ADVENTURES Gets All New Electronics
By Robin Roberts
Monday, January 23, 2006
11/28/05 – Annapolis to Cambridge, MD
We're taking the boat over to Cambridge on the Choptank River for the long-awaited electronics upgrade (new radar, radios, autopilot, depth sounders, etc.). It’s an unusually warm day today, and we're taking two friends from the Power Squadron with us for a trawler ride – Bill and Clara, who are starting their own search for a trawler. Clara is a fabulous cook and despite my assurances that she needn't bring anything, she brought a gorgeous loaf of banana bread – what a treat!!
About 90 minutes out of Annapolis the high-temp alarm sounded on the port engine, so we immediately shut her down and went to investigate. The vee-belt broke (which drives the water pump) and although we have spares aboard, the hydraulic pump for the Naiad stabilizers is bolted to the harmonic balancer, requiring a bit more work to replace the belt. We decided to lock the shaft (what would we do without our chain-vise grips?) and run on one engine. The rest of the trip was uneventful, though a tad slower, until we got to Cambridge. We passed the “Cindy Lou” (Al & Cindy Gellene’s Symbol 42) as she was heading out the Choptank where she just had electrical work completed at the same place we are headed to. Mid-Shore Electronics is located on Cambridge Creek, just above a little bascule bridge. And the wind was picking up and getting gusty. I’ve brought this boat into the dock on one engine once before, and I know she can be ornery - the props are pretty far apart, and the rudders are outboard of the prop centerlines. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long for the bridge to open, and I had a big face dock to aim for. A strong gust caught us just as I lined up even with the dock, and it shoved us into the dock a bit, but it wasn’t a horrible landing and nothing was harmed. We’ll replace the broken belt next weekend and flip the boat around so we’re facing the winter weather from the west.
We had a most marvelous day with Clara and Bill – another advantage of the slow trawler speeds is that there’s time to just enjoy the company!
12/5/05 – Cambridge, MD
We’re still here at Mid-Shore, waiting for things to start happening. I’m guessing that this project is like most – lots of waiting around followed by frenetic activity and general chaos.
Here's what the pilothouse and flying bridge look like - the "before" photos:
I’m on wave-and-smile terms with the local fellows – some of the watermen that keep boats here as well as some of the guys working on the black DeFever 41 in the next slip. Everyone around here is nice, but they’re pretty quiet. I don’t envy the watermen going out oystering on these cold mornings, but I got a kick out of seeing them unloading a big bushel of oysters with Christmas-morning grins on their faces. Personally I’m not enthralled by a pile of cold muddy bivalves, but I understand that they are a sought-after treasure for many. To each his/her own.
12/7/05 – Cambridge, MD
It’s a cold morning here in Cambridge. Outside, the water is trying to harden – it’s slushy, and I’m amazed how fast the ice began to appear. When I went to bed last night, the outside temp was only 31, but the ice was forming on the creek already. One of the Maryland Natural Resources boats lives in this creek and she was out at 0730 this morning making a quick trip up to the bascule bridge to break a path in the slush-ice. One of the local fellows working on the boat next to mine said that the state boat will break ice 2-3 times a day when it’s needed – good to know!
The fenders and lines are really creaking with the cold. I’m used to hearing the lines creak a little now and then (in strong winds), but the fenders sure are noisy! I need to get some rock salt today – yesterday’s melt has re-frozen into some invisible slick spots on the deck, and I don’t need any excitement getting on and off the boat. During the day there are people around, but at night I’m on my own. I keep the swim ladder tied so it can be lowered from the water – just in case… but I don’t relish the idea.
It’s mid-morning now and there’s a light wind blowing up the creek - amazing how a little wind can generate enough ripple on the water to make the slush ice disappear (and how quickly the ice can re-appear with calm cold conditions).
12/10/05 – Cambridge, MD
It’s a simple life here at the Mid-Shore Electronics dock. Our satellite TV dish is back in Annapolis, and our regular TV antenna (which never worked very well) is propped up on the bow – we sort-of get 3 channels that come and go (mostly “go”), but only one of them comes in with any useable audio (which comes and goes). My cellular internet connectivity is slow here – 144kb, so even ‘net news and weather is a bit painful to wait for. There really isn’t anyplace safe to locate the big DVD player at the moment, so my entertainment is largely CD’s, Radio Margaritaville over the ‘net, or rented movies played on the laptop. I’m also knitting, wrapping Christmas gifts, and preparing for the big Antarctica trip – there’s no shortage of things that need doing!
The pilothouse is getting to be quite a spaghetti mess of dangling wires and cables – Jim is painstakingly pulling out the old electronics and switches, labeling everything carefully, and trying to keep some semblance of order. Listening to him take a saw to my pilothouse dashboard was a bit painful… the demolition phase of any transformation project is always the hardest!
Here's what I mean by "spaghetti":
We decided to venture into town for dinner, looking for those wonderful local spots that most towns have, camouflaged by an unassuming exterior but offering warmth, friendliness, and simply delicious fare. I think that’s one of the things we both really enjoy about visiting or living in different places - exploring and discovering the special treats like: a fabulous old-fashioned hardware store with aisles upon aisles of useful treasures thought impossible to find, a great little café, or places staffed by friendly people. There are plenty of disappointments when one embarks on a quest like this, but the successes – discovering the secrets – makes the effort worthwhile.
Tonight’s discovery was the Dayton Café on the Point – right next to the Choptank River. No view, three dining rooms, closes at 8pm, and friendly young waiters and waitresses dressed in clean white shirts and pants. The café is owned by a grandmotherly lady (Henrietta – her picture is on the menu), and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the wait staff were her grandchildren - kind, lovely kids. The food wasn’t to-die-for, but it was just what we needed on a cold winter evening – tasty home-style cooking in a warm place full of locals. We chose the third dining room – which was full of various animal heads on the walls… and I mean FULL. Besides the requisite deer, there were water buffalo, antelope and gazelle, and a number of bighorn sheep. There must have been more than 30 heads in there… our waiter said that a lot of people don’t like that dining room because they feel all those eyes looking at them… thanks, kid… now I notice it! Jim kept noticing the signs that said “Apple Sauce Cakes available – order now!”, and although we resisted the urge to get one, I’m willing to bet that Henrietta’s Apple Sauce Cake is one of those gems… the stuff of dreams for the Apple Sauce Cake cognoscenti. I know we’ll be back to Cambridge again, so we’ll file that one away for a weekend-cruising treat.
We had a minor adventure this evening, discovering that the blower for the heating system in the staterooms is making funny noises. Jim tried changing the speed to see if that would do anything. It did do something – it gave way entirely. Thank goodness we have our small electric oil-filled heaters aboard, so we fired one up in our stateroom and we’re keeping the door closed. The temperature in the cabin is fine, but the deck is a bit cooler than we’re used to and the forward stateroom is pretty chilly. I’ll have to track down a new blower box this week, and we’ll install it when Jim returns next weekend.
12/11/05 – Cambridge, MD
In addition to the sketchy TV reception here, I can’t tune many radio stations either. The humor of the situation is that a new TV antenna and Sirius satellite radio are on the list of new electronics to be installed, but they probably won’t be operational until we’re off on our big trip! However, I found a local station playing holiday music this morning (predominantly country & western, but hey – Rudolph is Rudolph, right?)…something to listen to while I made some cinnamon-raisin biscuits for Jim’s breakfast. I just love the local advertisements – this morning’s favorite was the one for hunting scents. I wish I could remember all the various names the announcer rattled off for scents to attract deer – things like “Doe Heaven” (I wonder if the double-entendre was intentional), “Buck’s Best”, etc. And of course there are the scents to mask the hunter’s personal odor: “White oak”, “apple wood”, etc. I’m not that familiar with the nitty-gritty of hunting, so I certainly learned something new! But it was such an incongruous thing to hear on the radio – perhaps a tad insensitive in proximity to all the Rudolph songs – it really cracked me up. Reminded me of our all-time favorite cable access local show and advertisements for the “Snook Nook”, a fishing shop in Stuart, FL – a topic for its own log entry some day. Now don’t misunderstand me – I’m not making fun of the local culture… in fact, learning about the locals is what we enjoy so much about traveling. More often than not, we find that we like the local ways better than our old ways, and we’re always ready to adopt new tricks!
Jim is under the flying bridge right now, still removing old electronics. The process of removing old equipment from a boat is a little like an archeological dig – there are always unexpected things and bits of history to be found. Our boat was built in 1988 and we’re her fourth owners. We know she’s been as far south as Venezuela with the second owner, but we don’t know as much about her history as we’d like. As Jim pulls more cables out and opens up more access panels, we occasionally find labels and notes in different handwriting as things were added or changed with various owners – it makes us wonder where else she’s been or what she’s experienced. But like a polite lady, she says little about her former beaus.
It's beginning to get ugly - here's the dashboard as Jim dismantles things:
12/16/05 - Cambridge, MD
HOSTAGE CRISIS - DAY 19
We've been here for three weeks now... waiting and waiting and waiting - patiently - for the electronics guys to do something. Y'know... pull some wires, install some stuff - anything. They haven't even come in to put their protective matting on the pilothouse floor yet - that's how much nothing has happened. So far, the only work done on the boat has been done by Jim - tearing out the old electronics, pulling old wires out, labeling things, etc. The Morse controls have been disconnected so we're quite literally stuck at the dock. (Yes, we could reconnect the controls, put the wheel back on and get out of here... but I've invested three weeks in this and I'm not leaving until I get my paid-for pile of electronics installed correctly in this boat.)
I don't know if it's an Eastern Shore thing or not, but there's a definite difference in how the locals deal with "the husband" versus "the wife". The wife gets assurances about carpet protection mats... the husband gets meaty answers to technical questions. Conversation crawls to a stop when the wife wants to see what's happening or discuss options, but the level of chatter increases dramatically when the boys are left to themselves. From what I've been able to determine so far, stereo speaker placement seems to be the limit of the electronics guy's comfort level in terms of technical conversation with a woman. For those of you who know that I'm a serious boat geek, you can appreciate how much that's grating on me as well.
Wire chases under the pilothouse dashboard, and more wires behind the helm. Spaghetti!
12/19/05 - Cambridge, MD
Hostage Crisis - Day 21
We're starting to do some installation work ourselves. Jim pulled the old radar cable out and decided that we might as well keep making progress one way or another. He got one of the electronics guys to give him the new radar cable (they were reluctant, but Jim was firm!), and we pulled it from the pilothouse through the flying bridge and frame top. Once that was in we pulled the hose for the new air horns and the wires for the anchor and boat deck lights.
We finally got to meet the people on the black DeFever 41 next door to us - lovely couple: Dave and Rebecca. Yesterday's sea trial with the electronics guys was the first time underway on their new-to-them boat, and we got to see the pure joy and gigantic smiles on their faces! It brought back the feelings from our first time out, and gave us a pretty good idea of what we must have looked like a little over 3 years ago. We had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner with Dave and Rebecca this evening and got to hear more of their story - they had a horse farm in Tennessee, but had been dreaming about moving aboard and cruising on a trawler for a number of years. Some of their horses were named "Krogen", "DeFever", and "Nordhavn" - so boats have been on their minds for a while!
Today's adventure: running out of water at 1 am. We knew we needed to fill the tanks, but didn't think we were *that* empty. Too much laundry, I suppose. No worries, the project manager at Mid-Shore showed me where the freeze valve was located on the side of the building earlier in the week, and we carry puh-lenty of water hoses just in case. I dragged out my big pile of hoses and started linking them together... got to the freeze valve - no water. They must have turned it off to winterize the outside bibbs, and forgot to turn it back on. This isn't a marina, so there's no bathroom or shower facilities to use as an alternative... so we *have* to find water. Dave and Rebecca were getting close to empty on their tanks as well. We pounded the internet and wandered around the building trying to find a phone number or the last name of someone (so we could look them up in the directory) - no joy. Fortunately, one of the local watermen came by and he had the home phone number for Mid-Shore's owner, so we were back in business soon enough.
12/21/05 - Cambridge, MD
Installers finally showed up yesterday to start doing some work. I like to think that Jim's initiative helped spur them to action... the alternative was going to get ugly! They're installing the black boxes for the radar and autopilot under the bridge, and are starting to run some wire. They're not big fans of working outside when it's a little cold though, and they surprised me this morning with the announcement that they were going to work in our stateroom and closet ahead of schedule, as well as in the lazarette installing the autopilot rudder sensors and pump. "Surprise" means that I wasn't supposed to have those areas cleaned out for them for another week - which meant that I had to drop everything and move most of my clothes and disassemble our bed in the midst of trying to pack for Christmas visiting... and I had to work outside (where it was too cold for them!) to get all the gear off the top of the steering box in the lazarette. I'm getting immune to chaos now. Anything to keep the installation moving forward is okay in my book!
12/23/05 - Cambridge, MD
Enduring a major electronics installation is a lot like dating. It's fun to choose all the new gadgets, and the anticipation is exciting... but the event rarely goes as planned, and when they say "I'll call you...", you know that means you'll never hear from them.
Merry Christmas.
1/14/06 - Cambridge, MD
HOSTAGE CRISIS - Day 47
Yes, you read that right - I had to do the math more than once. We're back from holiday travel and a trip to Antarctica... hoping that the work would be finished. Not only is it not finished, but it *seems* that there's still a lot more to do. Hard to get a really definitive answer - at least another week-and-a-half, from what I can discern. Imagine chaos in every room, and then come home from a long trip with huge bags and mounds of laundry.
If you don't live in a small space, you may not understand the fact that when chaos ensues, there is NO PLACE to put things that are in the way. The only place is on top of useful things or in important places (like beds, sofas, chairs, etc.) When everything is put away the boat is a great place, but when one whole room needs to be cleared out, it gets ugly everywhere else pretty fast. For this project, add boxes and boxes of new stuff, and some boxes of old (outgoing) stuff... in an already limited space... and THEN come home with lots of luggage. Ugly... cubed. Cars make excellent storage containers when the need arises!
On the positive side, all the new teak is in place in the overhead and on the helm station, and most things are installed in the flying bridge - except for the gelcoat work that must wait until spring. The new radar is up, along with the new LED anchor light and the Kahlenberg horns mounted under the arch - pretty spiffy! We have to be glad for the mild weather though, so the boat has stayed warm and we're not worried about getting iced in here.
1/16/06 - Cambridge, MD
Hostage Crisis - Day 49
Progress... Visible things are now getting installed (that's Jim installing the SSB and a new speaker!), and the varnish is dry on the overhead. This means that equipment will fill up the empty holes, and it will simultaneously vanish from my galley counter and pilothouse table! There's still a lot to be done, but progress is a happy thing to report!
1/20/06 - Cambridge, MD
Major progress!
As with many boat projects, we've learned that the chaos seems worse in the moments before everything comes together... and that was true with this project. Yesterday was a flurry of activity into the early evening, and sea trial is today! Hard to believe how much things have come together in these last few days, but our escape from Cambridge looks like it will actually happen (Cambridge isn't a bad place, but the inconvenience is getting on our nerves).
Sea trial reveals that the radar is aligned perfectly, but the autopilot is having serious problems - it appears to be a bad board and/or rudder position sensor. After installing this much complex equipment I'm not surprised that something isn't quite perfect. No matter, the board and sensor will be replaced in short order for us, in Annapolis - so we really are going home this weekend! We sadly bid farewell to the electronics guys - the delayed start of the project was a bit frustrating, but they really were super, and the quality of their work has been flawless. Thanks most especially to Mike for his perfectionism and to Johnny for his artful mounting of the new Kahlenberg horns among other nice surprises. This was a complex job and Mid-Shore treated us very well - now that it's over it's easier to be happy. Living with the dust and the mess while the job is in progress isn't always easy. The outside carpenter's work wasn't quite what we expected so it means more sanding and varnishing for me later on.
Summary of the new electronics installation:
Furuno NavNet system - Autopilot, black box Radar (4' open array) and chartplotter (CMAP-NT), 2 new depth sounders (black box fishfinder), 10" Furuno radar/plotter display, Icom VHF radios at both steering stations, Sirius satellite radio with remotes and speakers in the stateroom and flying bridge. Partial installation of new Kahlenberg air horns, replacement of the anchor light fixture and installation of LED bulb. Two Sony flat-screen 15" monitors - one display for the Cap'n chartplotter running on a standalone computer, one for radar and other NavNet data. Reconfiguration of dashboard in pilothouse and flying bridge, new teak in pilothouse overhead. Old autopilot was left in place as a backup system. Most systems (except radar) have redundancy.
1/22/06 - Annapolis, MD
Home!!!
We spent yesterday - all day - cleaning up the pilothouse and finishing re-installation of some personal items like our special clock and barometer and such. Once we got everything put together the overall effect is really quite nice and we're very happy. It's a beautiful day for the 5 hour ride back home to Annapolis - plenty of time to play with the new toys. We even used our old autopilot (the backup system) since the new one isn't ready for prime time just yet. The new radar knocked our socks off - we can see our own wake as well as birds in flight with proper tuning. We picked up some good radar tips from the professional mariners aboard the National Geographic Endeavour when we were in Antarctica earlier this month, so we configured the radar to show *all* moving objects moving across the screen - including us (the source). With trails turned on, it's much easier to see which objects are moving and which are fixed - a much safer way to run. The ability to config various data sources from the Furuno NavNet system to a single display was awesome - this is a very powerful system, well thought-out. The second screen is our usual chartplotter, fed from a laptop (for now, until we build a dedicated computer that will hide under the dash). We have temporarily rigged one of the old depthsounders since the new NavNet sounders can't receive data from our old transducers. We'll replace the 'ducers when we haul-out for our usual summer bottom paint. The flying bridge dashboard is still pretty ugly - it will have to wait until spring when the temperatures are warm enough for Mid-Shore to do the cosmetic repair where old gauges were remove and new things installed. It will be nice when everything is finished, but the list of boat projects is endless... we should know that by now! But the bottom line is that we put a lot into this long-planned project, and we feel like we got something of real value to us. Mid-Shore was really superb, and we had a positive experience overall. The photos below don't really convey the significance of the changes we've made - most of the really nifty bits are hidden away (though the wiring and the workmanship is as neat and clean as if it were meant to be seen every day). It may not look all that different, but the performance, flexibility, and power of the system is stunning.
