Month: May 2015

May 18, 2015

Up until we left on this cruise, we’d never had a chartplotter in the cockpit. When we bought this one, we were faced for the first time with the challenge of how to mount it. I looked at most available mounts and found them expensive, and kind of bulky. Time was running out so I simply bolted the cheap aluminum bracket that came with the chartplotter to the top of the stainless guard in front of our steering pedestal. I could do better later.

During the three years we used it this way, it worked OK. One nice thing about it was that I could easily unscrew the chartplotter and face it the other way so I could see it while lounging in the cockpit. Another nice thing was that I could easily remove it and store it inside the boat, away from the elements and any potential thieves, when in port.

One of the last projects we did before leaving Sydney was to improve on the mount. Now that we’ve used the new configuration for a passage, I’m so glad we did it.

We had a small, stainless plate welded to the top of the guard rail with a hole through the center.

And a stainless bracket made with a threaded stud on the bottom. We had the bracket made high and wide enough for the next generation of chartplotters, so that when it’s time to replace ours, the new plotter will still fit the bracket.

The net result: We can easily pivot the screen to face any angle. Perfect for lounging in the cockpit while on a passage.

By the way, the cost of having this made was about $400 US. It should/could have been less but they spent way too much time polishing it. Not a bad price considering how expensive the pre-made mounts are – most around $1000. -Rich

Update: It turns out that the ethernet cable Simrad uses is just standard household Cat5 wire – untinned, solid core and not at all suitable for marine use. My cable failed at the connector. I installed a new one and this time, added a piece of split hose and routed it to remove any strain at the connector when the chartplotter moves about on it’s nifty-keen swivel.

(Why yes, those white spots on the nameplate are corrosion. Nice marinization, Simrad!)

May 17, 2015

Crosby, Stills and Nash sang:

When you see the Southern Cross
For the first time
You understand now
Why you came this way

We’ve seen a lot of the Southern Cross and I don’t believe it’s ever helped me understand anything.

I’d always expected to be so overwhelmed upon seeing it. Not. It’s just a little group of four stars that are mostly cross shaped. Actually, it might be more accurate to call it the Southern Kite!

But I was surprised to get these pictures of it on our last passage.

(It’s easy to find. There are two bright, pointer stars, Alpha Centauri and Hadar, that point at the Southern Cross. You have to be in the southern hemisphere to see it as it’s near the southern pole star.)

Here. If you can’t pick it out, this should help…

These pictures, that I was so surprised to get from the rolling deck at sea, were taken with our Canon GX7 in it’s hand-held, night scene mode. It’s pretty amazing. It takes multiple exposures and puts them together to make one pretty sharp image. -Rich

May 16, 2015

When we were sailing in the Marquesas back at the beginning of this cruise, I was surprised one night by a star that had vibrant colors that were constantly changing. I looked at it through the binoculars and as I wiggled the binoculars around, the colors became very pronounced.

The explanation, it turns out, is that our atmosphere is refracting the light, causing us to see the star jumping around, twinkling or changing color. The lower in the sky the star is, the more atmosphere the light must pass through to get to our eyes, and the more the light is refracted. There’s a good explanation here.

I saw a very colorful star on our last passage and I decided to try to get a picture. By wiggling the camera, I could get the star to draw a pattern and the separate colors became very distinct.

It turns out, this doesn’t usually happen with planets, just stars, which are more of a point-source of light. Here’s an example of a planet…

OK, reading about this might have taken the mystery out of the colorful stars for me, but they’re still beautiful! -Rich

May 6 – 15, 2015 – Sydney to Noumea

Some random scenes from our passage…

This cockatoo we had installed in Cammeray Marina “fell off” just before our departure!

Dragonfly passed us on the way. It’s rumored to be owned by Google executive/s and was one of the first responders bringing aid to Vanuatu after the big cyclone. That sounds like Google! They were on there way back to Vanuatu with another load.

Some obligatory pretty-sky shots…

What did this guy do to piss God off?

My view on late night watches…

-Rich

May 16, 2015

Thoughts during our last passage…

I feel kind of bad posting this right after what was probably our nicest passage ever, but I did it anyway. We’ll just call that passage a very mild case of the flu! -Rich