year, I am pulling the generator motor for a head rebuild (again) and new rings, I have no compression, this is a low hours Yanmar but something is wrong with it. FUN!

Test run break down!

 I have a Glendinning mechanical computer that allows you to move one throttle and both engines stay synced. I never use it. When not in use, the throttle cable on the port engine runs to it and a second carries the message to the engine. Seems like a perfect set up for a failure and that is just what happened. The second cable failed while travelling up river in 3 knots of current. I stopped the engine and puttered along at 5 knots until I found a place to stop. I had a pretty good idea what happened so I anchored and lifted the floor board. I grabbed a few tools and unhooked the primary cable and ran it back to the engine. Pulled the failed one off and installed the other. Ten minutes and we were on our way. I think I'm going to get rid of it. KISS. Keep it simple stupid!   PS The steering was awesome! what an improvement!

AC and fireworks

 

Finished improvements to aft AC unit. I added a three inch hose to free up the constricted airflow. I made up a new plenum to permit a second hose. It exits at the base of the bed. Sat on the boat and watched the July 4 fireworks along the river. New curtains for front windows coming along. I have an issue with the water tank meter. The sender works fine but the float stopped floating. I'll have to add something to it. I tried the radar today as there was a big storm rolling through. It is original to the boat but hasn't seen much use. It really works well and I can't see replacing it. Hell, that is the second time I ever turned it on! 

Steering wheel blues

 The problem with my steering is solved, I replaced the helm pump with a new unit. The wheel needed 14 turns, lock to mushy lock. No more! 7 turns. Very happy, The Autopilot is working well. I think that headache is finally solved. Working on improvements to the aft AC unit, it doesn't get enough air on the intake side. I plan to run a 3 inch vent across the bed to draw in more air the bed to draw in more air. We are fitting custom curtains into the front glass and getting rid of that wrap around bra. I hate those things. 115 degrees here today. I had one AC unit running, Saloon unit, it was 82 downstairs. Not bad. 

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