Progress with Electronics Problems

Maritime Electronics was able to repair the Raymarine ST60+ depth and wind displays whose connectors had been heavily damage from corrosion.  The charge was $120 which I thought to be reasonable, considering the alternative of purchasing new heads. 

New connectors for ST60+ displays

I managed to spend some time on the boat yesterday (Saturday) morning had taken one step back with the Seatalk network: whereas on the previous visit the C120 chart plotter had begun to report the position of the boat, during this visit it knew nothing beyond where the cursor was on the chart. 

We are in the middle of an early heat wave and the temperature today is expected to go above 41C (106F) so I was up shortly after 5 AM and was at the boat just after 6 AM to get as much work as possible before the heat set in.  Conditions were very good and I managed the delicate work of fitting 7 new connectors for the instruments with no problem.  I then tested the units and was pleased to see that I was getting depth readings but wasn't surprised to find that I still had no wind data.  Worse, the autopilot head was still reporting "Seatalk Failure" and the the C120 was getting to data from the various instruments.

With my new confidence with those tiny Seatalk connectors I decided to have on last look at the connections into the Autopilot head at the binnacle, and just as well I did because the middle connector had not been properly inserted.  When I repositioned that connector the Seatalk network came alive and the C120 was reporting boat position, speed, heading, and depth.

At this point I think that I have gone as far as practicable with the electronics.  The radar is not working, and my strong suspicion is that the problem is in the upper part of the cable which was repaired in situ up the mast in Argentina.  The wind system is not working and I suspect that the problem is also up the mast at the masthead unit.  I commented during my passage around the Horn that the wind masthead unit has the toughest life of any component on the boat.  It had to endure day after day of gales and heavy rolling with heaven knows the strength of wind surges.

I then 90 minutes going through the boat's spares and materials and removed 7 plastic containers and buckets of material for storage in Darlington.

I will contact Maritime Electronics this week and arrange a visit to the boat in the new year.