Work for him is building again and so at this year's Southampton boat show 2021, he's paid a deposit on a yet-to-be-released communication device to connect to the satellite systems. Enabling me to connect directly to the world wild web, enabling him not only to download the latest weather information anywhere on planet earth but also remain connected to Clients too. The saloon becoming his office extension so to speak.
Upgrades have continued. The davits I have used to hang a dinghy off my stern for when anchoring offshore have now been utilised to support a massive 200W rigid PV panel that re-charges my batteries really quickly in full sun and doesn't do too bad in cloudy conditions either. Remembering that this is also complemented with the wind generator, which due to the power of the PV plays second fiddle.
The davits have been turned around as I'm facing North so the PV is facing south and what a difference.
This was the display panel showing the power input from the MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) control unit which opted to slow the wind generator despite still operating in bulk mode, prior to the later phases of absorption and float. This, like the shore power and intelligent regulator for the engine alternator the Skipper fitted, ensures that sulphates do not build up on the battery plates and keeps them in tip-top condition.
With the master switch to the battery bank supplying the windlass, winch, and bow thruster's power failing on Saturday (9th October), causing the crew to abandon their plans to test the autopilot and bring me home instead. It took a while to work out that it was the switch was the source of the issue, but a new one purchased and fitted again, so I'm back to where I should be.
The new log is still having issues as it's not reading at all now, Skip seems to think it is something to do with the fact that the original housing does not have a recess in it to take the lug present in the log casing itself. If this is causing it to sit some 5mmm higher than it should be and thus the paddle wheel is contained within the hull rather than pocking out. This might only get fixed when I'm out of the water and the through the hull housing can be changed over, or it might have something to do with the same bit of kit the autopilot is connected to!
Electronics and damp sea air, still these bits of kit are supposedly made for that environment !
