Author: Paul and Claire

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

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.

Activating a USB port to enable NMEA data inputs within an older (pre-USB plug-and-play era) was proving a source of frustration. Activating the port via a direct USB feed taken from a protected circuit driven my an Actisense Multiplexer was the intended solution but Open CPN was unable to recognise the USB port on a laptop. Although there are a number of costly solutions on the market but after fitting (the brilliant) multiplexer adding another unit in the chain seemed folly. Enter the FDIC chip which fools a USB port into recognising RS232 inputs, which are direct NMEA feeds taken

The stern light bracket is ready to fit after a bit of grinding and polishing. The picture also shows a Chinese copy of an Aqua Signal 40 Series light, a 40% cost reduction. The lantern is identical in almost all respects. The bayonet fitting for the lamp in the Chinese housing is an upgrade but the cable seal is a poor design so is being modified by re-cutting a thread and fabricating a brass collar. A plug has been turned out of nylon and is ready to weld into the base. The brass rod will be drilled, turned and threaded.

Welding a 316 steel bracket to raise the stern light from deck level which otherwise reflects brightly off the pushpit and liferaft bracket – if the Oriana were dead astern in the pitch black you would hear it long before seeing any navigation lights. Once raised well above deck level we can return to peering into the mystic depths of darkness as well as retain our night vision.

We have decided that our agency is an inverse one; our brochures are mostly about what to avoid where and when. The destination footprint often reads very rough, dangerous, not to be attempted at night…..