Sound System and Water Cooling

Attached are two photos of Pachuca's sound system that we commissioned today. ... Well ... it's really a car radio system but modern car systems are pretty good.

The centre piece is a Pioneer DEHP3950MP "CD Receiver" which has an AM/FM tuner, a CD player, and can deal with MP3 and other inputs. At the back are RCA connectors for various peripherals such as a 6-CD stacker or an amplifier. It has two auxiliary inputs, with Aux1 at the front. It is described as follows:

DEHP3950MP PIONEER CD TUNER
\MP3 WMA REMOTE

• In Dash CD Tuner with MP3, WMA, WAV and Detachable Face Security.
• DFS (Detachable Face Security)
• Card IR Remote Control.
• BMX (BiMetric Equalizer)
• SUPERTUNER IIId with Digital Processing.

The speakers are a pair of "marine ready' Kicker 05KS693. They're described as follows:

Kicker 05KS693 6"x9" 3-Way 180W Car Speakers3-way 6" x 9" speakers Curvilinear Injection Molded Polygraphite (CIMP) woofer Santoprene surround 2-1/2" Midrange 1" Kaladex semi-dome tweeter Low-profile, high-strength steel basket RMS Power Handling: 90 watts Peak Power Handling: 180 watts Frequency response: 30 - 21,000 Hz Sensitivity: 92 dB Top-mount depth: 3-3/16" Priced per pair Car speakers are usually come as a pair unless noted differently.

Stephen and Brenda came for lunch and to start up and evaluate the system. We played a CD and it sounded great. After Stephen tweaked some of the settings it sounded even better. We then simulated a movie session while at sea. We plugged the inverter into a cigarette lighter plug that I wired up next to the receiver then used a cable to connect the earphones outlet of the laptop into the AUX1 input of the Pioneer. We put on Matrix Reloaded and started watching. The sound was full and robust, but with a bit of hum. Stephen has a small amplifier that we can put in line between the laptop and the Pioneer which he says should do the trick. Then he plugged in his MP3 player into the Pioneer and the sound was superb. Finally we connected Brenda's short wave/AM/FM radio to the Pioneer and the sound was excellent.

The plan was to use the Pioneer-Kicker combo as a Hi-Fi stereo sound outlet for various systems and we think that we have been successful.

Attached photo 0551 shows Stephen at the table in front of the system. I built the speaker boxes with 9mm marine ply, lined inside with 3mm of rubber material. The receiver is set into a face board of 12mm ply and is open at the back to ensure good cooling. 0552 shows Brenda and Stephen watching the movie.

The 3rd photo shows the final work for the day. The blue item is a repaired anti-siphon valve. The previous one was blown with the result that it acted as a salt-water shower over the running engine. It was mounted to that piece of masonite that you'll see leaning against the wall just to the right of the black hose. Masonite! Can anyone believe this? The water filter to the left was not much better off. It was hanging on by one screw. I've mounted the items onto varnished piece of marine ply cut for the role.

Robert

New Wind Generator

Yesterday we assembled, mounted, and partially wired up the Rutland 913 wind generator. The regulator is on the road from Melbourne and it may be in tomorrow. The replacement of the existing regulator with the new one, which will manage both the solar panels and the wind generator, should not take more than an hour or two, given that all of the cabling is now in place.

This morning I worked on a leaky window over the galley. There were 34 screws to remove, then gentle prying of the plexiglass, then scraping off of the old material. The boat shop did not have clear silicone glass sealant in stock so I'll finish the job on my next visit.

Also, I finally got the 50-lb anchor from Harley Swarbrick. He originally said that he would have the anchor ready in 3 weeks. But with health troubles and unexpected vacation of his work shop the job took about 8 months. I never gave up on him and the wait was well worth it, not just because I agree with Harley that it is the best anchor in the world, but also because it will be one of the last - if not the last - anchors produced by this living legend of Australian boating. After much rumination I decided to place the new 50-lb anchor at the anchor well and move the 35-lb Swarbrick from the anchor well to the rear as a backup anchor. So my working anchors will be a 45-lb Manson plow anchor when I can get away with it (i.e. sand or mud bottom, good weather), and the 50-lb Swarbrick for unknown holding ground or rough weather.

Life Raft

The RFD Life raft has been installed. I used Sikaflex to bind the 12mm ply curved platform (which I built, YAY!) to the deck and to bind the fiberglass supports provided by RFD to the curved ply platform. The raft is strapped by three 316 stainless steel fittings bolted through the deck with four 5/16-inch screws per fitting.

One of the enclosed photos (from the starboard) shows some red and green components. This is the automatic-launch mechanism. If the boat sinks before we have a chance to deploy the life raft a pressure-gauge goes off at 4m of depth which will cut a rope and inflate the raft. The raft will surface as the boat sinks, with the raft still attached to the boat by the painter. At some point the rope between the raft and the boat will reach its full length and the strain between the floating raft and sinking boat will reach the 1.3kg "weak link" strength of the mechanism (green component) and the raft will break free of the boat.

At this point the crew swims to the raft, is saved, and lives happily ever after.

Life Raft

We took delivery of the 4-person RFD life raft on Friday. Brenda and I experimented with possible locations of the raft. The easy way would have been to put the raft athwart ships at the centre of the deck with the the fiberglass supports running along the deck, forward and aft. Unfortunately we had one big constraint: a solar-powered fan servicing the head (toilet, or "bath room") was just port of the centre line, and we deemed it and the light that it provided too valuable to lose.

Eventually we settled on a fore-aft placement just starboard of the centre line. Unfortunately the amount of curve of the deck necessitated the fabrication of a platform rather than the trimming of the provided fiberglass supports.

I spent about two hours producing a cardboard template of the curve and on Sunday I made a one-day dash to Darlington with the goal of producing something acceptable. I really needed a band saw but only had a jig saw. Normally I would have simply gone out and purchased a band saw but it seemed wasteful to purchase one when I expected to depart in only two months for a long absence. So jig saw it was. This meant somewhat rough curves and no jarrah (too hard).

Fortunately I had a nice sheet of 12mm marine ply on hand ( Robert's Boat Chandlery comes through again!) and was able to knock something up and return to Fremantle at 7PM. The supports are of 12mm marine ply, held together with 2-part epoxy glue and nails. They look like boxes but inside there is an internal third longitudinal.

I have filled in the nail holes. Tomorrow I will finish the sanding by hand the put on the first of two coats of 2-part white marine paint. I will also fabricate backing plates of 20mm jarrah to take the bolts inside the cabin. I will use Sikaflex to hold the platform to the deck, relying on the weight of the raft and the curve of the deck to help keep the platform from sliding around. The raft will be held down by three straps attached to stainless steel fittings bolted through the deck (hence the jarrah backing plates).

I've attached two photos that will reveal all.

Stack Pack and Spinnaker Pole

Steve Hartley modified the stack pack (i.e. sail cover) to accommodate the new mast steps. He also added 50mm on each side of the zipper and more accommodation at the mast for the head of the sail. The result is very good.

Also, I brought back from Taskers one of the two spinnaker poles that had been cut into halves that can be snapped together. The full-length pole will be kept on deck. The split pole will be kept below deck as a spare.

Radar and AIS

Edgar Vitte (rigging) and Peter Turner (electronics) arrived at 0830. The first task was to reposition the radar support bracket because it was too close to the inner forestay. After analysis and discussion we agreed to remove the "baby" stay so that we could lower the bracket enough so that the radar dome would have good clearance from the inner forestay. Edgar said that the baby stay's angle to the mast was so low that it would not do much good. I said that I thought that the function of the baby stay was to prevent the mast from "pumping". But I did agree that the mast is a solid "lamp post" and the inner forestay would give plenty of support. So out went the baby stay and down came the radar by about 500 mm.

Edgar left the I helped Peter set up the AIS. We used the existing whip antenna for the 16 MHz radio (antenna was replaced my a mast head antenna) and a Garmin GPS antenna that came with the boat, unused by anything. I now have 25-mile radar, AIS, and a chart plotter. On Thursday or Friday I will pick up a Navionics card of detail charts covering all of Australia.

The C120 system is pretty impressive. I can layer chart, radar, and AIS over each other, I can split the screen with various combinations. I have much to learn about exploiting the system.

Attached are photos of the system. One of the shots is of the AIS report on one of the ships that I targeted. I got the ship's name, LOA (length overall)l, draught, beam, MMSI number, call sign, IMO number, heading, COG (course over ground), SOG (speed over ground), destination, and status ("under way sailing"). I was able to see every ship in the area, including a moored tug. We got the data on one ship on the Western side of Garden Island 10 miles away, which tells me that in the open ocean I should get a good range of view.

Likewise ships within VHF range will get data on me, modest as it is. This AIS black box is pretty smart. If I am not moving it puts out a message very 6 minutes or so. If I am moving under 2 knots it puts out a message every 3 minutes or so. If I am moving faster than 2 knots it puts out a message every 30 seconds or so. I can't recall the exact numbers but you should get the idea.

Also, I visited Nikke at RFD and gave her a pair of 3.0 reading glasses and a ventolin Inhaler to put into the life raft, which should be ready in about a week.

Storm Trysail

Steve Hartley visited Pachuca at 0700 today and we hoisted the new storm trysail. The system worked out OK: the boom clears the cockpit dodger (will rest on a staunchon supported by the lazy jacks and topping lift), and I know how to set up the sheets. I have written up a step-by-step procedure for setting it up.

Steve also set up some straps to make reefing easier and took away the stack pack to for modifications.

Attached are two photos. Note the placement of the boom.