Fitting out

Well on the way back, we discovered what worked and what didn't, luckily enough for me , most of what didn't work was easy fixes and money I had put away for repairs was free to spend on upgrades (OK Toys).

The autopilot was not doing what it should, quitting after a few seconds, hand steering for 700 miles was most definitely not fun, it turned out only to be a bent bar on the rudder position sensor, very simple fix, unbend!

Next the windlass was not working, fix? corroded rcd  unit, 8 pounds.

The chart plotter, just corroded terminals, cut back the wire and reconnect, simple!

The fridge , same again corroded terminals, though I had to rewire in the fuse, someone in the past had bypassed and a new fan they had also bypassed, and the rcd for the main wiring panel, which had been bypassed, NOT SAFE! the wiring bodges, done by previous owners were very dodgy full stop.

But I had budgeted for new autopilot/windlass/compressor/chartplotter, so that save a littleand was only one days work, I may still get a new chartplotter, would be nice to have data outside at the helm, especially now I have figured out how to pirate garmin charts on sd card.. No sorry, I should buy them and pay thousands of pounds for public domain data, Now like most people I don't mind paying for hardware but to pay thousands of pounds for charts to go around the world in electronic format on a chip that cost a couple of pounds, I think not! Charts that were compiled mostly with tax payers money at that!

So nav wise I have the laptop with open cpn, a garmin dakota handheld with charts for everywhere,a viewpad (ipad android clone) with charts at a very reasonable price I was quite happy to pay for! and the raymarine with really poor base map oh and some very wide paper charts in case of ww3 and lightening, the gamin hand held lives in a metal biscuit tray inside another metal biscuit tray, should save it from lightening.

I installed a standard horizon vhf with AIS receiver built in, but now have a dilemma as it is F'ing useless without a gps input, they don't say that on the tin, not stand alone,pretty peeved about that one! a gps chip is how much nowadays? couple o quid in electronics to add it!

I added a nasa navtext, which works fine as long as my radio is not on!, think I need to mount the antenna further away, good piece of kit otherwise and a nasa wind instrument, I have 400w of solar to do a bimini install so the wind vane is going to be pretty much useless. The solar has a german Mppt controller and have two new 250Ah each agm batteries to be fitted.

I fitted a new stereo, well I like my music, the some nice infiniti kappa speakers and an alpine sub, I replaced the outside speakers with sony units and a dremel came in handy for cutting the fibre glass.

The sails were replaced by the last owner, but i renewed the standing rigging which was ten years old iffy...
Added a 22 inch LED TV, less power than lcds, replaced all 38 bulbs with leds, mostly cheapos from china on fleabay und3er a dollar each and they have worked remarkably well, the nav lights i splashed out on and got decent leds .

The stove i replaced twice... the original had no grill and bent rings which resulted in very black pots & probably lots of that bad monoxide stuff! I ballsed up on the first one, it was too tall to gimbal properly.

I did the heads pumps, new jabsco twist n locks , some smelly stuff and lots of calcium build up (vinegar come on). Next the tender and went through several 2nd hand outboards till I got a light enough 8hp 2 stroke that I could manhandle with one hand granted I made a buck or two selling the ones that were too heavy, so all was good in the end.

I replaced the anchor chain with 80M of 10mm chain and the old bruce claw copy with a plastimo kobra 2 model.

I managed to get a second hand nearly new katadyn water maker for a great price, so that's still on the to fit list.

Spares wise, the boat is like a floating parts shop, alternator, starter belts, filters, you name it, more electrical connectors than some shops ,glues, oils you name it, I got it, bar the bit I really need in the middle of nowhere.

I'm sure  I've done plenty of other things i have forgot about, I spent a bit more than I planned but since I got the boat so cheap I did not mind.

Chart table at start

After extras navtext , stereo.vhf,tv

New anchor 20kg Kobra 2

Stove replacement attempt 1

Attempt 2, a bit better Smeg unit much nicer than plastimo one.

Inverter 1/2 both crap notice the 500w unit is the exact same as the 300w one! mmm chinese rarrr

Finally an inverter that will do the job IE run a 130W Icemaker!!! 2500w for 130W that's the chinese for you!

Speakers

Bulletproof or so they say!

More speakers

I couldn't help this one, but Nic hates it Well she got sparkly pillows, I got this!

Wind instruments and masthead leds going up!

A nice beer at the end!

And a nice sunset at the end!