Discombobulation
So, it was finally time to move the boat to Sidney to haul out – Westport Marina is half price until the end of February, so to haul out now would be the most cost effective thing to do, as… Continue reading
Float switch woes
My float switch for the ‘OH SHIT’ bilge pump had always been a bit flaky and just stopped working one day (incidentally this is why it’s worth testing every couple days) Replacing was dead easy – except when I cut… Continue reading
First sail on Wind Chime
Today was a lot of firsts – First time I talked on a marine band VHF – First time I went sailing without someone who knew what they were doing – First time I took Wind Chime sailing! Yesterday, I… Continue reading
Installing the NMEA2000 network backbone
With the switch to the RS35 radio, I got rid of the only NMEA0183 device in my boat and could start to install a NMEA2000 network. WARNING: NERD SPEAK FOLLOWS NMEA0183 is a serial based communication standard that all boat… Continue reading
Installing new VHF
As part of the huge swath of electronics upgrades I am in the middle of doing, I decided to replace the existing VHF with a new Simrad RS30. My main reason for choosing this model was that it came with… Continue reading
Sailing on the Nancy Blackett
My lovely boat neighbours, Matt and Jocelyn, invited me for a sail with them and two of their friends on board their boat, the Nancy Blackett, a (I think) 40 foot sloop. It was a cautious sail since a gale… Continue reading
Ecofan
As talked about in a previous post, these heaters really benefit from using a fan to spread the heat around. My initial attempt using an ancient rule fan that I repaired I deemed was too noisy, so I ordered an… Continue reading
Yikes!
On the weekend, when I was motoring around, I saw this when I removed the aft dock line YIKES What had happened was that the previous guy in my slip had left a steel cable and padlock on the… Continue reading