Pachuca
Pachuca in Port Angeles, WA USA
Thursday, April 12, 2007
New Swarbrick 35-lb (16-kg) Anchor
Yesterday I purchased a new Swarbrick 35-lb (16-kg) anchor. This is a "fisherman" style of anchor that can be completely disassembled (shank, arm, folding stock) and has legendary holding power. At $500 it was not cheap but it takes just one night hanging off an anchor in a 35-knot wind on a lee shore to make one realise that when it comes to ground tackle, money is no object. Now I've got to work out the best technique of storing and deploying the anchor.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Bilge Pump and Shelving
I sent out the following e-mail today. (No photos supplied)
Pachuca now has a full complement of bilge pumps: an electric pump and two manual Whale Gusher pumps at the cockpit.
Pachuca came with her two original aluminium Whale Gusher pumps. The one at the stern was in such bad shape that I was forced to replace it with the new plastic version which has a slightly different profile and footprint and required the drilling of two new holes. To my surprise the one on the starboard side turned out to be in remarkably good shape. Even the rubber components were good. After cleaning all of the components and sanding certain vital surfaces I reassembled the pump and it worked OK in my laundry trough.
Today I reinstalled the pump which was no mean feat. The site was very cramped and fitting the old hoses back on was a big problem because of shrinkage over the years. At $21 per meter I wasn't prepared to replace the hosing. I solved that problem by filing and sanding the pump inlet and outlet ports then using lots of marine grease to help things along. After hours of work voila! The pump worked fine and drained its area. The aft pump drains the bilge at the cabin, the starboard one drains the bilge below the cockpit. Both of the pumps are worked from behind the wheel, though I'll have to figure out which appendages to use to simultaneously steer the boat and work two pumps.
According to my friend Scotty, Whale Gusher pumps were the best thing that the Irish ever produced. With James Joyce and others at the back of my mind I dispute that, but I admit that they are the best manual bilge pump around.
The few yachties that I've spoken to are amazingly blase about bilge pumps. I suspect that bilge pumps were more important in the days of wooden hulls where a seam could open up without notice. One experienced sailor figured that with a GRP boat a breach of the hull is likely to be either trivial or fatal, with not too much chance of a bilge-pump in-between. Call me fastidious, but I want to go out with every pump working. You never know: might get pooped, might roll over with a bashed-in window, who knows?
Attached is a photo showing the cramped location of the pump. You'll see the inlet hose rising from the bilge to pass through the partition into the pump. Space is so tight in there that part of the pump was sawed off to get a fit. To the left is the HF antenna tuner, which is in an unfortunate location below the pump. I will either move it forward or protect it from possible future leaks from the pump.
The other photo is of some shelving that I set up. The spice rack is at the top left, and the double shelves are below the companionway step. The double shelves were built for the port side of the companionway but they looked just crappy there. I soon discovered that it fit so snugly between the step supports that they held themselves up without 4 screws that I put through it.
I've re-designed the companionway shelf and will build it out of solid Jarrah. In anticipation of that I cleared out the existing shelf on the starboard side of the companion way and will use it for its original purpose: binoculars.
Today I was able to cross three things off my "to do" list of 45 items - and added 5 more! (sigh)
Pachuca now has a full complement of bilge pumps: an electric pump and two manual Whale Gusher pumps at the cockpit.
Pachuca came with her two original aluminium Whale Gusher pumps. The one at the stern was in such bad shape that I was forced to replace it with the new plastic version which has a slightly different profile and footprint and required the drilling of two new holes. To my surprise the one on the starboard side turned out to be in remarkably good shape. Even the rubber components were good. After cleaning all of the components and sanding certain vital surfaces I reassembled the pump and it worked OK in my laundry trough.
Today I reinstalled the pump which was no mean feat. The site was very cramped and fitting the old hoses back on was a big problem because of shrinkage over the years. At $21 per meter I wasn't prepared to replace the hosing. I solved that problem by filing and sanding the pump inlet and outlet ports then using lots of marine grease to help things along. After hours of work voila! The pump worked fine and drained its area. The aft pump drains the bilge at the cabin, the starboard one drains the bilge below the cockpit. Both of the pumps are worked from behind the wheel, though I'll have to figure out which appendages to use to simultaneously steer the boat and work two pumps.
According to my friend Scotty, Whale Gusher pumps were the best thing that the Irish ever produced. With James Joyce and others at the back of my mind I dispute that, but I admit that they are the best manual bilge pump around.
The few yachties that I've spoken to are amazingly blase about bilge pumps. I suspect that bilge pumps were more important in the days of wooden hulls where a seam could open up without notice. One experienced sailor figured that with a GRP boat a breach of the hull is likely to be either trivial or fatal, with not too much chance of a bilge-pump in-between. Call me fastidious, but I want to go out with every pump working. You never know: might get pooped, might roll over with a bashed-in window, who knows?
Attached is a photo showing the cramped location of the pump. You'll see the inlet hose rising from the bilge to pass through the partition into the pump. Space is so tight in there that part of the pump was sawed off to get a fit. To the left is the HF antenna tuner, which is in an unfortunate location below the pump. I will either move it forward or protect it from possible future leaks from the pump.
The other photo is of some shelving that I set up. The spice rack is at the top left, and the double shelves are below the companionway step. The double shelves were built for the port side of the companionway but they looked just crappy there. I soon discovered that it fit so snugly between the step supports that they held themselves up without 4 screws that I put through it.
I've re-designed the companionway shelf and will build it out of solid Jarrah. In anticipation of that I cleared out the existing shelf on the starboard side of the companion way and will use it for its original purpose: binoculars.
Today I was able to cross three things off my "to do" list of 45 items - and added 5 more! (sigh)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Anchor Well Work
During the Bunbury Cruise in March I discovered that the floor of the upper level of Pachuca's anchor well was spongy. It turned out that the underlying ply had delaminated and the only thing supporting the anchor and chain was one layer of fiber glass. The lower half of the bulkhead separating the anchor well from the rest of the boat was also in poor shape.
The following is an email I sent out on completion of the work (without the photos).
I've finished the anchor well job. It was a rotten job but fortunately the weather was excellent. My biggest enemy would have been rain, which would have delayed me for days while things dried out. Fortunately this time of year the weather is generally good. Other than one day of 30-35 knot gale-force winds which made work a real challenge, the weather was good.
I must have spent a total of 4 or 5 hours hanging upside down like a bat performing various aspects of the job, e.g. measuring, fitting out templates and panels, drilling, fiber glassing, flow coating. My body from the toes to the waist would lie on the deck. The rest would hang upside down. Normally after a few minutes of this I turn red as a beet and my head feels like it is about to explode. It must have been the total focus on the job at hand that distracted me from these problems. I must admit that fiber glassing upside-down presented a challenge: toxic fumes strong enough to knock over an elephant enveloping me while the whole world was already upside down. Somehow I got through it, though for all I know my body is still hanging there and I've perceiving a Matrix-like illusion.
Attached are some photos:
- Photo 42 is an important one. I fed down 37 meters of chain into the well to see if it would fit in the lower compartment. It did. The chain heaps into an amazingly symmetrical heap. After trimming some rusty links off the end of the chain I've got about 39 meters of 3/8" chain, two meters of which are permanently above deck wrapped around the winch Gypsy and onto the anchor, leaving 37 meters down below. I was pleased with this result. It means that almost 200 lb of chain will in future rest another 2 ft or so lower than before.
- Photo 48 shows the new bulkhead. It is really a double bulkhead. The "inner" bulkhead was OK. The one forming the anchor well wall was rotten. I replaced it with 9mm of marine ply with one layer of fiber glass to seal everything water-tight. That was harder than it sounds. Nothing was straight, plumb, square, or level. I was forced to make templates out of cardboard. That still left gaps between the ply board and the hull which I filled in by various means. The fiber glassing was an challenge. I wound up doing the edges one alternate strip at a time. When those strips dried up I would do the intermediate strips. When they were set I then (the next day) did the main bulkhead in one piece. I saturated the top half with resin standing up inside the well, then saturated the bottom half hanging upside down from the top. On the following day I painted on a layer of Flow Coat, sort of a brushed-on gel coat.
- Photo 50 shows the lower section - the one that will hold the chain - completed. I have lined the section with metal. The floor and stem are lined with stainless steel donated by my friend Reg Kelly (Thanks, Reg!), and the sides are lined with aluminium (colour bonded green).
- Photo 51 shows the top section. It is lined with Reg's stainless steel. Instead of a narrow hawser pipe I've built a generous rectangle bordered by Jarrah. This wide opening seems to allow the chain to flake back and forth allowing a broader heap down below. I've made the opening wide enough for my hand to sort out any tangles, though note that I have that generous trap door down below if I ever need to get serious.
The job wasn't perfect (Only Allah is perfect!), professional, or particularly pretty. However, I am convinced that it is a functional success: strong, water tight, and durable; and that it is better than the original and should see me out, which is quite a statement given that I plan to keep sailing for another 20 years!
Incidentally, Gary Martin, my paint and fiberglass guru (He has credentials: owns Martin's Marine Paints, built and painted a zillion boats.) says that the original wood would have been "exterior plywood", not dinkum marine ply. Suspicions confirmed. I then expressed anxiety about the rest of the boat. Gary said that the S&S 39 mold would have guaranteed the strength of the hull. He says that he can do a fiber glass hull of a particular thickness on an ordinary hull and can then flex the hull back and forth with his thumb. The S&S boats have the "tumble home" design - the one that drives me nuts whenever I tie up to a strange jetty. I knew that one of their virtues is to give the boat buoyancy when heeled over when beating up wind. But wait, there's more! The "tumble home" design is an egg-shaped design. When he puts the same thickness fiber glass on a tumble home hull it will not flex. ... Same message here - it is all trade offs: The S&S 39 gets scratched easily but is a screamer to windward and strong as hell.
The following is an email I sent out on completion of the work (without the photos).
I've finished the anchor well job. It was a rotten job but fortunately the weather was excellent. My biggest enemy would have been rain, which would have delayed me for days while things dried out. Fortunately this time of year the weather is generally good. Other than one day of 30-35 knot gale-force winds which made work a real challenge, the weather was good.
I must have spent a total of 4 or 5 hours hanging upside down like a bat performing various aspects of the job, e.g. measuring, fitting out templates and panels, drilling, fiber glassing, flow coating. My body from the toes to the waist would lie on the deck. The rest would hang upside down. Normally after a few minutes of this I turn red as a beet and my head feels like it is about to explode. It must have been the total focus on the job at hand that distracted me from these problems. I must admit that fiber glassing upside-down presented a challenge: toxic fumes strong enough to knock over an elephant enveloping me while the whole world was already upside down. Somehow I got through it, though for all I know my body is still hanging there and I've perceiving a Matrix-like illusion.
Attached are some photos:
- Photo 42 is an important one. I fed down 37 meters of chain into the well to see if it would fit in the lower compartment. It did. The chain heaps into an amazingly symmetrical heap. After trimming some rusty links off the end of the chain I've got about 39 meters of 3/8" chain, two meters of which are permanently above deck wrapped around the winch Gypsy and onto the anchor, leaving 37 meters down below. I was pleased with this result. It means that almost 200 lb of chain will in future rest another 2 ft or so lower than before.
- Photo 48 shows the new bulkhead. It is really a double bulkhead. The "inner" bulkhead was OK. The one forming the anchor well wall was rotten. I replaced it with 9mm of marine ply with one layer of fiber glass to seal everything water-tight. That was harder than it sounds. Nothing was straight, plumb, square, or level. I was forced to make templates out of cardboard. That still left gaps between the ply board and the hull which I filled in by various means. The fiber glassing was an challenge. I wound up doing the edges one alternate strip at a time. When those strips dried up I would do the intermediate strips. When they were set I then (the next day) did the main bulkhead in one piece. I saturated the top half with resin standing up inside the well, then saturated the bottom half hanging upside down from the top. On the following day I painted on a layer of Flow Coat, sort of a brushed-on gel coat.
- Photo 50 shows the lower section - the one that will hold the chain - completed. I have lined the section with metal. The floor and stem are lined with stainless steel donated by my friend Reg Kelly (Thanks, Reg!), and the sides are lined with aluminium (colour bonded green).
- Photo 51 shows the top section. It is lined with Reg's stainless steel. Instead of a narrow hawser pipe I've built a generous rectangle bordered by Jarrah. This wide opening seems to allow the chain to flake back and forth allowing a broader heap down below. I've made the opening wide enough for my hand to sort out any tangles, though note that I have that generous trap door down below if I ever need to get serious.
The job wasn't perfect (Only Allah is perfect!), professional, or particularly pretty. However, I am convinced that it is a functional success: strong, water tight, and durable; and that it is better than the original and should see me out, which is quite a statement given that I plan to keep sailing for another 20 years!
Incidentally, Gary Martin, my paint and fiberglass guru (He has credentials: owns Martin's Marine Paints, built and painted a zillion boats.) says that the original wood would have been "exterior plywood", not dinkum marine ply. Suspicions confirmed. I then expressed anxiety about the rest of the boat. Gary said that the S&S 39 mold would have guaranteed the strength of the hull. He says that he can do a fiber glass hull of a particular thickness on an ordinary hull and can then flex the hull back and forth with his thumb. The S&S boats have the "tumble home" design - the one that drives me nuts whenever I tie up to a strange jetty. I knew that one of their virtues is to give the boat buoyancy when heeled over when beating up wind. But wait, there's more! The "tumble home" design is an egg-shaped design. When he puts the same thickness fiber glass on a tumble home hull it will not flex. ... Same message here - it is all trade offs: The S&S 39 gets scratched easily but is a screamer to windward and strong as hell.
Book Case and Anchor
On Friday morning I purchased a second-hand, but very-good-condition 45-lb plow anchor made by Manson in NZ. It is 10 lbs heavier than the dumpier 35-lb plow anchor that came with Pachuca and to me is indistinguishable from the genuine CQR, with its long shank and very pointy blade. This will be a definite improvement on the 35-lb plow, but it appears that the new-generation roll-bar spade anchors like the Rocna and the Manson Supreme, and even the Delta, are better propositions. But at only $200 I thought that this was worth the investment until I see how my order for the Swarbrick 50-lb "fisherman's" type anchor pans out.
The new anchor is now on the roller with the 40 m of chain at the bottom of the anchor well where it should be. I've got the bitter end of the chain (i.e. the "other" end) shackled to a fitting at the upper level of the anchor well so that (1) I don't accidentally pay out all of the chain, (2) I've got the option to add more length to the rode. The only other items in the upper level of the anchor well are (1) rope and float so that I can send the anchor down with a trip line/marker, (2) anchor chain snubber ( i.e. steel claw and nylon rope to take the strain of the anchor - other wise you hear the chain rattling all night as the boat shifts about.) I'll keep the spare anchors (currently one Danforth, one 35-lb Fisherman's) and spare anchor rode (10m chain with 80m white rope) in the starboard locker of the forecastle ( i.e. v-berth area).
Also, I installed the new book case that I built in my garage last week. It is basically a box, but a box to the specifications that I required to accommodate the big navigation books. It might not be a work of art but it is durable: 9mm marine ply, held together by nails and 2-part marine glue, finished with 3 coats of varnish - extremely water resistant and very strong. I'll set up a line of shock cord running about half-way up the case to keep the books from falling out in a heavy heel.
This week the project will be a new spice rack and shelves to fit next to the companionway.
I've brought two of Pachuca's mattresses home: the one that was on the bunk where the new book case sits, and the one from the starboard quarter berth where I will store the tools, materials, and spares. That's going to take a lot of thought and planning, but it is important because you wouldn't believe the amount of time I waste rummaging around for things. It is amazing the volume of space that removing those mattresses has freed up.
The new anchor is now on the roller with the 40 m of chain at the bottom of the anchor well where it should be. I've got the bitter end of the chain (i.e. the "other" end) shackled to a fitting at the upper level of the anchor well so that (1) I don't accidentally pay out all of the chain, (2) I've got the option to add more length to the rode. The only other items in the upper level of the anchor well are (1) rope and float so that I can send the anchor down with a trip line/marker, (2) anchor chain snubber ( i.e. steel claw and nylon rope to take the strain of the anchor - other wise you hear the chain rattling all night as the boat shifts about.) I'll keep the spare anchors (currently one Danforth, one 35-lb Fisherman's) and spare anchor rode (10m chain with 80m white rope) in the starboard locker of the forecastle ( i.e. v-berth area).
Also, I installed the new book case that I built in my garage last week. It is basically a box, but a box to the specifications that I required to accommodate the big navigation books. It might not be a work of art but it is durable: 9mm marine ply, held together by nails and 2-part marine glue, finished with 3 coats of varnish - extremely water resistant and very strong. I'll set up a line of shock cord running about half-way up the case to keep the books from falling out in a heavy heel.
This week the project will be a new spice rack and shelves to fit next to the companionway.
I've brought two of Pachuca's mattresses home: the one that was on the bunk where the new book case sits, and the one from the starboard quarter berth where I will store the tools, materials, and spares. That's going to take a lot of thought and planning, but it is important because you wouldn't believe the amount of time I waste rummaging around for things. It is amazing the volume of space that removing those mattresses has freed up.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
HF Radio License
I've just licensed Pachuca's HF radio for 5 years. The call sign is the same as before: VNW5280.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Bunbury Cruise
I've just returned from the annual Fremantle Sailing Club "Bunbury cruise" that ran from 2 Feb to 21 Feb. A group of about 12 boats from 3 different clubs sailed to the Mandurah marina (6 hrs sailing), Bunbury (11hrs), Port Geographe Marina near Bussleton (5 hrs), and the Bussleton Yacht Club (1 hr). Of the dozen boats in the group, two had completed a circumnavigation of the world.
From Pachuca's standpoint the good outcomes were:
- The davits worked beautifully
- The two 65-watt solar panels delivered 8 amps in full sun and kept our batteries topped up
- We ran the refrigerator from 0900 until 1700. That was enough for cold beer and perishable food.
- I learned how to use the short wave (HF) radio. I've now stored the weather frequencies out of Wiluna and know how to get up-to-date verbal weather reports every 4 hours. (Weatherfax later)
- The laptop-based C-Map system worked brilliantly
- I also interfaced the Trimble GPS to C-Map
- I programmed important waypoints into the GPS's
- A dragging anchor motivated me to learn how to set up anchor alarms on the GPS's. (The Lowrance plays "Anchors Aweigh" when it detects a movement.)
- The engine performed flawlessly
I came back with a "to do" list. The principal item is the anchor set up. Without going into detail, we dragged anchor at 0520 one morning and it was not pleasant. I figured if I could not hold my ground with a 35-lb plow anchor and 30 meters of 10-mm (3/8-in) chain in Bunbury harbour, with its good mud/sand holding ground, then I've got some serious rethinking to do. The plow anchor should have held - even dug itself deeper and deeper as the 30-knot wind moved the boat around. Our tentative conclusion is that I didn't properly bed down the anchor in the first place. I've gotten good advice on how to bed down the anchor, and the whole process takes about an hour (for the final pull with the engine). Also, the floor of the upper level of the anchor well is paper-thin and about to give way. I'm going to rebuild/reenforce the entire area: access to the presently-unused lower chamber from the foot of the V-berth below, lining the lower section, rebuilding the dividing floor with half-inch ply and fiberglass. Instead of a hawse pipe I'll have a square opening of about 6"x6". I'll then be able allow the anchor winch to feed the chain directly into the lower level rather than flaking it by hand at the upper level.
I'll probably replace the plow anchor with a 16-kg (35-lb) Delta anchor and keep that on the fairlead as my working anchor. I have also ordered a 22.6 kg (50-lb) Swarbrick anchor (improved, dismantle-able Fisherman's anchor). This will be for unknown bottoms or heavy weather. I'll keep this at the upper level with its own chain-nylon rope cable. Deploying and retrieving this anchor from the long, pointy bow of my S&S 39 will be a challenge, but I've got to have an anchor that I can rely on. My sleep and the safety of the boat depend on it. I'd rather spend an extra 10 minutes heaving and grunting to get a reliable anchor down than spend a sleepless night worrying about dragging.
Other recent additions to the "to do" list:
- Book case for large books (e.g. navigation tables)
- Grab rail on the companion way landing to keep the foot from sliding off when heeling to port
- A spice rack
- A shelf on the port side of the companionway to free the starboard side one for binoculars
Robert
From Pachuca's standpoint the good outcomes were:
- The davits worked beautifully
- The two 65-watt solar panels delivered 8 amps in full sun and kept our batteries topped up
- We ran the refrigerator from 0900 until 1700. That was enough for cold beer and perishable food.
- I learned how to use the short wave (HF) radio. I've now stored the weather frequencies out of Wiluna and know how to get up-to-date verbal weather reports every 4 hours. (Weatherfax later)
- The laptop-based C-Map system worked brilliantly
- I also interfaced the Trimble GPS to C-Map
- I programmed important waypoints into the GPS's
- A dragging anchor motivated me to learn how to set up anchor alarms on the GPS's. (The Lowrance plays "Anchors Aweigh" when it detects a movement.)
- The engine performed flawlessly
I came back with a "to do" list. The principal item is the anchor set up. Without going into detail, we dragged anchor at 0520 one morning and it was not pleasant. I figured if I could not hold my ground with a 35-lb plow anchor and 30 meters of 10-mm (3/8-in) chain in Bunbury harbour, with its good mud/sand holding ground, then I've got some serious rethinking to do. The plow anchor should have held - even dug itself deeper and deeper as the 30-knot wind moved the boat around. Our tentative conclusion is that I didn't properly bed down the anchor in the first place. I've gotten good advice on how to bed down the anchor, and the whole process takes about an hour (for the final pull with the engine). Also, the floor of the upper level of the anchor well is paper-thin and about to give way. I'm going to rebuild/reenforce the entire area: access to the presently-unused lower chamber from the foot of the V-berth below, lining the lower section, rebuilding the dividing floor with half-inch ply and fiberglass. Instead of a hawse pipe I'll have a square opening of about 6"x6". I'll then be able allow the anchor winch to feed the chain directly into the lower level rather than flaking it by hand at the upper level.
I'll probably replace the plow anchor with a 16-kg (35-lb) Delta anchor and keep that on the fairlead as my working anchor. I have also ordered a 22.6 kg (50-lb) Swarbrick anchor (improved, dismantle-able Fisherman's anchor). This will be for unknown bottoms or heavy weather. I'll keep this at the upper level with its own chain-nylon rope cable. Deploying and retrieving this anchor from the long, pointy bow of my S&S 39 will be a challenge, but I've got to have an anchor that I can rely on. My sleep and the safety of the boat depend on it. I'd rather spend an extra 10 minutes heaving and grunting to get a reliable anchor down than spend a sleepless night worrying about dragging.
Other recent additions to the "to do" list:
- Book case for large books (e.g. navigation tables)
- Grab rail on the companion way landing to keep the foot from sliding off when heeling to port
- A spice rack
- A shelf on the port side of the companionway to free the starboard side one for binoculars
Robert
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
GPS Receiver
I've got a 1-year-old Toshiba laptop running XP. It has only USB port connections - no DB9 connections found in the older laptops. This has caused a problem with interfacing the boat's GPS's with the laptop, which is running CMap 4.
On Tuesday I purchased a GPS receiver (No brand, part number BU-353) that is in the shape of a flying saucer about 25mm in diameter. It is heavily magnitised and can also be attached with a suction cup. It has a USB connector.
After two hours of fiddling I got the system to work. The receiver sends NMEA-0183 sentences to the laptop. A driver supplied with the receiver manages the USB port in the laptop. CMap 4 was configured to look for the data at the particular port (com4: in my case).
The receiver performs as advertised. It had no trouble acquiring satellites from inside a house with a tile roof, or on a shelf at the navigation table inside Pachuca. It achieves fixes in amazingly short time.
On Pachuca CMap 4 displayed the location of the boat at the 11th double-boat bay of the NE side of D jetty. We checked and sure enough Pachuca is in the 11th bay from the end.
The unit cost me $129 AUD (i.e. Aussie dollars).
I've also ordered a USB-DB9 conversion cable to attempt to connect the Trimble NT200D GPS to the laptop. I figure that redundancy is worth the $49 AUD cost of the cable.
The next task is to visit the PC shop and get a transformer to allow me to run the PC off the boat's 12V system.
On Tuesday I purchased a GPS receiver (No brand, part number BU-353) that is in the shape of a flying saucer about 25mm in diameter. It is heavily magnitised and can also be attached with a suction cup. It has a USB connector.
After two hours of fiddling I got the system to work. The receiver sends NMEA-0183 sentences to the laptop. A driver supplied with the receiver manages the USB port in the laptop. CMap 4 was configured to look for the data at the particular port (com4: in my case).
The receiver performs as advertised. It had no trouble acquiring satellites from inside a house with a tile roof, or on a shelf at the navigation table inside Pachuca. It achieves fixes in amazingly short time.
On Pachuca CMap 4 displayed the location of the boat at the 11th double-boat bay of the NE side of D jetty. We checked and sure enough Pachuca is in the 11th bay from the end.
The unit cost me $129 AUD (i.e. Aussie dollars).
I've also ordered a USB-DB9 conversion cable to attempt to connect the Trimble NT200D GPS to the laptop. I figure that redundancy is worth the $49 AUD cost of the cable.
The next task is to visit the PC shop and get a transformer to allow me to run the PC off the boat's 12V system.
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