Showing posts with label Radar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radar. Show all posts

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Additional Setup

I went to the boat again today to check things out. I went on the boat to take a look. I was able to get on the boat from stepping over on the bowsprit. Grabbing the forestay, first thing I noticed was how loose it felt. It didn't feel loose from the furler track over it, just felt like there was a lot of slack in it. I'm new to this so I'm not sure. The shrouds were all tight. There are two full backstays. One felt more loose than the other. I could have moved the boat to the slip, but didn't want to just to make sure the yard didn't have to do anything else.

First thing I did was to setup the radar mast. I had most of the hardware needed and only had to get three nuts from the local chandlery. I also tested out the radar and seemed to work ok.


There were a bunch of lines attached to the mast. I unwound them to sort out what they all were. The lines going up the mast were the main halyard, jib halyard, and two lines that looked like one was for hank-on sails and another possibly for a topping lift but seemed just short of reaching the end of the boom. Two lines were on the wrong side of the spreaders so I had to throw a line just above the spreaders to pull them back over. It took many tries to throw the line and I'm sure anyone watching could have had a good laugh.

The line I used was from the roller furling.


The lines were cleaned up and organized better than before.


One of the lines I had to pull over looked to belong to the jib halyard. There was no shackle on the end and I tied it to the bow.


I then took the main halyard and used it as a topping lift for the boom. This helped me lift it to attach the gooseneck and boom vang to the mast.


The boom is now attached to the mast, ready for the main sail.


When I showed up at the boat, I connected the batteries for listening to some music. I also tested the motor too. Oddly, the motor seems to shake more than it did before, even when increasing the speed. I left one of the batteries connected with the bilge pump set on auto. I noticed the door to the head is easier to open and close. It is a bit odd (in a good way) to walk around the boat and feel the motion of being on the water. I guess I'm still a little used to being on the trailer but I'll get used to the water sure enough. ;-)

The last view before leaving for the day.


I'm planning to call tomorrow to see what else they're planning on doing. Personally, I think the standing rigging could be tightened. If they can do that during the day, then, I'll be able to move the boat to its slip.

Monday, January 21, 2013

REFIT Plan: Instruments

This part of my refit plan, I'm looking at replacing the Garmin 546s and Furuno radar. Lately, the Furuno stopped working which I may just need to trace the power to see if I can get it working again. While the 546s still works, I like the idea of having a bit larger screen.


Both of these are mounted by the electrical panel on a swing out arm to be viewable in the cockpit. Both take up quite a bit of space and I'm thinking it would be nice to consolidate the two into one system.

My idea for the upgrade is to get a Garmin 4208 chartplotter with a Garmin Radar, either the 18HD or 24HD. The Garmin 740s also seems to be popular and is touchscreen and costs less. Currently, the Furuno radar antenna is mounted on a pole on the stern rail. I'm thinking to mount it a little higher with a Scanstrut mount on the mast.

I can mount this single screen on the swing mount but I'm leaning more towards the idea of placing it where the bulkhead compass is currently mounted. This way, I won't have to have it swing back and forth on the swing mount. I'll look into how it might work out later but this is my current plan.

If this new chartplotter is mounted in place of the compass, I thinking to make a new companion way panel that is low profile, but big enough to mount the compass. This panel would removable for the times when not sailing.

Garmin also has AIS capabilities that can be viewed on the chartplotter. This is something I considered adding to this installation but I may not use AIS (yet). Maybe a VHF radio with AIS receiver could be a good alternative. Another aspect of some of the equipment is the possibility of using it outside of the US. That's when the FCC comes in where a Ship Radio Station license and Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit seems to be needed. Just something else to research along the way.