err... still in Honolulu, actually.
Yup, I've been slack, no denying. Still, a number of things have been done ...
- New cranking (starting) battery
- New alternator
- New Y-valve in the waste plumbing. (Y-valve? Y not? Here endeth the 'Y' puns.)
- New interior light in the head. (For the not familiar, the bathroom/toilet on a boat is called 'the head'. Don't ask, I don't know why. (Y? Stop that!))
- New steering cable
- New steering chain
- New filter in fuel/water separator
- New 'block' (pulley) on the main sheet traveller and 2 new ones on the boom.
- Re-wired the compass light so that it's independent of the navigation lights.
- Sealed the last of the known leaks in the cabin. Note the use of the word 'known'.
And some other stuff that I can't remember right now. All of which should have taken a quarter of the time that it did. Bite me. Part of the delay was trying to find the best places to buy the parts from.
And then find out how to get there. And ... you know, stuff.
The steering gear, that some of you will recall I repaired at sea, started making some odd noises as I was nearing Hawai'i, which made my prior resolution, to check it over when I got here, all the easier to keep. I had planned to replace the chain anyway, as it was shortened by the repair. When I crawled into the cavity to look at the linkage, I noticed pretty much straight away that 3 of the 6 strands on one of the cables, running from the chain to the rudder quadrant, had frayed. I can only guess that when I repaired it at sea I either over or under-tightened the adjustment, or somehow 'nicked' the cable enough to cause the strands to weaken. So, no option but to replace it, and I eventually found a local rigger that said he could (and did) make one up 'on the spot' for $60. So I bought two. Now I have a spare.
The chain I ordered from the original equipment manufacturer. For $200 I received what looks suspiciously like 24 inches (60 cm) of bog standard motor-cycle drive chain with a shackle on each end of it. Now it's been years since I had to buy motorcycle chain, but that seems pretty damn
expensive to me. Anyway, it's done. I'll keep the old (short) one so I have a spare of that as well.
I have a theory that most boats sink because the owners accumulate so many spares that the boats are simply overloaded. And who am I to buck that trend?
Which only leaves the auto-pilot. I haven't heard back from my very good friends at Raymarine yet, on what they intend to do about the wheel unit failing a second time. I haven't been unduly stressed about it while I've had other stuff to do, but the auto-pilot is now about the only thing that I need to resolve so I can get going again. It occurred to me that I can get on with the upgrade while I wait on the repair of the smaller unit, as the two 'projects' are pretty much independent. In fact the only reason I'm pursuing the repair of the smaller unit is so that I can sell it to recover part of the cost of the upgrade. So the upgrade research has been done, and as usual the cheapest place that I can buy the new drive unit and course computer is from Defender. Still, it means I have to scrounge up a shade over $2700 that I don't happen to have lying around in my 'lazy money' account*. The financial juggling of this project is harder than the sailing!
Anyway, that's about it as far as the boat stuff goes.
I'll post again prior to setting off.
W.
* This is a fictional account that I wish I had one of.
LATE EDIT I heard from the local Raymarine agent that Raymarine called them and have said they are way behind on their warranty jobs at the moment, and it will be 'another two or three weeks' before they get it back to me. The hell...??!! They've already had the thing for over two weeks.
I figure I'll just go ahead with the upgrade, and have them send the repaired unit to Australia where I can catch up with it.
