S/V Deep Playa - Pearson 424

From the creative genius of Tawn and CB of s/v Palarran.

I read A LOT of news sites a lot of them technology related and via that I stumbled on the Shuttle PC X50 V2 All-In-One which recently came out. This is an Intel D510 Dual Core which is the next generation ATOM processors used in all those low power netbooks. It also happens to be just as powerful as the 14” laptop I use now (but which has a cracked screen) but the X50 can have 4GB of RAM and my laptop only 2GB. Basically its MORE than powerful enough to not only meet my navigational needs, but at 40W I’m not sure I could find a separate PC and touch screen Monitor to run more efficiently than it either. The SC/DC brick it uses outputs 19v @2.1A so I’ll need a DC regulator to take my 12V system and step it up to the 19V. I’m currently looking at the Carnetix CNX-P1900 PSU to do this. I have a question in to the Carnetix forum to make sure I’m understanding everything correctly. The P1900 can handle up to 140W and I only need 40W so maybe I could go with a better choice, not sure yet.

Another cool thing about the P1900 is it has two additional outputs one 12v and the other 5v. The 5v can be used to provide power to a USB HUB if I need that. The other 12v could be used to power an additional monitor or maybe an external storage drive in the future.

I have and plan on reusing the Lofrans Progress that came with my boat. The motor is the same large one that comes with the Tigres.

You may remember that my windlass was originally mounted so far aft that the hawse pipe went through the v-berth and into the decommissioned water tank; basically rendering it impossible for use to sleep there comfortably. This winter I removed it had the the deck closed up and am now making my plans to place the windlass further forward on the deck and to run the chain through the shallow anchor locker and into the unused chain locker below.

Seems as though I have one of four choices:

1. Place the windlass forward of the locker and use a PVC hawse pipe to run the chain aft to achieve adequate fall. Meridian has this kind of setup as does Syringa.
2. Place the windlass motor and mount just aft of the locker and use a PVC pipe to run the chain foreward and through the locker. Parallax has this setup with a similar if not the same windlass.
3. Build a stand for the windlass in the anchor locker at the highest point of the chain fall and modify the door to go around the windlass. There are some horizontals which have been done that way.
4. Install the windlass on the door itself (or a beefed up hatch without hinges) and essentially leave the locker closed except for maintenance purposes. Another derivation of this is to bolt down a more permanent opening, possibly thicker and have it closed with a more bolt down fittings like they use on aircraft.

1 and 2 seem like the least work, but I’m worried about how well the chain will run. I don’t want to be having to deal with kinked up chain in the anchor locker all the time. Also #1 doesn’t really seem possible on our boat because we don’t have a bow sprit for our anchor and our anchor comes all the way back to the deck. I also plan to put a padeye on the deck just aft of the anchors for the solent stay so again #1 seems like a no-go. If I can alleviate my concerns about the flow of chain then #2 is probably the best idea.

#3 sounds a lot of work and I’m not sure how to make the door water tight once I cut into it. I also am not sure that the drive shaft of the windlass would be long enough to reach through the entire pad.

I think #4 would be a big upgrade. It would also close off the deck better than the door does today. It would however remove a storage spot from the foredeck, which is handy for wet  things like hoses and our folding anchors.

SO #2 and #4 seem like the most viable options at this point with #2 probably winning out based on the simplicity. If you have any thoughts please do chime in.

Here’s a quick step by step on how to use the Maretron field installable connectors. These are useful when you want to run a wire in a mast or through the deck and you don’t want to use a bulkhead fitting but you’d rather use something like a Blue Sea cable clam. There are NO instructions with these fittings so I hope you find this useful.

Here’s a shot of the disassembled connector and the raw end of the bulk wire. The white fitting and it’s rubber gasket give this fitting a snug water resistant (proof?) fit.

This is a shot of the little tiny holes and screws you’re going to be using to attach the wires to the connector. Everything it very well designed; the color coding makes this a snap. Note that the blue connection is stands approximately 1/4” proud of the other fittings.

You need to strip back the outer insulation and the foil around the wires. The blue wire should be a bit shorter than the others since it doesn’t have to reach as far as the other wires.

Here’s a shot with all of the wires attached to the connector.

Notice in the that previous picture none of these other pieces are visible. they all need to be placed on the wire BEFORE you spend 10 minutes getting the wires attached and all the screws tightened. If you’re lucky and you don’t have a connector on the other end, you can slide them all the way along the wire like I did. DOH!

I started by tightening the body to the very end of the connector (the left side in this pic). I then worked on the final end fitting where the wire extends out. When you got to tighten everything up it will be a tad difficult to get the end fitting to tighten against the white cone and rubber bushing. I used the small screw driver to work the cone down as far as a I could. be careful, you can break the cone if you push too hard. You will figure it out though. I then used a Knipex Pliers Wrenches (which I LOVE but a crescent wrench would work) to hold the connector body while I bottomed all of the threads.

It’s obviously a lot easier to work with the factory installed connectors but where necessary the field installable connectors are pretty easy to work with and they look solid to me.

Here’s a shot of the Signet System 4000 instruments package which I finally removed. I can’t find anything out about this on the internet. The big black box was mounted on the electrical panel, the remaining hole is approximately 12”x8”! Did I mention the “display” feature on this 12”x8” are those four red single digit displays (about 1”x2”). At one time there were depth, wind and knot meters. When I purchased the boat only the wind and knot meters were operational. I pulled out all of the wiring and the head unit. I also think at some point there was a pedestal mounted display of some kind because I also pulled a wire labeled display out from under the cockpit that ran up into the pedestal.

I’m going to jury rig the Maretron DSM250 into that huge hole and at some point replace the entire wood panel holding all of the electrical and electronics.