about ERIK
Let there be light!
I spent this afternoon in the engine room fitting LED strip lighting… And boy, am I happy with the results: I can see my engine! Is that great? All boats should have engine room lighting, even if the only use to show off to visitors. I can now see all sorts of things. Lamentably, or … Continue reading
(sort of) Free power
Just fixed the wind generator…. It’s now whirring away making tasty little amp hours to store in the batteries. When we installed the blades, it was a windless day, as you would hope. Don’t want to be going around putting blades on something that wants to be spinning at high speed, might need to count … Continue reading
What a day!
Big day today! We achieved the following: Put the blades on the wind jennie Drilled and fitted the mounts on tiller and boat for the autopilot Got the autopilot working Installed the masthead anemometer Oiled the blocks Bent on the sails, reeved the reefing lines and installed the sail ties. Installed the trip lines on … Continue reading
Now they point straight up!
The masts are back in! In a rising gale as darkness fell, we managed to get masts back into position. We then tensioned them enough to stand on there own against the building storm conditions and went and enjoyed a steak dinner at the nearby pub. Many thanks to Rod and Brenda of State of … Continue reading
How white is my pole?
We put the top coat on the masts today! White masts! No more red oxide primer making them look very second-hand. Dad and I finished and tested all the electrical wiring on both masts today (tip for those that don’t know: festoon LED bulbs are polarity sensitive). We fitted the wind generator to its bracket … Continue reading
Getting there…
The booms now have a few coats of thinned varnish and their first coat of unthinned. All the wiring in the masts has been pulled through, and I even left the mouse in there as an endless loop. Not much room left in the 32mm conduit we riveted in there, though. The wind generator mast … Continue reading
Don’t step in it!
And by 2pm on the second day, we most verily got all the crap out of the mast. Look at the pile of it!
Rats in the rigging
Some if you know of the dramas I have had trying to run anything down the inside of the main mast. The theory was that there was some two part foam in there. This was based on the crunching sound achieved when you dropped a lead weight, with a mousing line attached, down the mast. … Continue reading
Masts are out!
Well we left the marina in crappy weather this morning; 20kt easterly and raining. Everybody will be overjoyed to know that the new regulator and alternator and all the new wiring worked beautifully. It’s a pity the cranking battery is cactus… Matt Orbell, from Green Marine is looking into it tomorrow. The masts were out … Continue reading
Getting the job list down now…
It’s getting down to the wire now…. We leave the marina in two days to pull the masts and fit the mast based equipment. The sea strainer went on today, Replumbed the diesel feed for the engine to make room. The new VHF is in, with the second station mounted in the cockpit and all … Continue reading