It's been a slow start to the season for me this year. No sailing yet. Last year I'd had a couple of forays into the harbour.
This year the distraction of the sunken boat, the bad weather, buying the new car and then working at Oulton Park last weekend have soaked up quite a few weekend's worth of boatyness.
So to redress that I went out to Sprite today despite the naff weather. luckily most of the work was inside. I spent the day doing some rewiring. After the fiasco of the rotten battery wire, I decided a while ago that the important systems needed a rewire.
The instruments and the tiller pilot were connected through a chocolate block under the starboard bunk. I'd replaced it as it was a green/blue mess when I got the tiller pilot going last year, but now it was time to upgrade with an unbroken wiring run.
I wired the tiller pilot direct from the fuse/switch box using 20A wire. It probably doesn't use 20 Amps, but the motor does take a lot of amps, so with thicker wire it's able to take the current with a lower volt drop.
I also had enough 20A wire to run to the depth sounder and the battery monitor.
Hopefully that will remove any electrical flakiness in these circuits now.
The VHF Radio and accessory sockets are already served by chunky wire, but I'll check the state of it at some point and see if it needs replacing.
I'm not too concerned about the other circuits like the Nav Lights as I don't intend on sailing at night any time soon. They work pretty well anyway, but I do have a set of LED Port/Starboard I got for my birthday last year that need fitting some time. But no rush just yet.
But now I feel a lot better that a potential weak point in the wiring has been eliminated.
One thing that has changed in the past two weeks is the hair algae has gone mad. The Geese left about a month ago and it shows! My drogue bucket is covered in a green carpet!
Oh, and it's Beaulieu boat jumble tomorrow. If the weather isn't too bad I'll pay it a visit. Its been 7 or 8 years since I last went.
Had a scan back through some of your posts. Having a boat sink next to you is a nuisance. Improving the wiring aboard Serenity is something I have to get to later this summer. Got a tiller pilot to install too. Looking forward to having that in place with all my solo sailing. Hope you get sailing soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had a slow start to the season but I'll get there. If I can get on board today I want to do some work on the rigging ready for sailing.
ReplyDeleteA tiller pilot is really handy when it works properly. I'm hoping the new wiring allows mine to work as it should. It kept resetting, which I hope was down to the dodgy wiring.
I have a tiller pilot to install. Really looking forward to having some help steering the boat. The TillerTamer sometimes won't hold a course long enough to even raise the main.
ReplyDeleteThe tiller pilot comes into its own when on long runs. It just holds the course and let's you get on with other stuff. Its nice to steer, don't get me wrong, but having the option of something to steer the boat for you is great. I hope this year mine will work even better now I've upgraded the wiring for the 12v supply to it.
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