Electronics – Caro Babbo

Part 2: Threads reweave, one ends

The prawn boat docking did not go quite as smooth as one might hope. The crew seemed new.

The crewman on the starboard forward deck, dock line in hand, watched the dock as it got closer and as he prepared to loop a line around a cleat, the aft most deckhand called forward, “get a bumper.” The forward crewman replied out loud, “oh yeah,” and dangled a faded orange ball of a fender between the dock and the boat.

The front of the boat pressed against the dock as its stern rotated to starboard pressing against another orange faded ball-shaped fender. I went back to work. When I looked down again the crew had finished docking and were preparing to leave the boat.

On the stern was written Nordic Star. Continue reading “Part 2: Threads reweave, one ends”

I can see your house from here…

28-MAR-2018, SEATAC Airport – …and other views from up high.

The items highest in my mind are three:

I haven’t found the leak in the aft cabin starboard locker. Mogens Winther in the Maxi 95 group has suggested that the water is getting in through the cubby on the starboard side of the cockpit. I can’t see anything there, but I haven’t looked as hard as I might. This could be the entry point.
The leaky locker. Water is visible, lower left. Despite all the caulking water rain water still enters.
The fuel line still seems to be getting air in it despite having replaced everything from the injection pump to the tank including the filters, filter holders, all lines and the valve at the tank. The engine started fine several times in a row over a few days, but on the sail to Port Hadlock, starting was difficult with all the earmarks of air in the lines. The next stop is an electrical pump to push the fuel forward. I’ve resisted, but I’ve run out of ideas.
OpenCPN for Android is no longer speaking to the Vesper AIS. We’ve upgraded everything in one go, so it is difficult to pin point what the problem is. I suspect it is the new OpenCPN for Android release, since OpenCPN on my mac works fine. John Register, the author of the port to Android, has been providing fast, intelligent support.

Continue reading “I can see your house from here…”

AIS resurrects

16-jul-2017, Southern Lynn Canal — A quick note. Yesterday AIS stopped displaying error signals and all readings returned to normal, so we should be back on line.

Errors like this are worrisome.

New house batteries are great.

We’re on our way to Skagway and about to lose internet.

Some electronic issues

The AIS has been signaling errors. I noticed this yesterday. The light on the unit is moving between red (possibly orange) and green.

We’re seeing the RSSI numbers move from high -90s to -60s on both channels (A and B) but generally it is B that has the problem. We receive oaky, but may be having trouble transmitting.

This could be an antenna problem, or a unit problem. I lean towards the unit because nothing that a I know of physically has changed and the unit has worked well the entire trip so far.
Continue reading “Some electronic issues”

The First Thing Breaks: John’s Laptop

13-JUL-2017, Juneau, AK – My laptop died a hard death this morning… no response to pressing the power key, the power supply doesn’t light when attached.

$500 at apple to repair… $395, and a bunch of charges. The final amount should be mid four-hundreds.

Last night Derek from our marina joined us for dinner. He’s crew on the boat, Serenity (which shows on AIS as Talos).

Arriving in Juneau yesterday afternoon, we found we knew the crews of six other boats. Some from this year, and a few from last year. Continue reading “The First Thing Breaks: John’s Laptop”

Back in the water, again

Caro Babbo went into the water at lunch Thursday. The wind had been blowing mid-twenties gusting to 30. The Travelift operators, who I’ve gotten to know across the five weeks, came by often to find out what I wanted to do. Continue reading “Back in the water, again”

Status, statistics, and did anything not break?

1-OCT-2016 – It’s easiest to answer the last item first. Yes, a number of things did not break. None of the standing rigging had any sort of failure (the standing rigging is what holds up the mast). After that it becomes a little more difficult to think of something, None of us, personally, were injured or became ill, nor did any of our guests, so the human factor held up well. Continue reading “Status, statistics, and did anything not break?”

Tag: Electronics