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Adrift, but not lost

Mikebat

Member III
Hi there. Haven't been posting for several months, mainly because I go through phases on the internet, and this has been my "I am tired of B-boards" phase. But also because I have been busy procrastinating on boat chores, and sometimes actually accomplishing some of them. The one that turned out to be way more work and way less interesting than I thought it would be was rewiring the electrical cabinet. But that f**ker's done. Whew! Only the AC shore wiring is left, and I am leaving that one to do with the new battery charger install. Later.

Thanks to my spiffy new wiring job, I can add new electrical stuff and actually know which breaker it's connected to and where the wiring has to go. I hauled out Valinor last month for a bottom job and to install the new through-hulls for the instrument upgrades. I chose TackTick wireless instruments, which despite the advertising, are not entirely wireless. :) The hull instruments still have leads to connect to the control module. Lucky for me, someone had given the boat an extra empty wiring conduit pre-strung with a messenger line from the starboard locker where the old Corinthian wiring block was to the forward bilge where the through-hulls were. So that's done, except for a climb up the mast to install the new anemometer and windvane. That part really is wireless, and self-powered by a solar-charged battery. It's initialized and networked and I can hold it up in the wind and get readings on the displays. Pretty cool.

The wireless displays - I have two now, a wind display and a two-line data display - mount on a 18" x 6" x 1/2" plank of pure white HDPE which I got from cuttingboardfactory.com. I bolted that to the binnacle rails and attached the display's brackets on the helmsman's side. There's room for two more. It looks really good, much better than the old Corinthian instrument pods. I will get some extra quick-release mounting brackets so I can put a data display on the backside of the board for when I am sitting forward in the cockpit facing aft, and someone else or the autopilot is steering. I'll also put some brackets in the cabin. You can just tote the wireless, solar-charged displays anywhere, snap them into a bracket or stow them in their little leatherette carry cases. There's also a module that accepts RS232 NMEA data from anything, and puts that data on the TackTick wireless network. An optional 4" solar panel is available so the control and NMEA modules can be charged from the sun as well. They have internal batteries, like the displays and wind instrument, and can run for two weeks without any boat power or sunlight. I will use the NMEA module to integrate my GPS and radar (when I get a radar) and the PC. I am thinking about using Bluetooth adapters to send RS232 NMEA data wirelessly as well. But I may just hardwire this part. Haven't decided just yet. I still have the autopilot to integrate into all of this. It's a Simrad WP32X.

I attempted to gain access to all of my bilge by removing the sole, but after the teak plugs and screws came out, it was apparent that the sole was glued to the underflooring. So I am not gonna touch that one for a while, until I come up with a really good reason to do it. In the meantime, I will carry a fireman's axe on board in case I need emergency access to the hull beneath the sole. :esad:

If all goes well, the sea trial for all of this new stuff will occur this Monday. I plan to sail to Two Harbors, and on Tuesday my two nephews will arrive in LA and take the ferry from MDR to meet me. Or I may wait until Tuesday and cross with them aboard. At any rate, our plan is to sail around the island next week, to Avalon for a day and a night, a cove or two, and then around to Cat Harbor, and back around to Two Harbors if we have time. I need to return by Sunday so I can return to work Monday the 17th.

There's just one job left that may delay me, which I am working on today and tomorrow. I have had a nagging problem with the fresh water pump running continuously. I tried many times to flush air out of the system, and I don't see any air coming out of the taps or the water heater vent, which is the highest point in the system. Nor can I find any leaks, although there is a persistent drip-drip from the pump body itself. So I pulled the pump out this morning and disassembled it, expecting (hoping?) to find the diaphragm was torn or something. But nothing so glaringly obvious was apparent, except that fresh water pumps have a lot of slimey gunk inside them, despite their name. :) So I bought a new pump and will be going back to the boat to install it after I post this. Maybe it was the pressure sensor on the old pump. The new one is a variable speed and I've added an accumulator tank too. Tomorrow, I'll disinfect the water system with bleach (following directions from a thread right on this board). Once that's done, I'm ready to be underway.

Oh, and one other thing: I'm moving Valinor to the Cabrillo Marina. My slip is C-43 and I can move the boat to it on the 27th of this month.
 
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Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
Welcome to Cabrillo!

Welcome to Cabrillo Mike,

I am over at Berth 33 E-Dock, Slip 33. I used to be on Berth 31 B Dock. I may take a dinghy ride over to check out your. E-32-200. Cabrillo is a great Marina. Where are you coming from? Glad your projects are coming to an end. The wireless displays sound great! Hope to meet up some time.:egrin:
 

bigtyme805

Member III
Hi Jeff:

A patient of mine is the dockmaster at your marina. He is always trying to get me to come down there and live in LA. I can't recall his name but a really nice guy.

Just wanted to let you know that I installed that radar and I am very happy. Went with NAV-TEC by edson 8 foot mount. I love it and works great. I will take some pics for you to see. Similiar set-up as yours. I opted for a different placement for the screen. Although, after looking at your set-up more closely I like yours better because you can be at the helm and see the screen at the same time.

My wife and I are planning the big trip to Sea of Cortez and boat is finally fitted out for trip. I have one more item and that is install a bigger tank for water. The Hawaii trip taught me a few lessons and one was radar and the other was more water.

After this trip I may look for a bigger boat, ericson(35). I believe on these trips that I take I play with fire being on a E27 because of the capsize issue. Can you imagine being on the southern ocean in the E27? Probably would be fine but one never knows.

Be well, glad Mike is working on his boat, remember when he bought it and sailed it from original port.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
capsize ratio

Hey Don,

Congrats on the new Radar! (What Brand Radar?) Let me know how big a water tank you end up squeezing in your E-27. Here's a link to a web site that calculates Comparisons between boat performance between different boats. The capsize ratio is not that much higher on a E-27 vs a E-35. Our boats rate very well for their size and displacement. Check it out, not so sure how accurate it is but it's fun to play with.

http://image-ination.com/sailcalc.html
 

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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
capsize ratios : interesting!

Thanks very much for the link. I just went there and put in the info for my boat.
I like the way you can click on the stat you are interested in and an explanation appears. I copy-pasted some of the explanatory info and appended it, as well.
Here are the basic numbers for us:

boatName=Olson 34
LOA=34
LWL=28
beam=10.9
displacement=10600
sailArea=543
displacementToLWL=216
speed=7.09
sailAreaToDisplacement=18
LWLToBeam=2.57
motionComfort=22.64
capsizeRatio=1.98
category=racer/cruiser
ppi=1091
_____________________
"Motion Comfort: Range will be from 5 to 60+ with a Whitby 42 at the mid 30's. The higher the number the more comfort in a sea. This figure of merit was developed by the Yacht designer Ted Brewer and is meant to compare the motion comfort of boats of similar size and types."

"Capsize Ratio: A value less than 2 is considered to be relatively good; the boat should be relatively safe in bad conditions. The higher the number above 2 the more vulnerable the boat. This is just a rough figure of merit and controversial as to its use."

"LWL to Beam: A medium value would be 2.7. 3.0 would be high and 2.3 would be low."

Sounds like the E-35-2 would be a little more comfortable and the O-34 a little bit faster... I might perhaps get to Hawaii sooner, but would suffer more from sleep deprivation...
:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Loren in PDX
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
US Sailing link

Thanks Loren,

Good idea to put up the additional information. US Sailing also has a similar calculator but is doesn't do comparisons though. I was surprised to find that my Father's full keel Bayfield 25 pocket cruiser had a very high capsize ratio. He was in disbelief when I told him. He thought that little boat he single handed to Alaska was almost as sea worthy as a PSC Flicka. It was a neat boat though.

Here's the US Sailing link.

http://www.sailingusa.info/cal__capsize.htm
 

bigtyme805

Member III
Thanks Jeff:

Somebody gave me some bogus info on capsize ratio, told me it was 2.20. Always check your resources. Thank you so much.
 

Jeff Asbury

Principal Partner
No Problem Don. Not sure if this info is accurate but like i said it's fun to play with. Our E-27 seem to take a lot and my personal comfort level is very strong on my boat.

Hey, when's the big Sea of Cortez trip? You might want to do the Baja Ha Ha to get down there. Nice write up in last months Sail magazine about the advantages of cruisers in numbers just to get your self down there. Costs a few bucks to enter and 27' is the smallest entry they take. Who knows you just might win in your division.

Jeff:egrin:
 

bigtyme805

Member III
Hi Jeff:
Going after hurricane season, end of October if everything works out well. I prefer the open ocean but baja haha would be nice. Wouldn't mind racing the old girl, probably would do pretty nicely in the class. Although, I have so much gear would have to get rid of some to have any chance.

You have any interest of sailing in this event? Let me know.
 
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