I had been hoping to sail with the motley crew of Dave, Lydia and Robin over the last week. Unfortunately the great British weather took a turn for the worse, in the form of Storm Claudio.
Winds on the Isle of Wight were recorded at 100mph plus on that Monday night! I sat there drink in one hand holding my computer with the other trying to stop it moving about. I watched YouTube videos and texted amongst the group about how terrible it was outside. meanwhile my boat, all safely tied up, was leaning over at up to 10 degrees as the wind buffeted and blew us about. The following day hadn't improved much, and by the Wednesday I had decided to start getting on with other jobs on the boat. Of course Thursday and Friday were OK for sailing, but by now I had large chunks of the electrics in pieces.
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| The spaghetti wiring behind the switch panels |
I decided to start with the Radar, simply because this was the biggest box to get out of the way. I had put the mounting pole up at the weekend in the vain hope that it would be out of the way when I was sailing that week. Mounting the actual radome was easy, running the wires into and then through half the length of the boat was a bit of a nightmare. Getting to the lockers under the bed is difficult at best, what with a full sized double mattress on top and no space to move it to somewhere else. I really must deal with that.
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| The navigation station looking much more organised |
There was also the main display to fit. Logic says this should be fitted in the cockpit so I can see what's happening when I'm sailing. For most coastal sailors or people out for the day, and people who spend their evenings in the bar talking about sailing, this is perfectly logical. For sailing in more out of the way places, where fancy electronics are an inviting and tempting novelty, and for longer passages, inside the boat is more sensible. Plus the fact I can share the same display as down below on my tablet computer and can even control the main display with this, and I can also run the display through the TV that has been specifically placed so I can see it from the cockpit if I need to.
With that sorted I had to start putting together the network that allows these things to talk to each other. The radio that I had already fitted so I was ready to go sailing has a thing built in called AIS, which shows ships positions, what direction they are going in and how fast they are going, alone with a few other details. If you send this information to the main display it can display them on the chart, and the clever software can tell if you are on a collision course.
Why have that and radar? Radar can see much more than just other ships and boats. There is the outline of land to help confirm your position in fog, there are boats who, like me, don't transmit AIS information (thats an extra £800 that I may spend in the future, for now I'll concentrate on keeping out of the way of big ships). You can also see rain squalls on Radar and see where they are heading. I probably wouldn't have had the AIS capability as yet if my old radio hadn't gone haywire, but I'm glad to have it now.
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| The collection of equipment hanging on the back of Isosceles |
I have also managed to finish off installing the wind steering that now hangs off the back of the boat, so it hasn't been a wasted week. The wind steering is ready for a test run and most likely some final adjustments. I must admit, there is a bit of an obstacle course vibe going off on the back of the boat with all those poles and supports, but everything has its use, and it all helps me manage the boat.
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| The original pile of electronics for Isosceles |
I still haven't finished with the new instrument installation, I have to fit the wind sensor and compass / heading sensor, the new depth & speed sensor (the boat will have to come out of the water for that one) and all of these need to be linked through a control box that is connected to the network. I also have a new autopilot control computer to set up, which is a major step up from the 30 year old one it replaces, taking into account weather and sea conditions when it's working out the steering commands. Then I have the deck instruments to fit, which will allow me to see most of the important information and control the autopilot while I'm in the cockpit. All of this is going to mean running cables through various parts of the boat, as I've already said, that sounds easy, but never is. Still, it keeps me out of trouble over the winter months.
