Archive for the ‘huge’ Category

Chartplotter and AIS

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

Quixote is really a turnkey sailing machine. Several things I would have done for offshore or cruising–like AGM house batteries and a smart charger–are already completed.

The one think I want to do before the delivery is add a better chartplotter with AIS capability. In my opinion, this is poor man’s radar and a “must have” for sailing in/near the shipping lanes.

Although I’m brand-partial to Simrad, I’m leaning toward putting a Garmin 740 at the helm station. The touch screen gives the best ratio of screen real estate to unit size. Plus it has a built-in antenna and a good built-in basemap. For traffic detection, the Garmin AIS class B tranceiver is proably the best bet. Since it includes a built-in VHF antenna splitter, it’s not horribly more expensive than the ACR or West Marine models.

GPS 740: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=37721

AIS 600: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=63743

Probably this locks me into a Garmin radar in the future, if that ever comes to pass. On the other hand, for the type of sailing we do, I’m not sure my (slight) brand preference for Simrad or Furuno matters. Or, to be honest, whether we’ll ever need radar on this boat at all…

Yard Tasks

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

The boat is going into KKMI on tuesday for about a week on the hard. I’m going to try to do as much as possible myself, because my checkbook is trembling in fear.

  • Sand and paint bottom
  • Replace propshaft cutlass bearing
  • Pull mast and inspect mast and hardware
  • Reinforce gooseneck (i.e. throughbolt or backing plate)
  • Quote new standing rigging and replace if appropriate
  • Install backstay insulators
  • Install Orca Green tricolor masthead light
  • Install external forward halyard block, rig messenger
  • Drain the old diesel, replace shutoff valve, replace w/new diesel
  • Fabricate new lifelines

Huge Tasks

Friday, May 18th, 2007

I’ve been actively prepping the boat since late February, so I’ve got lists coming out my proverbial yingyang. Basically, there are two catagories: Huge and Countless.

I’m concentrating particularly on the tasks that are required for the ISAF cat 1 inspection coming up in the beginning/middle of June.

To make myself feel good, I’m going to add a few huge tasks that I’ve already completed, just so I can cross them out.

Huge:

  • Life Raft (bought from Sal’s Inflatables in Alameda)
  • EPIRB (bought through KDP arrived yesterday)
  • Alternate navigation lights + alternate power
  • Emergency Steering
  • Storm sails
  • Heavy weather sail (i.e. #4 jib)
  • Single Sideband Radio (look at used SGC on Monday May 21)
  • Measurement and ORR certification (application + freeboard measurement + sail measurement)
  • Spinnaker net
  • Possible standing rigging replacement