The Dude

Here it is February 28th already.  I've made some progress on my projects, instruments and a DC sub panel, but at this point I only have one weekend to finish up before the boat is scheduled to splash, March 15th.  I lose one weekend because we're heading out of town for a few days to visit with family.  I still need to paint the bottom which includes raising the water line and repainting the boot stripe.  The weather has not been cooperating and now I'm starting to stress out.  We looked into staying at the Inn for an extra two weeks and they can accommodate us for most of it but we'll hafta move around.  It's not easy being homeless.

I talked to the guy doing the cabinetry and he's relieved to have some extra time.  The business with the rudder really held things up so apparently the stress is universal.  It's nice to have company.

So far we've got the rudder repair completed and the auto pilot linear drive is in place.  I'm doing the wiring on that so it probably won't get completed for a while.  The genset is in place and the work on that is expected to be completed by the end of this week.  The unit for doing the oil change is mounted in the starboard cockpit locker.  That space is filling up.  That's where the linear drive is mounted as well as the controllers for the auto pilot and the depth sounder (what I've been calling the sonar).  This space also houses the two compressors for the fridge and freezer, the exhaust for the engine and the exhaust for the genset and the drain for the cockpit.  This locker is really deep and the floor is actually the inside of the hull so it angles down towards the centerline of the boat at about a 45 degree angle.  It's not too bad getting in but for an old geezer like me it's a challenge getting back out.  I need to run the return air duct for the diesel heater and I'm thinking of putting it through here.  As if there's room for that too.  I could build a step over top of it and then it'd be easier to climb in and out.  Another project for me to do in all my copious free time.  Or I could just keep filling it up with stuff.

The weather on Wednesday, 2-27-13, was supposed to be really nice, clear with mid 50's temperatures.  I decided to play hooky and try to get something done on the boat.  I could let everything else go except for painting the hull so I concentrated on that.  I got the new waterline taped off and started sanding the hull.  It took me four hours to do just one side and most of that was spent bent over, twisted around and kneeling in the mud while holding the sander over my head.  I had my mini shop vac hooked up to the sander but I forgot to wear a dust mask.  At the end of four hours I had to quit because every time I blew my nose it came out 70% copper.  What a dummy.

The galley is coming along now that the genset is in place, now that the linear drive is installed, now that the rudder is repaired.  The upper cabinets are starting to take shape and we're getting a better feel for how things are going to look.  Even better, you can get a feel for the amount of storage space we're adding here.  I'm just talking about the cabinets above the counter top here.  The old cabinets used to go up about six inches and then had a shelf above them that was limited in height by the underside of the deck.  We pushed the front of the cabinets out about 1.5 inches and ran them all the way up so there's no wasted space.  The cabinet dude built these so all the walls of the cabinets are vertical so we can have an adjustable shelf inside.  He's concerned about these shelves rattling so he's making them semi-permanently installed.  If we want to change the height we can but they'll be screwed in place, not just resting there.  There'll be pre-drilled holes for other positions.  This guy has all kindsa good ideas like that.  The first two pictures show the galley right before work started and then where we are now.  Check out the old double sinks (muy pequeno!).  The second shot shows the cutout for the new sink (muy grande!).  The cool-man new faucet will be at the lower corner near the plastic container.  There will be a shallow cabinet behind the stove, maybe for spices, and back in the corner to the right will be a cabinet for the coffee maker with a dedicated AC outlet built in back there so we can just hit "go" and have our fix.  Woohooo!

Cheri wanted to have a slot in the counter where she could store her knives.  The cabinet dude suggested having the counter raised about a quarter inch in that area so water wouldn't go down the slot if something got spilled.  This knife slot has the knives hanging down into the aft cabin so he boxed it in and made the bottom removable for cleaning.  To open it you press on one of the pieces of trim and it pops open.  That's it above the 5 quart plastic bucket.

The drawer we added beneath the oven is built with the back panel following the contour of the inside of the hull so there's no wasted space.  The cabinet guy also added a lip across the back of it so nothing can spill out when we heel over to starboard.  He also built in a latch that prevents the drawer from sliding out all the way on it's own.  The top picture shows how the drawer will fit under the stove.  It's designed to match the factory drawers.  In fact, he did such a nice job you can't tell one from the other.  Even the color of the stain is identical.

I've also asked him (the cabinet dude) to build a small cabinet above the nav station to house the radios (VHF and single side-band).  I'm re-organizing the gear located here and adding a DC sub panel to give me eight additional, breakers.  Moving the radios to their own cabinet will give me the space I need and leave some spare for future additions.

This guy is very talented and above all, very nice.  He asked me not to use his name here so from now on he's "The Dude".  Like, Dude!  That's a compliment!

Yardwork Update - Mid February

Things are really starting to move ahead with the boat.  The cabinetry for the galley is being assembled in the wood shop while some of the other work on board is taking place.  The genset installation has been waiting for the rudder repair to be completed.  In the middle of all that I asked the guys at Hinckley to do some extra work and that had to be orchestrated into the works.

The rudder repair (click here) held up progress because the post is right in the middle of everything, located just inches aft of where the genset will go.  The completed repair is now sooooo much stronger than what the factory had done.  The first picture shows the area after it's been cleaned up.  The G10 tube is epoxied in place and the stuffing box / mounting plate / sleeve assembly is ready to be glassed into place.  The next picture shows the bolt heads have been epoxied in position and the first plate is glassed in.  The final picture shows everything glassed in up to the top of the tube.  This is incredibly overbuilt which is fine with me.  It's a proven weak spot on the boat.  Not anymore!  I'm really impressed with the work done by the Hinckley yard.

When the rudder work was completed they installed the linear drive for the auto pilot.  I figured it was better to get this done now before the genset went in while there was plenty of room down there.  The installation of the linear drive was done just like the repair on the rudder - extra beefy!  They reinforced the shelf in the starboard cockpit locker where the unit was going to be mounted.  The glassed in a "U" shaped fiberglass support beneath the shelf and added G10 blocks on top to raise the unit to the correct height.  This linear drive exerts some serious force and the job they did here should be more than enough to stand up to it.

With this job out of the way the genset can be installed.  I stopped by the yard yesterday afternoon and they were in the process of hoisting it onto the boat.  Cool!  We're going by tomorrow (Friday) to see the progress.  I'll post an update with more pictures this weekend.

We've Got True Grit

Courage, determination, fortitude, guts, resolve, spunk, tenacity.  These are all synonyms for "backbone".  I've just learned of a new one.

Part of the work we're doing this winter involves laying in a NMEA 2000 networking cable ("backbone") and new instruments.  The "backbone" requires a bit of an explanation.  A while back the National Marine Electronics Association decided it would be in their best interest if they standardized communications between electronic components that are used on boats.  Good idea!  With everything using the same one's and zero's we can mix and match our electronics, using a Furuno chart plotter with a Raymarine radar.  For the consumer this was a really great thing as far as having a wider selection of gear goes but it was also great in that it simplified installation in a huge way.  Instead of having to run multiple wires for each piece of gear you can now run everything to a backbone cable that provides power and two way communication.  Some instruments will still need a separate power line but stuff like instruments can have one simple connection.  Not only that but our multi function display can interface with everything and control the radar, sonar and auto pilot from the same display.  It can also show information about other systems on the boat such as the engine, genset and battery bank providing information about oil pressure, temperature, rpm's, engine hours and power use.  And more.

Because of the backbone concept I decided to replace our Raymarine ST60 instruments (wind, speed and depth) which are probably original equipment from 2001.  The new instruments will all be Raymarine too.  Wind will be covered by the i60.  Functionally it's very similar to the ST60 but it will be able to communicate with the other instruments over the backbone.  A P70 will interface with the autopilot and share information with the multi function display.  We're also adding an i70 which is actually a small multi function display and can be programmed to display up to ten different functions.  We'll be using it for depth and speed but also to show rudder angle, genset and engine info as well as a number of other things.  This little display is so useful we decided to put a second one down below at the nav station which'll provide access to all the information on the system.  Right now if we want to know how hard the wind is blowing we have to go up into the cockpit to find out.  The basic controls, on/off, for the genset will be at the nav station but the gauges will be mounted in the cockpit.  With the i70 we'll be able to monitor the genset voltage, current, hours of operation, oil pressure, temperature and more from down below also.  A good example of these instruments talking back and forth to each other is their ability to change from day mode to night mode.  For night mode they have a red display that won't kill your night vision.  When you set up one of these instruments to display night mode they all instantly change over.

Another thing we're adding is an auto pilot.  This has a number of components including a linear drive which drives the rudder, a rudder position indicator which indicates the rudder angle, a digital compass and a course computer.  There's also the P70 controller up in the cockpit.  With the auto pilot we'll be able to set a course and it'll hold the boat to that compass setting.  We'll be able to go off and take care of other things while the boats sails itself.  Of course we'll hafta monitor it on a regular basis and keep an eye out for obstacles but it'll relieve us from the strain of having to man the helm constantly.  We'll have the freedom to fish, fly kites, take pictures, whatever, while the boat sails on.  Now that's pretty cool!  And another example of talking back and forth.....the rudder position indicator can send info to the i70 which will display the angle of the rudder.  This can be very helpful, especially when backing, which requires thinking in double-reverse-negative.  Or maybe that's just me and explains why I always run into things.

We're also adding an automatic identification system (AIS) , described like this:  "operating in the VHF maritime band, the AIS system enables the wireless exchange of navigation status between vessels and shore-side traffic monitoring centers. Commercial ships, ocean-going vessels and recreational boats equipped with AIS transceivers broadcast AIS messages that include the vessel's name, course, speed and current navigation status".  Nice!  It takes a lot of the guesswork out of navigating around other vessels and makes our boat more visible to others.  Bobbing around on the ocean waves we may not be seen visually or even show up on a radar screen but with AIS our location and name will be displayed and they'll know we're there.  If they're awake.

One other thing we're putting on this winter is sonar. It's actually a very nice fish finder that will give us a good indication of bottom features as well as fish locations, water temperature and depth.  We originally wanted a forward looking sonar but found that this is wayyyyyy out of our league price-wise.  I think this'll help to keep us out of trouble though.

Using the NMEA 2000 backbone will give us something else.  Our VHF radio has a feature called DSC which stands for "digital selective calling".  This is a semi-automatic way of placing calls on the radio.  You have to register with the FCC and be assigned an MMSI # which is specific to your boat.  This registration gives emergency contact information plus information about the boat and it's owner.  The VHF radio is connected to GPS using the NMEA backbone and in an emergency you can hit one button on the radio and it'll broadcast your information and location.  The Coast Guard monitors DSC as well as groups around the world.  With the GPS information you stand a much better chance of rescue than if you were just broadcasting a MAYDAY call.  In addition this DSC can be set up for personal use too.  You can do individual and group calls using MMSI #'s that have been pre-programmed into the radio.  If you're traveling with a group of boats (as we will be when we go to Bermuda) then you can keep in touch with each other using each of the boats MMSI #'s.

The new electronics available these days have really changed the boating world.  It used to be that if you wanted to go out in a boat you really had to know what you were doing.  You had to know how to read a chart, plot a course using celestial navigation, communicate with other boats using visual and audible signals, understand weather and more,   Now just about any idiot can go out on the water and drive a boat.  And they do.  There's a lot of these skills that I don't have yet but I'm learning.  I really like the huge amount of information you get with the new electronics.  What I don't like is the amount of learning required to use this stuff.  It's gonna take months to figure all this out.