Two days - one work on boat, one to have pleasure on it. Work day Mast adjustments again.  I readjusted  mast again using forward lowers to straight it. It was not easy, but at some moment i realised that top shrouds have BIG effect on this "natural", as I thought, spreaders level bend to port side. However i was able to play with forward lowers and top shrouds to make mast almost straight and without dramatic difference in tension. But sea trial showed the problem is not completely fixed but I have some progress. B ut now I’m starting to think the issue is more related to the top shroud settings. Monday I “confirmed” this with GPT chat ;-) The correct name for my rigging is: Masthead sloop with discontinuous standing rigging with single inline spreaders. Actually, it looks like my mast “virtually” has two spreader levels, but the upper spreader is absent. Instead, intermediate shrouds run from the spreader plates to about 3/4 mast height. That changes the whole mast adj...

Small things   Mast rigging readjustment.  ( not successful results - leaning more and more prep required ) Relaxed all stays and shrouds. Rechecked mast top position with halyard. it is positioned as much as I can check it. +/- 5mm on length of halyard (due to rope stretching hard to MEASURE exact difference) Next time plan to tie dyneema rope and use it to avoid stretch also make some jig out of  caliper to measure exact distance to chain plates. Slightly tighten top shrouds and back stay in the vertical position.   Checked mast straightness with with laser. in relaxed state mast has slight (consistent) bally to port side about 2".  Will be nice to make laser holder to be able to mount laser to sail channel and have fine adjustments to set laser in left-right direction.   I tryed to shape original mast left-right pre-bend with aft lowers. to set mast in column. AND IT WAS WRONG MOVE. Learning more manuals say to straightening mast with forward lowe...

Very active sailing day on Sunday  20-25kn wind and 2-3ft sea with 34 seconds period. Almost horse back riding. Well working autopilot make difference ;-)      Saturday boat work  report Repair countertop.   I had to re-sand and re-oil after mistakenly put a very hot coffee maker to countertop. It was a great idea to use tang oil to  finish galley countertop. After complete disaster (burned circle) I was able to do repair almost without evidence. Yes, some elbow grease had to be used but it is nothing compare to what it will be in case if surface would be varnished.   SOUND OM OPEN PLOTTER  Check and proof possibility to get sound from my RPi5 over Bluetooth to have Openplotter to sound loud.  AUTOPILOT   Made some adjustments on Autopilot (pypilot), decreased current over clutch to 30% and increased max rotation speed. Result is impressive, on Sunday we cruised under autopilot at short period 2-3 ft sea with 20-25kn wind with ...

Surprise  I came in on Friday, Powered up fresh water pump and after half an hour found  water on the floor. Appeared the accumulator tank is leaking. next day visited West marine and took new one (seaflo) then replaced. On Marina I am really happy with new marine, little hanging after 34 hour driving and finding "surprise"  always helps. Mast cabling, Radar check. Tide up wiring in the head. Put ceiling panel and trim back.   Wired and check radar, sure nothing to check in marina - a lot of reflections but it is working! Inverter battery charger. Installed Vectron 25A charger, routed wired,  behind the panel. Still need to connect 110V line to it and install charge blocking relay in case in 110V system works from inverter. ;-) Lightning grounding Routed lightning grounding 4AWG cable from the mast to grounding plate under the black water tank. For now, wire just hangs from the top, later, I plan to make wood trim to hide it appearance  a little. It looks i...

  Kemah Boardwalk marina docks at night

Small electronics design #1 Indicators brightness control  When I made my breaker/switch i added LEDs to indicate active circuits for better visibility.  But after two passages I found a problem, indicator LEDs are ok in day time, but WAY TOO BRIGHT at night. so I made small electronic board fixing the issue.  It supposed to dim indication in 1:2000 ratio buy controlling negative side (common) of the LEDs by PWM. I used small microelectronic to be able to set what ever ratio without necessity to change components on the board if I need to change. Board has 4 wires connected.  1- common wire (negative side, cathode) for LEDS 2- 12V power (about 0.01mA power consumption) 3- Nav lights power (signal to switch LEDs to low brightness mode) 4- Negative 12V (ground)  Schematic Diagram (total components cost about $5 including PCB) #2 Mast top Tri-color/Anchor light control This project fixes two problems  Is using 2 wires to mast top to control combined Light inst...