I’ll keep posting updates periodically to record maintenance and replacements on the boat – likely this is of more interest to me than to anyone else, so this is more of a record of what I’ve done and when than anything else. So, with that in mind:
Chartplotter and radar installation is complete, and working nicely. The radar mast was updated with a new platform (clear polycarbonate) and two of the four antennas were removed, leaving one VHF and one GPS antenna, both for the AIS. The AIS one doesn’t seem to work, however, and the AIS seems to be working fine with it’s own internal antenna, so I may remove that one also.
The AIS is installed and working nicely.
There is a lot of dead wiring in the boat, mostly running through the aft cabin into the lazarette. I plan to do a purge, but haven’t managed it just yet.
I’ve installed a plug at the engine control panel to connect the solar panel to, and am working on wiring. I was able to reuse a dead wire which was previously for the SSB (it’s been removed). I’ve also bought a new 100W semi-flexible solar panel, so battery recovery will be quicker, and the panel will be easier to stow (the aluminum frame has sharp corners!).
We’ve switched the mainsheet for a thinner, core-dependent line, as the mainsheet winches were annoyingly dropping the sheet out of the self-tailers. That didn’t actually fix it, but the new line is nice so we’ll keep it (probably) in the new Harken winches I’m installing today.
We only had a single set of shackles for attaching the four spinnaker sheets, so we’ve gotten a second set – now sheets will have a large-bail shackle each, and the guy will clip onto them.
The new batteries and battery monitor are installed – it’s great to know we have lots of power, and the ability to really know the state of the batteries.
One of the genoa cars broke an end cap, resulting in it’s spilling out its bearings – which is no good. It was somewhat painful to install a rebuild kit, but that car is not only working again, but is smooth as silk now! I’ll be rebuilding the other car fairly soon to avoid having the same problem a second time, and to make it smooth also.
One of the cam cleats for the spinnaker pole car control lines broke, so that’s been replaced.
We blew our light #1, and have found a used one at Bacon’s in Annapolis, and Heather was conveniently right there to pick it up, so we just keep on rolling!
Coming soon: propane sniffer, fix anchor windlass, dodger replacement…