Well, we might not have been very far this much this year due to Skipper's workload, but I've been benefiting from his spoils.
The J3 is still in its bag back at Dagmar House, with everything but a single pulley needed to fit it. I've even got not one, but two new AXIOM Raymarine plotters, a 7" at the chart table and a large12" in the cockpit. These did not appear on any 'would like' or 'must-have' list but as a result of a chat at the Southampton boat show with a representative. Ok, I could've been taken to the Hamble but the weekend it was planned as always the weather went Pete Tong with F8 and rain forecast, and arrived, so that weekend was scrubbed. A fortnight later Skipper & crew arrived early on a Monday morning to move me across the river to East Cowes Marina where the Electronic Engineers came and fitted me with the new bits. Thought it was a bit strange for Skipper to arrive on a Sunday afternoon on his own then start setting up additional fenders and mooring ropes.
It wasn't just the cost of the electronic equipment or the fitting of same, nor costs you'd expect like their ferry tickets to get to me, Skipper managed to lose or drop his phone whilst moving around on the River! So I'm the proud owner of new 2018 electronic navigational equipment with the latest Oct 2019 software update.
This obviously has a knock-on effect, what doesn't? The analogue radar, that is usually turned on when I'm on the hard in the Yacht Haven over winter will not talk to it, it'll only talk to the new digital variety, but the crew made the decision that, as it's never been used for navigational purposes and that the AIS is far more intuitive than the radar, it has had its day as far as I'm concerned. It's now on the winter list to be removed to save weight up the mast (improve the AVS) and be replaced by the external loudspeaker.
The screen is a touch screen that can be locked so that AIS targets can be touched to see all its' data rather than scrolling through the right buttons in sequence to find the same information. And of course, as is always high on the crews' mind the amps required to run it has dropped. A lot of the instruments such as wind are duplicated on the screen, showing tidal indicators too. It will talk to the engine or the stereo or video equipment, so let's see if another 'would like' list starts to be compiled.
