Fettling...

Fettling?! Chaos...😁

Been a fortnight since the last sail and I was hoping to get lucky this weekend, but I was busy on Saturday, my day of choice, and as suspected when I got to the boat yesterday (Sunday) it was blowing a high end 4 gusting 5 from the West, along with grey and slightly (very slightly) showery intervals...

It really didn't fill me with a sense of joy so I decided to lounge about the boat on the mooring, fettle, fish, read, drink beer, and snooze instead...😀

Along the way however, some necessary work was done, that would have needed doing anyway so the time was very much not wasted..

First on the list was the hinge fitting for the tiller pilot which was showing signs of stress after a couple of years of use...

Here =>

The hinge is stainless steel but not particularly thick - and whereas I was right that it doesn't matter when the pilot ram is extending (as the base presses into the cockpit coaming and supports the hinge), when the pilot ram withdraws it causes a compression at the points marked by the arrows and the hinge has bent slightly..

Wanting to nip this in the bud, I wanted to put some extra support to the bolt hole closest to the hinge - the answer was to put a substantial penny washer on the outside of the hinge in addition to the one already in place on the inside...  to do that though required me first to remove the pilot base (that block of wood), and then remove the cockpit hatch cover, as you need to get your arm up inside the cockpit coaming to get to the nut end of the bolt holding the hinge to the side of the cockpit.. 

Either way - job done - already looks better - it may need a more substantial hinge at some time in the future but for now the job is done.  I've bought the base/block home for a sand down, and another coat of paint..

Next job was a check of the oil level in the outboard, which I had lowered when I first got on board to allow time for the oil to settle.. 

You may remember from the last blog post that I had noticed an oil film in the pan of the engine the last time I had sailed and was concerned it might be leaking..  

Either way, it was a warm day (despite the clouds) so I didn't think it was necessary to run the engine up to warm the oil further, pulled the dip stick and checked the oil (mine looks like that one right - the oil level is read from the very bottom part of the dipper - the straight bit just after the cone)...  

Happily the oil was mid way between the two marks, so no further action required, and a weight off my mind..  looks like the leftover oil was from a previous issue (I have a suspicion the dip stick wasn't fully tightened up during last years use and there was some leakage)

Last job was to check tension of the side stays upper and lowers, and all was good apart from the rear lowers which were very slightly less tensioned, so I gave them a few turns to taughten them up..

Jobs done - fishing rod deployed for the first time this year (nothing, nada, not a sniff), then a beer, a snooze, and a read, before the showers finally drove me home..

Good day but I need to bring the broom out next time - she's hairier than Jimi Hendrix under the water line..💩

Tiller pilot fix and a quick run to Marker...

So..  following on from the last post... 

New battery arrived the day after I ordered it (excellent service from a company called ABS [clicky]) - I'm limited to physical size by the current battery storage box, so although a bigger (Ah) battery would be good, to all intents and purposes the new one is a direct like for like replacement in terms of both physical size, and power..

Reading up on average life spans for batteries, they seem to think 5 years is about average, so the old one lasted about as long as it should have, and at only £50 owed me nothing..  for the records the new one was £55 (delivered)..

Specification 

• Weight 12 kg 
• Dimensions 212 × 175 × 175 mm 
• Warranty (Years) 1 
• Ampere Hours 50 
• Voltage 12
•  Deep Cyclic Yes 
• Engine Starter Battery No 
• Battery Lifespan (cycles) 300 
• Length 212mm Width 175mm Height 175mm 
• Technology Sealed Wet Flooded 

Product description: ABS 12 Volt Low Profile 50 Amp Leisure Battery * Totally maintenance free * Completely sealed Silver Calcium Lead Acid Technology for Enhanced Safety * Heavy Duty * Comfortable and robust carrying handle * VRLA style casing * Deep Cycle (can take deeper discharges during cycles) * Cyclic (can be used many times over) * Semi-Traction capable

An unexpected day off on Thursday^ with a serendipitous HT at 09:28 was the ideal opportunity to swap the batteries and test my theory - it's been 6 years since I last fitted the battery so it was a bit of a voyage of discovery, but as ever the decision to use stainless steel for the battery box fittings paid dividends... undid both bolts, which allowed me to slide the entire box out through the opening, swap over of batteries, and then slide the battery box back in and re-attach the bolts..  quick release terminals on the new battery and it was time to test the auto pilot..

Battery box is fixed in pace with the two bolts you can just see the heads of going through the lip of the opening

Which worked...  🙌🙌

As it was sunny, reasonably arm, and I still had a couple of hours of tide, I squared away, warmed up the donk, took the sail covers off, and went for a glorious run down the trench to the end of the Emsworth channel, where a bear up on to the wind, which was just the right direction, allowed me to aim for and reach Marker for the first time this summer...    with the water disappearing it was time to then head home, where yet again my approach to the mooring was way too fast and I sailed over it..  practice makes perfect.....  

^We're due to go on the Jolly Boys Cruise this weekend but due to storm damage Ocean Waves our usual ride is not available and we have swapped over to Rod the Mod's boat, but he was busy today so we delayed the start, probably not a bad thing, 5 blokes only just fit sleeping-wise on a 30 footer, and I got an additional day for repairs.. 

Log:

Distance: 5.51 (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F2; W
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 3.8 / 3

Shakedown sail and wrinkles...

First/shakedown cruise

Tides still not optimal (now 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon), the next weekend it was finally time at last to get out for the first sail. Saturday was chosen..

Glorious is the only word for it - I'd forgotten everything of course, so it was hardly what you would call a text book effort, but I got away from the mooring, sailed, and got back to the mooring - so good result..

The roller furler operation just puts a  smile on your face, a clean bottom, and a tide underneath, and a broad reach, had us clocking upper 5's and lower 6's across the ground. The depth gauge is fantastic for extending the tacks so that better overall progress was made - I'm now not so tied to channel markers/withy's and can tack later, when I have to.

On the downside the tiller pilot wasn't working - the dreaded code "1000" which my reading would indicate is a boot sequence code, and generally means the device is not getting enough power..  😐

Autopilot power problem determination

Sunday then saw me with a bag full of 12v bits and pieces and a volt meter, hopefully to get to the bottom of the problems... the sun shone all afternoon, and to be honest I quite enjoyed it..

1. Before I left, I tested the autopilot on the car's battery (which I knew was good) and it worked OK, so the pilot was not at fault
2. When I arrived, I plugged it into the 12v socket that worked OK all last year, and same problem.
3. So I connected it direct to the boat battery and it worked OK - which lead me to start removing parts of the connection between battery and 12v socket. The end to end is in several parts..  connectivity is 
1. battery - negative directly attached, positive to the master 12v switch, to
   
2. wire (over spec for use), to
   
3. switch in the locker (so I can turn it off without having to switch off the whole boat's power), to
   
4. in line fuse, to
   
5. dri plug socket
   
4. First I removed the switch - it was stiff, and is supposed to move 360', but was only moving 90' - removed it and connected the positive direct to the inline fuse - tested, still not working
   



5. Next I removed the fuse - tested, still not working...  pffft...
   
6. Next I removed and checked the connectivity on the socket - stripped the wire ends and reconnected - tested, still not working - bugger'ation...
   
7. Next I stripped out all the wire, and replaced it with new - this time wired directly into the switch box (neater, and means I don't need the separate switch and in line fuse) - connected everything up - tested, still not working - bugger'ation!
8. Well and truly confused now, so connected it direct to the battery again, and this time that also failed...  💩💩💩

The battery is 6 years old, and like most boat battery's has a hard life - in it's entire life it has only ever been recharged from the solar, and has lived on the boat throughout, so my assumption is that the intermittent results are down to it failing - voltage looks OK (if a little high), but I don't think it is holding a charge - so it will work for a little while (as I found) and then fail.. in normal mode there's enough power to power up the pilot, but not enough amp'age to sustain the auto facility.

 

To test my theory, I have ordered a new battery, which at the time of writing I hope to fit tomorrow (Thursday 12th)

Log:

Shake down sail..

Distance: 6.3 miles (cumulative total in the mileage tab at the top)
Wind (Speed; Direction): F3 gusting 4; SE/SSE
Sail Plan: Full main and genoa
Speed (Max/average in knots): 6 kts/3 kts (estimated)

....last jobs.. and splashed..

....and breathe....

So after the most frenetic 3 or 4 days in some time she's back in...  but I'm jumping ahead...  so final jobs done...  rub down and two coats of varnish on the grab rails...  

look, shiny..  given what they looked like before that's a little more than miraculous...

...as I had the varnish out, the tiller got the same...  I also rubbed down the companionway sides and gave them two coats as well...  varnish central..

Pleased with this one...  there are moments when you need to disengage the auto pilot from the tiller and then you have the issue of what you do with it, to stop it flopping all over the place..  it was driving me up the wall..  answer? Plastic uPVC pipe clips.. 20mm size...  

Seemples, when not in use the wand/ram just clips in and is held...  chuffed to nuts with this one..  simple things... 😀

Don't laugh (Jolly Boy skipper Rod the Mod already has)..  I have  history with windex's but they are quite useful...  lost the arrow on the last/latest one, but as I still had the arms I just replaced it with a dinghy indicator

Jobs done...  time for the very last thing to do...

Morning of the launch and fit the outboard.. more importantly though, will the lock fit...   answer yes, but only upside down..  decided I don't care, and that will do very nicely..  I may have a play about to see if I can turn it over, but upside down is OK - what I will do is get a plastic bag to keep the water from filling it up..

...and that was it...  along came the hoist...

...dragged Sparrow off, and set her down on the mud and shingle to await the tide...

...and an hour and a half later I was on the mooring for the first time in 18 months...  been a lonnnnnnng wait... 

A good launch for me, 3 other boats also went in, but one came straight back out (leaking skin fitting..  a new one)..  we also recovered a boat that was already in, but which had hit some object floating under the water in the harbour and given its rudder an almighty clout, the rudder was bent at least 10 or 15 degrees out of true, and had lost a pivot pin..  very worrying for the skipper, and an earlier end to his season than he would have hoped, though he's hopeful to be back in again this summer...

The Jolly Boys are convening Saturday afternoon to put the mast up..   should be fun, I only hope we can remember how to do it!!

....good and not so good... tiller pilot and DSC setup

...."not so good"? Read on..

Pretty damn good actually...one of those crafty days off work that usually deliver so much on the sailing front in the summer, also delivered some goodness on the construction and maintenance front..

There were three jobs (four actually) on the list today...

With a little more than 40 days to launch prioritisation is now the key, jobs that need power and electrics move closer to the top of the list, as paint jobs and the like can be done on the water if needed (they don't tend to get done, by the way, they just get moved to next winters list )

First (and easiest), it being March it was time to drop the outboard off for its service - job done and after time for a catch up with Simon at Emsworth Outboards, it was on to the chandlers for one of those (top left -  more anon) and some nuts and bolts..

Next was the job I have been (over) thinking about for far to long, and as is usually the case worked out much easier than I thought - it was time to construct the tiller pilot attachment..  over many long cycle rides to work I have come up with hundreds of ideas ( I was even welding a bracket at one point!) but in the end I rejected them all for the simplest solution a block of 4 x 2 and a hinge..  truly the most difficult thing about it was doing the measuring..  happy to say I followed the 'measure twice cut/drill once' this time rather than my usual other way round..

First off Julian on "Billy" found me a tiller pin in his spares box last summer - it was slightly over size for the fitting on the end of the ram on mine, but that is only plastic so I drilled it out slightly and all was good.. drilled a slightly undersized hole into the tiller and it screwed in with a good tight fit with no need for epoxy..

Just prior to drilling the hole for the pivot pin..  the tiller pin is fitted - thanks Julian!

That done I could do the measurement from pin to cockpit edge, and as suspected it was several inches short of recommended - trimmed down a piece of 4 x 2 I'd bought with me and offered it up with the pilot resting on top and the other end on the pin on the tiller so I could see the pilot was horizontal and at right angles, marked up the position of the end of the block on the cockpit side, and got a rough idea of the length I would need..  once that was cut, I repeated the above, and when I was happy, did a precise measure from the pin on the tiller to get me the position of the hole for the pivot on the pilot. 10mm hole was drilled - perfect size - tested again, perfect..

After that a stainless steel hinge from the spares box (I think I was originally going to use them for the cockpit lids but thought they weren't heavy duty enough) was attached to the block at the cockpit end of the block, and to the cockpit side - that way the block can lie flat again the cockpit side when I'm not using the pilot, so I can still open the cockpit hatches

All done bar the shouting - it's not switched on hence tiller position - power socket down in the corner on the cockpit floor - the hook and eye will be the other side of the block - eye end on the block

The block is in the garage for a couple of coats of paint; I'll fit the hook and eye (which will secure the block when it's being used) next time, as at this point the rain drove me into the cabin for a cup of tea... 

Warm and dry in the cabin (fan heater going like a banshee), tea in hand, it was time for the third job - the VHF..

The easy job was to program in the MMSI that I recently got from Ofcom when I registered the radio, but then the job that turned out to be infinitely more a pain in the ar*e - connecting my GPS 72 (which is truly old, but continues to work and therefore I am reluctant to upgrade) so I can send GPS data for the DSC function on the radio..

The problem was that the GPS data cable has two wires for data, the radio has four wires..  I read that radio manual about a hundred times trying to understand what the cables were doing and what matched up - I don't consider myself to be a dull bloke, but I could not get the GPS to talk to the VHF for love nor money, so in the end I did what I should have done and did some research on the web.

On the Practical Boat Owner forum I came up trumps, someone had asked the exact same question a number of years ago, and one of the respondents had done the exact same job that morning and had provided the very info I needed!

Seven years ago, but as valid and useful to me as the day it was written - thanks "Bru" (I follow his blog, by the way - he owns/owned SV "Pagan" if you want to find him on Google)..  the file he references is long gone but I managed to find it on the 'way back machine' so if you want to read it, it is here [clicky]

So a temporary fix later and we had the following lash up..

...went into the GPS and set the interface to NMEA - the 4800 baud was default and the only option

..and eureka..  GPS data feeding to the VHF =>

Top result....  I would never ever even have considered that one of the two connections required used the negative power cable on the GPS without that handy post!...

So the not so good? Display on the new VHF is faulty - two lines of pixels missing as can be seen from the picture above..  damn....  so the day came to an end on a good note and a bad note... 

Fourth job was going to be that fore hatch but it can wait, I'll be down on the boat again on Sunday..

Dismantled the VHF, went home, found the receipt, put it back in ts packaging, and went off to the Chandlers I bought it from (mail order) to return it and hopefully get a replacement only to find it doesn't work that way and after 16 days you don't get a replacement - it goes back to the manufacturer for assessment/repair ..  double damn...  still, I am advised they are quick so I should hear within the next week to two weeks..  #firstworldproblem

On the plus side, while I was there I picked up the antifoul..  after two years of Hempel Classic I was all set to go with that again (it's as good/bad as anything), but as they were doing a special on this one I went with that instead..   £35 for 2.5 litres - I could pay three times as much and am not convinced it would be any better, never mind three times better... navy blue naturally, as all boats look the dogs nadgers in navy blue antifoul as we all know..