Doin' This and Doin' That

 This past weekend (02-18-12) I finally got some serious work done on our electronics project.  Until now I've managed to avoid working on it as much as possible.  There's just so many really good excuses out there. 

On Friday I picked up a Navionics Platinum + card for the chart plotter.  Cool!  Now we're all set with 3D charts and tons of additional info.  I rushed home to try it out, fired up the display and plugged in the card.  Nothing.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should read the instructions.  I went into the manual for the chartplotter (a PDF file with 114 pages) and read through everything.  It says to go into the 3D application and set it up the way I want.  OK, where's the 3D app?  I spent hours going through the program but didn't see anything about a 3D application.  Grrr.

More importantly, whenever I plugged in the card I'd go into the menu and look around and after about three minutes the chartplotter would freeze up.  I couldn't even turn off the power.  I eventually figured out that when I pull the card out the chartplotter would reset itself after a minute or two.  If I left the card in it stayed hung up.  Bad card?  I kinda doubt it.  I'm thinking it must be a problem with the card reader.

Monday was Presidents Day so I had the day off.  I played with the chartplotter some more and tried calling the Raymarine helpline.  They were on holiday too.  I called MTS, the dudes I bought the unit from, and they sent a tech over right away.  I mean, the guy was walking down the dock in five minutes.  Now that's what I call great service.  The tech, Ryan, fired up the chartplotter and showed me how to set up a new application to be used for 3D charts.  Oh!  I see! That makes complete sense.  Too bad they didn't mention that in the manual.  Then he put the card in and the whole thing froze up.  At least it's consistent.  He also tried his own card and that froze up too so we were able to verify that the problem was in the chartplotter, not the Navionics software.  He also tried a factory reset and that didn't help it either.  In the end it was decided to send it back to the factory for repairs.  It's supposed to be back in my grubby little hands in about two weeks.

Since I couldn't play with my new chart software I decided to pull the wire for the radar and autopilot.  I started at the foot of our bunk in the forward stateroom.  All the wiring that goes up the mast runs into a compartment located here and is connected to terminal strips.  The idea is to make it easy to disconnect the wiring when it's time to pull the mast.  So this is where I began by adding another terminal strip to connect power for the radar.  From here I ran 10 gauge, 3 conductor wire (#10/3) to the DC breaker panel where we'll be installing a 10 amp breaker for the radar.  To get the wire pulled from the forward stateroom to the Nav Station required dismantling the starboard side settee and pulling the wire through three compartments underneath.  Two of these compartments contain the fresh water pump and the water heater so while I was in there I also did a quick visual inspection to ensure all was well.  It was.

Next I had to pull the control wire for the auto pilot and the data cable for the radar down through the steering pedestal into the compartment under the cockpit where the genset will eventually go.  This meant unloading the aft cabin's bunk (aka the garage) and crawling through the access panel in the aft bulkhead.  I had to go back and forth between here and the cockpit a number of times because the wires kept getting hung up inside the pedestal.  I finally used my trusty fish tape (click here for more fish-tape adventures) to get it pulled through successfully.  Once I had the wire into the genset compartment I combined it with the wiring for the rudder reference and the power cable (#8/2) and clutch (#14/2) for the linear drive.  I had to feed this bundle down into the trough for the propeller shaft and then pull it through a wire run into a storage bin under the floor in the galley.  From there it gets pulled through underneath the cabinets and into a compartment under the Nav Station.  This is where the course computer will be located and all the auto pilot components will tie into that.

I also had to find a place for the fluxgate compass (click here for Wikipedia's explanation of a fluxgate compass).  It's supposed to be located pretty much centerline in the boat to minimize the effects of side-to-side and front-to-back motion, but has to be away from large cast iron masses such as the engine, which is also pretty much centerline in the boat.  I think I found a good spot for it just forward of the fuel tank on the aft bulkhead of the bilge.

With the worst of the wiring out of the way I feel like I'm pretty much on schedule with this installation.  I still have to mount the radar and pull wire for it up through the mast.  A friend of mine just finished this job on his boat using a 20' extension ladder.  Our mast is a bit taller than his though so I think I'm gonna have to use a bosun's chair.  The biggest problem with this is that I'll need Cheri to haul me up the mast using a winch or maybe even the anchor windlass.  I found a better option here.  A guy up in Maine was selling a fairly new (used only once!) single-handed ATN MastClimber (check it out) for half price.  Using this Cheri won't have to destroy her arms trying to hoist me up and I'll have complete control over how fast I go and when I stop.  Best of all, no screaming back and forth.  Perfect!

While I'm waiting for the chartplotter to come back I attacked the cockpit with polish and wax.  After I laid on the polish I hit it with a power buffer and it really brought out the shine.  This poor boat had spent about eight years down in the BVI and all the fiberglass was looking very chalky.  Last year I buffed out everything but the cockpit so now I'm pretty much caught up.  The buffer really brought out the gloss, looks mighty nice.  I also tried out a 3M product for restoring plastic.  I used this on the bezels for the instruments and also on the line locks for the running rigging.  Wow!  Everything looks brand new!  That's really amazing stuff.

My biggest problem now is that the boat looks so nice I don't want to sell it anymore.

Winter Update

We're now into our second season with the Espar diesel heater.  We have the parts needed to service it (glow plug and diffuser screen) but I'm letting it go to see how long she'll run.  Last year it ran 24/7 from mid-December until mid-March, something like 2100 hours, non-stop.  We didn't get any data on fuel consumption last season so I'm paying closer attention to it this year.  We've been having a milder Winter this time so we didn't start it up until January 5th but it's been running 24/7 since then.  We started with a full tank, hand carried 80 gallons with 5 jerry cans.  Ugh.  After fifteen days we topped off the tank again and found that we had used 35 gallons of fuel.  I was a little alarmed at this until I did the math.  15 days x 24 = 360 hours.  We're using 1/10 gallon per hour, exactly what the book says.  We paid $3.50/gal (grrr) so we're paying about $250/month for heat.  We keep it comfortable, 71 degrees during the day and turn it down to 68 at night.  Considering the situation, zero insulation in a fiberglass box immersed in 34 degree water, I think this is acceptable.

Forced hot air is a good way to heat your boat.  It keeps it dry inside, for the most part.  Places that don't get warmed up tend to sweat, inside some cabinets and the inner surface of the hull for instance.  The system is quiet and reliable.  Our exhaust is kinda noisy but that might be because of the configuration and a little time spent on it could bring it down to a better level.  Besides, the noise is mostly outside and at this time of year we don't have any neighbors to annoy.  We've used the heater while out sailing (full cockpit enclosure) and on the hook.  It has little drain on the batteries and extends the sailing season to year-round.  Let me tell you, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay with no other boats around is pretty sweet.

I've made some good progress on installing our new electronics.  I contracted with a local company, Atlantic Spars and Rigging, to modify the grab bar on our steering pedestal.  I got it back last week and it came out almost exactly as I had drawn it up.  They made the bracket for the display larger than I had planned but it turned out to be better the way they did it.  I had to modify the supports that it mounts to and once I got them cut down the whole thing went together perfectly.  It's super strong too so it'll still act as a good place to grab onto when you're moving around the cockpit.

Once the bracket was in place I mounted the multi-function display (MFD) to it and admired my handiwork.  In most cockpits the display faces the dude at the helm and if you want to take a look at it you have to go around behind the wheel to see it.  In a boat with an autopilot you won't be spending much time behind the wheel and will most likely be sitting up in the front of the cockpit for most of your watch.  I wanted the display set up so you could turn it around and see it from anywhere in the cockpit.  The mount I chose is a ball mount, like on a camera tripod, only bigger.

Once I got the display mounted I had to figure out the wiring.  Our system is pretty simple.  We have three gauges showing depth, boat speed and wind speed/direction.  These tie into the MFD using a data system called SeaTalk that uses a three conductor cable.  It's pretty much plug and play.  The gauges are powered through the DC breaker panel which was pre-wired from the factory with a 10 amp breaker and #14 two conductor wire.  By sheer coincidence this is exactly what's called for to power the new display.  I figured I could just tie into where these gauges are connected and it'd be a simple thing.  Uh huh.  Sure.

I found the cable supplying power to the gauges inside the steering pedestal.  It was a black SeaTalk three conductor cable.  I went to the breaker panel to see if maybe they had run it all the way up to the breaker but that had a blue two conductor wire.  I looked in the wiring diagram for the boat and sure enough, it called out wires 84 + 85, 14-2 wire.  I found a note from the factory that said this wire was run into the starboard side cockpit locker and coiled up, to be used for electronics.  OK, let's look in the starboard locker.

So next I emptied out the starboard locker.  This is no simple feat because the locker is big and deep.  You could sleep in there with three dogs and two sheep, if you were so inclined.  In the two years we've had this boat I've never had the guts to empty out this locker.  It's packed full.  I found two full sets of dock lines that I didn't know we had.  I also found a dinghy bridle, a two gallon tank of gas and an extra set of paddles for the dinghy.  There was a buncha other stuff that I won't even go into here.  Anyway, I finally got the locker emptied out.  Now I could get back to my project.

I crawled down into the abyss and discovered that this is where they hid the two compressors for our fridge and freezer.  Actually, I had heard a rumour they were down there, just hadn't seen them face to face before.  I could see the bundle of wires coming from the steering pedestal but when I cut the wire ties I couldn't find the black SeaTalk cable.  I did see a blue 14-2 wire though.  Hey!

My next step was to climb out of the cockpit locker and go down below into the aft cabin.  At the back of the cabin is an access panel that opens up to the genset compartment under the cockpit.  Of course, you have to take everything off the bunk to get to it.  This cabin is what we call the garage.  Everything we don't have room for anywhere else on the boat eventually ends up back here.  Right now all the stuff for our new electronics package is taking up space back here.  This includes the radome (huge!), all the wiring I'll be using (also huge!) and the box full of stuff for the autopilot (medium huge).  Also back there are two tool boxes and a storage box full of electrical connectors, all of Cheri's quilting stuff, two sewing machines and a storage box with all our extra linens and towels.  Once all this was transferred out to the Main Salon I pulled up the bunk cushion and moved that out too.  Now the aft cabin was emptied out but the rest of the boat was trashed.  Life on a boat.

With access to the genset compartment I could see the wiring bundle coming through the floor from the steering pedestal.  I didn't see my blue 14-2 wire though.  I proceeded to cut off all 47 wire ties to expose the innards of the bundle.  There it was!  The 14-2 blue wire was connected directly to the black SeaTalk wire using butt connectors.  This is OK as long as you know it's there.  It would have been really helpful if someone had updated the drawing to show this.  Note to self:  Do unto others.....update those drawings.  I run into this all the time at work.  The equipment I work with was built back in the '50s and '60s.  Everything has been modified numerous times but no one has taken the time to update the drawings.  So much time is wasted just trying to figure out what someone changed 30 years ago.  Grrrrr.  No wonder I'm all grey and look like I'm 60 years old when I'm only.....uhm, never mind.

My solution for the wiring was to mount a terminal strip on the bulkhead and label it "Instruments".  The blue 14-2 wire leading in is labeled on the prints as wire #'s 84 and 85 so I marked that here too.  The wire leading to the MFD already has an in-line fuse but I needed to add a 7 amp fuse to the one going to the gauges.  With this done I headed back topside to try it out.  I flipped on the "Instruments" breaker and by the time I got to the cockpit the MFD was already powered up and progressing through it's initialization.  Cool!

After it got through the initialization it settled into a display of some harbor in Florida.  Uhm, that's not right.  I started punching buttons and found my way through the program to the part where you turn on the GPS.  It took about 30 seconds to figure out where it was and finally showed our position in Traceys Creek.  So far, so good.

So now we need to spend some time out on the Bay.  I'm pretty excited about having a chartplotter and look forward to seeing what all we can do with it.  It'd be especially nice to go places without running aground all the time, although I have gotten really good at that.  The manual for the MFD is on a disc and I'm slowly working my way through a PDF file with 114 pages of instructions.  I also ordered the upgraded charts (Navionics Platinum +) for the Chesapeake Bay that'll give us 3D display and satellite shots that overlay the charts.  Sweet!

Speaking of running aground......this past weekend (2/11/12) winter finally hit.  Around 1530 on Saturday the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in 15 minutes, the wind increased to 25 knots with 45 knot gusts and it started snowing, sideways.  The wind was blowing out of the NW and continued non-stop for two days.  By noon on Sunday the water depth at our slip was 3'8", which is pretty low.  Our boat draws 4'10".  Our deck was 32" below the dock which made getting on and off a bit of a challenge.  The boat next to us draws 6'6" and they were really sticking out of the water.  They haven't hauled their boat in over three years and the exposed crud quickly dried out in the wind.  They've got quite a garden under there.  The NW wind is pretty common here in the winter but in the two years we've been here this is the lowest we've seen the water at our slip so far.