Two Mermaid AC units - one 30 amp line!

We just were talking to Mermaid AC support and they said that we will only need one 110 volt line. This is good news! We were thinking these tow AC units would require two separate lines.

Not so and they could even start up at the same time and not b low a breaker.

Things that make life easier are nice, and these will make life more comfortable also!

Now we would like to replace the 120 volt wires in the boat but it is time thing. Could be that will be done in Mexico :).

Rigworks mast climbing 4-1 tackle purchased - 2012

We got our mast climbing gear out of our storage shed. It was purchased to climb the mast on our Catalina 30. It was used with a Boson’s chair. Works great but it is tiring for me.

To the left with an old hose fitting in it for sizing up the distance for the Sherwood Sea strainer install.

Aqua Signal 3106012000

This is the light we purchased from Marine Exchange and put on our mast.

Article number 3106012000

Description Masthead / foredeck combination

Type of lamp Special (masthead), BA 9S Halogen (foredeck)

Housing material Polycarbonate, shock resistant, non-corrosive, non-magnetic, seawater resistant.

Housing color Black

Protection degree IP 45

Approvals USCG, IMO, RINA, MCA, GL, A16, CE

Light sources included yes

Ship type sail/power

Ship size 12 m / 39 ft.

Electric With 2 wire lead. Bulb is included.

Voltage 12 V

Wattage 10 W (masthead), 20 W (foredeck)

Visibility 2 nm

Mounting Mast only

Optics Fresnel, plastic, shock resistant, seawater resistant.

Force 10 stove cleaning - 2012

We checked out the Force 10 stove FAQ's on this and I ended up calling them.
What i got from that is below.

Riles Marine Radar Mount – Do NOT Buy

Riles Marine Radar Mount – Do NOT Buy

It is a long story and I will only go into some of it but the bottom line is f you can and I think you can find a stainless steel radar mount from another manufacture I would be wise to choose them instead of RileyMarine.

Rigworks recommended we purchase the radar mount from Riley Marine.

We had our mast sitting on the ground in the boat yard and Rigworks went to install the radar antenna and the radar mount and we found the radar mount did not fit the antenna. Bummer.

These brackets are 3 1/2 inches off

When I ordered the radar mount directly from Riley Marine I specifically said it was for a Garmin 18” HD radar antenna.

The Radar mount is expensive and with tax and shipping is more so.

Ray from Rigworks tried calling Riley Marine at that time (Thursday afternoon during business hours) but there was no answer. We had to make the decision to send it to Thomas Welding as they were the only welder who could get it done right then or abuts.

Rigworks got the mount back From Thomas Welding and it was installed.

Debbie and I went to the boat yard on Saturday and Sunday working on the mast and Monday the mast went back into the boat.

The mast cost $100.00 a day lay time (M-F).

Rigworks asked Riley Marine to pay for the fabrication work done by Thomas Welding.

Riley said “because Ray at Rigworks did not leave a message they could not react to the problem and that Thomas Marine charged too much”.

Rile covered only part of the repair cost.

To us, the customer this is not right. The mount did not fit! We ordered one exactly for our radar. Riley screwed up. It was costing us $100.00 a day to wait for Riley and we could not see paying that. Riley is in L.A and we are in San Diego so no matter how you figure it was not going to be a same day deal.

Riey was not easy to deal with and made lots of excuses and the hole thing was a lot of drama to get them to pay what they did. Not a good experience for a simple mount that has now coast use over $550.00!

Riley has bad customer service. They had the chance to just make it right and did not. They haggled and complained and had a chance to be a top notch supplier but fell flat.

So we give Riley Marine a Do-NOT-Buy because of their poor customer service.

They shipped the wrong radar mount and would not make it right. Riley Marine turned purchasing an expensive radar mount from a good experience into a bad experience.

New + stern anchor windlass cable ordered

We just ordered our new 12’ 2 gauge red cable for the stern anchor windlass from genuinedealz.com. This will replace the old automotive one.

Old cable

5/16 on one end and ¼ on the other.

Next is the black ground but it is longer and needs measuring.

In hull transducer

We will also want an in hull (drill no holes) transducer for depth.

Plastic In-hull Mount Transducer with Depth - Airmar P72

Debbie went up the mast with Spinlock Mast Pro Harness!, - 2012

2012 Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA

Spinlock Mast Pro Harness

Our goal was to climb up the mast to the first few mast steps that were left open. About ¾ the way to the spreaders.

Debbie made a temporary Sunbrella dinghy cover - 2012

February 2012 - Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA

After replacing the boom we freed up the big piece of Sunbrella we had.

Specking out Auto Pilot

Brad at Shelter Island Marine Electronics came by the boat and climbed into the lazerett to check out our steering system.

So far what we have found out from Brad at Shelter Island Marine Electronics is that the Garmin auto pilot should not limit our steering at all. There are some steps to take that can make the install easier and also we will not lose any rudder motion.

Also while talking to Garmin support they said the auto pilot comes with the basic NMEA 2000 network so we would not necessarily need to NMEA starter kit.

Garmin GHP12 SailPilot Core Pack

Garmin Class A Autopilot Drive Unit (SailPilot)

Machine Shop to modify Tiller Pin to fit
quadrant

Garmin NMEA2000 Starter Kit??

Solar hot water, it is a working! - 2012

2011 - Marina Cortez San Diego, CA

It is February 22-2012 still in the deep of winter.
The Sun had been shining all day and the refer is running off shore power. There is not much if anything running off the batteries. That means the batteries are on float and fully charged. That means the dump load (water heater) is getting its full amount of AMPs.

Fuel tank gauge - installed

San Diego 2012

Our fuel gauge has been working fine now.

We looked all over for a spot to mount this gauge but came up empty. The nav station was not a good choice as we have other items needing mounting there and this is a gauge we do not need to look at that often. Just putting it into a plywood panel like behind the nav station would not work because the back would have to be covered. The solution became installing it stand alone where it could be mounted and moved if need be. We mounted it in a teak box and placed it on top of the charger inverter. Debbie plans on gluing Velcro onto the charger\inverter and the bottom of the fuel gauge box. This way if need be we can just move it out of the way. This may also be a method to install a couple LED AMP meters for the solar panel and wind generator.

It has a light and on\off switch as we do not need it on all the time.

Interesting picture at night.

Shelter Island Electronics coming by the boat

We are having Shelter Island Electronics come by the boat today to see if our autopilot choice is a valid one before plunking down the big bucks for an under deck autopilot. We may even have them do some of the install after we do the grunt work.

Garmin

GHP 12 Autopilot System

Class A Drive Unit for GHP 12

Shelter Island Marine Electronics

2330 Shelter Island Dr. #101

San Diego, CA 92106

Ph (619) 223-2182

Fx (619) 221-0910

Stern anchor windlass wiring

We are about ready to order our new stern anchor windlass cables. We are first getting the power (red) cable. This requires deciding on keeping this breaker below and fusing etc.

This picture is of a 2 gauge cable and a copper or bronze maybe strip and then a 40 AMP breaker and then a #10 wire and it goes to a buss which connects an old stern anchor windlass. We have purchased a spare windlass of the same kind and are replacing the old automotive 2 gauge cable with a new marine one. The other wires will be replaced also. This breaker is hard to get at berried under the cockpit deck.

This 2 gauge cable will be ordered 12' long with a 5/16 on one end and a ?? on the other.

After doing some research:
The flat piece of metal is technically referred to as a "Bozocator", it confirms the presence of a Bozo during system design and installation. Probably kludged into place to prevent the larger cable lug from shorting out against the breaker's body, not a very elegant way to do it.

We will get rid of this little breaker and order our new cable. Then measure the full load and install a breaker by the nave station for the cable and windlass that will allow a bit of overload for the windlass. Also a fuse to protect the cable.

We will get a clamp-on DC ammeter and measure the full load from the winch, then pick wiring and breakers that are proper for it. Breakers all allow a certain amoung of overload for a certain time, so we will select one that trips out before the winch can overload and overheat internally.

Debbie and I put the boom back onto the mast - 2012

February 2012 - Currently at Marina Kona Kai Shelter Island San Diego, CA

We put the pin in the boom where it holds the boom onto the mast and added the new cotter pin.

Then I switched places with Debbie and (she was holding up the boom) and I held the boom while she attached our new topping lift to the boom.

Debbie then re-attached the boom big blocks and the traveler to the boom. I cleaned up the boom with some compound and the boat was looking like a sail boat again.

Now to polish up the boom for the new sails!

Our mast head sheaves

Our sheaves were plastic and for line but for one and it was steel and for the SS wire jib halyard and or line. You can run line on the jib sheave itf it is not sacred up. Then you could remove it and clean up any scaring and replace it then run the line. We got lucky and found a replacement sheave at Sailing Supply in San Diego and it was their last one. They need to be the same width and the center hole need to fit the pin good.

Our jib steal sheave was in good shape so we left it there as the rigger (Ray at Rigworks) said it would work just fine with line. We will get a new line jib and main halyard soon for Riggingonly.com.

We replaced the plastic main Hayward with a steel one. We also removed all the sheaves and cleaned the head and etc etc.

New water heater now running off new 120 volt 10/3 wire - 2012

We wired the new hot water heater to the nav panel. We had previously run the new 120 volt 10/3 but never got it connected. This time we finished that off. We left the wires at the nav station a little long and not real secured because we are going to move the breaker switch on the nav panel. We need to make room for the new 30 amp breaker that we are installing there.

New 120 volt wiring from dock to nav station - 2012

2012 - Marina Cortez San Diego, CA

It would be nice to be talking about sailing and napping but it is re-fitting time and the sailing time will come.

Electric dingy pump fuse added

Ok so this may be over kill but we added a fuse to the dingy electric pump. The pump says 20 amp max I think so we fused it. Just to protect the pump in case of?

Soon we will fuse the wire that the pump plugs into in the cockpit.

One new whisker pole haylard cleat installed

One of our new whisker pole SS cleats got installed. We first had to put some cotter pins in the turn buckle's so they do not spin out of tuning. This is a left over from the mast install.
The cotter pin size we chose was 3/4 inch log.
They do the job nicely and look good. The line is over kill in size so we will replace it at a later date. This will make it easier to handle.

New whisker pole ring mount

The whisker pole was sitting on the round ring holder that sits on the 1 ¼ inch mast track and the ring is too small. It make s the pole lean out at the top.