27 March 2012

Slippage

Things I got done this weekend included vacuum cleaning, rust chipping and painting (base of the forward coaming under the doghouse), and removing rubbish.  I also discovered a canopy that could be used for catching rainwater and redirecting to the tanks -- I'll have to figure out how to set that up.

Chiara Stella goes up on the slip tomorrow for antifouling and replacing the zinc anodes.

23 March 2012

How do you get by without broadband internet?

The first step to solving a problem is to admit you have one.

Hello, my name is Del and I have a problem.  It's called the internet.  It features highly in my list of things to achieve before I set sail.

So I started on building a list and have been maintaining it, and I use rememberthemilk to keep building it and crossing things off.  It occurs to me that I'll need something like that to take with me, and so having wifi on board means I can secrete a small server somewhere about the ship to serve web pages and host that sort of stuff.  Problem solved.  Building that goes on to the to do list.

The rest of the to do list looks a lot like this.  In no particular order.
  1. Dismantle the rear main hatch and fix leaks.  There was some small seepage around the edges last time I was at sea.
  2. Fix the new float switches.  I think I will abandon the plan of getting a float switch pair fitted and just use the single electronic switch at the bottom of the bilge.  I just need to convince someone very slender to fit it for me, it's going to be a stretch of a job.
  3. Get the rigging inspected.  I expect it's basically OK but it needs inspecting anyway.  There are probably some swages that need replacing but the steel looks to be in good condition.
  4. Replace the dead Danish VHF with something like the Icom IC-M505, or maybe the M504 which is similar but cheaper.
  5. Fit an AIS unit, the front runner being the Icom MA-500TR.
  6. Investigate satellite email options.  Leave this until nearly last, prices appear to be dropping all of the time.
  7. Consider replacing the HF unit.  The current unit works fine although it doesn't support email over sailmail, but I'm inclined to shelve this in favour of satellite.
  8. Fit a furler to the babystay so that I can have a furling staysail as well as a furling genoa.  Makes for easier sail trimming from the cockpit.  I will need at least 2 additional cleats in the cockpit but that's no biggie.  The last quote I got for a Profurl C320 was $1699.  Of course I'd then need to get a new sail cut.
  9. Replace the guardrails with uncoated stainless wire.
  10. Replace all of the galley hoses.
  11. Replace all of the toilet hoses.
Starting about this weekend, with cutting, measuring, and thinking.

22 March 2012

Updating some more

I'm going to start using this sailing blog thing a bit more, so feel free to add it to your list if that's the sort of thing that floats your boat (bad sailing pun there).

So I have formed a plan to finish work at the end of next year (2013) and set off on a big sailing adventure.  That's nearly 2 years away and although that might sound like a long time, there is an almost endless list of things to do before going anywhere.

Chiara Stella is now a registered Australian Ship (O.N. 859995) with an MMSI (503518300) which means that it's now legally able to sail the high seas and check in at foreign ports (without the Australian ship registration it could sail but not leave Australian or international waters).  That took about 3 months to get sorted out, and was the first in a long list of things that needed doing.

More on the rest later.

21 March 2012

Another test post

I have added this blog to the NetworkedBlogs application on facebook, and so in theory blog posts should come from here to my facebook profile. Let's see if that works.

Testing

Testing from the blogger app for android