Having no electronics to fix, we are back to the brightwork that was started last season.  Underneath the cracked “varnish?” lies a beautiful piece of wood.  I refer to the teak on the cockpit coaming.  We did about a third of it – stripped and 1st coat Cetol Lite on Saturday.  It was not quite dry by the time the sun went down and the overnight dew dulled the finish.  On Sunday we let it dry until about 1400hrs in the direct sun and applied the second coat.  That coat was almost dry by 1700 hrs and looks the best of all the wood on the boat.  Nice.

Monday night I removed the ship’s power panel voltmeter that has been non functional.  After taking it apart, I discovered that a 13.5K wirewound resistor was open and one end of the coil was not attached to the terminal or the resistor.  I emailed a buddy and asked him if he wanted to rewind the coil and fix the instrument but he emailed back and said that he had cataracts and could no longer see the fine wires.  Maybe SAM can do the job.

Today I looked up the SO.65 form factor voltmeter and discovered that an outfit in Taiwan makes them and so I emailed for a price and delivery method – hopefully they have Paypal.  I’ll tell you when I find out.

In the mean time I will describe the SO.65 form factor.  They have a visible panel side diameter of approximately 3.375″ (85mm) diameter.  The through hole to mount them in the panel is 2.57″ (65mm).  The mounting is via three holes equally spaced around the 3″ diameter point.  Any SO.65 form factor instrument should work as it is a more or less standard.  I want one that is 0-300 VAC 50/60 Hz.

I intend to install a SPDT switch and this way I can monitor input power from the dock and breaker side power with the one instrument.  In series with the switch and the meter I will solder a 1/4 Amp pico fuse in case the meter shorts.  I want to be able to see if dock side power is applied and what the voltage is before turning on the Main AC breaker.

I should be finished with improvements in about 10 years or so.  How about you?

Today SAM and I were out on the lake sailing.  It was pretty rough and the seas were taking a toll on both of us.  I was tired of the battle and so I hauled in the bit headsail and pulled around into the wind to lower the main and staysail.  After some effort we did a 190 and headed for the harbor beacons.  On the way in a spider came into view of my left eye. I swatted at it and flipped my glasses and wouldn’t you know they went overboard.  I am now using a poor substitute.  Somewhere I have an almost exact duplicate of the lost pair and we will have to go home to find it.

The portable A/C unit is not really working too well. It has not quit running since we arrived back from our misadventure on the water today.  The air is cool but it is not cooling very well.  It is supposed to be a 12K BTU unit.  It was only 85 today and it was barely keeping up.

On the good news side, the wind system indicator works and calibrated ok.  The old depth indicator was connected to the seatalk buss too and all are talking with the Raymarine 6002 a/p control head.  I am pretty much finished with the new equipment and wiring it up for this year.  Oh yes, I have one intermittant short to troubleshoot and fix this summer, then I am finished.

We are on Inspiration for the week on vacation.  We had it all planned out but a few personal issues came up with the grandchildren and now we are two days behind.  We plan a day trip tomorrow on the lake as DJ wants to see the big water.

This afternoon before DJ & SAM arrived I installed a portable A/C unit to see how it works.  It seems to function OK but nothing spectacilar for a $400 unit.  It was/is worth a try.  We shall see.  I also installed the seatalk cable for the wind system and connected it to the S3G autopilot computer.  I believe this is the last of the instrumentation for this season.  I would like to get radar and a radar transponder but this is in the future.

Tomorrow is forcast for 6-10kt winds out of the South becoming West.  I guess we will head West on the way out.

I spent most of the week off Inspiration for the family summer get together and to visit with my son.  Good times were rolling.  This past weekend was spent with shore and boat work.  More bright work and installing the Raymarine Analog Wind Indicator.  I have the teak plate installed and have the hole saw (90 mm) and need to copy the template so I can mark the hole and the mounting thru holes.

 I ordered a seatalk cable that was long enough to get from the bulkhead indicator mounting back to the AP Seatalk port 2.  If this works everything electronic should be completed on the boat for this year.  This should allow me to select a constant wind angle course and away we go.  One thing I do not like is the complex setup sequence.  You have to do it the first time you power it up & this is not convenient.  Oh well, so much for electronics.

 The handrails are finished except for the gloss coat.  I noticed some areas of the teak deck that need recalking so I am starting on that next.  I ordered the caulking from Teakdecking Systems out of Sarasota, FL.  I will write an article when I have tried it – successful or unsuccessful.