We're looking for the trash fence...

Incredible video of the USCG rescuing a vessel aground and against the rocks on Lopez Island, WA.

NOTE: Link lost due to bitrot

An excellent write-up and photographs of the solar panels and mounting system on s/v Peregrina reminds me that at some point, I need to give our system a thorough once-over.

I just ordered the PC which will become the heart of our navigation systems--the Aleutia P1 Marine PC (@Aleutia).

I have probably spent 4 the equivalent of four full days mostly late at night looking into fanless PCs that either designed to be run on 12V DC power or happen to be powered as such but come with an AC-DC converter. PCs in that secondary category might work fine hooked directly up to the ship’s 12V power, but really should be run on a DC to DC regulator that essentially guarantees the PC is seeing 12V consistently or if it’s a 19V PC (lots of options out there for that) then it could handle that as well. I would look at the Carnetix Regulators if you decide to go that route.

I decided on the Aleutia because I felt it was the most hardware for the right price. I’m not saying it was the cheapest! However it is a very cable power sipping PC that can do the work I need. It also has the advantage of already being able to accept a wide input of DC power (6V-32V DC) which means I won’t need the regulator for the PC (I might still need one for a monitor TBD). Here’s a quick list of the specs of the unit I selected:

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Processor Intel ATOM D510 1.66GHz (The lower power slower of the two choices) RAM 4GB (Upgraded from 2GB) System Cooling Fanless Power Input 6V – 12V DC Power Draw 19W * Let’s discuss this below Solid State Drive (SSD HD) I will supply OS I will supply Bulkhead Mountable YES Tested in Nigeria YES – No really… Wi-Fi No * (Optional) 64Bit Yes

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I didn’t include a Solid State Drive  because their options for SSD HD were limited and I can slide in a better larger drive than their choices.

I didn’t buy Windows 7 64 bit from them because I have a better deal than theirs.

I didn’t include Wi-Fi because this PC is going to be mounted less than a foot from the wireless access point. I will cable it directly instead.

As for the power draw, the PC is designed to be very efficient, but if I go buy a crappy SSD which is a power hog then this will all be for naught. When I select my SSD I need to be very conscious of that! Aleutia’s options were for a 32GB or a 64GB Corsair Nova SSD which draw 0.5W (0.04A @ 12VDC) at idle and 2.0W (0.16A @ 12VDC) max. If I bought Corsairs most high performance SSD it would draw 0.2A at idle 0.5A Max. Not as much as other things on the boat, but I want this PC to stay on 24x7 so I need to watch every little bit I can. I’ll probably go with the Corsair Force F120 120GB SSD because it is larger, has better perf and the same power draw as the NOVA series which Aleutia has spec’d and tested. I might be able to find an even more miserly SSD but I’ve not looked yet.

The next step is making a decision about the Monitor…. but that is another post for another day.

I got a note this week saying that the contact us page was broken. Yep, I broket it. It's fixed now.

A week ago I met with Jim from Puget Sound Sails to checkout the loft, take a look at some different sail details and then we did the deed and put the earnest money down on a full set of working sails--main, mizzen and genoa. Jim has ben great all along the process thus far, very open to questions and free with his knowledge.

Over the past three years at the Seattle Boat Show and Strictly Sail Pacific, I met with sailmakers in Washington, California and even looked into some offshore lofts. Since this was our first sail purchase I decided to go with someone local who could be available to look at things on the boat, do the onsite measurements and who had a great price!

Dawn and I are excited about the new sails to in 6-8 weeks to see how well Deep Playa can really go!!

I have been looking for  way to attach the teak hatch to the bow bulkhead that allows access to the new chain locker. Previously this area was just an empty storage area and the hatch was held in place poorly and frequently popped out. With the new chain locker and the interior panel of starboard securing the chain, the teak cover is less important to hold stuff in, but with only a 1/2” of bulkhead to which to fasten the hatch how to do was becoming a concern. I had thought about using a tee-nut, but that would require removing the chain to access the interior of the locker again. Not something I wanted to be doing any time soon.

Low and behold I happened on the threaded insert at my local hardware store. It is basically a sleeve with wood threads on the outside and 1/2-20 machine threads on the inside. With a 1/4-20 cap screw to be tightened by hand… PERFECT!

Here’s a pic of today’s miracle

I like Coastal Explorer because it's UI is easy to use and has a similiar look and feel to Microsoft Office. I believe the Rosepoint Devs are a bunch of former Microsoft folks (me too) so that makes sense. Here are a couple of handy tips to use Coastal Explorer more effectively

SEARCH

The search functionality in Coastal Explorer actually has nothing to do with the charts (WTF!?! yep... I feel the same way). According to Brad the CE Guru, "the Search functionality searches gazetteers, databases of names and places, guide books, and a few other things". Try it.

Seach for La Paz. Did you get any hits for Mexico? Neither did I even after buying charts for Mexico from ChartWorld. To get the place names you need to download the Gazetteers for all the countries you wish to have. You can get the gazetteers on Rose Point's web site and then you copy them to C:Program Files (x86)Coastal ExplorerGazetteer (on non 64 bit Windows drop the "x86") and restart Coast Explorer. BINGO now CE works better. Still not sure why they don't search the chart files, but this works for geographixc features and place namses. I dont' think it will work for anything navigational though.

CHARTS

I mentioned I recently purchased and download a chart of Mexico. Actually, I tried this over the Holidays just for fun and was really dissatisfied. Chartworld's website is pretty bad and very confusing. I found it very difficult to figure out what detail a chart wold provide and even to find charts for the location I wanted. Well three months later I wanted to give this another shot because I was certain that despite the bad web site I could figure it out. Well, I did sort of, by NOT using the website!! Chartworld has a desktop application called Chart Browser that let's you look at different locations on the Earth and the charts available in those ares. From there you can add them to your cart. Calling it cart is a tad unfortunate. They should have called it a shopping list because what you do is save the cart to a file and then upload that chart to the afore mentioned bad website. Chart Browser also let's you add charts to your "inventory" which let's you track what charts you already have. The usability of Chart Browser is still not awesome, but its much better than the web site alone and I'm sure it's how I'll be building my shopping lists from now on.

One other hint about Chart Browser, as your using it to browse the world make sure on the bottom edge of the screen you're selecting the right set of charts to be looking at. For Coastal Explorer this is any of the Tabs with ENC in then name. Stick with those and you'll be fine.

Just some things I've figured out which I thought I'd share! I have lots more to learn about Coastal Explorer and you can bet I'll share it as I do!

The 48 North Swap Meet is coming in April!

Great video from a cruising yacht on their handline setup and procedures.

Link Lost due to bit rot.

I’ve been reading The Cruiser’s Handbook of Fishing by Scott Bannerot and it’s very thorough if not too thorough. He does a great job for recommending specific gear for every open ocean and dinghy based kind of fishing a cruiser might want to do. In fact there are so many recommendations that it’s a lot to take in. There are several charts in the book with gear recommendations and prices (as of 2009) that I put into a spread sheet and the total was over \$3500 !!

I don’t think it was Scott’s intention for someone to buy everything he recommends but instead to have the reader understand what kind of fishing they want to do, what kind of fish they want to target and then to pick from his recommendations. That’s a pretty tall order for a new fisherman who will be fishing in unfamiliar waters. However, narrow it down we must and make some educated guesses we will.

I am approaching these open ended “things” by trying to be aware and open about my assumptions, evaluating them as we learn more and trying to make the best decision we can. In this case, I believe that mostly we want to troll while we’re sailing with an unattended line and we want to do so in a reliable way that is likely to be most productive and with the least amount of lost gear and fish. I also do not want to have to deal with live bait on a regular basis and will limit it’s use as an occasional opportunistic endeavor. I’m now going to babble on a bit about these configurations and what I’ve learned thus far.

In my opinion that rules out handline fishing from yo-yo’s with snubbers and standup rigs. While underway a standup rig would require leaving the cockpit to get out from under the stainless steel structure of the bimini as well as the mizzen boom. Based on Bannerot’s recommendations it leaves us with the option of the Alvey 1225 Reef Master Deck Winch, a rail mounted reel such as the Penn Senator 116 or a wire-line rodreel setup like the Penn/Captain Harry’s Combo (Penn Senator 115).

The Alvey appears to be a very solid piece of gear with few moving parts to break or maintain. It’s manufactured in Australia and would be a special order item from Alvey USA, they are not stocked anywhere in the US.

The Penn Senator 116 seems like a reasonable alternative to the Alvey albeit with more parts and potentially maintenance issues. It has the added advantage of also being rod mountable and thus dual purpose. On the downside it also “looks valuable” as compared to the Alvey and in port would definitely need to be stowedhidden.

Bannerot gives rave reviews to wire-line rigs basically calling it his go-to setup

Wire line represents the simplest, most direct way to troll lures and baits deep, enabling you to wreak havoc on wahoo, tuna, mackerel, jack, grouper, snapper and many others offshore, inshore and near reefs, wrecks, and seamounts. It’s simple to use–no setting the hook, no removal from the rod holder, no belt and harness—all you do is crank the reel handle whenever the fish is not taking line off the spool until you get it boatside. … Shortcomings of trolling wire line are that it is generally not as effective for mahi mahi, and it may not handle the really big ones, especially larger bill fish. But when we need a good eating fish, particularly nearing port or some significant fish-producing area, we often deploy only the wire line because of its effectiveness. – Bannerot

Based on that alone I feel like the Penn/Captain Harry’s Combo (Penn Senator 115) upgraded to have monel wire might be the trolling rig I start with.

The Alvey and the wire line rig have the benefit of getting the line out away from the stern a bit before it leads down to the water. The windvane which will be on the stern may also pose issues here. That alone may require a release clip to get the wire over or around the windvane (more of an issue with the Monitor jungle gym than the Hydrovane). A release clip is basically a fairlead for the line which opens up when a fish strikes. Aftco seems to be the main manufacturer.

Still a lot to think on and more fun reading to do, luckily there is no time criticalness to these decisions we can get this gear whenever we feel like it. Let me know if you have any suggestions or additional thoughts in the comments.