Trip to Europe (and back) begins
- Thread starter dLj
- Start date
On my Garmin, you can reposition the guard circle or center point. You go back to the page where you set the alarm and one of the options is for coordinates and you can activate the range or center and drag it to the new desired position.
Can't do any of that on my AIS unit. Not sure about the Garmin unit. I'm just figuring out that system...
dj
I have the GPSMAP 1042, it may be similar… and it’s not intuitive (to move the center). If you have an iPad with the ActiveCaptain app, you may be able to connect to your GPSMAP and control it from the iPad. It essentially replicates the Garmin but as a touchscreen. I find sometimes it’s easier to set the anchor alarm that way.
Nice, i don't have an iPad but can replicate the Garmin screen on my phone. However not sure about the touch screen part. Id guess it must have something, but not sure.
dj
Not a lot of tidal shift here, but that is likely from the small amount there is. Guessing. I'm staying pretty much in line with the boats around me...
dj
Well, I'm hoping it's not anchor drag, but everyone else looks about the same...
dj
Caution – very long post...
I'm sitting here in San Juan, Puerto Rico and looking at what I need to replace/purchase to make the last leg up to the Chesapeake. Going through things I need to replace it's a bit surprising what is on the list. I don't know if this is useful, for anyone, but here goes some observations. Of course I have an old boat, she'll be having her 40th birthday this year.
Electronic things are the highest on the list. What has had a really hard time? Phone charging cords. I started with about 6 cords for my cell phone and my battery pack. A battery pack is indispensable by the way. I had one from my last job and I threw it in just because I had it. I wish I had two or three. The battery pack I have is still working, but clearly it's on it's last legs. The case is falling apart, the capacity is probably about half of what it started with. These things are great to carry to shore to keep your cell phone charged – everyone I've sailed with has used it. Patrick carried two with him. We all used his also. He had one that was awesome, it had all the different connectors integrated with the unit, and it had suction cups so you could just put your phone on it and it acted like a single unit. I'd love to find one.
Phone/tablet charging cables – I started with about 6 of them. I've had to buy another several on the trip. I'm now down to the last functioning charging cable, I'll have to go buy a few more. These really don't handle the ocean environment well. Several crew have come with their own charging cables, several bit the dust... The iphone type charging cables seem to be the worst. What are they called? Fire wire? Anyway, those exposed little connections at the end bite the dust faster than my US-C type connectors, but those are also susceptible to death by corrosion or simply breaking....
I picked up a Fluke 325 with AC/DC amp clamp. I can't count the times I've used it. Great device! The most recent was with my propane circuit that started to drop voltage and I couldn't turn on the stove. That one was cryptic! It started going on the blink about 3 weeks into the milk run crossing. But we could turn off the breaker, let it rest and then it would work again. It got worse and worse until a few days ago it just totally died. OK, I'm not doing an 8 to 10 day ocean crossing with my chart table pulled out and a 12V battery pack putting the 12V to the solenoid to allow the stove to work. But, find the cables – they were buried behind three different major panels. I began looking and was getting really worried as I could not find where the cable ran. I would follow it from the control head near the kitchen behind chart table panel 1, it disappeared in the wiring loom behind small panel 2. OK, I went to main panel 3 where all the breakers are and begin from there. Still no luck finding the cable from that end either. OK, I am a bit hard headed and I'm like – I AM going to find this. The Fluke was great because I could check voltages from each end as I was searching. I'd finally figured out there had to be a problem somewhere in the cabling, not at the main breaker (thank goodness – that would be a bear!) So I bit the bullet and removed everything I could. All panels had to come off, a part of the wall behind the main panel 3 had to get pulled out from the wall to gain physical access to the wiring loom. I'm glad I was the only one on my boat, there was no room for anyone else. My main saloon had become a work house. I finally could trace out the wire. Whoever put in this circuit did a splice on the red wire from the propane control wire and put in a black wire. Lordy how I hate this crap! And then, they put in an in-line fuse BEHIND the wiring loom! WTF?!?!?! The circuit is already protected with the main breaker! That's a circuit breaker! It trips.... And get this, the fuse in this little POS did not blow, the fuse holder simply disintegrated over time and was not holding the fuse against the contacts. And this whole lovely circuit was put in with a black line instead of a red line which is the hot side of that circuit! And it was hidden! Even if you'd wanted to change that fuse, you'd have to find it... Sigh.... Well, I removed the black crap and spliced in a red line and routed it so one could find it again in the future....
Two more tools for the above very nice to have, a good crimper and a good wire stripper. I'd bought a crimper from Mainesail years back, one that he recommended as having excellent dies and a decent price. The best crimper! I don't know with his recent stroke if he still sells that unit, if he does, buy it! When I bought it, I also bought the extra dies Rod sold. I thought it was a bit of overkill, but when I did my solar panel installation, surpise! I had the right dies for those specialized connectors!
I'd had a wire stripper that I'd bought at the Annapolis boat show years back, but just before heading out it finally bit the dust. Crap! But I was in a local marine supply store here and knowing how hard it is to get at wires sometimes, I found a really nice one that wasn't going to break the bank. So I picked it up while buying the wires I thought I might need. So glad I did. The wire end in the loom would have been very hard to strip correctly without one.
I guess that brings me to electrical connectors – I'm getting low and may have to restock but I've carried marine grade butt and ring type connectors of various sizes. The kind with the glue that seals them when you heat them up. I'd always wanted a good torch for doing heat shrink, I'd watched a lot of techs using them. (Electric heat guns just eat too much electric...) But the torches sold for this in the marine world are bloody expensive! Before I started out I began looking for an equivalent and found on Amazon a lighter being sold as a cigar lighter. Brand name called Jobon. It was really well priced – can't remember, like less than $20 I think. I'm writing this while off-line or I'd look up my Amazon account. What an amazing tool! It has a lock so it's can't loose gas when stored, is refillable, and has a flame adjustment that allows the flame to go from tiny to like a serious flame thrower! And you can make the adjustment as you are using it. Very well designed and works a charm. I'm sure you could solder or even braze with this baby. I haven't had to. I (silly me) carry both a solder gun and a small oxygen/Mapp gas torch which I have done a lot of brazing with (on other projects – haven't had to use it on the boat – yet - knock on wood).
Lines: Use nylon for dock lines. You need the stretch. I'd had 4 brand new dock lines when leaving and a ton of used lines of various sizes. I had a 7/8” (it was actually metric size, but close to 7/8”) 100 meter long 3 braid nylon line I used to use that line when docking where I used to sail that had 9 meter tides. I hadn't used it in years as it was bigger then I'd needed. That line is now defunct. I think I have about a 20 foot piece left that is still usable. In the Azores I had to use it when docking the first night as I had to raft up to a large (50 footer or more) sail boat that had a captain that clearly was a neophyte. I ended up having to use that line to secure both his boat and my boat. There was an ocean surge what was tremendous! I had to use it again in Portugal during a storm that broke the dock where we were. That line worked a charm, and it got HEAVILY worked! It was a major structural line that held my boat, the boat next me, and the broken dock from coming apart totally... Subsequently, I've used it so much it is finally simply “used up”. Lines have a life and then need to be replaced. My four originally new docks lines are close to end of life. Still working, but I'll need to replace them. I'll be looking for sales on lines.. I had numerous lines on the boat that were used. Used lines – inspect them, make sure they have no weak spots, if they do, cut it out, make shorter lines. Or just throw them away and get new lines. During the storm in Portugal, I think I had something like 14 lines on my boat, the boat next to me and the dock. I think I wrote about that before. I might have used more than 14 lines, I'm not remembering well.
You need a lot of lines. And you need long lines! I used every inch of that 100 meter three strand. I had other lines that were probably more like 100 feet. In retrospect, I think I'd carry 4 standard length “daily” dock lines. Those lines you use to pull up to fuel docks, that sort of thing. Those lines should be about double the length of your boat, so in my case about 80 feet each. Heavy is way better than light. I would add in at least two, better four spring lines. Those lines need to be longer than the dock lines. Then I'd carry at a minimum 2 big lines.These two would be like that 100 meter three strand I originally carried. I wished I'd had a second line like that during that storm. Then come small lines. I can't count the number of small lines that I started with. By small lines, I'm talking about lines from about 1/16” through about 3/8”. Now I know that 3/8” on some boats might not be considered a small line, but on my boat, that's pretty small. Besides numerous lengths of these small lines, I also carry 3 spools of 1/16”, 1/8” and 3/16” small lines. This is in addition to all my sewing threads that fall below that 1/16” size. The 1/8” spool I have used extensively to make tethers for tools. When I'm working on deck all my tools get tethered to me. Even an Allen key gets a tether. I set up a system where I have a line around my neck that has a snap hook on it. I can put the tool tether in that snap hook and if I need to drop that tool, it will just dangle. I've been where I've just needed too many tools to have them all tied to my arms. If going up the mast, I use the bosun chair's pockets to bring tools up, but when using the tool, it needs to be tethered in somehow and I've found the clip to the neck line to work quite well. Keeps hands unencumbered and the tools safe from falling. The 1/4” and 3/8” lines I use for securing anchors, buckets it's endless what I end up tying on. I'm looking in my box where I'd had a lot of pre-cut (e.g. used) lines, and it's almost empty now. I can't even tell you everywhere they have been used.
Well, this is getting to be way too long... I'd better close it now before I'm banned from posting...
dj
I'm sitting here in San Juan, Puerto Rico and looking at what I need to replace/purchase to make the last leg up to the Chesapeake. Going through things I need to replace it's a bit surprising what is on the list. I don't know if this is useful, for anyone, but here goes some observations. Of course I have an old boat, she'll be having her 40th birthday this year.
Electronic things are the highest on the list. What has had a really hard time? Phone charging cords. I started with about 6 cords for my cell phone and my battery pack. A battery pack is indispensable by the way. I had one from my last job and I threw it in just because I had it. I wish I had two or three. The battery pack I have is still working, but clearly it's on it's last legs. The case is falling apart, the capacity is probably about half of what it started with. These things are great to carry to shore to keep your cell phone charged – everyone I've sailed with has used it. Patrick carried two with him. We all used his also. He had one that was awesome, it had all the different connectors integrated with the unit, and it had suction cups so you could just put your phone on it and it acted like a single unit. I'd love to find one.
Phone/tablet charging cables – I started with about 6 of them. I've had to buy another several on the trip. I'm now down to the last functioning charging cable, I'll have to go buy a few more. These really don't handle the ocean environment well. Several crew have come with their own charging cables, several bit the dust... The iphone type charging cables seem to be the worst. What are they called? Fire wire? Anyway, those exposed little connections at the end bite the dust faster than my US-C type connectors, but those are also susceptible to death by corrosion or simply breaking....
I picked up a Fluke 325 with AC/DC amp clamp. I can't count the times I've used it. Great device! The most recent was with my propane circuit that started to drop voltage and I couldn't turn on the stove. That one was cryptic! It started going on the blink about 3 weeks into the milk run crossing. But we could turn off the breaker, let it rest and then it would work again. It got worse and worse until a few days ago it just totally died. OK, I'm not doing an 8 to 10 day ocean crossing with my chart table pulled out and a 12V battery pack putting the 12V to the solenoid to allow the stove to work. But, find the cables – they were buried behind three different major panels. I began looking and was getting really worried as I could not find where the cable ran. I would follow it from the control head near the kitchen behind chart table panel 1, it disappeared in the wiring loom behind small panel 2. OK, I went to main panel 3 where all the breakers are and begin from there. Still no luck finding the cable from that end either. OK, I am a bit hard headed and I'm like – I AM going to find this. The Fluke was great because I could check voltages from each end as I was searching. I'd finally figured out there had to be a problem somewhere in the cabling, not at the main breaker (thank goodness – that would be a bear!) So I bit the bullet and removed everything I could. All panels had to come off, a part of the wall behind the main panel 3 had to get pulled out from the wall to gain physical access to the wiring loom. I'm glad I was the only one on my boat, there was no room for anyone else. My main saloon had become a work house. I finally could trace out the wire. Whoever put in this circuit did a splice on the red wire from the propane control wire and put in a black wire. Lordy how I hate this crap! And then, they put in an in-line fuse BEHIND the wiring loom! WTF?!?!?! The circuit is already protected with the main breaker! That's a circuit breaker! It trips.... And get this, the fuse in this little POS did not blow, the fuse holder simply disintegrated over time and was not holding the fuse against the contacts. And this whole lovely circuit was put in with a black line instead of a red line which is the hot side of that circuit! And it was hidden! Even if you'd wanted to change that fuse, you'd have to find it... Sigh.... Well, I removed the black crap and spliced in a red line and routed it so one could find it again in the future....
Two more tools for the above very nice to have, a good crimper and a good wire stripper. I'd bought a crimper from Mainesail years back, one that he recommended as having excellent dies and a decent price. The best crimper! I don't know with his recent stroke if he still sells that unit, if he does, buy it! When I bought it, I also bought the extra dies Rod sold. I thought it was a bit of overkill, but when I did my solar panel installation, surpise! I had the right dies for those specialized connectors!
I'd had a wire stripper that I'd bought at the Annapolis boat show years back, but just before heading out it finally bit the dust. Crap! But I was in a local marine supply store here and knowing how hard it is to get at wires sometimes, I found a really nice one that wasn't going to break the bank. So I picked it up while buying the wires I thought I might need. So glad I did. The wire end in the loom would have been very hard to strip correctly without one.
I guess that brings me to electrical connectors – I'm getting low and may have to restock but I've carried marine grade butt and ring type connectors of various sizes. The kind with the glue that seals them when you heat them up. I'd always wanted a good torch for doing heat shrink, I'd watched a lot of techs using them. (Electric heat guns just eat too much electric...) But the torches sold for this in the marine world are bloody expensive! Before I started out I began looking for an equivalent and found on Amazon a lighter being sold as a cigar lighter. Brand name called Jobon. It was really well priced – can't remember, like less than $20 I think. I'm writing this while off-line or I'd look up my Amazon account. What an amazing tool! It has a lock so it's can't loose gas when stored, is refillable, and has a flame adjustment that allows the flame to go from tiny to like a serious flame thrower! And you can make the adjustment as you are using it. Very well designed and works a charm. I'm sure you could solder or even braze with this baby. I haven't had to. I (silly me) carry both a solder gun and a small oxygen/Mapp gas torch which I have done a lot of brazing with (on other projects – haven't had to use it on the boat – yet - knock on wood).
Lines: Use nylon for dock lines. You need the stretch. I'd had 4 brand new dock lines when leaving and a ton of used lines of various sizes. I had a 7/8” (it was actually metric size, but close to 7/8”) 100 meter long 3 braid nylon line I used to use that line when docking where I used to sail that had 9 meter tides. I hadn't used it in years as it was bigger then I'd needed. That line is now defunct. I think I have about a 20 foot piece left that is still usable. In the Azores I had to use it when docking the first night as I had to raft up to a large (50 footer or more) sail boat that had a captain that clearly was a neophyte. I ended up having to use that line to secure both his boat and my boat. There was an ocean surge what was tremendous! I had to use it again in Portugal during a storm that broke the dock where we were. That line worked a charm, and it got HEAVILY worked! It was a major structural line that held my boat, the boat next me, and the broken dock from coming apart totally... Subsequently, I've used it so much it is finally simply “used up”. Lines have a life and then need to be replaced. My four originally new docks lines are close to end of life. Still working, but I'll need to replace them. I'll be looking for sales on lines.. I had numerous lines on the boat that were used. Used lines – inspect them, make sure they have no weak spots, if they do, cut it out, make shorter lines. Or just throw them away and get new lines. During the storm in Portugal, I think I had something like 14 lines on my boat, the boat next to me and the dock. I think I wrote about that before. I might have used more than 14 lines, I'm not remembering well.
You need a lot of lines. And you need long lines! I used every inch of that 100 meter three strand. I had other lines that were probably more like 100 feet. In retrospect, I think I'd carry 4 standard length “daily” dock lines. Those lines you use to pull up to fuel docks, that sort of thing. Those lines should be about double the length of your boat, so in my case about 80 feet each. Heavy is way better than light. I would add in at least two, better four spring lines. Those lines need to be longer than the dock lines. Then I'd carry at a minimum 2 big lines.These two would be like that 100 meter three strand I originally carried. I wished I'd had a second line like that during that storm. Then come small lines. I can't count the number of small lines that I started with. By small lines, I'm talking about lines from about 1/16” through about 3/8”. Now I know that 3/8” on some boats might not be considered a small line, but on my boat, that's pretty small. Besides numerous lengths of these small lines, I also carry 3 spools of 1/16”, 1/8” and 3/16” small lines. This is in addition to all my sewing threads that fall below that 1/16” size. The 1/8” spool I have used extensively to make tethers for tools. When I'm working on deck all my tools get tethered to me. Even an Allen key gets a tether. I set up a system where I have a line around my neck that has a snap hook on it. I can put the tool tether in that snap hook and if I need to drop that tool, it will just dangle. I've been where I've just needed too many tools to have them all tied to my arms. If going up the mast, I use the bosun chair's pockets to bring tools up, but when using the tool, it needs to be tethered in somehow and I've found the clip to the neck line to work quite well. Keeps hands unencumbered and the tools safe from falling. The 1/4” and 3/8” lines I use for securing anchors, buckets it's endless what I end up tying on. I'm looking in my box where I'd had a lot of pre-cut (e.g. used) lines, and it's almost empty now. I can't even tell you everywhere they have been used.
Well, this is getting to be way too long... I'd better close it now before I'm banned from posting...
dj
That's it... they are really not ocean friendly... I wonder it there is a spray protector that could help?
dj
I think I'd try T9 first. WD-40 doesn't seem to hold up but T9 seems to better. I'm going to try T9 on my new cables. Don't know if I'll have enough time to really know at this point though... But heck, give it a shot... Of course, the other problem is they break. that one is just what it is...
dj
I've had pretty bad luck with a lot of lightning connectors on land; even worse on the boat. Having the ends exposed means if it touches moisture it shorts out pretty easily. Sometimes they'll keep working when plugged in one way but not the other. The genuine Apple ones seem to last a little longer than the cheap Amazon versions that wear out relatively quickly, but they're a lot more expensive and harder to find in usable lengths.
Thanks for all of the observations. It's helpful to know the types of considerations that go into a trip like that.
Thanks for all of the observations. It's helpful to know the types of considerations that go into a trip like that.
All good stuff - the difficulty is Amazon will not ship me things outside the US - been there, tried that... Doesn't work... Now it might here in Puerto Rico as this is the US. So can't say that for here, haven't tried.
dj
In terms of flashlights (as that battery pack had a flashlight) I can say that Mag lights don't withstand the test of ocean travel. I have to clean the internal contacts frequently. And they are still dicey if they will turn on or not.
I do have a flash light that is AWESOME! I wish I could remember the model. I have the model at home in my desk drawer (useless I know) - the flashlight has no markings on it. It was one of those "military" or "survival" types that are not inexpensive. Although this one was pretty reasonable and if I'd known how good it is I would have bought more.
It has 5 light intensity settings. When I first got it, it had a low light setting that originally I thought was ridiculously low light level - turns out it's the most used light level I have used on this trip! It's perfect at night! I mostly use that level and the next intensity level up. I have in rare occasions used the higher settings, and glad I had them. That was coming into ports at night. The highest level is really intense!
That flashlight has a rechargable battery that lasts a really long time, especially on the lower light settings. It uses the same US-C connector as my phone and that connector has a rubber closure that is seriously closed. This flashlight is amazing. I wish had two or three...
dj
I do have a flash light that is AWESOME! I wish I could remember the model. I have the model at home in my desk drawer (useless I know) - the flashlight has no markings on it. It was one of those "military" or "survival" types that are not inexpensive. Although this one was pretty reasonable and if I'd known how good it is I would have bought more.
It has 5 light intensity settings. When I first got it, it had a low light setting that originally I thought was ridiculously low light level - turns out it's the most used light level I have used on this trip! It's perfect at night! I mostly use that level and the next intensity level up. I have in rare occasions used the higher settings, and glad I had them. That was coming into ports at night. The highest level is really intense!
That flashlight has a rechargable battery that lasts a really long time, especially on the lower light settings. It uses the same US-C connector as my phone and that connector has a rubber closure that is seriously closed. This flashlight is amazing. I wish had two or three...
dj