Month: May 2013

Fortunately, as propellors get larger over the years, so too does the maintenance crew so perfect proportions are retained  

We fitted the water maker circuit breaker (25A at 24V) in it’s own housing alongside a pre-existing breaker panel. A flashing 24v red led will be mounted in our chart table control panel alongside the waterker remote panel so that anyone providing power to the water maker will be reminded to check on the seacocks before going to production; we need a small box to play ‘insane in the membrane’ as an audible alarm.         The pump platform which was conceived over a number of weekends, including a bit of shaping and epoxy coating, dropped in place

We had to design a circuit for the new tri-colour light whilst keeping true to the original design of our 23 year old switch panel which uses green Hella truck switches rather than the modern LED rocker breakers. New technology from ETA has combined a relay switch and circuit breaker which is operated and reset via a 12/24v control switch, or in our case the truck switch. Added to the control switch inputs the truck switch had to be wired to light up when in the ‘on’ position. Testing before fixing and going aloft           Fitted

Or as the ship’s cat says it’s the same as ‘chasing your tail’. Our thanks to Clare of s/v Suvi for helping to chase the tails and not only fix the bilge pump alarm which is linked to two sump areas, the engine room and mid-ships. Our bilges have always filled relatively quickly so the alarm is expected to sound too frequently. But perhaps by fitting the watermaker we have found the root of the problem; when an old watermaker was removed the freshwater feed line to the tank was severed but left open. Heeling to port this has possibly

Trying to think ahead to warmer climes is tricky but we hold out hope that we will see temperatures in the 20s and 30s!?! To that end much research has been done on the most appropriate footwear to suit all terrains, water types and weathers. A couple of blogs for cruisers waxed lyrical about Keen’s sandals. After some more research we decided on Venice H2 for the girls and Newport H2 for Paul. They have arrived and have a big thumbs up. Comfortable, practical and look alright for trekking sandals! The ship’s cat watched as Fran modelled the footwear. Sadly a thorough check

The latter part of fitting the watermaker lifting the cabin sole through the vessel from the stern to the water tank and then running the 8mm pneumatic tubing through all the formers. We struck gold when we found that the water tank had already been tapped for a watermaker so at this end it was just plug and play with a pnuematic air line connector. We are setting up a secondary fresh water feed line and pneumatic connectors in case we need to bypass the water tank at any stage. The connectors simply unclip/clip-in so redirection would take a few

If only we had gone to sheep shearing lessons down on the ranch. Gradually shaving off the old sound insulation from underneath the companionway steps and around the engine room before replacing the same with Vetus 40mm insulation in most areas.

Eventually something was going to blow up….the liferaft is in for servicing and the cylinder fired. Checking out as fully serviceable the raft will be vacuum packed and refit with the required safety gear to meet the ARC SOLAS specifications. The procedure is being witnessed by an equally inflated crew under going dry suit testing.